AVON PARK, Fla.—Bethany Baptist Church rented its first-ever booth in the city’s well-known Springtime on the Mall arts and crafts festival. Pastor Charles Pausley says the Bethany folks found “that people were open to hearing the gospel.”
And that was one of the goals of Bethany’s involvement in Springtime on the Mall. Pastor Pausley explains the three focuses: “To give good training to our people so we could present the gospel and share that Scripturally with people we come in contact with. The second goal was to get out information about our church to the community, to let people know that we do exist. And, thirdly, it was to really meet people. Just to talk with them, and share Jesus Christ with them, and hopefully see people come to Christ as their Savior.”
Church members outside the booth greeted festival visitors, passing out music CDs and church flyers and inviting them to come in.
Members inside the booth helped children make gospel bracelets. “The children were so inquisitive about God and knowing Him. And the parents were listening too,” says Pam Josey, a worker who had the privilege of leading a child to salvation.
Pastor Pausley says he was pleased that many were gifted in sharing the gospel with others, as well as in fulfilling the group’s other tasks.
“I was amazed,” Pausely says, “to see people step up to do face-painting and actually do a good job at it.” Peg Lamparter did face-painting on Saturday. She says, “It is interesting and fun, even though I’m very much of an amateur. I did a lot of praying. I’d say, ‘Now, Lord, help me to draw the. . . . I can’t do this by myself.’ ”
Pastor Pausley says, “It was good for our church family to get outside the walls to be able to meet people in the community and to do that as a church corporately.” He says the people want to do more next year and get two tents instead of one “so we can enlarge it and have more people involved. It was a positive experience for them to say, ‘Hey, we can do this, and it’s valuable, and we want to invest our time in this.’ “
