Post by Josh Parsley on Feb 21, 2007 11:11:15 GMT -5
Martis Gras
For the last several years Fayetteville has had its own version of Martis Gras. They shut down part of a street and people just gather around to do nothing more than yell and throw beads at one another. There really isn’t a whole lot to do. I wonder why anyone would go down there. Most of the crowd out there is high school students who aren’t old enough to go into a bar so that is the closest they can get.
I pulled in a parking lot around 8 o’clock, strapped on my sandwich board and started off down the street. I walked around for awhile looking for some other brothers that were supposed to be out. On my way to find them, I ran into a woman that was dressed like an alligator. She tried to creep around like a reptile. She read my sign and laughed, then said something about her going to hell. The other brothers were in sight so I went over to talk to them for a moment.
After talking to them I went back to where the majority of the people were. I ran into a man from China. He had only been in America for a short time and had no idea what the festival was. He asked me to explain it to him, so I did and talked about the Gospel also. Then a TV camera came over to me and asked if they could interview me. They were from the college TV station. They asked me about my opinion of Fat Tuesday. I told them about how it was a pagan festival and the wickedness of it. It is sad that people even remotely consider it a “Christian” event. They then asked me if I knew what Ash Wednesday was.
Either after or before the interview (I can’t remember) I talked to a few guys that I knew from high school. One of them was raised in a Christian home and knows the Bible, but lives in open sin. His parents are (were?) in a southern Gospel singing group. They asked me how I changed so quickly. I think we had a good conversation. I talked to them a few times that night, so I may be blurring it together.
Not too long after this some more brothers came out. I then decided I would do some open-air preaching. I went towards the crowd and preached for awhile. My voice seemed to be very loud. I had someone put beads over my head. This was a common occurrence the whole night. The alligator women caused a big scene and started dancing like a madman. She continued to yell, “Judge me! Oh! Judge me!” She got quite a bit of attention. After preaching for awhile the crowd eventually moved, so I took a small break.
It was somewhat loud so I just walked around for awhile with the sandwich board. From time to time I would begin to preach. Most of the “preaches” weren’t very long.
After taking another small break I decided I would preach some more. There was a large crowd on one side of the street. It seemed to have about a 15ft circle where no one was- a perfect place for a street preacher to be. I went right in the middle of the crowd and started preaching. As soon as I started preaching a Hispanic got right in my face and began to stare at me like I was a museum statue or something. Every time I would move my head he would follow it and stare at me. Eventually I just started to preach while staring back at him. When I started to do that he quit staring at me and started going on in Spanish. I know very little Spanish, but I think he was cussing me out. I said, “Mi hable un poco espanol.” That should mean “I speak very little Spanish.” I don’t think that is how you say is properly, but he knew what I meant. When I did that he immediately calmed down and started speaking English to me. He asked what I was doing and why. I then continued to preach some more. The crowd was building around me. One man grabbed my arm and stripped my Bible out of my hand and ran off with it. I turned to look at him; he was gone so I just continued to preach. I pray that he reads it! A few minutes later an older man came out of the bar angry at me. He threatened to hit me a few times and told me to leave. I just told him, “Sir, I can’t do that. I’m here to preach.” The crowd was pretty tense at this time, so I started quoting John 3:16. The man didn’t like that, told me to leave again, ect. I just quoted John 3:16 again. He slapped my sandwich board, I’m guessing to make me stop. I just quoted John 3:16 again. By this time the crowd was huge. I felt like a needle in a haystack. He grabbed my sign and started trying to rip it off of me. A few members of the crowd jumped in and made him stop. By this time the cops were in the back of the crowd trying to make there way to the middle to see what was going on. After the man left I had a great crowd to preach to and was able to preach a good message to them. A van from the radio station was parked near me and they decided to leave, so that dispersed my crowd.
I then went back over to the other brothers that were out. A man followed me over there and I noticed he was standing behind us. I went over to talk to him. We talked a little bit about what went on while I was preaching. He said he was a Christian and the only reason he was out was to see if his girlfriend was there or something… He mentioned he wanted to pray with me about the guy who stole my Bible. I told him I was more concerned about him coming out there and saying he was a Christian. Fat Tuesday isn’t a very wholesome atmosphere. This man didn’t have beads nor has he been drinking. He said he had only been converted for a few months. We moved away from everyone and I prayed with him for a while.
After he left, I decided to walk around some. I ran into a guy that I have seen before. He tells me that he has been a Christian since 1979 and insinuates he knows much more than I do. He told me that he was born a Baptist. I told him that he needed to be born again then. Now, I have no problem with Baptist’s I say that to anyone who says, “I was born a ____”. He said that he liked to go into the bar and drink a few beers with the sinners and hopefully make a friend with them. This is typical “Bible-belt” thinking.
It was getting late so it was time to leave. Overall, it was a great night. Bibles can come and go, but if the whole situation wouldn’t have happened I wouldn’t have been able to pray with that man. I believe he was very affected by it all.
