This weekend the team walked into the lions' den. The spring "Diversity Weekend" was held in Eureka Springs on April 4th. With Gospel preaching and angry listeners this event could get rough in a hurry.
There were a large number of people there and the crowd was growing. Many people from all walks of life. They were all very "diverse".
When we arrived several others were already there and had set up a prayer station.
People from Missouri,
Born of Him Ministries, the
Jericho Riders, and various other places in Arkansas came together to proclaim the Gospel. It wasn't long before the opposition started. There was a band setting up to play and they told us we couldn’t be there. A few moments later the "Special Events Director" for the City told us we had to leave the park. Brad St Clair happened to be recording at that moment. This is the transcript of the conversation. (Thanks Brad)
Eric Young: Ummm, who is in charge of this?
Brad St. Clair: I am.
Eric: Okay, I'm gonna...I afraid you're gonna have to remove it out of the park.
Kevin Thompson: Actually, we don't.
Eric: Actually you do because I'm the Special Events Director for Eureka Springs, and I have a permit for the entire park from now until the end of...
Kevin: We talked to Parks and Recreation and he said we're fine...
Eric: Nope
Brad: We talked to the police, and he said if anybody has a problem with it to call him and then he'll...
Eric: I have a problem with it, let me go find him.
Brad: Okay, call the police.
When the police arrived they informed Eric that we were not breaking the law, but they did ask us to move the table over about 10 feet. We moved the table, had some prayer, and began the work.
There were several open air preachers ready to go. Greg stepped up first to preach the Gospel and the crowd got loud. They didn’t want to hear anything we had to say. They were playing music, shouting and the like. It was very hard to be heard over there noise.
Denise started a conversation with a man sitting on a nearby bench and got to share the Gospel with him and his partner.
Don was the second one up on the box. He lifted his voice as high as he could and preached the Gospel. Compassion for lost souls could be heard if one would only listen. About six men stepped up to preach through out the day.
As the open air continued a fiddler came over to play near us. He tried his best to interfere with the preaching. After a few hours of hearing the Gospel he finally approached Don and said that he was sorry. Don sat down and had a long conversation with him.
While the open air was going on, a few of us took off up and down the street to hand out some Gospel tracts. Most people took the tracts but there were a few that didn’t want to have anything to do with us, or that "Jesus stuff" we were handing out. One man got very angry that I even wanted to speak to him. There was so much hate and anger there.
As Brad was preaching, a man came and stood in front of him with a sign that said, "Don't feed the FUNDIES! Ignore them! Don't give them the attention they so desperately want!"
By the end of the day Don had that same man on a park bench explaining the Gospel to him.
Several times the people tried to block the open air preacher. Each time they would get into our "comfort zone" the police sent them back to their own spot across the park.
Don chased down a man that was carrying another sign and witnessed to him. He was a Gospel machine today.
Jeff, in the purple shirt, got into a good witness encounter.
We decided to wrap things up and head out after a few hours of open air and one to one witnessing. We paused for a group picture then we hit the road for home.This weekend was definitely a new experience. There were new objections and new fears. We did learn a lot though.
Maybe you couldn’t go to a place like this to share your faith. Maybe you are terrified to talk to a total stranger about Jesus Christ. If this isn’t your cup of tea, what is? What are you doing to further the Kingdom of God. When was the last time you shared the Gospel with anyone. Think of someone you know that is not born again. If they were to die in their sins where would they go? Sharing the Gospel with someone is scary, but the discomfort you will feel is nothing compared to what the lost will receive on the other side. Reach out to the lost wherever you can while you still have time.
Denise witnessed to this guy riding his bicycle down the sidewalk. I'm glad he stopped to talk, Denise would have tackled him if he hadn't.
There were several more vendors set up today than normal. Hopefully as the weather warms up so will the fishing. 
Denise got to witness to this couple behind the farmers market. There were a lot of groups out today, many families.
John S joined us again today. He stationed himself at one of the intersections and witnessed to people as they tried to walk passed him.
Here Larry and John S. witnessed to some folks as they were crossing the street.
