Farmington Founders Festival

Wow...what a day we had at the Founders Festival today. We stared out at the church bright and early. We entered a float in the parade again this year. The theme was "circus, circus", which is kinda a hard theme for a church...but Jeff did a great job putting it all together. The kids were dressed as "circus" animals and the slogans for our float were "Is Jesus just your sideshow or the main event?" and "Don't mess around with your eternity...Jesus didn't". We passed out gospel tracks, and invitations to kids kamp, which is in two weeks. We pray that the gospel tracks fell into the hands of the right people and were excited with how receptive the people were.

Meanwhile, back at the church, we had people passing out free water & balloons, faithful prayer warriors praying, men parking cars in our free parking lot, and new this year: the bounce house! We rented a bounce house..which worked out wonderfully! The kids loved it...and it gave us a chance to talk to the families during the few minutes that the kids were bouncing. Finally, Seth and I were on an evangelism team. (Hannah took a nap in Seth's office...while one of the teens listened for her on the monitor...it worked out perfectly!) We went out into the festival in the afternoon with tracks in hand ready to share the gospel. I had the opportunity to talk to 3 teen girls. It worked out really well because they were all friend and one of them is already a believer who attends a good Bible believing church. I had a chance to clearly present the gospel to one of the girls, then another friend joined us, so I got to present it again. They were not ready to make a decision today, so I challenged the one who is already a believer to follow up with her friends. Would you please pray for the 3 of them? Erin and Karley are the ones who still are not saved...and Angela is their christian friend. Seth had a chance to talk to a man who is jewish & probably in his early 20's. He was sitting and waiting for his mom who came out of Quinos shortly after we began our conversation. She was VERY closed to the idea of even talking to us...but he still wanted to...so that was encouraging. She listened for a while, then walked away. He carefully listened, but then said that he need to leave to go be with his mom. Seth was able to share the gospel with him, and we are praying that the Lord will really work in his heart. Pray for him...his name is Emmet.

After watching just 2 of the "Way of the Master" (check out this link for some tips on sharing your faith and some witnessing videos) video series...I have been extremely convicted about sharing my faith. There was a quote from Spurgeon (I think) on the video that said something like this: If we don't care about the salvation of others, then we are probably not even saved ourselves. I need to be concerned about others eternity!! Walking around the festival today...I looked into the eyes of so many and couldn't help but think of the old Steve Green song "People Need the Lord". There are so many who are lost...who will tell them the truth if we don't? What a huge responsibility Jesus left us with when he returned to heaven. I want to be more gospel minded...I will be praying for an looking for more opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with those I meet.

How about you? Are you actively sharing your faith? What have you found has worked for you? Do you have any good conversation starters? Is there anyone that you have talked to that you would like me to be praying for? I would love to hear from you!

When we preach Christ crucified, we have no reason to stammer, or stutter, or hesitate, or apologize; there is nothing in the gospel of which we have any cause to be ashamed." (C.H. Spurgeon)

Romans 10:9-15
9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."[e] 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."[f]
14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"[g]

Some of the animals on the float

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Hannah & Elania...not looking super excited...

our cute little dancing bear

The teens....love 'em!

This guy rode his unicycle the whole parade! And my little giraffe...eating her favorite giraffe snack :)

the bounce house

the guys did a great job directing traffic

passing out balloons and water