Three of us from Springfield and four evangelists from Rolla, Missouri went to the Kentucky Derby Outreach 2015 the first weekend in May and we had a great time lifting up the name of Jesus at the derby. There were 31 evangelists there from all around the country who participated in the Sports Fan Outreach International event and it was a real joy and blessing to proclaim the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6) with our fellow laborers.
There were around 120,000 people who attended Friday’s races and there were over 170,000 people who walked through the gates on Saturday. Unfortunately, many people that walked by were God mockers and scoffers and they hated hearing the preaching of Jesus (1 Corinthians 1:21). We think one woman may actually have been demon possessed. Some others cursed God and cursed us. In fact one guy kicked Ken Hisle’s stand so hard that he broke it (John 15:18). A policeman caught the guy and offered to take him to jail or he had to go back and apologize and pay for the stand. Ken accepted the apology, but he didn’t make the man pay for a new stand.
She looks calm here, but she appeared to be demon possessed the way she was dancing around and yelling at us.
But we also had some good conversations with people. When I say good conversations, to me that’s where we were able to listen to others about what they believe and then share the Gospel truth with them. That doesn’t mean that they fell on their face right in front of us crying out for God to save them, no but at least they heard the truth before they walked away. We also handed out many tracts at the event.
Even though we had many discussions over the two day period, I just wanted to some of the witnessing encounters here. I spoke to a young man named Cameron who admitted that he loves his sins and that he might become a Christian when he’s older like I am. I explained that I used to be that way too and I suggested that he read my testimony sometime (I had given him a tract with the website information on it) because his friends were trying to pull him away. I told him that I’m very grateful that God was merciful and kept me alive all these years, but I warned him that we are not guaranteed our next breath. God could require his life at any moment. He said that’s true, but his friends pulled him away at that point.
There must be a large Catholic population in Louisville, KY because we ran into a lot of Catholics who accused us of being judgmental. Lonnie told me that he believes in God, but may not the same God that we believe in. (Folks if you don’t believe in the One True God of the Bible, you are worshiping a false god.) Aaron Brummitt spoke to a guy that is a member of the Church of Christ and he believes in baptismal regeneration. Aaron also spoke to a harmonica player who was trying to raise money and he claimed that he was a preacher. I don’t know what kind of preacher he was, but he was not a preacher of righteousness because he believes that Jesus sinned. There are so many people that are deceived nowadays.
While Rich Hagen was preaching one time a man kept walking by yelling Allah Akbar (John 14:6). Then a woman started dancing around and mouthing off. Ricky Gantz talked to her for a while and her demeanor started to change. Another time while Rich was preaching a man walked up and gave us a $100! So when we went out to eat Saturday night around 10 pm (after witnessing from 8 am to 9 pm at the derby outreach) Rich applied the $100 to the total bill for everyone.
When one of the guys on our team was preaching a young man walked up cursing God. Rich was standing next to the street preacher holding his sign and the guy wanted to give Rich a high five (I don’t know why drunks like to do this, but they do). Rich refused because the man had just cursed God and he told him that he wasn’t going to high five him. The man then became really belligerent to Rich and yelled right in his face, but Rich just stood there and took the verbal abuse.
A woman named Marisa came up to me while someone else was preaching and asked me “what is my wickedness?” (Romans 3:10). I told her that I didn’t know what her wickedness was, but that we are all sinners and we’ve all sinned against our Holy God (Romans 3:23). I asked her if she has loved God with all of her heart soul, mind and strength? She said no, but that she tries to be a good person. So I asked her if God should let her into Heaven after she dies because she’s tried to be a good person and she said yes. She’s counting on her own goodness to save her. I explained that none of us are good enough. That’s why Jesus suffered and died on the cross for guilty sinners like us, but that we have to repent and trust Jesus, not in ourselves.
Aaron spoke to a man named Warren who was drunk Friday night and he said that he didn’t want to be an alcoholic anymore. Aaron talked to him for a long time and then prayed with him. Aaron asked him to come back the next night sober. Warren came back, but unfortunately he was drunk again. Aaron pleaded with Warren to get right with God and give up the alcohol.
The one encounter that I can’t get out of my head was a woman in a red dress that came up to me and yelled that she was Catholic. I asked her if she was drunk and she replied again that she was Catholic (I don’t know if that means Catholics don’t get drunk or that they get a free pass just because they are Catholic). I quoted her some Scriptures and she walked away (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). She came back four or five times. Each time giving me her opinion and I kept giving her Bible verses. So finally I pointed this out to her. I told her that she’s the one that keeps coming back engaging me in conversations and that I keep giving her Bible verses and she keeps telling me what she believes. She refused a tract every time that she came back. So the last time I looked at her and I softly asked her if she would take a tract. She took it, promptly spit on it and tried to hand it back to me. When I didn’t take it, she threw it on the ground and walked off. I’m sorry that this isn’t a heartwarming encounter; it’s just the one that I can’t get out of my mind so I pray that God will convict her and convert her.
Finally, we had great favor with the police. When the (possibly) demon possessed woman danced around us, evidently she called a friend and he came at us like a mad bull ready to charge. He confronted Bobby McQueery and Ken Hisle. These gentleman stood their ground and the mad bull walked off away with the woman by his side. I point this story out because the police came over later on and checked on us to make sure that we were ok. They had checked a few times throughout the day and it was wonderful that the police showed us great favor. In fact, Rich and I witnessed to a couple of women and the one I talked to said that she’s Catholic and that she repents every week. You could tell that they had been drinking (and again Catholics don’t seem to consider this sinning) so I asked her if she is repenting every week over the same sins and she said yes. So I tried to explain that she isn’t really repenting. She’s sinning and asking God for forgiveness, but she’s missing repentance and trusting Jesus. The woman and her friend walked away and we could see that they were engaged in a conversation at the corner with a policeman. We later found out that he was witnessing to them and he also witnessed to others that we had talked to. Praise God! We need more policemen like this officer.
May God send others to water the seeds that were planted at the Kentucky Derby Outreach and may He give the increase. May the good Lord draw some of the lost souls to Himself. May He grant some of those who heard the Gospel repentance and faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.
More Pictures from the Kentucky Derby Outreach 2015:
Great blog Dennis. Keep on keeping on in Christ! This has been an encouragement to me today. Our church has recently starting a pray walking and evangelism group every Monday night sharing the gospel around west central Springfield. It’s opened my eyes again to the lost and those who don’t realize or think they are lost.
Dave, it’s so exciting to hear that your church is prayer walking & sharing the Gospel. Keep Witnessing!