Update #9.2 - The Epilogue

And now it falls to me to wrap up the loose ends and finish the story out to it's full conclusion, for we have indeed reached the conclusion of this chapter. So let us begin with a summary of the yesterday evening's festivities before moving on to my larger point:

After meeting April and Kevin, it seemed only natural to ask them to dinner. "The Commissary" (a Memphis staple, I believe) was chosen, and our group of five (for our host, Nathan, had now rejoined us) settled down for some good BBQ and sweet tea, all of which I was very ready for. The conversation was not dull, and we parted ways with an extra bounce in our steps.

Before we parted, however, Kevin made this observation that I hope we have taken to heart and applied: "I really appreciate all your stories and your experiences," he said, "but I'm also encouraged that you're willing to talk about the times that things didn't work out quite right - the times you failed. Not because I'm glad you failed, of course, but it's encouraging to know that I'm not the only one who doesn't always get it right." Of course, I told Kevin, we all fail! Sometimes quite miserably! But that does not change the fact that we have been called to try, and it seems that our story has already been used to give other Christians that extra little push that they've needed to do just that.

Now, I have forgotten to mention that Kevin and April were not doing this with an entire group of similar students. They were not doing this as part of a church or even with a youth group. No, this was just their idea - to go out into the world and engage people as best they could. They had seen the calling, and they had decided to heed it just as every Christian should, which is the point I want to make now - we must all heed the call.

Now that doesn't necessarily mean that every Christian should be required to take a one-week hiatus once a year to go traipsing across the country (though it wouldn't hurt, I'm confident), but it does mean that every Christian is responsible to engage those people who are put in front of them and, more than that, to pursue those people. I don't think Christians are very effective at this quite often, and I am now more convinced than ever that it is due to fear, not a lack of ability. What the guy across the counter thinks of us is typically more important to us than his immortal soul. Not that we would ever put it in those terms, because if we did, we surely would realize our folly, but that perhaps makes the point all the more powerfully - we don't even think in those terms.

For the most part, Christians lead fairly comfortably, unobtrusive lives, leaving everyone else in peace simply in the hope that they will treat us likewise. But what kind of Christianity is that?! Certainly not the one I'm familiar with. The Christianity I know demands action and, if it's true as we believe it is, demands that a choice be made. We act as if the choice God gives humanity is not life's most important concern, and then we are surprised when others treat it the same way. If we truly believe that Christianity is true, then sharing that truth with other people is not something left only to "the elite," something meant only for specifically designated "missions trips," or even for grand road trips to other cities - sharing God's grace with other people should become a way of life, something as second nature to us as any other thing.

Now, this isn't to say that it will be comfortable at first; indeed, it may never be. After three previous "Louisville Slugger" outings, I still was not entirely comfortable with our outreach to Memphis late last night. Still, it was something that we felt we should do (especially since we wanted to get Nathan involved; that makes three so far!). But what I'm talking about is even more fundamental and less intrusive than this.

Alan and I were discussing how this trip has impacted us, as it has rather profoundly, I think. "Well, I won't ever be able to go into a coffee shop now without trying to strike up a good conversation with the barista," I said, "and I think I'll keep carrying a chess set around in my backpack - good hook if I'm not doing anything else."

"Yeah, we should make up some sort of 'evangelism survival kit,' and it should probably include keeping a couple of good books and a Bible in your pack," Alan added, "you never know when you'll have the opportunity to give something away."

Now these things are fundamental and easy, because this is where it begins to work into daily routine. People have told us that they admire what we're doing, but that they could never do it themselves. But everyone can; indeed, as Christians, we must! In our daily lives, some of these sorts of tactics should be included as everyday activities.

So, as I sit now in my own living room in Birmingham, Alabama for the first time in a week and a half, I'm beginning to look for ways to transform my area rather than someone else's. Imagine what could happen if we all did that? With a little prayer and tenacity, quite alot, I should think.

--Michael Taunton

Update #9.1 - In Which God Writes our Conclusion

When we walked into High Point Coffee, we noted the fact that this, at last, was our final coffee-shop of the trip. We assessed the situation: a man reading a book in one corner, a group of three students studying near the front, a lone barista, and a couple talking to one another around a round table. Lots of potential.

"You take the barista, and I'll talk to this guy about what he's reading," I told Denny, and we split.

-----

"Are you a Steinbeck fan?" I asked, noticing the cover of his book.

"Yeah, I like some of his stuff. I saw this one at the store today and figured I'd pick it up."

"Very well. I'm an English major, so I like hearing about what other people are reading."

"Yeah, well this one's a little more obscure, but Of Mice in Men and The Grapes of Wrath are both good ones. I haven't gotten far enough in this one to know."

A few minutes later, he and his son headed off to dinner. Time for a new target.

-----

Wondering how to start up a conversation with the couple, I was surprised to see the girl lean over and look at me. "I heard you say you were an English major?"

"Yeah, I am!" This was neat - someone engaging *me*.

"Well, I am too. Where do you go to school." I took this as an invitation to chat and didn't want to lose the opportunity.

"I go to Samford in Birmingham," I explained, picking up my bag and moving towards them. "I think I'll join y'all over here." As welcoming as ever, they smiled as I sat down across from them.

"What is that you're reading," the girl asked. These people were different. Genuinely interested in who I was and what I cared about.

"It's Through Painted Deserts - by Don Miller, the same guy who wrote Blue Like Jazz. Have you heard of him?"

"Yeah!" she said. "We've actually been going around giving out John Piper tracts."

"Really?" This was certainly something new. "Well, y'all would be interested in what we've been doing for the past week." At this point, Denny showed up.

"Hi," he said. "I'm Michael." "I'm April, nice to meet you." "And I'm Kevin." Somehow my name entered the fray as well.

"They've been giving out Piper tracts," I told my counterpart. "Anyways," I said, addressing Kevin and April, "we've been on what we call an evangelistic road trip..." And we went into story-telling mode. The two were intrigued as we told our tales, and eventually I asked them about their tract-giving.

"So what are y'all doing here?" I asked after their explanation.

"The same thing you are," they laughed. "As soon as you two walked in the door, we tried to come up with some way to engage you. 'They're wearing backpacks,' we said. 'We can ask them if they're students.' And then I heard you were an English major and thought, 'Hey! here's our chance to talk to them.'"

