Sharon and I took Amtrak to LA to attend the SBC meeting in Anaheim. We got there a few days early, so on successive nights, we took in a movie—Top Gun: Maverick—at a local outlet mall, and an Angels/Mets game, where we saw Mike Trout hit two home runs and Shohei Ohtani hit one. At the ballpark, it was fun to come across a guy with an NOBTS T-shirt and then, in our seating section, seven SBC men from two states in Dixie. Back at the mall, we happened on the folks you see here, witnessing to Christ at a central planter. One preached and two others handed out brochures.

We listened for a bit, and I was impressed with the forthright clarity of the biblical message on something along the lines of “There is a way that seems right to a man that nevertheless lead to destruction.” He even applied it to homosexuality—not harshly, but imploringly. Mind you, this was the LA area, so I had to ask myself whether he was going to get away with this. (He wasn’t there when we came back that way, but maybe they were simply finished.)

I enjoy going up to people who’ve prayed before meals in restaurants. I often thank them for their witness, and I did the same thing for these saints in the mall. (BTW, I encouraged this sort of thing in our small group from church, and I got a happy report from one of the many California expats who’ve made their way to our neck of the Tennessee woods. He texted that he and his wife had bowed their heads in prayer at a restaurant on their first visit to Charleston, SC. Just as they finished, he felt arms hugging him from behind and discovered a black waitress smiling down, saying, “I just love it when people pray before their meals.”

The mall preacher reminded me of the one time I did something like that. We were on an SBTS mission trip to Detroit when we crossed over into Windsor, Ontario to meet with a black pastor there. We went to his home where his fledgling church met and enjoyed hearing about his outreach efforts. For one thing, he brought out a sandwich board with scripture printed on it, and I asked if I could give it a try. So I found myself on a downtown street corner, properly sandwiched with tracts in hand, accompanied by others from our seminary crew. I didn’t preach, but I did engage some passersby in brief conversation.

I didn’t begin to measure up to those Hispanics in California, but I had tasted the mixture of awkward nervousness and exhilaration that goes with this approach. And it wasn’t just their California mall preaching and brochure that testified to the glory of God. Before the message, they huddled, with arms on each other’s shoulders. Their prayers ran for several minutes, on a holy oasis in the midst of the Friday night crowd.

To the right, you see a boy seated on the rim of the planter, holding one of the tracts featuring cross. Who knows but what that small piece of literature will prompt a chain of discovery and faith leading to salvation. And perhaps the preacher and the boy will meet in heaven one day, with the boy telling him of the impact his ministry had on him that evening. Until that moment, the preacher might have thought that their witness (through Christ’s Forgiveness Ministries of Orange County/Los Angeles) came up empty that day. What a great surprise on high. It could happen. Well, we know, following Isaiah 55:10-11, something happened, for, like the rain, the Word doesn’t go out and do nothing.

The back of the brochure reads:

Please reach out to God today.

Here’s a sample prayer . . .

Dear God, I know I have sinned against you. Thank you for loving me by sending Jesus your Son to die for me, to take away my sins. Please forgive my sins as I turn away from them. Help me God as I want a new start with you. I accept your Son Jesus as Lord of my life and put my trust in Him to save me. I believe Jesus was raised back to life on the third day and offers me salvation this day. I receive this gift of salvation and I pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.