By Margaret Colson, Florida Baptist Convention
November 8, 2015
Many of the 20,000-plus people attending the Florida Seafood Festival in Apalachicola came looking for bottled water and returned home, instead, with the Living Water.
At this year’s annual seafood festival, three churches teamed up to sponsor a booth offering free bottled water on an unseasonably warm November Florida weekend. As church volunteers met festival-goers, opportunities arose for the gospel to be shared using an EvangeCube and salvation bracelet.
“The bottled water pulled people over to our booth,” said Carline Kembro, member of First Baptist Church, Apalachicola, and “then they were willing to stay and talk.”
First Church and Fellowship Baptist Church, also in Apalachicola, and First Baptist Church, Eastpoint, joined forces to share their Christian faith during the annual festival.
Volunteer Linda Maloy, a member of Fellowship Baptist Church, had never seen the EvangeCube used to share the gospel before. As she watched others present a simple gospel message with the small cube, it wasn’t long before she was doing the same.
“It’s an amazing thing,” she said, excitedly.
Kembro used the EvangeCube to share the gospel with one teen, who immediately turned and shared the message of the cube with others nearby.
Volunteer Ann Sizemore from First Eastpoint acknowledged that standing out in the hot sun for hours was “hard work, but we’re having a ball.”
“For some of these folks out here, we are the only Jesus they’ll ever see.”
Volunteers also offered free bumper stickers with the slogan, “In God We Trust,” to passersby.
“Thank you! I’ve been looking everywhere for that,” said one grateful man, who eagerly accepted the bumper sticker.
Their show of unity in coming together to share the gospel message is a positive Christian witness for the community, said Sizemore.
“We find unity in Christ,” she said.
The booth at the Seafood Festival was a part of Crossover: “Love Northwest Florida,” an evangelistic effort spanning across 27 venues in the Panama City region.