-----

So it was that here, in the very last coffee-shop of our trip, we met a brilliant couple, ready and willing - evangelizing to us.

And what a glorious conclusion! Written, we are confident, by the author of life Himself.

~Alan T. Halbrooks

Update #8.2 - What Goes On In Our Minds (In Case You Were Wondering...)

After pouring a few spoonfuls of honey into my o-so-delicious chamomile tea, I found a chair on the bar between two 20-sommat young ladies. It's always a bit odd striking up conversations with women only a few years older than yourself...to them and to any outsider looking on, it must seem like you're hitting on them. I don't like it one bit.

Nonetheless, I knew it needed to be done. So I sipped away at my tea for a few minutes building up the courage to speak to the first one. Just start saying something, Alan - it doesn't have to be perfect. If you wait till something good comes, you'll never do it. "Hey!" I said. Smooth. "Is that one of the new Macs?" She turned and looked at me. "Yeah. I think so."

"Well, how do you like it?" This was still a bit awkward.

"It's nice." "Yeah, mine's treated me well" and I pointed to my own. We talked for about half a minute more, but when she stopped making eye contact all together, I realized the conversation was over. Hmm - you can't win 'em all.

Five minutes passed as I sipped my tea, walked around the coffeeshop to find a newspaper, added more honey, and finally worked up the courage to try lady number two.

"Hi." I said. At this point I had to follow up. When your courage is sapped, sometimes you just have to start saying something and force yourself to keep talking. "Are you from around here?"

"I am," she said, almost happily - as if she was glad to have someone to talk to. This was encouraging.

"Well, I'm on a road trip and was wondering what sort of things there were to do in St. Louis."

"Oh!" she nodded. "Well, let's see....there's the Zoo, which is free, and Forest Park is just down the road from here. How long are you here?" Just today, I told her.

"Is it just you on the road trip?" At this point, I decided to ramp up the spiritual side of the conversation. Once you've chit-chatted a while, you can work up your courage a little more. And maybe she was a Christian already anyways. So I took the plunge.

"Well, it's just me and a friend, and we're doing something of an evangelistic road trip from Birmingham to Chicago - trying to initiate conversations with people about spiritual things along the way and such. The other day, we were in Cincinnati with the homeless all day. And yesterday we were in Chicago. The reason I was asking you about things to do in St. Louis is because we're trying to find something that can be unique to this city." She seemed somewhat intrigued, but didn't reveal whether or not she was a Christian. I took this as a sign to keep talking about what we'd done and seen.

I told her the story of the Louisville Slugger approach ('we said thus and such, and he said thus and such'), the different conversations we've had over chess games, and the like - hoping these stories would draw out where she was coming from. Also, they were an easy means of sharing the gospel with her.

"What denomination are you with?" she asked.

"Well, we're both Presbyterians - but we're more interested in the teaching of the Bible and Christ, and not in our denomination. If it ever departs from Biblical teaching, I'm not just going to blindly follow it. What about you...are you with a denomination or anything?"

She seemed surprised that I asked this. "Well, funny, actually. My mother was a nun. So I grew up Catholic, and I don't suppose you ever really stop being Catholic."

This would have been a good time for me to ask her what she meant by that, but instead I just said, "Hm. Interesting." I paused a moment and then said, "So did you grow up in a Nunnery, or how did that work? I don't think I've ever met the daughter of a nun..."

"You probably haven't," she said. "There's not too many of us."

I was thoroughly confused, but didn't really want to ask her how this daughter-of-a-nun business had come about. Eventually, I thanked her for her tips on where to go, and got up to add some more honey to my tea. By now, it had become very lukewarm and very sweet. I stopped by the table where Shannon and Denny were playing checkers. "She's the daughter of a nun," I told them.

"What??" "I'm gonna see if I can talk to her again...I didn't really know where to go in that conversation." So I went back and thought for a minute before re-engaging her.

"One more question for you." "Sure," she replied, and turned my way. "You said you were a history major. Has your study of history led you away from Catholicism? Because you said you 'never really stop being a Catholic' but sound like you don't really agree with it all."

"I wouldn't say history as much, because I didn't study much from that time period. And I still believe a lot of the central ideas about justice and such, but the church has become so stringent and political." She had an issue with women not being allowed to preach. "I think they should just change with the times. I mean I understand holding your values, but they turn away so many people because they want to be so conservative."

There were all sorts of way I could go now, and I'm still not sure I chose the best route, but I went ahead and told her that a lot of the people we had come into contact with over the last few days had had similar sentiments. Since the emphasis on the personal worked so well with Camille, I figured I'd give it a shot again.

After we talked for a bit, she seemed ready to end the conversation, so I finished with this: "Well, thanks for talking with me - I want to just stress that Christianity isn't about the institution, but about a personal relationship with God, and you seem to grasp that." I'm not sure she really did grasp that, but if she didn't it would at least encourage her to think about it.

"Yeah," she said, "maybe I've given you more information than you asked for, but that's just what I think about the church."

----

Not a milestone conversation by any stretch of the imagination. Really, I was somewhat disappointed, and even more-so now that I look back on how many different ways it could have gone. Still, I am reminded that we don't always get to be harvesters - sometimes we're the seed planters. I shared the gospel with her, and that, I know, has power that is greater than man.

~Alan Halbrooks

Update #8.1 - In the Shadow of the Arch

I have nothing great or profound to say after my previous post, which was slightly longer than I meant it to be simply because I also included some of today's activities in that post; they matched my theme. But, I do want to say that Alan, Shannon, and I went to the St. Louis arch today armed with a few Fixed Point resources and began handing them out to interested individuals. It was a highly successful venture (far more so than it was in Chicago), where we left resources in the hands of a few skeptics, helped give an intellectual foundation to a couple of Christians who felt beaten down, helped encourage a couple of Christians to be bolder with their beliefs, and armed a local pastor with some of the tools he might need to properly aid some of his congregates who were really seriously facing these issues.

