9/27 Pride Fest Evangelizing

Today I went to Virginia pride fest at the bon secour training facility with three guys from church. Before going to the event we met for coffee before hand to ask questions, read scripture, verify salvation, verify no footholds for the enemy, and pray. This was a good time asking questions and preparing for the event. Once we finished at the coffee shop we headed to the event.

On the way to the event we split into pairs, two groups of two. It was a large venue, they were expecting 40,000+ people but with the rain but with the rain it was a fraction of that. At pride fest there were food trucks, concert stage, and vendor booths. We spent most of our time talking with the people at the booths.

I will share four conversations, and what went well and what we can improve. 

What we did well:

• I asked for help, I did not go alone
• I was deliberate with my clothing, I tried to be as welcoming as possible. I did not wear my boots, 5.11 fanny pack or Jesus Won shirt, but I was wearing a hoodie with Revelations 7:9-10.
• Willing to share testimony and be vulnerable
• Using being removal from event as an opportunity to show God’s love
• Share personal relationship with Jesus with atheist

What we can improve on:

• Use metaphors appropriate for the situation
• Be more eager to have conversations
• How to steer a conversation when people don’t want Jesus but want to be happy
• Learn about other religions and how to point it back to Jesus.

Our first conversation was with a pagan. She was selling pagan items. Specifically she was selling mini alters and I asked what they were, that is when she shared she was pagan. We asked what does that mean. She shared that instead of church and praying she would go out into nature and “worship” it. We then shared we are followers of Jesus. Learning more about her, she grew up catholic but left that due to not feeling welcome and the rules. Talking with her she believed there is truth, she believed in Gods, and believed miracles are possible. I think here I jumped too quickly to miracles without agreeing in one God. It was a pleasant conversation, we didn’t agree on everything but we could talk about it. She was appreciative of having a kind and respectful discussion with disagreements.

Second we talked with the Richmond LGBTQ chamber booth. I asked them what they do and how they are different that the Richmond chamber. We shared we are followers of Jesus, and our goal is to talk with people and get to know them better. After sharing we follow Jesus the conversation stalled out.

Third we visited the habitat for humanity booth. They were wearing "Pride Build" t-shirts,so we asked them what that was about. We were able to navigate the conversation to religious organizations and then to churches. The guy we were talking with shared they partner with welcoming-affirming churches, and he goes to a local church in Richmond. This is a church that me and my wife volunteered in their food pantry before. Here, I wish we had talked about decoupling welcoming and affirming. All are welcome at church and immoral lifestyles should not be affirmed. But the conversation moved on and I did not revisit the topic. As the conversation wrapped up I asked him how we can pray for him, and then we prayed for him on the spot. I chose my words carefully, being careful not to be affirming but calling us to be obedient to Jesus. We did exhance contact information.

Our last conversation was with an atheist or secular humanist at the American Atheist booth. This was our longest conversation, nearly an hour. He share he is not an atheist but a secular humanist, and shared that we are followers of Jesus. We shared our testimonies, and he asked me why I chose Christianity as the correcy one. We talked talked a little bit about multiple early recorded eyewitness testimones (MERET), minimal facts argument, and manuscripts heavily. He did have doubts about whether Jesus died on the cross and was buried, he stated that Jesus was likely eaten by animals and thus no body to bury. I did not ask him directly how he came to that conclusion, I did challenge him on the accuracy of that. We did go down a rabbit hole of seperating church and state, legislating morality, and abortion. I used a metaphor to try to explain that letting society decide morality is a slippery slope because society's view changes. My metaphor was not delivered well, thankfully I was able to walk it back and we left the rabbit hole. He was really appreciative of our dialoges, kindly and respectfully have disagreements, and admit we don't know everything. I got his phone number and plan to connect again.

My mind is starting to shift on what I wear when evangelizing. I think wearing my "Jesus Won" t-shirt when evangelizing is like saying yes to "are you are christian?" without asking "what do mean by christian?" I ask that question so I say yes to being a follower of Jesus and nother pre conceived notions about christianity that are not true. This time I wore tennis shoes, shorts, and a hoodie that has Revelations 7:9-10 on the back and "Every tribe, every tongue, every nation" on the front. I am trying to balance being welcoming to people and having Jesus or scripture on clothing.

The other pair of guys talked with a few people as well. They spoke with gentleness and respect and was well received with all but the last. The last booth was a unitarian universalist group, they made some unbiblical claims and were upset when the guys challenged them on it. Ultimately they complained to the organizer and got the guys kicked out. But that was part of God's plan, the guys were still kind and respectful as they got kicked out. And they talked with  and prayed with the officers on the way out.

The four of us met up outside the entrance gate and walked back to our cars. We talked how things went on our walk back. It went great, Jesus' name was said multiple times at pridefest, and we had open, respectful, and truthful dialoge with people. I asked the guys, and myself, to share two things: one that we did well and one thing to improve on. We prayed, then got in our cars. Later we all went to church for worship, prayer, and a cookout.