If you have never been to a Hillbilly days, its one of the most polite crowds ever.  No alcohol is sold so everyone was pretty much acting like humans.  In that area of the country, the gospel is respected and the preacher is revered so we didn't get much mockery... although we encountered some.  To our surprise, we were the only street-preachers there.  There was a church there handing out free water.  But we were the only ones preaching God's grace and wrath to the masses.  100K + people and we were it...  ?? 

We prayerfully walked through the crowds and settled on a side street to set up the haler.  A couple of cops looked us over but none bothered us.  Perhaps we were left alone because we didn't set up on the main drag. 

What stood out to us right away was the religious spirit that exuded from the crowds.  They had a mouth that drew near God but their hearts were far from him.  Perhaps this Freemason sponsored event was why we were sensing this.  They believe that there are many ways to the same God... if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you in Manhattan. 

We began preaching and it appeared that not much was happening.  People really wouldn't acknowledge us.  We would get an occasional 'amen', but that was about it.  However, God's word does not come back void.  One lady we'll call "Almost" with her boyfriend Gary were struck by the message.  Apparently, Almost used to be a Christian and turned her back on God due to a tragedy in her life.  God used us to really woo her back.  Some of the things we said were confirmed by her when she said, "it's funny you said that, just yesterday I heard that..."... God was dealing with her through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

One kid came up to us as we were preaching and asked us what gave us the right to say the things we were saying.... I guess he meant preach.  I told his we are commanded to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.  He was disturbed by the gospel which, the Bible tells us, is a stumbling block to some.

"Nobody's listening - shut the h*ll up" was the response we received from another person while I was preaching.  "That's what we are trying to do... preach the hell out of you."  In fact, unless this poor deceived soul repents and believes the gospel, he is on a collision course with eternal torment.  Keep him in prayer. 

I had a personal "first" during this outreach.  A guy walked by and shared his flatus with us as I was preaching.  Let's face it, virtually every Grandpa (that I know of ) has had his grand-child pull his finger and the grandkids think it's great.  However, to assault a preacher with this vulgarity is mockery at it's worst.  He has no regard for the Word of God nor the preacher. 

All in all, it was a good event.  We'll be back next year.