We found ourselves empty handed in a matter of thirty minutes, which was a completely different response than we had expected after Chicago. It simply shows that just because a particular methodology fails in one circumstance, that doesn't mean it will fail elsewhere. We must constantly be looking for new and innovative ways to approach every situation, and that takes tremendous creativity since no two situations are identical. But God has been gracious, and he certainly was today.

Tomorrow, it's off to Memphis for the last leg of our trip!

--Michael Taunton

Update #7.2 - A Reflection on Bravery

As I comfortably sit in St. Louis after an exhilarating game of nerts with some friends from Samford, it seems that the heaviest part of the trip is over, and now we are in a sort of "falling action;" we have not stopped our evangelistic efforts by any means, but we have hit something close to a routine and have taken it a little easier the past couple of days. On the seventh day, God rested, and we have tried to follow in kind. The two of us are simply worn out - happy in our work, but worn out. I must say that after this trip (which will only be nine days long, in the end), I have a far greater admiration for Paul and his missionary journeys than I did before; how did the man keep going? Truly, he was spurred on by the Holy Spirit, because the emotional and mental drain of this trip has been incredible, and I've been on missions trips before.

All of this said, we have still managed to accomplish great things in the past couple of days, and that is largely due to the fresh blood that joined us - Will Dahl and Shannon Dille. Will is an old high school friend of ours who goes to school here and is working here for the summer; Shannon is a friend from Samford and the one whom we happen to be staying with, and both of them have proved invaluable.

We met Will for pizza on our way into the city (St. Louis style pizza, which Will accurate described as tasting like Easy Cheez on cardboard; I don't really recommend it, but we truly appreciated the gesture), and then we asked him if he wanted to come with us to do some "Louisville Slugging" late in the evening. He agreed and told us that he had some NIV New Testaments, and that certainly beat our KJVs, even if it was only the NT.

After this, we went to Shannon's house where we were settled in and then told her about our evening plans of "drive by evangelism" and asked her if she wanted to participate.

"I've never really done anything like that before."

"Well neither had we until a few days ago, and we're certainly not old hands at it now."

"But that's not really my kind of personality, you know?"

"Well, the funny thing is, I thought it was my kind of personality, but have become so intensely frustrated at how many opportunities I just watch go past because I'm too afraid to stick my neck out; if we have three good conversations in a day, we've done pretty well, and that's just sad when I consider in retrospect how many we might have," I offered; I cannot stress enough how true this statement is, either.

"Yeah, but you see, that's just the thing. You talk about 'three conversations in a day' like that's not very many, and I've probably only had three conversations like that in my whole life!"

"Not only that," Shannon's mother offered, "but it's probably easier to do it when you're not at home, too."

"Oh that's very true," Alan responded. "You can see that just from us! We had to leave the city before we felt at all brave enough to try something like this."

"But the point remains," I said to Shannon, "that you shouldn't think we're some super brave and courageous people for doing this; if anything, I've realized how cowardly I am on this trip, and I think Alan feels the same way. I'm angry at myself all the time for letting conversations slip by and for not making myself as useful to God as I could. You could do this, I'm confident, and the offer is there."

Only about an hour later, Alan and I were in the car with her on the way to ice cream as our own gesture of gratitude (it's about all we can afford). She knew what the plan was for afterwards, and had been reluctant to come along, but she wanted to make sure we stayed out of East St. Louis (high crime rate, we're told), and we told her that she wouldn't be required to do anything that made her uncomfortable unless she wanted to (because, of course, none of this is very comfortable). So we had a group for our evening activities. We picked up Will Dahl around 9:30 and were off to downtown St. Louis.

Now before I move on, I do feel the need to note that Will is absolutely perfect for this sort of role; if anyone in that car was completely comfortable with the situation, it was definitely him. Though his being oblivious to social expectations (he truly is oblivious) might irritate some people or even get him into trouble from time to time, in a context like this, it was exactly what was needed. I say this only to point out that there are probably some, Will being among them, who truly do not fear this sort of work, but the other three of us do not fall into this category. The trick is simply to be able to work beyond that fear.

But, coming back to our posse, we ended up in downtown St. Louis for probably an hour and a half, driving around without any luck for the first thirty minutes of this outing. Alan and Shannon were in the back busily dog-earing John 3 and circling verses 16-18 while Will and I navigated the city and looked for people who were by themselves and looked like they might be interested. After searching hopelessly for quite awhile, we hit on a flurry of activity, giving out six Bibles within about ten minutes! In the next hour, we probably talked to about eight different people, receiving positive reactions from some (very positive from a couple of people who were clearly looking for hope), and negative from others, especially from well-educated, white males - that demographic we still seem completely unable to crack. We felt surprise, encouragement, discouragement, joy, and all range in between during that next hour, and not just Alan and I, but our new companions as well.

It was truly fascinating to see how little of an advantage Alan and I (who had done this several times now) had over our friends. In spite of her earlier worries of being fearful, Shannon proved to be one of the boldest of the lot, very willingly asking questions, conversing with others, and handing out Bibles as if she were the old hand! We went on rotation, and Shannon never once showed any unwillingness to participate when her turn came around, though we would have thought none the worse of her if she had. Mustering the courage to do these things is very difficult, and I could well imagine some of the thoughts and fears that might be running through her head as they were also running through mine, but in the end, she was able to overcome all of them and never looked back.

"Shannon and Will were terrific!" I told Alan as we prepared for bed.

"Yeah, they really were."

"I mean, they really showed us up! Think about it: it took us four days of this kind of thing to get comfortable with an idea like that, and they did it right out of the gate. And in their home city, of all places! We still haven't done that! I mean, how can people look at us and think that what we're doing is really special when those two came along and did everything we did in one evening!" This was one of the few times where I considered being beaten a good thing.

The next morning, Shannon also wanted to accompany us to Kayak's coffee shop where we were going to try engaging people in conversation just casually or over chess. Alan succeeded in engaging a very interesting young lady casually while Shannon and I tried to attract people to our checkers game and were given some time to talk:

"You're really natural at this, Shannon. In spite of all your worrying that you couldn't do it, you really did well last night. You and Will showed the two of us up considering you had never done anything like that at all and we had a week's practice already." She responded very modestly and then made an interesting observation.

