2023 H Street Festival Booth Evangelism Event
We were back at it again at the annual H Street Festival on September 16th, 2023, supporting DC-based Pilgrim Baptist Church’s H Street Evangelism Booth under the leadership of Rev. Ronald Greenfield and a contingent of Pilgrim Baptist Church members. Pocket Full of Change (PFOC) Ministries team members for this event were Bob and Nancy Touchton, and me, Bob’s 14-year-old granddaughter, Abigaile. PFOC supported the Pilgrim team by providing our free Gospel Bracelets and accompanying Tracts as a way to strike up a Gospel Conversation with the thousands of people that streamed by the booth by speaking the scriptures behind the bracelet’s 5 color-coded beads that represent the path to Salvation and spiritual growth, and then invite them to receive God’s love through a relationship with Jesus. For Christians, the Gospel Conversations pivoted to encouragement with prayer and spiritual resources, including how they can use these bracelets to share the Good News too.
The festival was colorful, energetic and loud, and the streets were filled with people laughing, talking or just singing and dancing along to the music. It was the perfect environment to touch souls with God's grace and love. 28 souls accepted Jesus as their personal Savior that day. And as our founder Rev. Cheryle Touchton liked to tell me, that means that there were 28 parties thrown in heaven to celebrate the addition of one of God's children. The joint team talked to hundreds of people during the festival and planted many seeds of Gospel Scriptures waiting to spring to life and we can’t wait to do it all again next year!
I have to confess that talking to children about the love and grace of Jesus is one of my favorite tasks. One of the many children that I had the privilege of talking to that day was a young boy around the age of five. As he was walking by our booth he noticed our free Liberty Bracelets. Breaking away from his father's hand he walked over to our table to grab one, after which I walked over to him and asked if he needed help putting it on. The boy said yes, and as I was tying the bracelet on I asked if he wanted to know the meaning of the beads. As I was telling the story of the Gospel I noticed that the boy had a certain look in his eye, like he was curious and I could sense the Holy Spirit moving in him. After I finished explaining the beads I asked him if he wanted to accept Jesus to be his savior and best friend. The little boy shook his head with such enthusiasm I thought it was going to fall off. After praying together I looked at him and noticed the glow that only comes when you accept Christ as your Savior. Finally the parents walked over and I was able to talk to them. I found out that they went to church but not as often as they wished and were from out of state. This is just one of the many stories proving that you are never too young to understand God's grace and accept Christ as your Savior.
Please contact us if you want to learn more about our approach and tools for conducting Good News evangelism. Maybe we can plan a joint event like this in your community. We have applied various forms of this type of evangelism at music festivals, community events and even at Mardi Gras.