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By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. John 4:35-36 NIV
I wish you could see what I see. I remember church revivals in the late fifties and early sixties. Members filled a pew with their friends and neighbors. Each night, the pastor preached. At the end of the service, the members sang and prayed as people flooded aisles, weeping and crying out for Jesus. When we saw the fruits harvested, revival filled our souls. People need revival.
I wish you could see what I see. I don’t know if churches stopped having revivals because members stopped inviting friends and neighbors or if those friends and neighbors stopped accepting the invitations… but something changed. Now people tell me no one invites them to church. A pastor and I went witnessing together in the blocks surrounding his church. To his astonishment, six people prayed to receive Jesus in just two hours and many others thanked him for the invitation to church. One young man said that he had passed their church every day, stopped to read the message on the marquis, and had always wondered what it was like inside. People want an invitation.
I wish you could see what I see. People leave some churches without knowing how to meet Jesus personally. I don’t know if those churches forgot to tell them how, did not know how, or began assuming that everyone already knew how. One very religious woman sternly said she believed in Jesus, prayed every day, and “hoped” she was good enough to get into heaven. When I mentioned that God loved her so much that He sent His only Son to die so she could have eternal life, she agreed with me. When I mentioned that the wages of sin was death, she also agreed. When I said that all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved and that she needed to confess with her mouth and believe with her heart, she sounded surprised. When I invited her to make it personal and invite Jesus into her life, she said, “I’m in a hurry. I’ll pray if you can do it in 4 sentences.” I could and did and when we ended with her inviting Jesus into her life to be her personal Lord and Savior, tears flooded her eyes. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” was all she could manage. She hugged me because she finally knew what was missing. After that, we said way more than four sentences to each other. People want to know “how.”
I wish you could see what I see. The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival is a place where 100,000 young people gather to spend four days listening to music and partying hearty. A handful of Christians with the Sojourners Fellowship in Manchester, Tennessee led 98 people to Jesus. Last Halloween weekend, thousands of young people poured into Athens, Ohio to party at the Halloween Block Party. About a dozen Christians led 350 young people to Jesus. Young people want to hear about the one true Jesus.
I wish you could see what I see. Christians wring their hands over the spiritual state of America and believe God has given up on America. I visited a church and witnessed 12 people walking forward to receive Jesus. On July 4th, hundreds crowded around our booth on the mall outside the Capital building in Washington DC just to hear about Jesus. Over 500 people prayed to receive Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit is still convicting Americans.
I wish you could see what I see. In the last four weeks, 282 strangers eagerly prayed with me to invite Jesus into their lives. When they prayed, what I call “The Holy Spirit Glow” filled their faces. A young man named Erick invited Jesus into his life and asked if he could hug me. A young mother prayed to receive Jesus, burst into tears, and said meeting Jesus must be the reason she decided to drive 15 miles to take her children to the park. While some said no, few were offended when I shared about Jesus. People want to hear good news.
I wish you could see what I see. After spending a day watching me witness, a pastor said, “I feel like I’ve been let out of a cage.” A woman who spent a few days following me and praying as I shared, shared her faith with someone on the plane ride home. Another called me 48 hours after following me and excitedly said he’d just led someone to Christ. When Christians discover how easy it is to share their faith and how much people want to hear it, their faith deepens beyond their wildest dreams.
I wish you could see what I see. In the last four weeks, I've traveled through 13 states and shared the Gospel with many people. People were so eager to receive Jesus that it hurts to be sitting in my house writing this. The world wants and needs Jesus.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Pocket Full of Quarters Lady on the road leading people to Christ, you can donate at
By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Ps 139:14 NIV
For most of my life, I worked hard on music. I studied with the best teachers, practiced, and even got a degree in it. There was only one problem – I was not gifted musically and training only goes so far without that gift. What that meant was that I recognized talent, taught the talented, but always knew what I was lacking. The music world is competitive and musicians usually know where they stand in comparison to other musicians. I loved teaching music and was confident with the spiritual gift of teaching, but because I wasn’t musically talented, no matter how much I practiced, I always felt insecure.
A few years back, God dealt with my insecurities and taught me to nurture and appreciate the gifts He blessed me with and accept the gifts and talents He did not send my way. Since I was born into a family of musicians and had spent most of my life around musicians trying to be one, it was both painful and a relief to step out of the musical competitive whirl wind. At Bonnaroo, the enemy tried to hand me back my insecurities and use them to stop me from leading a group of young people to Jesus.
Louise Milligan and I were walking back to our car with the leader of our evangelism team, Rev. Ron Fuller – The Sojourner. It was the last day of the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. It had been a good day with 16 people praying to receive Jesus. We were hot, exhausted, and ready to get back when we heard strains of the song, “Take Me Back to West Virginia.” Ron is from West Virginia and couldn’t resist weaving his way between tents to find the music. They finished just as we walked up.
“I’m from West Virginia,” Ron said. Then, using his best imitation of an old man’s voice, he pleaded, “Sing it again for an old man.” They complied and we sang along.