"It's really cool that you and Alan are doing this now because I've just been struggling lately with what you were talking about - seeing all kinds of opportunities show up in front of me, but then just watching them go by because I'm too afraid to say anything. It really frustrates me and I've wanted to change it, so maybe you've helped get me past some of that and just do it anyway, even if it does make me uncomfortable. I don't think there's any way that either me or Will would have been driving around St. Louis last night handing out Bibles if the two of you hadn't come here to do it with us. I think you kind of pushed us out."

We were interrupted right about here, which was unfortunate because the conversation was a very good one, but she had given me something to think about. Now this I could swallow; I do not think that Alan or I are really any more intrinsically brave or special than tons of other people, but maybe God has spurred us on to press just a tiny bit further, and the best thing that can happen with that is for it to push others just a little bit further too. We had done nothing for the two of them but show them a way, and then the actions were all theirs.

Maybe it's just strength in numbers, maybe it's just being shown a method, but whatever the case may be, I think the greatest thing we've done in the past two days has not (probably) been the things we've done for non-believers so much as it is the things we've helped Will and Shannon do. Alan and I have already discussed that we won't be able to go into a coffee shop without trying to strike up a spiritual conversation with the barista anymore, and if we can help bring that kind of clarity to other Christians simply by involving them in some of what we've done, and then if they go and do their own thing and involve even more people in it, then a drop could just become a ripple and maybe even a wave.

--Michael Taunton

Update #7.1 - For Theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven

It's been far too long since I've interacted with children. A week, almost.

So when we started a game of chess with three middle-school sisters, it's no wonder things got out of hand. I'm normally a pretty energetic type. Put me with a group of children I've never met, fill me with lemonade, and I become like one of them. This is not always a good thing, but yesterday, I think it was for the best.

"Do you play chess?" I asked as Maddie walked by. "A little, but my sister is better."

"I'll play you!" her sister Emma chimed in. "Alright!" I exclaimed and cleared the board of the game Denny and I were playing (I was getting thoroughly destroyed, anyway).

As Emma sat down, the third sister showed up and pulled in a chair. As it happens, Maddie, Emma, and Jen were the daughters of the guy who ran our coffeeshop. The children didn't need to ask us any questions. To them, we were instant friends. - what wonderful people.

Before long, I was losing pieces like an old jigsaw puzzle. Emma's queen single-handedly took out half my army. Denny says I let her win. Really, I was just distracted by all the joy emanating from the children around us. They talked about mission trips they'd been on this summer, the new Abraham Lincoln penny that just came out today, summer reading, and whatever else came to mind.

Amid much laughter, we told them about our trip, about our job as youth leaders back home, and at one point the Halbroox Bros. production company. This is how it happened...

Emma: (moves queen and takes out another pawn)

"Now what are you gonna do?"

Alan: (after a look of horror)

"Hahaaaa! I think I'll do.....This!"

...at this moment several things happen. My rook moves into a trap, Emma shakes her head, and my arm takes my lemonade cup clean out...and straight into my lap. The little girls burst into laughter, and I can do nothing but join in.

If we weren't friends before, we definitely were now. Denny hopped up to get me some fresh clothes, and the kids joined in the clean-up-the-floor party. Before long, we were back at the chess game, and about the time Denny returned, my King had lost his head.

The shirt Michael brought was a Halbroox Bros. shirt, and after I had changed into it, Maddie saw me and asked, "Are you one of those people on the shirt?"

A remarkable little lad. Most people that even know my last name is "Halbrooks" don't make that connection. "Ha!" I said - "actually that one right there is me, and those are my brothers. We film movies, like our own version of the Lord of the Rings."

"You should do the Three Amigos!" ...wow...little did they know this was one of my favorite movies of all time. A moment later, the four of us were singing the Three Amigos theme song and saying things like "I'm Ned Needleander!" right out loud. The other customers must have thought I was a loon. I probably am a loon, but that's beside the point. The point is that children are grand. They're naturally observant, full of hope, and don't care to put you in a box.

After giving them a copy of The Little Prince and writing a note in the front cover, we left them as they were summoned home. I left there with a spring in my step. Re-energized and still laughing about the joy of life.

When Christ says "Let the little children come to me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," I can't help but think of their joy. The only reason some children have that much joy, you may tell me, is because they haven't been exposed to the evils of this world. But if we truly believe in God's love, in the hope and power of the Gospel, why should any exposure to the world keep us from experiencing the joy Christ has offered us?

"Because your love is better than life, O Lord," says the psalmist, "I will praise you."

~Alan T. Halbrooks

And Who, Pray Tell, is Denny?

Right. So word on the street has it that my use of the name "Denny" on several occasions has caused some confusion. Sorry! In short, "Denny" is what I call Michael. Any time you see Denny (or Denis Henderson), think Michael.

...I still like Denny better, myself. And yes, there is a story behind this...

~Alan Halbrooks

Update #6.3 - The Climax

(I apologize for the length and the delay, but this post deserved both; please read to the end. ADDITIONAL NOTE: we have made it a habit to change everyone's names to protect their identity, but in this case, our friend's name simply had too much value to not include. Please don't sue. ;-)

----------------

Somewhere southeast of Chicago

"Well, today's the trip's climax."

"That's not necessarily true; we've still got plenty of big places left to hit like St. Louis and Memphis."

"True enough, but this is the farthest north we'll get, the largest city we'll hit, and probably the most thoroughly secularized place we'll be in, too. It seems like it should be the climax, but I suppose we'll just have to see how the day goes."

Well, after a rather rocky start, I think our conversation in the car very much foreshadowed the day's events.

----------------

After our meeting with Jiffy, we quickly packed up and bolted. She had left reading the back intently, and we were content to leave her with the DVDs for now. The idea of her finding something on the back of the DVD she didn't like and wheeling around for a confrontation wasn't appealing at the moment, so we just hoped that the message would find it's mark while we went on to other things.

We looked at our watches in disappointment; did we really only have TWO HOURS left in Chicago? Here we were, lugging around a bulky sign, at least a mile away from our car, having handed out resources to TWO people, with virtually no time left in the city. Things were not looking good. Chicago was going to be a bust, it was clear.

"Man, this was supposed to be our biggest day, and we haven't done jack!" I complained to Alan.