There were multiple other conversations but this is the highlights of the night.
For the last several years Fayetteville has had its own version of Martis Gras. They shut down part of a street and people just gather around to do nothing more than yell and throw beads at one another. There really isn’t a whole lot to do. I wonder why anyone would go down there. Most of the crowd out there is high school students who aren’t old enough to go into a bar so that is the closest they can get.
I pulled in a parking lot around 8 o’clock, strapped on my sandwich board and started off down the street. I walked around for awhile looking for some other brothers that were supposed to be out. On my way to find them, I ran into a woman that was dressed like an alligator. She tried to creep around like a reptile. She read my sign and laughed, then said something about her going to hell. The other brothers were in sight so I went over to talk to them for a moment.
After talking to them I went back to where the majority of the people were. I ran into a man from China. He had only been in America for a short time and had no idea what the festival was. He asked me to explain it to him, so I did and talked about the Gospel also. Then a TV camera came over to me and asked if they could interview me. They were from the college TV station. They asked me about my opinion of Fat Tuesday. I told them about how it was a pagan festival and the wickedness of it. It is sad that people even remotely consider it a “Christian” event. They then asked me if I knew what Ash Wednesday was.
Either after or before the interview (I can’t remember) I talked to a few guys that I knew from high school. One of them was raised in a Christian home and knows the Bible, but lives in open sin. His parents are (were?) in a southern Gospel singing group. They asked me how I changed so quickly. I think we had a good conversation. I talked to them a few times that night, so I may be blurring it together.
Not too long after this some more brothers came out. I then decided I would do some open-air preaching. I went towards the crowd and preached for awhile. My voice seemed to be very loud. I had someone put beads over my head. This was a common occurrence the whole night. The alligator women caused a big scene and started dancing like a madman. She continued to yell, “Judge me! Oh! Judge me!” She got quite a bit of attention. After preaching for awhile the crowd eventually moved, so I took a small break.
It was somewhat loud so I just walked around for awhile with the sandwich board. From time to time I would begin to preach. Most of the “preaches” weren’t very long.
After taking another small break I decided I would preach some more. There was a large crowd on one side of the street. It seemed to have about a 15ft circle where no one was- a perfect place for a street preacher to be. I went right in the middle of the crowd and started preaching. As soon as I started preaching a Hispanic got right in my face and began to stare at me like I was a museum statue or something. Every time I would move my head he would follow it and stare at me. Eventually I just started to preach while staring back at him. When I started to do that he quit staring at me and started going on in Spanish. I know very little Spanish, but I think he was cussing me out. I said, “Mi hable un poco espanol.” That should mean “I speak very little Spanish.” I don’t think that is how you say is properly, but he knew what I meant. When I did that he immediately calmed down and started speaking English to me. He asked what I was doing and why. I then continued to preach some more. The crowd was building around me. One man grabbed my arm and stripped my Bible out of my hand and ran off with it. I turned to look at him; he was gone so I just continued to preach. I pray that he reads it! A few minutes later an older man came out of the bar angry at me. He threatened to hit me a few times and told me to leave. I just told him, “Sir, I can’t do that. I’m here to preach.” The crowd was pretty tense at this time, so I started quoting John 3:16. The man didn’t like that, told me to leave again, ect. I just quoted John 3:16 again. He slapped my sandwich board, I’m guessing to make me stop. I just quoted John 3:16 again. By this time the crowd was huge. I felt like a needle in a haystack. He grabbed my sign and started trying to rip it off of me. A few members of the crowd jumped in and made him stop. By this time the cops were in the back of the crowd trying to make there way to the middle to see what was going on. After the man left I had a great crowd to preach to and was able to preach a good message to them. A van from the radio station was parked near me and they decided to leave, so that dispersed my crowd.
I then went back over to the other brothers that were out. A man followed me over there and I noticed he was standing behind us. I went over to talk to him. We talked a little bit about what went on while I was preaching. He said he was a Christian and the only reason he was out was to see if his girlfriend was there or something… He mentioned he wanted to pray with me about the guy who stole my Bible. I told him I was more concerned about him coming out there and saying he was a Christian. Fat Tuesday isn’t a very wholesome atmosphere. This man didn’t have beads nor has he been drinking. He said he had only been converted for a few months. We moved away from everyone and I prayed with him for a while.
After he left, I decided to walk around some. I ran into a guy that I have seen before. He tells me that he has been a Christian since 1979 and insinuates he knows much more than I do. He told me that he was born a Baptist. I told him that he needed to be born again then. Now, I have no problem with Baptist’s I say that to anyone who says, “I was born a ____”. He said that he liked to go into the bar and drink a few beers with the sinners and hopefully make a friend with them. This is typical “Bible-belt” thinking.
It was getting late so it was time to leave. Overall, it was a great night. Bibles can come and go, but if the whole situation wouldn’t have happened I wouldn’t have been able to pray with that man. I believe he was very affected by it all.
There were multiple other conversations but this is the highlights of the night.