This post is a guest post from my friend and fellow pastor, Dr. Marty O. Wynn, of Columbus, GA (USA). This story is something that should motivate the membership of CBC to be strongly committed to sharing the gospel through the power of tracts. Thanks to Pastor Wynn for permitting me to share this with you.
The Power of a 20-Year-Old Gospel Tract
“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” (Ecclesiastes 11:1)
Several days ago my office received an envelope with a return address of a city in Pennsylvania. It was a basic business envelope with our churches name address handwritten on the front. Upon opening the envelope, I saw a tract. That was all that was inside of this envelope.
The tract was an old tract and had our church’s information and phone numbers rubber-stamped on the reverse side. The title of tract was “Someday You Will Stand Before God,” and was printed by the International Tract Ministry of Lincoln Park, Michigan. The tract simply gives the plan of salvation, with the documenting verses from the Scriptures.
What is unique about this tract is that this tract was distributed by Lighthouse in the late 1980’s, so it is over twenty years old! The back of the tract had an information section for the reader to complete, if they read the tract and trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior. The section was completed by a lady who had recently read the tract, and was convicted of her need for a Savior. Praise the Lord!
I contacted the lady and found out that her brother had been a soldier who was stationed at Fort Benning. While there, he had been given the tract by someone in our church. He had tucked the tract away into his Bible. Upon his recent death, his sister received his Bible. She was thumbing through it and saw the tract. The tract drew her attention and she read it.
It is amazing that a twenty-year-old tract was used by the Holy Spirit to draw a convicted sinner to the Savior. It has served as a great encouragement to our members. We never know where, how or when a simple tract may be used of God to bring another sinner to the foot of the cross!
Charles Spurgeon called tracts “Gospel Seeds.” He said every Christian should have a “leaky seed basket.” In other words, share gospel tracts where ever you go! Plant some seeds today!
I’d just like to pass on another way to help spread the gospel and it’s simply this:-
Include a link to an online gospel tract (e.g. http://www.freecartoontract.com/animation) as part of your email signature.
An email signature is a piece of customizable HTML or text that most email applications will allow you to add to all your outgoing emails. For example, it commonly contains name and contact details – but it could also (of course) contain a link to a gospel tract.
For example, it might say something like, “p.s. you might like this gospel cartoon …” or “p.s. have you seen this?”.