"Well, let's just go put this stuff up and hit a coffee shop or two. It'd be a shame to be in Chicago and not hit any coffee shops." I agreed and we re-emerged from the underground parking deck half an hour later and set out to find a coffee shop or two.

We settled on the first one we saw, the Corner Shop Cafe, which sat right underneath one of Chicago's many elevated train tracks. As we walked in, I got the sinking feeling that this place would be a waste of time - it was definitely not set up with the idea of engaging strangers in mind, being closer to a Panera than your typical "coffee shop."

Just the same, they were selling lemonade and we were tired, so we stuck around. Things looked a little brighter when I noticed that there was a long bench seat with several small tables lined up in front, and at one of those tables sat a young woman, alone, reading a book. Since the table next to her was open, Alan and I went and sat down, both of us, I'm sure, trying to decide what our approach should be. Alan got a call so, in the meantime, I decided to ask her a casual question.

"What are you reading?" She turned to me, showed me the title of the book, and then said something in French that I didn't catch at all.

"So, are you learning French?" I asked.

"Actually, I am French."

A couple seconds later, Alan joined the conversation and I briefed him on our new friend's bio. She was French, from Paris, here in the US visiting a friend, and had been in the US (to Richmond) once before. We told her about our road trip, talked about traveling abroad, and asked her what her impressions were of the city. She and Alan discussed the author (a Frenchman) of Alan's favorite book, The Little Prince, and I asked her about her interest in law. She had been to Oxford and I tried to bring up the Oxford debate, but there was no bite.

After awhile, I was beginning to dread that we would not be able to turn things to a spiritual discussion, but Alan wisely decided to ask her "our question:"

"So we've been asking everyone this question along our road trip, seeing what different kind of answers we get and what we could learn from other people. And the question is, 'if you could tell us any one thing, what would it be.' It doesn't have to be a grand, universal answer, but it certainly can be."

"Hmmm.... Let me see..... I think that I would say 'enjoy the moment. Enjoy where you are right now and try to find the good in it.' Because, if you do that, you'll look back on things much more fondly. Now, of course, you have to plan for the future some too, but you can still do that and enjoy the moment."

"That's not a bad answer. There's alot of truth in that," we both said.

We discussed it a little further and then she asked about other answers we had gotten.

"Well, we had one waitress tell us not to baptize our neighbor's cat!" we offered, to which there was some laughter and an exchange of the story. She was still interested: "What others have you had?"

"Well, one guy told us that life was meaningless, which was disappointing," Alan and I recalled.

"Well, yeah, that is kind of disappointing because it seems like that's sort of a dark way of looking at it, but he is at least kind of right. I mean, not everything in life has meaning, so at least if you don't think anything has meaning, you're not busy looking for meaning where there isn't any. What about you, though? What do you think?" There we were! She had not only given us something to respond to, she had then willingly turned over the floor to us with her question!

"Mmmm! Well I hope you really wanted an answer to that question because part of the reason we ask other people is not only to learn from what they have to say, but also hoping that they'll ask us," Alan said.

"Yes because, you see, Alan and I are Christians, and so when we look at the world we find meaning in everything from the most mundane daily activities to the great ones. The idea is that, when you're a Christian, everything done for the glory of God becomes a meaningful activity with eternal value."

"Ah, eternal value. Yeah, I can sort of understand that since, for me personally, one of my major concerns is being eco-friendly. That just seems to me to have great meaning and to have some lasting value since the world lives on long after we're gone. I used to go to church when I was little, and my entire family is Christian, so I know something about Christianity but I haven't been to church in the past several years because there were just some things about what was being said that I couldn't swallow."

"Like what?"

"Well, for instance, the Trinity. I just can't figure that out. It makes no sense how something can be three people and one person at the same time." Hmmm..... A discussion of the Trinity did not really seem to me like the place to start with someone who wasn't a Christian; it seemed that she was probably missing something much more fundamental.

"No, I can understand that completely. There's some parts that just don't seem to add up at first, and that can be one of them. It's difficult, there's no question."

"Yeah, so because of that and some other things, I just decided to leave religion altogether, and I've been able to have a meaningful life outside of that by dedicating my life to something else lasting. Besides, why believe Christianity when there's so many other options out there? I mean, how can you be sure it's right when there's Islam and Judaism and so many other things. They're all just saying the same things." Now here was something we could really hit hard without getting into a really heady discussion:

"Well, it seems that most people would agree that there are only three real viable religions in the world today and...." she gave me a look that said very clearly, "I disagree," so I changed tactics. "Well, okay, let's throw them all in there; my point won't be any different. There is one feature in Christianity that is completely different from any other religion in the world, and that's the idea of Grace. Have you ever heard of this?" She nodded that she had, with that kind of 'I've heard this before' expression.

"Well do you know what it means? It's the reason that Alan and I here believe Christianity because it resonates with the world we see around us. You see, we live in a screwed up place where no one can be trusted; I can't trust you, I can't trust my family, I can't trust Alan here (great guy though he is), and I certainly can't trust myself. In the end, all of those people will fail me at some point. So if I'm going to put my trust in something, it's going to have to be higher than myself. And not only that, but the idea is that, if we're ever going to be allowed to live in community with God, we're going to have to try to find someway to fill the breach that's between us."

"The problem is, you and I can't! We can't help ourselves and we can't trust anyone else to help us either; everyone will fail. But God, who had no responsibility to help us, decided that he would do for us what we couldn't do for ourselves. So where every other religion in the world gives you a check list and says, 'do this if you want to go to Heaven and live with God,' Christianity gives you the rules and says, 'you can't ever possibly do this, but don't worry, I'll do it for you and then all you have to do is to trust in me and I will save you no matter what you've done.' You might have screwed up horribly, but God is willing to help you anyway. That's what Grace is."

Here, Alan popped into the conversation: "And with your interest in law, you should probably understand this, because of course, God couldn't just ignore all of the evil things that we've done; then he would be unjust. Evil had been done, and someone had to pay the penalty for it, but since we are finite and God is infinite, there was no way that we could ever fulfill what needed to be done. So God, in his mercy, decided to take the penalty upon himself and pay the penalty for us that we could not pay ourselves. So, if we claim Christ's life and death as our own life and death, then when God looks at us, He does not see all of the evil things that we've done, but instead he sees the perfect life that Christ lived, and we are acceptable to Him." I was thankful Alan had realized that we could probably notch this conversation up a level from where we had typically been speaking; she wanted more than just the basics, and this dialogue brought that to light.

