A night on Welch.
I just have to share about my experience on Welch Ave. last Friday night.
So I show up with the off campus team fully engaged in dishing out ice cream. They seemed a little too reserved for me (a man who loves ice cream and loves the cause for which we're giving it away... love), so I jumped right in there to "show them how it's done".
It was a blast. For as many as walked on by, there were those who were more than happy to take some ice cream off of our hands. Most asked why we were doing this giving us a very natural way to mention The Rock and mention our affiliation with Christ. It was great.
After getting into several short and pleasant conversations, I noticed Dan McGuire talking to a couple of young guys by himself. Knowing that it's usually fun to have another voice in the mix, I put the scooper aside and joined in.
I met Lucas and ??? (I'm bummed, I can't remember his name... note: write down the names of new people you meet). They both were seniors in high school. It wasn't long before we got to talking about church, God and faith. It's the most normal thing in the world when you are there (on Welch giving away ice cream), because of your faith. I found out that ??? was a Baptist kid no longer going to church. He was from the Webster City area (and yes, Matt, you guys probably know each other somehow, someway...). Lucas (he likes to be called Lou) never stepped foot in a church before.
I got to talking about my own faith journey and shared my testimony with them. Then I verbally shared the gospel. ??? knew the message; don't know if he knows the Lord though. Lou never heard this stuff before and as they were taking off I offered him a NT and a Do You Know For Certain track. He seemed genuinely interested in taking them. I pray he reads them and that I get to see them both again.
Chad told me he stayed on Welch that night until midnight +. He said the gospel got shared a lot. To get rid of their 4th 5 quart container of ice cream, they walked up to the bar lines and started to dish it out. One guy was so pumped about it that he started yelling over and over, "The Rock rocks!" ...from the mouths of drunks.
Comments
Awesome!
I've observed the same things when I was driving Moonlight. For every person who's too plastered to remember their own name, there are 10 or 15 who have been drinking, but are perfectly happy (even eager) to talk about their religious background, and many are seriously interested in a church that's not just the "Go to church on Sunday" type they grew up in.
I'd say 80% of the Moonlight passengers I talked to about religion grew up Catholic or Lutheran, and only 5-10% were active in a church in Ames. Many people didn't really know what was available, or never even thought about looking for a church.
-=Russ=-
Posted by: Russ at August 22, 2006 11:19 AMI can't wait to serve alongside you guys when my kids are official Rockers...(9 more months for one of them) I look forward to "Rocking" Welch!
Posted by: Tess at August 22, 2006 09:41 PMI'm so bummed I missed that!
Posted by: Holly at August 24, 2006 08:18 AM