While we sang, I looked at the 12 young people sitting and singing under an open-sided tent. One was playing guitar and another, a harmonica. Three young women, dressed in bikinis, were puffing on pot out of what I now know is a pot bowl. Most had beer cans in their hands. One young man was wearing a bathing suit and two shells strapped across his chest. His girlfriend complained the entire time that he had eaten all of her “mushrooms.” I knew they weren’t talking about portabellas. According to the girlfriend, 7 grams of mushrooms was too much for him to eat and his punishment was to walk around wearing the shells. I prayed for them as we sang.
When we finished singing, Ron stepped behind me, and quietly instructed, “Now, add them to your number.”
I knew what he meant. I stepped forward, used my “outside voice” and said, “You were kind enough to sing for us so I want to tell you about Jesus.”
They were in a great mood. They clapped. One shouted, “Yea Jesus.” I kept it light and fast paced. “The Bible says all have sinned. Sin is the Bible word for making mistakes. Anyone sinned this weekend?” I paused as they laughed, agreeing they knew all about sin.
“It is a level playing field,” I said. “We’re all sinners. The wages of sin is death but the good news is that the gift of God is eternal life. All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. Jesus loved you so much that He died for you. I want to lead all of you in a prayer to invite Jesus to be your personal Lord and Savior.”
They looked at each other, hesitated, and one shouted, “We’ll pray it if you sing it. This is Bonnaroo.”
I stuttered and froze. I’d already noticed that at least four of this crowd was gifted musically. I thought about Ron and Louise standing behind me and knew that while I’d probably never see these young people again, I’d have to go home with Ron and Louise knowing how my music compared to the gifted musicians we’d just heard. Louise is my sister-in-law and I’d been her son’s piano teacher. If I sang, I was afraid she was going to find out just how untalented I really was. The familiar musical shame crept into the marrow of my bones. Then, I got mad that the enemy was using it against me.
“Ok,” I said, shaking off the bad feelings. “I’ll sing a line and you repeat it back to me.” They all cheered.
“Dear Jesus,” I sang and waved my arms for them to repeat it back. They sang the words back.
“Thank you for dying for me.” They cheerfully sang each line as I sang through confessing faith in Jesus, admitting sin, asking for forgiveness, and finally, asking Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.
My internal music teacher critiqued as I sang and I was vaguely aware that my melody line made no harmonic sense and that I changed keys at least 3 times. I must have had some kind of rhythm because they clapped as we sang.
When we finished, I said to the now quiet group, “There are 12 of you sitting here. How many of you really sang the words and meant them?” Nine raised their hands. I added nine to our count, making the total of 78 for me and 98 for our entire group.
Later, Louise and Ron said it was great, that I’d gotten quiet at all the right moments. “They clapped along,” Louise said in wonder.
I knew what my musical grade really was but also knew that evangelism is a spiritual gift and that spiritual gift had carried the moment. The harvest was ripe. No wonder the enemy was throwing old insecurities back into my face! I am beautifully and wonderfully made and the gifts God gave me are enough to do what He calls me to do. I tossed those insecurities right back at the enemy. They don’t belong to me.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Pocket Full of Quarters Lady on the road leading people to Christ, you can donate at
By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady
I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
KJV Phil 4:13
“You guys sure are a great team,” Ron Fuller with the Sojourners Fellowship said.
“We are,” I agreed. “We used to work together. We’ve been family a long time.”
Louise Milligan is my sister-in-law, friend, sister in Christ, and the mother of 2 of my 4 four nephews. Louise joined me at the annual Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. We both like many kinds of music but we were there to tell concert attendees about Jesus. We heard several times what a great team we were. Team Jesus is the best!
Each morning, Louise and I grabbed a cup of tea, read our Bible, and prayed together. Team Jesus is prepared.
“I hope you are careful,” I told one young man. “You probably have a mother who wants you safe.”
My mother told me to party my “A..” off,” he replied. (You’ll have to fill in for yourself the word he really used.)
Louise walked around behind him, looked, arm bumped him, and said, “It’s still there.” Team Jesus has a sense of humor.
“What is that?” I asked a couple. They were lighting a 4-inch colorful piece of glass and puffing.
“It’s a bowl,” they explained.
“I assume it is for pot,” I said. “How does it work?” They explained the technology and then went on to teach us about how and why people ate poison mushrooms. Louise and I listened without commenting when they said, “It’s natural so it is safe.” Team Jesus just loves.
After they finished sharing about pot, we shared about Jesus. They listened to our good news and invited Jesus to be their Savior.
“I can’t believe what people tell you,” Louise said as we walked off. “Thank goodness they didn’t offer us a puff.” Louise and I have never smoked pot and plan to keep it that way. Team Jesus lives in the world but is not of the world.
“I was worried about that too,” I said. “I always ask when I don’t understand things. It helps me in my work. That information will come in handy for leading someone else to Christ.” Team Jesus wants to know.
A couple of days later Louise and I were walking across the Bonnaroo field when someone called us over. It was our pot smoking friends, clear headed, relaxed, and excited to see us. Team Jesus is effective!
Louise and I walked around for four days in 90 degree plus weather, sharing Jesus. While we were together, 49 people prayed to receive Jesus as their personal Savior. Team Jesus in unstoppable!
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Pocket Full of Quarters Lady on the road leading people to Christ, you can donate at
