Let's Go Witnessing

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Luke 10:1-2 NIV

“What percent of time are people with you when you are evangelizing?” Steve asked. He’d just spent a day following me through a mall, watching and praying for me as I shared the gospel. Ten people prayed to receive Jesus and a couple more took The Jesus Challenge to ask the Jesus they don’t believe in to reveal Himself to them. It was a good day.

“Not much,” I said. “I’m by myself most of the time.”

“Think about it,” he pushed. “What percent?”

I counted. It was six months into the year and I’d evangelized with 8 people. Some had spent multiple days with me. I compared that number to the total days I’d evangelized and estimated I’d been alone 90% of the time.

“That is a waste!” Steve said. “You should be with someone 90% of the time. People need to see what you do.”

“I invite people to come with me,” I said. “I think it scares them. I encourage contributors to go because I want them to enjoy what they make possible. Now that I think about it, I lead more people to Christ when someone is with me. I don’t know if it is because the Bible says go two by two, because someone is praying, or because I’m more focused.”

“It’s probably all of the above but I’m not talking about the efficiency of more salvations or even blessing people. I’m talking about people waking up to how simple and straightforward it is to lead someone to Christ. I enjoyed seeing what you did today but it was more than that,” Steve said. “I needed to see how simple it is to lead someone to Christ. There were no tricks, no manipulation - just straight scripture and an invitation. I guess I thought talking about religion was private and people might get offended. These people today seemed to want to hear what the Bible said.”

“They do,” I said. “God made us that way. Everyone is born with a need for Jesus. Evangelize simply means to give good news. I often introduce myself as a ‘Good News Christian.’ Everyone wants good news. People mix up evangelizing and proselytizing. It is not my job to manipulate or talk anyone into salvation. I simply share good news and invite people into the Kingdom. For many, the invitation is too good to pass up. Did you notice that if someone didn’t want to talk, I affirmed their privacy, handed them a tract, and pointed to the prayer. Most of them were reading it as we walked away. Many accept Christ just by reading tracts.”

“I did notice,” Steve said. “Today wasn’t scary for me. You just let me watch and pray. That is what I want you to offer to others. Just invite them to follow you, watch, and pray. Anyone can do that. I needed to know how easy it was to fulfill the Great Commission and maybe next time, I’ll want to take a turn talking. If I hadn’t watched, I might have thought it depended on my words. I still can’t believe how simple and straight forward it is.”

Within 48 hours, my phone rang and Steve said excitedly, “I just got a Father’s Day gift. My family took me out to dinner and I led my waiter to Christ. I plan to go out witnessing tomorrow night.” Steve is beginning a journey that is going accelerate his spiritual intimacy, awe, and faith in a way that nothing else will.

So, let’s go witnessing. Invite me to your area. All you have to do is follow, watch, and pray. You can do that. If you want to take a turn talking, ask and I’ll let you, but all you have to do is follow, watch, and pray. Evangelism may not be your primary spiritual gift but you can learn to use your spiritual gifts to fulfill the Great Commission. If you go witnessing with me, I promise you a day of watching the Holy Spirit work. I promise I won’t push or make you uncomfortable. You’ll leave with a fresh understanding of just how much the world wants to know Jesus. Let’s go witnessing.
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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

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Trekking and Tracting Through Carowinds

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady

Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15-16 NIV

OK – I admit it – I love amusement parks. They are fun. People are generally in a good mood and receptive to receiving information about Jesus. I also like rides. I go to amusement parks whenever possible.

My Pocket Full of Quarters journey rule is to go where I’m invited and do what I’m asked. My daughter-in-law Whitney called to say her 92-year-old grandmother was gravely ill. Her grandmother, Louise, was my Girl Scout troop leader when I was child and I love her dearly. I knew she was in Charlotte, North Carolina visiting her youngest son.

“How can I help?” I asked immediately.

“Mom and I want to go to Charlotte. Chris has a business trip and can’t keep the children.“

“If you take the kiddoes to Charlotte, I’ll meet you there.” I negotiated. “They can help me tell people about Jesus while you and Elaine visit Louise.”

If you’ve been reading this blog, you may remember that my youngest granddaughter, 1-year-old Abigaile, helped me hand out tracts a few weeks back. Now, 2-year-old Ava and 6-year-old Noah were going to get a turn. I’d been to Carowinds Amusement Park in Charlotte and knew they would enjoy it so I began making plans.

We arrived at the Charlotte hotel about the same time. “Gi Gi!” Noah said excitedly. “You’re going to love this. Look.” He opened the drawer and pointed to the Gideon Bible.

“Gideon is a ministry that hands out Bibles,” I explained, showing him the name. “I’ve met people who worked with Gideon. God has told them to put a Bible in as many hotel rooms as possible.”

“Let’s go see if there is one in your room,” he said excitedly. Sure enough, I had one too.

“I’m going to put it with your ‘talk to God books,’” Noah said, getting the Bible out of the drawer and taking it to the zippered zoo bag that holds my Bible and study books.

“I brought the ‘talk to God book’ you like,” I said. “We’ll read it tonight before you go to bed.”

That night, I read the children a devotional and showed them the tracts. “We’ll ride rides tomorrow but our job is to tell everyone about Jesus. I need you to help me give these to people.”

The next morning, as we were walking across the Carowinds parking lot, Noah said, “Look Gi Gi, look. Look!” He pointed to a license plate.

“Where is it from?” I asked.

“No,” he said excitedly. “Read it.” The words across the bottom read “In God we Trust.” I thanked him for being so observant and took a picture. We entered the park and began riding rides and handing out tracts.

Ava liked giving tracts to preschool girls like herself. She’d walk up shyly and simply hold it out. I’d ask their mother’s permission and after the mom nodded, the children took the tracts. These cute tracts had a picture of cow and the cover read, “You’re very special to God.” As we stood in lines, Ava beamed as their mothers read the words that told these tiny children about how much God loved them and how they could find Him. Even at 2, Ava understood the importance of what she was doing.

Noah also understood what we were doing and figured out right away which tract was for which age group. We had Transformer tracks for adolescents, Cow Tracts for preschoolers, and Billy Graham tracts for adults. He passed them out everywhere.

Unlike Ava, there was nothing shy about Noah. Worried that a “no thank you” would discourage him, I warned, “Not everyone wants to hear this good news. It is our job to share about Jesus and their job to say yes or no. Even if they say no, we are always nice. We want them to see Jesus in us.” He accepted that and stayed hopeful when 2 people said no thank you. They were polite and so was he.

As we walked out of the park, Noah reached in my purse and grabbed the rest of the tracts. He handed them to everyone we passed. When we were down to 1 Transformer tract, he asked, “Can I keep this one? It’s about transformers.”

“Absolutely,” I said. “We’ll read it before we go to bed tonight.”

We saw many people reading our tracts. We don’t know if anyone prayed to receive Jesus but I’ve met an amazing number of people who say getting a tract played a vital role in their becoming a Jesus follower.