Foundation Ministries P.O. Box 2151 Garner, NC 27529 www.onlyfoundation.org (919)647-4565

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Romans 10:1-2 (KJV) April 2009

Dear Friend,

ICE team member Wally Babb and I were standing on the corner of Bourbon and St.

Peter’s Street around 8:00 PM.

We were handing out tracts to the ever growing crowd of drunken revelers and party

goers. Already, we had seen women flashing their breasts to men in an effort to collect more

purple, green and gold Mardi Gras beads. The men gladly obliged by giving them beads and

snapping photographs of the exposed body parts.

One thing you learn quickly while doing street evangelism in New Orleans during Mardi

Gras is that when you hear a big shout from the balcony, look the opposite direction as fast as

you can! Otherwise, you will see some things you don’t need to see.

Someone in our group had brought some silver dollar sized coins with John 3:16

imprinted on one side and “Where Will You Spend Eternity?” imprinted on the other. They

reminded me of the doubloon coins that are often tossed from the floats during the famous Mardi

Gras parades. I reached in my side bag and pulled out a few coins. I noticed that people were

taking them and slipping them into their pockets.

I gave out a coin to a tall, college aged man. He stopped dead in his tracks about 5 feet

away from me and read the coin. What happened next was a total surprise.

“I’m Jewish. Do you think Jews are going to heaven?” he asked. I found out his name

was Bobby.

I knew why he asked the question. Often at events like this, a group of people will show

up to “preach” the gospel. They preach a message of judgment to everyone they meet. I call them

the “bad news crowd.” They are not very compassionate towards the lost or other Christians for

that matter. Some of our ICE team members have had run-ins with this group before. They

condemn us for giving out Southern Baptist literature and not using the KJV.

I’m sure this young man had bumped into them at some point.

I responded with a question, “What do you think?” Bobby said, “I think I’m a pretty good

person.” Immediately, I started asking Bobby the 10 commandments questions: “have you ever

lied, have you ever stolen anything regardless of value…”

He soon realized through these questions that he was not a good person. I continued to

witness to him along those lines pointing out that God must judge all sin. I then told him the

good news that Jesus Christ died for sin so that we could be forgiven.

Foundation Ministries P.O. Box 2151 Garner, NC 27529 www.onlyfoundation.org (919)647-4565

It was a great conversation. Bobby thanked me and moved on.

Less than a minute later, another tall, college-aged man came to me and asked, “I’m

Jewish. Can I get one of these coins?” Leroy was his name. He took the coin and said, “I like

that.” So I asked, “Leroy, will you go to heaven when you die?” “I think so,” was his reply. So I

started to ask him nearly the exact same questions I had asked his friend Bobby.

When I came to the point of decision, I pulled a tract out of my pocket and showed Leroy

the prayer for salvation. I read it to him and asked, “Does this sound like something you want to

say to God?” Leroy said, “Yes, it does.”

Standing on Bourbon Street around 8:30 PM, Leroy met his Messiah, the Lord Jesus

Christ. I wished I could have heard the rejoicing in heaven at that moment. I think there might be

a little extra rejoicing in glory when a Jewish person comes to faith in Christ.

Immediately, I began to disciple Leroy. I offered him a New Testament but he said he

already had one just like the one I offered to him. That means that someone else had already

been laboring and God allowed me to take part in that person’s labors.

All in all, the Mardi Gras outreach was an awesome experience for me. I plan to return

next year and stay through Fat Tuesday. Thousands of gospel tracts were distributed and many

other conversations took place in New Orleans that week. To God be the glory, great things He

hath done!

Thanks for praying and supporting this mission and the other ministries that we take part

in. You are storing up treasures in heaven through your prayers and financial gifts to this

ministry. God bless you.

Until the Net is Full,

Darrel

P.S. Keep praying for the thousands of seeds that were sown in New Orleans during the

outreach.