Hide It Under a Bushel? No!

The Spring and Summer months are just before us (believe it or not) and it is time to think about booths for county fairs and flea markets. The following story demonstrates what a small study group (Erling and Ada Chavez, Merel and Lillian Cox, Karen Haake and Ben Schrock) has been doing in Avon Park, Florida for the last two years.

The story begins in 1993 when Erling Chavez was visiting his brother in California. While there, Erling’s brother told him about a couple who had a lending library and shared tapes about end-time events. (No surprise here — the couple was Allen and Frances Craw.) So, Erling returned to Florida with one video tape to watch at home. What he saw interested him, so he called the Craws to ask for additional tapes. The Craws sent Erling the 108 Video Series (21 tapes).

At the time, Erling (now retired) was working at a hospital. When he finished watching one tape in the series, he would excitedly attempt to share it with someone else. He learned that most people were not receptive to “new ideas” regarding prophecy. So, he looked for other ways to share his newly-found prophetic understanding.

The hospital had an area where books and information about the Bible were displayed and Erling decided to put a few Warning! books on a table, hoping people would pick up a book and study its contents. However, it was not long before the hospital chaplain stopped this avenue of book distribution.

However, Erling did not give up and kept looking for an open-minded person who would at least consider what he had learned from the tapes. One day, a co-worker, Merel Cox, reluctantly decided to view the tapes. Merel later confessed to Erling that he had consented to view the tapes hoping to show Erling the error of his ways.

Erling had stumbled onto one of the best ways to share this message with friends. If you share the materials with an open attitude and ask the recipient to evaluate them to find the errors, many times individuals begin to appreciate the message. So, Merel watched the tapes and as he studied his Bible, he became convinced of the truthfulness of the message.

Soon, Merel shared the tapes and message with Ben Schrock, who also became excited about Revelation’s story. The three men, along with their families, decided to start a study group in Erling’s home and each week they carefully studied each detail of the story, until the message became their own.

Heartfelt conviction usually brings the desire to witness and so the group prayerfully considered ways to share the news of Jesus Christ’s soon return. Erling told what had happened at the hospital and his continuing desire to have a booth for book distribution.

Ben Schrock suggested a booth at Trader Mac’s Flea Market and in August, 1994, the group rented two adjacent booths. It was an ideal location since literally hundreds of people pass through the flea market every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. With the help of the group, Ben designed and built one booth to focus on the “chart of millenniums” with tables situated underneath displaying free books.

In the second booth is an 8′ X 12′ apocalyptic time-line chart made out of plywood sheets. To protect the display, Ben covered the charts with polyurethane plastic.

What is unique about this particular display is that it is unmanned. The group designed the booth so people could stop and study the charts at their leisure, without any human intervention. On the table sits a two-sided explanation sheet describing the chronology of the chart on one side.

The flip side of the paper has a Bible study on the Second Coming. Also on the table is a large-print Bible. A visitor can easily follow the texts that coincide with the chart, because texts are marked in the Bible with colored tabs designated as A through M. Volunteers from the group visit the booth several times during the weekend, to make sure the supply of books is maintained and the area around the booth is clean. According to WUAS’ records, this group has distributed over 3,000 books at this booth.

The Avon Park study group encourages everyone to get started in some kind of witnessing project.

They are anxious to share what they have learned, so the message can be perpetuated quickly. Unfortunately, the Trader Mac’s lease ended the last day of April because the flea market closed. Please join in prayer with the Avon Park study group as they look for an alternate location to set up their display. They are anxious to reach others with the news of Jesus Christ’s soon return.

Another Way to Share Your Faith

During the last few years, many people have become convicted of the significance of Revelation’s story and have wished to share it with neighbors in their community. At Wake Up America Seminars we have continually been challenged to find more effective and efficient ways that people can share this message.

The challenge has always been to develop and utilize methods that attract attention, but can also reach the largest number of people. One tool that many people have used is to purchase the Science and Bible Agree brochure and distribute it through a number of methods. Some people have placed the brochure under windshield wipers in shopping center parking lots.

Other people have worked with WUAS to send the brochure to all addresses in a particular zip code route. Since this can cost as much as $0.35 per brochure to prepare and mail, the cost could be prohibitive. However, there is another way to distribute the brochures that is much more cost effective than mailing them, which can achieve the same results.

We have found that newspapers will include the brochure in their newspaper distribution at a much more effective rate than using the postal service.

In one location, the local newspaper has included the brochure at a cost of $0.04 per brochure. This, coupled with the $0.13 per brochure price, results in a much more efficient method of distribution. In addition, the WUAS office can place a label on the brochure offering things like a free Warning! book or a local contact number.

We anticipate that we will be able to lower the cost of the brochures when they are reprinted. Often, money spent on mass distribution projects can be considered a tax-deductible contribution. If you are considering such a project, contact the WUAS office to be sure it will qualify as a contribution.

If you have found other ways to share with your community, please call us so we can share it.