Christ in the Crowd

This year's Mardi Gras is in the books. At midnight on Feb. 5, the party was officially over (and literally because NOPD clears the streets). However, Mardi Gras Day didn't pass without God's people living out the Great Commission at the two premier parades on Fat Tuesday, Zulu and Rex. Pastor Kemp Johnson and some members from Urban Family Baptist Mission set up a tent near the beginning of the Zulu parade route. While parade goers waited for Zulu to roll, Kemp and Urban Family mingled with the crowd where they visited with individuals and offered to pray with them. This opened the door to share the Gospel. I don't know what the final outcome was, but at the time I had to leave, two men had prayed to receive Christ. Awesome! At one point during the morning, Kemp used the tent and their sound system to deliver a brief evangelistic message to the crowd. Quite a few people stopped by the tent to see what was going on, or to visit, or just to have prayer. It was a good start to Mardi Gras Day.

Meanwhile, on St. Charles Ave., Philip and Debbie Smith had set up a tent along the parade route and were reaching out to the many children that had come to see Rex (Remember from a previous entry the most of Mardi Gras is family friendly). The Smiths, along with a volunteer from the seminary, passed out Power Band bracelets and laniards left over from the BCS Championship game that had been stuffed with children's tracts. Before and between parades, children were invited to the tent to hear a story. At this time, the Smiths would use any number of attention getters to illustrate the story of the Gospel. While I was with Philip and Debbie, I was introduced to a girl who had given her life to Christ at last year's Mardi Gras when the Smiths were there. She saw Philip and Debbie and wanted to visit with them again. Isn't God amazing? There are a lot of nay sayers that declare Mardi Gras a lost cause when it comes to evangelism. I guess God never heard that because He blessed these two efforts and lives were added to the Kingdom on the biggest party day in America.