She had been listening very patiently and attentively and now looked at us thoughtfully. "You know, I don't think I've ever heard it put that way before." She was thoroughly intrigued and moved in a little closer. She wanted to know more. Success one! Now we just needed to follow up.

"Well this is the core idea behind all of Christianity, and I'm afraid the institutional church occasionally does a bad job of communicating something different," I offered, remembering her previous statement that she had been to church when she was younger; how sad that she had been able to go to any church for any length of time and yet this was her first exposure to true Grace!

"Well, I think that God probably isn't quite that interested in individual people. I mean, how could a huge God be interested in little people? How would you know? Now, don't get me wrong, I believe in God, but I think he's probably not in any particular religion but is just kind of there in nature keeping things going."

Alan had this one covered, "You know, it's interesting that you say that because we had one person, when we asked them our first version of the question - if you could tell the world one thing, what would it be - he said that he didn't want to tell the world anything because he thought that true value was to be found in personal relationships. Yet, when he began telling us about his conceptions of God, he wanted a God that didn't do anything but give universal statements - no personal aspect. But, while God is that kind of God in the sense that he's all powerful, watches over everything, etc., he is also a very personal God."

"But how can he be? You can't communicate with him, at least not like you can with someone else."

Now it was my turn: "Some of that may be true, but Alan and I would say that you can have a very real and personal relationship with God. And of course we believe that the man Jesus was also literally God, which means that there was a point in history where we could have communicated with God just like I'm communicating with you, and we're looking forward to the time when we're in Heaven and will communicate like that with Him again."

"Now, in the meantime, communication is a little different and that's the part that we can't really explain fully because you just kind of have to experience it, but it's there. One of the primary ways that I find it there is through my relationships with other people. For instance, I love my family and my friends very much, and there's this particular girl who I've dated for three years that I think is pretty swell, and I find that when I experience love and joy with them, it gives me a far greater understanding of God's love for me and some things that I knew only intellectually before now make way more sense and I can really see them. The Bible says, 'taste and see that the Lord is good,' and that's kind of the idea here. So I think that relationships with other people are one of the ways that we get a little window into something much larger and greater, and it gives my relationships with other people much greater meaning, too."

"Then, of course, he communicates to us through fellow Christians, through prayer, and most explicitly and importantly, through his holy word - the Bible."

"Yeah," Alan chimed back in, "Take Denny here, for instance. I know him, but that's only because he chose to tell me about himself, not because I analyzed him and figured everything about him out. If he hadn't told me about himself, there's no way I could know about him. So it's the same with God since God is a person. We didn't just figure all of this stuff out, he told it to us in the Bible."

She was still listening carefully, but here she protested: "But the Bible was still written by men."

I caught this up. "Well, yes and no. I mean, that's true in as far as it was men who wrote it down and men who translated it. And certainly there might be some errors in the text now from a scribe slightly miscopying something or translation errors, which I'm sure you can understand since you speak two languages; some things in French just don't translate well to English and vis versa. That said, we believe that the original authors of the Bible were inspired by God to say exactly what God wanted them to say and that the Bible we have today is pretty accurate to what they originally wrote - accurate enough that we can base our lives on it."

She seemed satisfied by this answer and moved on to something new. "But in the end, it doesn't really make that big of a difference, surely? I mean, I would still be doing all of the things that a religious person does, and even if helping the world isn't eternal, why do I care to do something eternal when the world already lasts almost forever?"

From here on out I did most of the talking: "Well, you're very right to notice that you would be doing alot of the same things, but the meaning behind them would now be totally changed. You see, Christianity is very concerned with the motive behind something, so that a Christian and a non-Christian may well both help a homeless man, but if the Christian is doing it to bring glory to God while the non-Christian is hoping to win approval or even just to be nice, then God sees the Christian's action as a good action and the non-Christian's action as a bad one. Not only that, but that's why we're in so much trouble to begin with. You see, Jesus came along and said that not only were the actions of murder and adultery bad, but even the thoughts of lust and hatred were seen as evil and deserving of death."

"Well, the earth is as eternal a thing as I want to spend my time helping."

"But the earth isn't eternal. Even modern science tells us that the world will someday end, and with it will end all of the great actions you've done to save it if they weren't put into the service of something greater. Besides, what do you care? If you're dead, it's not like you're getting anything out of it anyway."

"Think of Achilles, the greatest warrior to ever live, a man whose name we still (some of us) remember in song and poetry; he set out in his life to make sure he was remembered, but what does he care now that he's dead? It ended up doing him no good. We've only got about 80 years on this planet, which amounts to less than one page in most history textbooks; in the great ocean of time, our lives our just a single, insignificant drop that won't make more than a few ripples (if we're lucky). After that, we have to answer eternally for how was used that time."

"But couldn't I just serve him without getting involved in any particular religion? I mean, doesn't he just want followers and he shouldn't really care how we follow him?"

"Well, it might be nice if the answer were 'yes,' but you see, this is the other reason Christians ought to feel a real urgency about sharing this message with everyone, because there's a positive and a negative side to the message."

"Well let's start with the negative."

"The negative is that, if you reject God and his Son, then you will be sent to a place of eternal suffering, misery, and torture."

"Yes, Hell. And some people definitely deserve it."

Thinking that she was going to justify 'bad men' going to Hell while 'good men' were saved, I decided to pre-empt the argument: "Yes, even we as people can admit that people like Hitler and Stalin deserved Hell," (here she nodded) "but again we're told that not only do they deserve Hell, but all of us deserve Hell, too, since we disobeyed God's commands."

It appears that my pre-emption may have been moot as she freely admitted this point.

"Oh, I agree with that completely. I deserve to go to Hell and I know it." This was certainly a nice admission to have! We didn't have to convince her of her own need for help, and that meant things were looking way up!

"Well, we have been offered a way out, and if we believe that Christ's life and death were sufficient to pay for our sins, then we are safe from Hell. This should motivate Christians to really get out and share this belief so that others don't experience that fate. And then the positive side is that, if we trust in God to take our evils from us and help us, then we are given a place of eternal joy, happiness, and communion with Him. And out of the two, I would prefer go there. But that can only come through the one, true God."

