The outreach to the game in Columbus, OH with TTUN actually began on the evening of November 23.  We had great joy that evening because several evangelists visited from out of town to help us this week!

We began the weekend with a time of prayer with president and founder of Sports Fan Outreach International, Bill Adams via conference call. After beseeching God by His mercy to bless us and our efforts, we headed to Skyline Chili to enjoy one of the many blessings God has given us through creation. The photo to the left is the Friday night team after downing some chili together.

After we ate, we headed back to my house where we worshiped the Lord through song and Bible reading. It was a sweet time of fellowship and praising God. It isn’t often that people give up an entire weekend or two days for the sake of the gospel, and I am grateful to these folks who all drove from more than 3 hours away to assist me at my primary fishing hole, the corner of righteousness, at THE Ohio State University.

“The Game”

“The Game” is always the most crowded event at Ohio State. So we left earlier than usual on a cold and rainy day so that we could begin to minister by 9am. It is actually hard to believe how many people were out walking around in cold rain at 9am when kickoff wasn’t until noon! I praise God for my co-laborer Jason Roberts who met us near the stadium in order to help with the ministry.

Most of us don’t mind getting a little wet, and we live in a culture where keeping warm in the cold isn’t very difficult (at least in central Ohio). But keeping electronic equipment and tracts dry becomes the name of the game for evangelism. No one is going to take a wet, soggy, tract, and we certainly don’t need a speaker to malfunction or even electrocute someone due to water!

The Result

The day went like any other. We sang, we prayed, we preached, and we passed out hundreds of tracts. There were very few hecklers and a lot of kind-hearted souls who God sent to offer encouragement. A young man selling pies to raise money approached me for prayer, and I prayed for him. I offered to buy some of his pies and his response surprised me:

“I can’t take money from you, sir. I see you out here every week. I just wanted to encourage you.”

I was really excited to hear that. One of the reasons we don’t change locations is so that people will consistently see us, and that maybe that would have an impact on them. Another aspect of being at the same location for years is that we actually get to know the vendors and the ticket sellers. When you think about it, we are there doing the same thing…

Street vendors and ticket sellers have the same physical goals we have:

• Keep your equipment dry/protected
• Get your message to as many people as possible
• Stay warm; go home safely, and try to enjoy yourself while there.

Now we have a supernatural aspect to what we are doing, but in many ways, we are employing methods that by God’s grace are common to man in the dissemination of information. I think we build a kinship with the vendors when they realize we are not “against them.” ** When I left Saturday, I actually walked around and said bye to all of them. They were all very kind and chuckled as I said, “See you next season.”

Overtime

After the outreach I took the team to Raising Canes, another restaurant (like Skyline) which they do not have in that state up north. So we enjoyed a final Raising Canes lunch as the result of the kind supporters of this ministry. The fellowship was sweet as we shared stories and talked theology and simply enjoyed each other’s company.

But the story doesn’t end there! The Buckeyes completed their season with a victory over our rival, and earned a place in the Big Ten Championship game. Now, several of us had already planned to go to Indianapolis on Dec 1 to minister to the crowds there, but now we get one more chance to reach our Ohio State fans. Will you pray right now that God would save souls in Indy? And pray that my crew of 8 would all be able to make it and dispense His gospel that day.

** The exception is when people peddle their pornography or strip club cards. I am openly against what they are doing, and God has driven those folks away because of His mercy toward us.

On November 3rd, we went to OSU to preach the gospel to the fans of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the Ohio State Buckeyes. But it was the events of November 2nd which in many ways are most notable.

I was actually beginning to be a little depressed near the end of the morning of November 2nd. Only 3 people had committed to meeting me at Ohio State for evangelism the next day. Please don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful for all those who accompany me and labor with me in the gospel. But there’s a strategic side of evangelism whereby we know that the more laborers there are, the better chance we have of reaching more people, and thus, reaching God’s elect.

My brief sadness was not only quickly overcome by our Lord Jesus Christ and His providence, but HE LITERALLY OBLITERATED it.

Around 2pm, I received a text from someone asking if she could come with us.

Minutes later, my friend John texted asking if he could stay at my house and evangelize with us the next day. 

Things were heating up!

Side note: John may be the smartest and most educated person I know. I relish every minute I get to sit at his feet and learn, frankly. You can buy his books here – https://www.eleutherosbooks.com/book_store

What joy I experienced now that I had 6 team members, when a coworker texted me completely out of the blue around 10pm to tell me he wanted to come too, and then Kurtis who was not sure he could make it also texted to say he could come!

I had gone from a team of four to eight in 8 hours! This was truly an answer to several prayers we had prayed throughout the season.

Here are some pictures, be sure to scroll down to the end for a really neat story about our public worship.

Dennis was quite pleased to play with us. After we finished, we prayed for Dennis and his family, thanking God for him and for salvation for all. Dennis received our tract and one of our team members had $100 bill for him as a gift. Hopefully, God will use our generosity and gratitude to lead Dennis to Himself.

After we finished, we had a sweet fellowship meal together, as is our custom. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Thanks to everyone who has supported us this season through prayer and financial gifts. Everything we do is made possible and more enjoyable thanks to saints who care about getting the gospel to people. We have one remaining home game on November 24th against Michigan.

But God, in His infinite wisdom has seen fit to send me to Michigan November 17th to preach at the Indiana vs Michigan game. This will be the second time Indiana fans could see me. And Michigan fans will see me two weeks in a row now.

