Iowa State Fair Outreach – 2017 Report

Shortly after our Testify Camp last year (witnessing training camp at the Iowa State Fair), we took off for conferences in Mexico and so I never posted a report. Finally, here are a few pictures and reports of what the Lord did last August!

We were super encouraged by the group of young people and adults who attended the camp and helped at the gospel both. There was so much enthusiasm and great fellowship!

Half the time was spent in witnessing training at the camp, and half the time spent putting it into practice at the fair!

After each afternoon/evening of witnessing at the fair, we’d come back to the camp and share stories. These times were a highlight as we got to hear how others were stretched but saw the Lord open doors for gospel conversations. There were some amazing stories, and much rejoicing.

One of the alluring aspects of the Answers in Genesis gospel booth inside the fair is the drone footage from the Ark Encounter on flat screen TVs on both sides of the booth. This attracts much interest and discussion. After answering a few questions about the Ark, we try to transition the conversation to their spiritual beliefs and the need we all have for Jesus — our true Ark of salvation.

Sometimes people will sit down on our folding chairs inside our booth to have lengthier discussions with us.

During our times at the fair, we’d divide into four teams and we always had one team praying in a back hallway. This was also a time to share prayer requests and discuss how things were going. Prayer is a huge aspect of witnessing. If God isn’t working, nothing happens.

The girls on my team <3 Tim Chaffey from Answers in Genesis was one of our speakers. His sessions on apologetics were awesome.

It was exciting to have the opportunity to put into practice that very day at the fair some of the things we learned from the sessions.

Brianna and Abigail, using a Noah’s Ark million dollar bill to begin a gospel conversation with this couple who stopped by the booth.

As you can see, our booth is pretty big (20×20), but it is still definitely not enough space to have our 50-60 campers witnessing inside it all at the same time. So, we came up with a little system…

Dividing into four teams with this schedule helped us greatly in keeping everything organized and operating smoothly.

It amazes us just how many deep, heart-to-heart gospel conversations we are able to get into at the fair, by God’s grace and provision!

Bill was a fantastic part of the booth. The children flocked to him to see his tricks, and then he’d share about Jesus.

The Lord arranged and coordinated a thousand things; I could never list them all. Believers from all around the country found out about the camp in so many different ways. The Lord provided opportunity for countless gospel discussions with unbelievers. We are so blessed to be servants of the Most High God who works intimately in our lives, and in drawing the lost to Himself.

If you are interested in joining us for this year’s fair, see more information and register here. We’re very excited that Bryan Osborne, speaker from Answers in Genesis, will be joining us this year. See a 2 1/2 minute video of Bryan speaking here.

This video I made a year ago, describing out 2016 outreach and advertising our 2017 camp. If you haven’t seen it yet, it will give you a further taste of what this outreach entails:

Answers in Genesis Outreach at the Iowa State Fair from Tomorrow's Forefathers, Inc. on Vimeo.