Alan chimed back in: "because as Jesus said, 'I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.' "

Our friend then sat and pondered for a long time. Eventually she spoke again, "Well... ummm.... I think I agree with absolutely everything you're saying, but I'm just not sure I really want to be involved with religion again."

"Hey listen," I said, "I can understand that, but I think you might be talking about the institutions here, which is a little different. The institutional church is run by people, and people are greedy, flawed, and evil. That means that a lot of times the church has a tendency to become greedy, flawed, and evil itself." She nodded her head vigorously in agreement: "I can remember times where Christians would just pass by the homeless and act completely repulsed and wouldn't even look at them, and I wanted to say, 'come on! They don't bite!' My grandmother was really like that. And I just can't stand that. I didn't want to be a hypocrite like the rest of them, so I left the church. But this is new, and I think I agree with it."

"Well again, I can understand that, but let me leave you with this: I'm not advising you to give 'religion' a second look; it's not the real-deal anyway. The church does not define Christianity; Christianity is not determined by a preacher or a pope, but rather it's defined by God who revealed his Word in the Bible. So, I'm not sitting here telling you to go back to 'religion.' What I am telling you is that I think you should give Christianity and the Bible a second look. I think you will find true hope, comfort, and grace in there."

This seemed to be a novel idea to her, and I could see a light bulb going off in her head, so I continued further. "You know, I've actually got my Bible with me here in my backpack, and I'd be more than happy to give it to you if you would like it."

"You - you carry your Bible around with you right there in your backpack?! Are you kidding?!"

"Yup. And you can have it if you want it. I've got plenty to spare."

"Well I wouldn't want to take it from you, but yes, yes, I'd like it. But you have to sign it for me!"

"Not a problem at all; I'll also mark the book of John for you to read. What's your name?" Seeing that she was shocked at my willingness to dog-ear pages and write in a Bible, I told her, "Now this particular copy of the Bible is definitely printed by men. Crossway - those are the people who printed it. So the pages are not holy; it's the ideas contained in here that have great signifcance." Okay with this explanation, she gave me her name and I began to write.

And what a grand name it was! "Ca-mee-ya," she said, "But it's spelled C-A-M-I-L-L-E." I was writing this down in her Bible and then looked up, "Camille? Ha! My girlfriend who I was telling you about earlier is named Camille!" How providential that I should be writing a note to a Camille! I printed a brief note in her Bible, signed my name, left her with some verses, and gave her the Bible. She was happy - nay, giddy - to receive it, and took it into her possession with great care. "Thank you so much!" She said, and we all excitedly parted ways with firm handshakes and broad smiles.

We had spent over an hour and a half with Camille and now we had to be going, but as we left, Alan and I felt euphoric. We talked excitedly on the way back to the car, where we both said a prayer for Camille and her future. There were so many questions answered in this encounter: almost every previous conversation we had had on this trip found it's way into our conversation with Camille,;Chicago had indeed become the highlight of the trip; and we could see God's purpose stamped on everything in our conversation and throughout our trip so far. This was just confirmation on every level that we were right where God wanted us to be.

Later, as I was reflecting on the situation, I was a little unsettled by the fact that we hadn't "prayed the prayer" with her, as I was trying to decide whether we should speak of her as a "convert" or not. Everything about the conversation and the feeling of the moment and the analysis afterwards said "yes" except for that. This was especially on my mind after one of our hosts (who has really dedicated her life to evangelistic endeavors) said that in all of her years of evangelism, she's never "prayed the prayer" with anyone, and that she was upset by this.

But as I thought about it, it seems to me that Alan and I had taken her as far as we could. We had done everything that we were supposed to do in that situation, and while she did not declare on the spot in a prayer, "I'm a Christian now," she had declared it in many other ways. "The prayer" is not what makes a Christian, but rather it is the repentance before God and the reliance on his mercy as provided through his Son, and I think she had thrown herself on this wholeheartedly. I am completely convinced that God orchestrated every part of that meeting, of that conversation, and of what followed, and if she did not "pray the prayer" with us, then I am confident it was not necessary.

All of this is simply to say that I like Camilles :-)

--Michael Taunton

Update #6.2 - Trojan Horse Ministry

We started with the most sly tactic we've used yet, something we've dubbed "Trojan Horse Ministry." This involved handing out Fixed Point CD and DVD debates to people on the street who showed an interest. We actually had planned to be very open about the fact that we were Christians handing out these resources, but we realized fairly quickly that most people had us pegged as atheists. Perhaps that was for the best. We camped out in front of Chicago's Field Museum just at the bottom of the stairs, set up our sign ("Free Atheist Professor Richard Dawkins Debate Disc"), set our resources out, and waited for interested passers-by. Without shade, without water, and without much interest, it was slow and painful going, but just as we were planning to pack up and try something different, we had two bites:

"So are these really free?" came the question from a German accented young man.

"Yup! They really are."

"Oh wow. I like listening to Dawkins; he's an interesting guy. So these are debates he did?"

"Yes. This one was held in Birmingham, Alabama and this one was a conversation they had afterwards at Oxford. Both times he's talking with a Christian who's also an Oxford Professor and a scientist named John Lennox, and Dawkins is laying out why he doesn't believe in God while Lennox is laying out why he does."

"Cool! Can I take one of each?"

"Just so long as you're going to watch them, feel free." He did, and went off interestedly reading the back of the DVD and showing them to his "significant other" who had patiently been waiting a few yards away.

Then came our second bite:

"So what is this? Just like DVDs about his work or something?" The question came from a dark complexioned young lady whose name we never caught. We're fairly confident her name was Jiffy, though; she just looked like a Jiffy.

"No, actually. These are debates that he had with a fellow Oxford professor and scientist named John Lennox who is also a Christian."

"Well that's interesting. I like the guy and all because he's really interesting, but I'd kind of like to see him sometime when he wasn't being a complete jerk."

"Well these are certainly unique resources here because Dawkins doesn't actually take on people of his own intellectual caliber all that often, which is too bad. But in these debates he's actually paired up with someone who is on his level, so it's a good representation of both sides."