And the Big 10 Championship game is December 1st where likely Michigan or Ohio State will be playing. So who knows what God will do with his preached Word? Maybe someone will see me at multiple locations and be affected by that? Pray it may be so!

For the second time this season we had back to back Saturdays with an Ohio State football home game. This was a particularly exciting week because I had 8 fellow evangelists who wanted to join me!

A lot of folks don’t like to talk about “strategy” when doing ministry work. Employing strategy is considered a bit taboo because so many people have used man-centered and man-made strategies to try to attract people to churches.

But there is nothing wrong with using good wisdom to try to reach as many people with the gospel as possible — as long as the methods are biblically approved. And it is wise and caring to be sure that the folks you minister with are well taken care of.

Take, for example, the fact that 8 people were offering their time to get the gospel out at the Ohio State football game Saturday. In order to maximize the amount of time on the street engaging the lost, we need to minimize any wasted time. A big time waster on game days is “looking for parking.”

Here is a description of our pregame activities along with an explanation of why we do what we do. I like to believe that my preparedness and organization is a blessing to those who join me (as long as they can put up with the pedantic nature of it).

Our first goal is to be at the preaching location 3 hours prior to kickoff. So, since the game was scheduled for noon, that meant we wanted to be there by 9am.

Nine people from 5 different vehicles all met at a location about a mile away from where we minister. Our goal was to arrive at 8:30. After meeting, as many people as possible piled into my van, while the rest walked the mile to the location. This amounted to the “young people.”

Then I drove the remaining folks to the location and dropped them off along with back packs, a box of tracts, etc. Then I went back and parked my car. 

Then I rode my bike back the location. The goal is to:

• cut down on the total time spent trying to get from parking to the “corner of righteousness”
• minimize any monetary spending on parking (we park so far away we don’t pay for parking)
• reduce the amount of walking that people have to do — standing on concrete for several hours to preach and pass out tracts is actually already very tough on your legs!

So after meeting at 8:30, and all the shuffling back and forth, we were finally able to begin together by 9:08. You can see how everyone has to do their part for the team’s success.

By the time of kickoff, most of us have already been away from home over 4 hours without a meal or a break. I encourage my team to take care of restroom breaks before the crowd arrives. We have a window of about 2 hours where there is a consistent crowd, with a large concentration about 90 minutes to 30 minutes before kickoff. You don’t want to have to leave your post to use the restroom!

After the evangelism is over and we are all tired, we normally try to make time for a fellowship meal where we enjoy each other’s company, nourish our tired bodies and share stories of what we just encountered. I am very grateful to everyone who helps provide these meals, as well as the gospel tracts we pass out. This year so far we have already passed out about 5,000 tracts.

This week, because of the maturity of the team members who all arrived on time, we were able to sing Nothing But the Blood and pray together before splitting up to preach and pass out tracts. I am so thankful for Mike, Jason, Miri, Nick, Allie, Joe, Kurt and Adam who labored alongside me.

May Jesus Christ be praised by those who heard His Word preached or received a tract this weekend. He watched over us as usual, keeping us safe from harm, sending encouragement through the brethren, and sustaining us as we endured the elements. Praise His holy name.

Oct 6 was the first game this season where we arrived after the game began. For the first three games this year, we would normally arrive about 3 hours before kickoff, and minister to the crowds as they walk to the game.

This week’s game was 4pm, so we planned to arrive about 6pm. This gets us there about an hour to an hour an a half before the game ends. The evangelism is very different from before to after game.

Imagine a simple scenario with simple numbers. Before the game, let’s say about 30,000 walk past us over the course of 3 hours. That is about 10,000 people per hour or about 1,600 people every ten minutes who walk past and hear the gospel or get a tract.

Post-game evangelism differs because instead of a few hours of people hanging around and making their way toward the stadium, the entire crowd is leaving the football game at roughly the same time. So that 30,000 people who are walking back to their cars makes their way in about an hour. So instead of about 1,600 people walking past you every 10 minutes, it’s more like 5,000 people every 10 minutes!

This makes for much larger crowds while preaching. Notice in this photo below how many people are within earshot of my preaching!

Additionally, it seems people are more willing to take tracts or Bibles because they are just on their way home. Very few people want to carry a Bible to a football game, but if you’re just getting in your car anyway, why not?

I’m thankful to Jason and Miri Roberts and Kurtis and Kenton Gould for going with me this week. We had a sweet time of worship prior to evangelism and sang A Mighty Fortress. Jason commented that this really got him in a spirit of worship and service to God, and he thinks it had a calming effect on Miri, too, who is only 9 years old, but is a baptized believer serving the Lord Jesus Christ.

Worshiping with hymns is something I hope to do every time we are out together!

We handed out hundreds of tracts, and Kurtis and I preached for almost a total of 3 hours. Many souls heard the Word of God. Our Lord kept evildoers away from us and sent encouragement, as always. I even received a $1 donation. Praise the Lord that someone desired to support us!

It was a night when we could see that a few more laborers would have helped us pass out thousands more tracts. Would you pray that the Lord would raise up more laborers for the harvest?

One highlight was when I was preaching after the game, Kurtis overheard someone say, “Ugh, I thought that guy wasn’t here this week.”

I actually wondered if people would notice we weren’t there for pre-game! It is nice to know that our consistency is noticed. This is one of the keys to returning to the same location every home game for a whole season. Sinners notice, and we hope God would use these means to draw folks to His preacher — that they might hear and believe!