This past Friday, March 17, 2017, the Milwaukee Seed Sowers with the assistance of Pastor Dave Marriott and a group of his congregants from Lakewood Baptist handed out a special tract for St. Patrick Trivia at the Town of Erin St. Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the largest in the country.

I’d like to especially thank Dave and Andrea for providing the logistics of the outreach and coordinating the event with Lakewood Baptist. They were dealing with the death of Dave’s mother, so the fact that they participated at all was much appreciated!

Per Pastor Dave: Although the weather was challenging, we had a great team for outreach at the St. Patrick’s parade in Erin. We handed out hot coffee, treats, and bookmark quizzes about Patrick, while trying to engage people in conversation about the gospel of Jesus!

The weather was certainly a challenge with overcast skies, a steady drizzle and temperatures in the mid-30s.

As the group went down the parade route many hearty souls were reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are definitely some interesting individuals who attend with various costumes and faces painted in celebration of a man whose beliefs are very contrary to their own.

We run into some of the same people every year. Some who claim to have received the bookmark the year before, so we ask them how they are doing with the important question of a response to the gospel. I think many of them still haven’t considered the question of their eternity.

There are some people who know us from the past who tell us “they don’t need what we’re offering!” I attempt to gently remind them that someday they’ll depart from this life and they will need a covering for their sin that can only be offered through turning away from sin and trusting in Jesus Christ!

We had a conversation with a young woman who had studied the tract from the prior year and new that her sins were covered by Christ but who didn’t seem to understand her need to be born again and to turn from her sin. As I led her through the commandments, she acknowledged them as sin but not specifically what the sin was. In the end she did admit that she was a liar, a thief and a blasphemer, so I asked her to judge for herself. I asked if she was to face God on judgement day. Before she could offer an answer, she was whisked away by her party, who asked her if she “had heard enough of this religious garbage”. What a shame to not hear the whole of the gospel message. What else stuck out about this conversation was how intently one of her friends was listening and the look on their face as the conversation progressed. May the Lord be glorified and the Holy Spirit have His way!

During our time walking down Hwy K, talking with people, we also get some strange offers of alcohol, food and kisses. Our hope is that they’ll sober up, hear and receive the gospel, which we know is the only thing that God offers to break the barrier of sin.

Another member of our group said: I had a great conversation with person on the street who knew a family member who is an acquaintance and they eventually asked me how a person from a Catholic family (which includes some priests) ended up being Baptist? So I shared my testimony. Please pray that I could use the recollection of this conversation with the family today in being able to have them hear the gospel!

What a joy it is to share the gospel and show the love of God’s people!

As we receive more testimonies, I’ll update this blog.

Disclaimer: No evangelists or participants were harmed during this outreach event. Milwaukee Seed Sowers.