"Yeah, that's awesome. I'll take one," she said.

And then, as we were giving her the DVD and CD, "so who is Fixed Point Foundation?"

Great. That wasn't really the question we wanted in this situation.... "Well, Fixed Point is an organization based out of Birmingham, Alabama and their the ones who organized all of these things."

"Ha! That's really funny because I have a friend in Alabama who hates Richard Dawkins." Clearly she had not read the situation properly, which was fine for the moment.

"Well do you know any other people who might be interested in these?"

"Yeah, I work in the genetics department in the museum, and some of my friends there might be interested. I have a friend I want to send this to, as well. Can I maybe have a couple of others?"

"Sure." We gave her two more of each and she went off. As she was leaving though, she turn and yelled back, "Hey! Keep spreading the word guys!"

Oh believe me.... we have been.

--Michael Taunton

Update #6.1 - Pure Goodness.

The experience was almost like the first time a little boy sees penguins. After watching the cartoonized Scamper the Penguin, playing with his Macaroni Penguin playing cards, and renting every Animal Planet video on the subject, he walks into an aquarium and there they are, in the flesh - before his very eyes. I did that once, and it was grand. Pure goodness, in Alan speak.

But this was infinitely better.

-----

When we walked into the bakery, the first thing that struck our eyes was the lemonade. So we got it. I drank mine before we got through paying and Denny did a number on his as well. We found a seat next to a 20 something year-old woman who was by herself reading a book in french. A sheep was on the cover, which meant good things were in store.

As I wondered how to start a conversation with her, Josh called and gave some words of encouragement, telling me a thing or two about life back home. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to me, Denny had initiated a discussion. Upon noticing this, I hung up on Josh suddenly and joined in. (No, I did actually tell him I had to run...)

-----

What were they talking about? I don't clearly remember. But at some point Denny mentioned that she was from Paris. "Paris!" I said, "I was there for the weekend just a few months ago. We rented bikes and rode around the grounds at Versailles and we did the 2 and a half hour version of the Louvre and we got to go to Notre Dame for Palm Sunday. It was all pretty neat."

"Wow," she said with a smile, "that's quite a lot for one weekend."

As the conversation continued, we learned that she was a well-traveled French woman who had spent a good deal of time in Oxford. Finishing up a graduate degree in Law, she was currently on a 10-day vacation visiting an old friend.

"Alan just got back from a long trip to England," Denny explained.

"Really? What did you like most about it?"

There was no internal angst over how to answer this one - "The sheep!"

"Sheep?" she was clearly surprised. "He's a strange guy," Denny kindly added.

"I can see that (!)" I gave Denny the evil eye and we all laughed.

As it turns out, she was actually reading a book about sheep at the time. She showed me the french novel, and there it was - a blessed sheep taking up the greater part of the cover. I wish I could read the title, but alas! I am no French scholar. What I did know of French literature, I asked her about.

"One of my favorite authors is French," I mentioned.

"Oh? who?"

"Well, this is probably a terrible pronunciation, but Antoine de St. Exupery."

"Actually, I know exactly who you're talking about and that was quite a good pronunciation!" We were fast becoming friends.

Denny expressed his own interest in Law, and the two of them chatted for a while about French and English law while I tried to get those last few drops of lemonade that had gathered at the bottom of my cup. Success.

Eventually, the conversation steered to our road trip, and we asked her our question about what one message she would give us. While some of the others had cringed at our asking it, she thought it was a grand question. "What are some of the other answers you've gotten?"

We started with the pneumonic baptized cat. She was slightly horrified.

Next was the "life is meaningless" chap. She said that was sad, but could be true from a certain perspective.

At this point she gave us her own - "Enjoy every moment - do your best to find something good about every situation, because if you look hard enough, you can find something." Expressing our support for her answer, Denny told her that someone we talked to just yesterday had said something similar - "everything has meaning."

After some thought, she asked us ours - "What one message would you give."

"You know," I said, "part of the reason we ask others is in hope that they'll ask us just that." And Denny and I went on to tell her that we were both Christians and our lives were animated by His Grace.

At this point, she could have easily gotten up and said she had to meet her friend. She could have simply dismissed us as loons and gone back to reading. She could have openly cursed us in French and we would have never known what she was even saying. But instead she moved her purse closer to us and scooted in, intrigued.

-----

What was so exciting about the conversation, other than the fact that we could see lights going off in her head, was the fact that almost every story from the past week made it into our discussion of the Gospel. The homeless man in Knoxville, Bruno, the Cracker Barrel waitress, Jack and Pam, Jared, and even an Islamic woman we met yesterday who we never blogged about. Suddenly, this one conversation made the purpose of our other experiences exceedingly clear.

She was so excited to hear something she'd never heard. She had been raised in a religious family, but never liked organized institutions. "Well," she said at one point, "I agree with pretty much everything you're saying, but I don't like 'religion'. Still, the way you put it, it's not the way I've ever heard it before." We told her that we didn't want her to get into 'religion' but we wanted her to have a personal relationship with God. She was very pleased with this, and before long pretty excited too.

We were all excited. I really wish you could have been there. Not because I think Denny and I were just jolly grand evangelizers - if that's what you think this is about, it's really a shame. But to share in the excitement of someone realizing for the first time that God is there. That God wants to have a relationship with *you*. That God is Love.

I'm still slapping my knees with joy.

We talked about God's justice (since she was interested in law) in why he had to send his son to die for us. We talked about eternity and how we could do things now that had eternal, and not just temporal value (since she had expressed interest in protecting the environment for future generations). We talked about human nature and how a loving God provides a way out from eternal doom (since she herself said she deserved to go to Hell). And the more she listened, the more she was riveted, the more we were reminded that Christianity has real power, real meat.

When Denny offered her his Bible, she said she didn't want to deprive him of it. When he insisted, she exclaimed that she'd love to have the gift if he was alright with it. When he pulled it out of his back and handed it to her, she took it with glee. "I'll definitely read it," she assured us, "and it's a pleasure to have met you both."

We shook hands and were on our way. I have never felt so much like I belonged than I did that hour and a half.

-----

And did I mention that she was reading a book about sheep?

~Alan T. Halbrooks