St. Patrick’s Day Parade Preach Report

Atlanta Georgia, Saturday, March 11th

Bro. Zach, Bro. DC and his son Josh, and Big Bro. C

We made our way to downtown Atlanta on this sunny Saturday in the South. Arriving at our destination

a good hour before the parade was scheduled to begin we donned our sandwich board signs, hoisted

the Lord’s banner and fired up the Truth Horns. Josh was busy passing out tracts to the passersby. We

met Big Bro. C’, pictured in the photo above. We had a short conversation about the subject of

reproving and rebuking sinners. He wanted to know the difference between the two. We explained that

the two are related and that in reproving a sinner one would typically use the Word of God to explain

where the sinner is in error while a rebuke would be something verbal and directed at a specific

violation of God’s Law and Will for mankind. He thought that this explanation was sufficient and

volunteered to hold the Lord’s banner and stand with us as we preached.

I was able to pass out many St. Patrick’s Day Gospel Tracts to people as they passed by. Several young

girls in their twenties stopped to discuss my sandwich board sign which said “You MUST be Born Again”

they were troubled by this direct command. They said I needed to change the message tone to one that

was a bit more apologetic (not their terms actually). They wanted the sign to say something like “Jesus

said you SHOULD be Born Again not MUST BE Born again…this is the attitude that we are dealing with in

the younger generation. They want the Gospel message to be watered down to such a level that they

would actually change the Scriptures to make them more non-confrontational, less direct and more

optional.

I preached a message of repentance on the Truth Horn to people lined up on both sides of the street.

Bro. DC preached on the Truth Horn admonishing sinners to turn from their sins, lying, cheating, stealing

and adulterous ways, to confess their sins to the Lord Jesus Christ and place their faith, hope and trust in

Him alone…

Joshua wore his sandwich board sign and caught the attention of most of the people that came by on

floats, in marching bands and in convertibles. Several people gave him the thumbs up and waved at him

as they acknowledged and confirmed the message.

Our efforts were recognized by several people when they gave us the “Finger”…as usual, we take it in

stride and realize that our preaching does not always agree with everyone’s views. Some people simply

choose to let us know what they think about the Gospel in this way and we often reply that they are the

ones that will have the Lord giving them the finger someday when He POINTS His finger at them and

says: Depart from me YOU worker of iniquity!

Overall I would say that this preaching venue is one of the most family friendly venues I preach at all

year. It is nothing like the debauched St. Patrick’s Day festivities that go on in Savannah, GA. So, we

don’t have any drunkards to contend with but just one or two…Anyway, the name of the Lord was lifted

up and we glorified His name as we preached the BLOOD of Jesus shed for sinners and admonished

people to turn from their sins to the One and Only Savior.