After a brief hiatus, Agent Offspring #1 joined forces with me today on the Evang-e-Droppings Eradication Operation. He not only helped, but did what every 3-year old does best: chatter non-stop and explain away his philosophy on everything. I am so proud of him.
I even had the opportunity to teach him some real manly, practical, father/son stuff. Like, how to pee in an alley behind a dumpster. Until now, AO1 only knew how to go in a toilet. Now he knows that it's ok to pee at any outdoor place where people aren't present. Especially cops. He handled the pressure of his new, outdoor industrial environment quite well. I am doubly proud of him.
We netted a below average number of tracts: 28. The numbers have seemed to be lower since I left for Canada. I wonder if colder weather has anything to do with attendance of either club patrons or the local tract crew.
I stumbled across this website last week. I had a feeling that the majority of these tracts were not home-grown, but instead were purchased in bulk online somewhere.
Oh well. Now I know how much money was spent on these things I pick off the ground.
11 comments:
where do you find the tracts? are people pretty creative in where they leave them? i never run across them myself.
Nancy -
Here in the fair mother city, there is an actual ministry, complete with a leader who has an office, 501c3 tax status, and a "church covering" (I'm not a believer in the covering teachings). I refer to them here as the local "tract passing crew".
They travel around the state and country passing out tracts at big events. Locally, they have a weekly schedule in which they stand at the door of a specific night club one night a week and pass tracts 5 minutes before closing.
I collect them the following day, mostly on the club grounds and nearby parking lots.
The aftermath of evangelical outreach is quite an eyesore. And I'm not a believer in drive-by evangelism.
So I figure someone should clean them up.
Sorry. I think my 1st paragraph should somehow have said, "there is an actual ministry that's sole purpose is to pass out tracts."
This is their preferred means of showing christ.
That is so funny that you have taught you little boy to pee outside. My sister has a little boy who also learned this wonderful trait when he was younger. I don't think he really understood that he couldn't do it just wherever he wanted to though. He had a really bad habit of standing in front of my sister's front door and peeing on the sidewalk right in the middle so you basically had no choice but to step in his pee. For some reason (probably because I don't have any boys) I find this hilarious!
a walmart gift card tract? that's awkward.
you should get the mailing address and then send them all back in a large box - postage due.
i might be easier to hang with them in front of the bars and hold out a trash can.
i ment hang with the brothers and sisters that are handing out the material. that way you do not have to walk around picking them up. the people that are being targeted can easily throw them away in your convient trash can.
that way the brothers and sisters can use them again and not have to buy so many. plus you will all get to know eachother!
Nancy -
Thanks for clarification of your earlier comment.
There are several reasons I don't hang with the local tract-passing crew. First and foremost: I don't believe in what they are doing.
I mean, I'm all for sharing truth and the freeing life of Jesus. But I'm not gung-ho about a) their method or b) the messages on these tracts as they focus on hell and guilt as opposed to love (1 John 4, I Cor 13, etc).
I know the leader of this crew. We were ordained at the same church service eons ago. And I wouldn't mind getting to know him and his more personally. But my actions might be interpreted as undermining their operation, and I don't care to build up any walls between anybody.
As stated in the Evang-e-Droppings Eradication Operation mission statement, I choose to show love to the club owners (and therefore, club patrons) by picking up not only these littered tracts, but also other trash from their property and nearby streets in a quiet, unassuming way (Matt 6:1-4). This is opposed to your suggestion of standing with the crew carrying a trash can.
Since I'm not a believer in these hell-bound guilt messages printed on cards, I don't want to encourage the crew to recycle these. I'd prefer they don't use them at all.
I have yet to dispose of the tracts collected over the past 6 months. They are currently in a big bag in my house. I don't now what to do with them yet - possibly an art collage representing wall building between believers an non-believers.
The folks that give these out are passionate about "witnessing". I am too, but prefer witnessing with my overall life and actions as opposed to printed, drive-by words that get discarded.
i think that what you are going through is very interesting and since i do not have the knowledge of how the Spirit is working in this situation as a whole. i will have no more to say about it. i am sorry that my suggestion was offensive. it was made partly in sadness about the lack of unity with believers in the body of Christ in this world. we get very distracted by the differesces that we have that come by living in the world. my heart aches for you in your differences with the ways of your brothers and sisters and also my heart aches for those that are lost to God. it was not a good way to express myself and i am sorry.
Hey Nancy -
No need to apologize. No offense taken here on my end. Sorry if my response came across that way.
I too am ashamed (as well as ashamed of myself) that believers are not unified, even in a single town. I constantly ask myself if this operation is the right thing to do. And thus far, I think it is.
But I'd really like to show people love with a Matt 6:1-4 kind of twist. And far too often, I don't see this version of "witnessing" containing any love. I believe it comes across very judgmental.
Thanks for keeping in touch.
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