Evangelism Evening 06/07/10

Tonight I needed to pick Greg up from the airport in the evening (he was working a freelance job over the weekend, out of state).

I had some time to kill between the end of my work shift and the airport run, so I went to The Mall of America (very close to the Minneapolis airport) to hand out some gospel tracts.


Since there are so many solicitors for your time, attention, and money at the mall (particularly on a slow night), I found a chilly reception to the gospel tracts. I was able to hand out a few, but I definitely had more rejections than I did takers tonight.


I engaged in one conversation with an older gentleman sitting on a bench, but I didn't get very far. He was very polite but very closed to conversation. It went like this:


Me: "Here's a million dollars for you."


Him: "No. Thank you. What is that monopoly money?"

Me: "It's a gospel tract. It has the million dollar question on back. What do you think happens to a person when they die? What are your thoughts?"

Him: "Nothing. It just ends.

Me: "No heaven? No hell?

Him: "Some people think there's a heaven and a hell."

Me: "What do you think?"

Him: "I don't think about it. I think it just ends. Whatever happens, happens."

Me: "You're taking a pretty big chance there don't you think? What if there is a heaven and hell?"

Him: "With what I've seen it doesn't really matter. I've seen a lot."

Me: "I'm not sure what that means. Were you in the military?

Him: "Yes."

Me: "You've seen a lot of death?"

Him: "Yes."

Me: "But you don't think about what happens to a person when they die?"

Him: "Nope"

At this point in the conversation I was picking up some pretty strong (closed) body language signals.

Me: "Would you like the weird woman holding the fake money to leave now?"

Him: Polite smile. "I don't want to talk about this anymore."

Me: "Okay. Thanks for talking to me. Have a nice evening."

Some conversations go like that. I take comfort in the fact that God is in control, not me. Even a short conversation (with no gospel message in it) could cause someone to think soberly for just a few moments. I pray God will use this conversation to cause this man to think about Him, and I pray God will save Him.