Grace Notes

Last weekend my dad and I went down to Pella, Iowa, to run a witnessing training time in preparation for the gospel outreach that will happen in less than 2 weeks at the Tulip Time on May 4-6th.

Many tulips are already in bloom, and the town looks beautiful. Our booth will be in a great location with lots of foot traffic. Thousands travel long distances to come to this event. Please pray that the Lord opens the eyes of many to see the beauty of the gospel while they are there!

My dad with Jon Neifert, who is heading up this outreach

The town is named Pella because when Dutch settlers came from Holland seeking religious freedom, they named their new town Pella after a city where Jewish followers of Jesus fled for refuge before the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. A mural remains in the post office (pictured above) in Pella showing emigrants in Holland being arrested, and a pastor leading them in prayer as they travel by ship to America, and a church being established as the center of their new community in America. (See full story here.)

This picture will be on the banner above our gospel booth and will help to open doors of conversation with people about the gospel. We will be passing out the story of the Christians who settled Pella, along with many gospel tracts.

Our main need is for people with a heart for the lost to help us get this new outreach off the ground. You don’t have to have any previous skills in evangelism; you just have to be able to smile and hand gospel tracts to people as they walk by. There are many great reasons to do evangelism from a gospel booth. See more information about the Tulip Time outreach here.

Here’s a short video that describes some of the benefits of doing evangelism from a gospel booth.

Benefits of Gospel Booth Witnessing from Tomorrow's Forefathers, Inc. on Vimeo.

We’re excited to announce that we’ll be running Bright Lights conferences in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and Cincinnati, Ohio this July. This is our image designed for sharing on social media. We also have an email with more information about the conferences for spreading the word. Please email us and request this informational email if you’d like it. Or if you’d prefer paper flyers, we’d be happy to mail some to you!

Register online here.
Read reports about recent “Speak Truth in Your Heart” Conferences here.

After picking up an Americano at a coffee shop this morning (we are headed to Peoria, IL for a home school conference) I handed the 2 baristas our Easter tract, and said, “Here is something our family wrote. With Easter coming up soon, it’s something for you to talk about with your families!”

“Awesome!” the blue-haired barista said with a smile.

As you can see, giving it to her wasn’t offensive, awkward, or pushy. She appreciated it!

Easter is just over 2 weeks away. You can read our “Evidence for the Resurrection” gospel tract on our online store here. It’s a tool to use to share the gospel with cashiers, neighbors, friends, with everybody really. We’ve found people are generally very grateful to receive them.

All are invited to join us at the Tulip Time outreach in Pella, Iowa, this May 4-6th for a wonderful new outreach! When I first heard that our friend, Jon Neifert, was wanting to run a gospel booth at the Tulip Festival, I was excited to get on board because I could picture the potential! Tulip Time is a huge event, and people come from long distances to attend the festival. This will be our first year running this booth, and we anticipate that the Lord will answer our prayers and do great things.

If you are wanting to grow in witnessing, a helpful tip is to join others who are doing it and learn from them. Helping with a gospel booth provides a wonderful situation in which to learn. It provides a natural way to begin conversations with people, a wonderful environment for sharing the good news, and a perfect opportunity to learn from each other.

One thing we know, there will be no lack of people to talk to! The nearly quarter million tulips on display draws quite a crowd. Last year, one bakery owner predicted that they might bake as many as 37,000 pastries. (I think the bakery’s delicious “Dutch Letters” are the #2 attraction, after the tulips 🙂 .)

As you can see, Tulip Time is a huge event in Iowa! If you’d like to get a feel for the event, you can visit this information page.

My dad and I will be teaching a witnessing training time, two weeks before the event, on April 22nd from 9:00 – 1:30pm. If you are interested, you can register here. To register for the actual outreach on May 4-6, click here.

I hope many of you Iowans can make it! Pella is a nice central location, less than 2 hours from Cedar Rapids and less than 1 hour from Des Moines. Plus, it’s a fun place to visit because it’s such an adorable Dutch town. My dad and I have really enjoy going into the Christian bookstore/coffee shop, multiple bakeries, and cafe, cheese store, etc.

Thank you to anyone who’d be willing to lift these events before the Lord in prayer, even if you can’t make it yourself.

ALSO NOTE: We’ll be doing an even bigger outreach at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines on August 10-20. It was an amazing time last year. God really blessed it! This year’s witnessing training camp (which coincides with the Iowa State Fair outreach) will be August 10-14, 2017. More information coming soon!

