In my last article, I shared some tips for reaching the lost with the gospel inside places like shopping malls and stores. Now, let’s move outside to the streets. While, again, most Christians don’t have the benefit of living in a city or county with millions of people, there are still effective ways to reach the lost with the gospel on the streets of Small Town, USA.
Stop Light Preaching
One of the challenges facing many Christians who desire to proclaim the gospel in the open-air in a small town is the difficulty of drawing crowds of any size. I too have the same difficulty in my community. Some time ago I began utilizing a different method of open-air preaching to reach the masses in my community—Stop Light Preaching.
Stop Light Preaching is simply presenting the gospel to people waiting at a stoplight, whether they are pedestrians or in their cars. Done properly, a Christian can share the gospel with hundreds of people in an hour’s time, even in a small community.
First, find a busy intersection with a reasonable amount of pedestrian traffic. Most stoplight cycles run anywhere from 45 seconds to 2 minutes. Simply wait for people to gather on the corner to cross the street and present the Law and the Gospel to them before the light changes.
If you don’t have an intersection with a lot of pedestrian traffic, you can do the same thing with those waiting in their cars at the light. For this, you will likely need a P.A. system (check your local ordinances for any regulations regarding the use of amplification).
Here is the text I use when Stop Light Preaching:
Folks, be careful on the road today. 150,000 people die every day; many of them on roads like this.
When we die, we are going to stand before God and give an account for our lives. Because God is good, He is going to judge each of us according to the perfect, moral standard of His Law. If we’ve ever lied, stolen, taken His name in vain, He will find us guilty of breaking His Law. And because God is good, He must punish our sin; and the punishment God has ascribed for sin is eternity in Hell.
But God is also merciful, loving, and kind in that He provided one way to escape that punishment; and that was through the gift of His Son Jesus Christ – Jesus Christ: fully-God and fully-Man, without sin. He died a horrible, bloody death on the cross that He did not deserve in order to take upon Himself the punishment we rightly deserve for our sins against God. And then three days later He forever defeated sin and death when He rose from the grave.
What God requires of you and me is that we repent–that we turn from our sin, and by faith and by faith alone, receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
So please, repent and believe the gospel while God has given you time. And be careful on the road today.
And here is a link for an audio of the above text:
http://www.archive.org/details/AStoplightOpen-airTemplate
Stop Light Preaching is effective because it is the verbal proclamation of the gospel. The person who engages in Stop Light Preaching is basically a verbal gospel tract. You are presenting the truth succinctly and biblically to people with whom you may never have the opportunity to engage in a lengthy conversation.
I understand Stop Light Preaching may be a significant step outside the comfort zone for many readers, even for those who are already preaching the gospel in the open-air. But give it a try. Stop Light Preaching has allowed me to present the gospel to thousands of people in my community. How might the Lord use it for reaching the lost in your community?
In the next segment, we’ll talk about signs. Is it a good idea to carry them as an evangelism tool?
- Evangelism in a Small Town Part 1
- For More Information from Tony, visit Living Waters.
