MBC ministers to thousands at State Fair
SEDALIA – Although thousands of people took Missouri Baptists’ offer of free water during the Missouri State Fair, some took away a gift infinitely more valuable.
Gary Taylor, director of evangelism for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), helped organize teams to man the MBC tent at the fair. He said he knew of at least five salvations.
Taylor witnessed to two 14-year-old girls from Warsaw who came into the tent wanting to get their faces painted. While one girl got her face painted, Taylor led the other through a tract.
“I went all the way through and got to the prayer at the end and asked her if she’d like to pray that prayer and she said ‘Yes, I would,’” Taylor said. “By then, her friend who was sitting there getting her face painted was done and was sitting there listening. I asked her if she’d ever done anything like that to know that she would have eternal life in heaven. She said no and then prayed to receive Christ.”
As was the case with anyone who came through the tent and made a decision, workers got their names and contact information to forward to a local church for follow up and encouragement.
Even if more people didn’t accept Christ during the fair, thousands of seeds were sown by the teams that came from around the state each day to man the tent.
“We had such a wonderful turnout from different associations who came to serve,” Taylor said, “whether it was at the face painting, entertainment, bracelets, or whatever.”
Taylor, who spent three days at the fair, said the ministry could not have happened if it weren’t for the directors of missions who coordinate the various teams that man the tent, specifically Patrick Ryan of Eleven Point River Baptist Association and Gary Payne of Linn-Livingston Baptist Association.
“They’re there 24/7 to get that done,” he said. “We couldn’t do it without them.”