If any of you live in the Cincinnati area, it would be great to see you at the Answers in Genesis Answers for Women conference, April 7-8th. I highly recommend this conference!

It has been growing so much in recent years that it has now outgrown the large auditorium at the Creation Museum, so it is being held at a nearby convention center. It addresses current deceptive trends in the church and provides answers on many different fronts.

We will have a “Bright Lights” and “Will Our Generation Speak?” booth there, and we’d love to see you if you come by. 🙂 I will also be speaking on witnessing. Here’s an article which gives an introduction to some of what I will be sharing.

We need the Lord to work in our land, raising up laborers for the ripe harvest. We as girls and women have a crucial part to play in the harvest. Often the way hearts are reached is by good works as we open our homes in hospitality — while at the same time opening our mouths lovingly with the truth.

We need to be prepared with ANSWERS as we live in a generation infested with lies. For His sake, and for the sake of the lost, may each of us “be diligent to present [ourselves] approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15-16).

The time is short, and time-wasting distractions are plentiful! When we are in Jesus’ presence, we will not regret one ounce of energy we spent on loving Him via loving those He desires to come to Him.

I’m delighted to announce that we are doing a “Speak Truth in Your Heart” conference in Council Bluffs, Iowa on March 3-4th! See PDF of flyer here. It’s been very exciting to watch the Lord use the content Sarah teaches in this new Bright Lights conference to impact girls as well as moms. Praise God that His Word is “living and active … able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

See pictures and reports from our last two “Speak Truth in Your Heart” Conferences here.

We are very excited that Brights Lights Leaders Encouragement Retreats have been scheduled for six locations this fall and winter! If you are you a Bright Lights leader (past or present), or if you are you considering starting a Bright Lights group, I think you would be blessed and encouraged by the teaching and like-minded fellowship at these retreats.

Each one is hosted by a local Bright Lights leader. Registration is free.

Franklin, North Carolina (October 28-29th)
Hortonville, Wisconsin (September 30-October 1st)
Livingston, Montana (October 7th-8th )
St. Louis Park, Minnesota (November 4-5th)
Sumas, Washington (January 5-7, 2017)
Corona, California (January 20-21, 2017)

Earlier this year, Haley Skrnich (Bright Lights leader in Texas), and Emily Selander, (Bright Lights leader in Iowa), mentioned to us their burden to see Bright Lights leaders be refreshed and re-inspired. They shared their vision of these encouragement retreats and we really liked their ideas. We have increasingly excited as these plans have been coming together!

The retreats will be filled with times of Bible study, prayer, fellowship, sharing ideas, and time to get to know other Bright Lights leaders in your area. Unfortunately we will not be able to present at them, but Sarah recorded a 45 minute message that will be shown at each one.

Click here to see full size PDF of flyer.

We’re excited to announce our next “Speak Truth in Your Heart Conference.” It will be happening in the Phoenix, AZ area, October 28-29.

For more information, see blog posts from when Sarah presented this material at a camp in Washington state, North Carolina or at a conference in Dallas.

See the Bright Lights Facebook / Twitter page for images to share if you’d like to help spread the word. Go here to register.

Over a million people come to the Iowa State Fair each year … which means tons of opportunity for gospel impact!

This is a picture of the Creation gospel booth that Roger Bishop has been leading at the Iowa State Fair for the past fifteen years. This year, he asked Ken Ham if it could become a ministry of Answers in Genesis. Mr. Ham agreed and he put our friend, Tony Ramsek, in charge of the outreach.

Naturally, since this is in our home state, we are excited to get on board — and to get others “on board” also, which is why we are running a Creation Evangelism Training Camp to coincide with the outreach. (We will have training sessions in the morning and then go over to the fair in the afternoon to put into practice what we are learning.) We are grateful for all that the Lord has been putting together, and look forward to seeing what He has in store.

Tony is bringing 60,000 Noah’s Ark million dollar bill gospel tracts to pass out. Please be praying for all who will be receiving the gospel, that they would receive the good news with soft and humble hearts and turn to Jesus to be saved! Please also be praying for God’s mighty hand at work during our “Creation Evangelism Training Camp.” Here is our teaching schedule:

If you live locally and would like to come for just a couple sessions, please ask and I will email you more information on this option. We would love to have as many as possible benefit! (Please note that the schedule above is subject to change.)

Click here to see flyer with more information about the camp. Click here to register.