WHEATLAND – Roaring stock cars weren’t the only things ringing in the ears of race fans at Lucas Oil Speedway April 21. FindItHere.com’s web address boomed through loud speakers so many times that night, it was impossible for the thousands of people at the speedway to not know the night’s races’ sponsor. The evangelistic website was front and center several ways during four dirt-track races sponsored by the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) via a grant from the North American Mission Board.
FindItHere.com is an online outgrowth of GPS (God’s Plan for Sharing), a multi-year, Southern Baptist Convention-wide evangelism thrust. The website has simple, direct messages from real people about how Jesus has changed their lives. It not only presents the gospel, it immediately connects anyone who has more questions to a phone encourager and to a local church. Missouri contact numbers are not available, but nationwide in 2011, 16,852 people made contact with a phone encourager and 1,220 prayed to receive Christ.
What is available is that 105 of that night’s race fans took time to listen a one-on-one three-minute gospel presentation from volunteers from local churches and associations, and at least six accepted Christ. Their contact information has been forwarded to local churches. Volunteers set up three block party trailers in the concession areas and shared the gospel with race fans and the first 500 kids got a free FindItHere.com-branded toy car. More than 100 additional people heard the gospel through evangelism bead bracelets, while still more volunteers prayer walked the speedway’s grandstands and gave away eight cases of dirt track racing-themed Bibles. The track’s announcer interviewed several volunteers who shared their faith with the entire crowd during the evening.
The churches of Fellowship Association purchased and gave away more than 200 tickets to the race to the unchurched in their communities in the weeks leading up to April.
It remains to be seen if anyone accepted Christ through the website, although David Mifflin, one of the event’s organizers and director of missions for Fellowship Baptist Association said that the web address will continue to get publicity.
“The computer that was to run the FindItHere commercials on the jumbo screen was down and out of service,” he said. “But, they told me that since that was the case, they would run the ads for the next two races. With as many times as FindItHere was promoted, I see the ads over the next two weeks might be a great follow-up for the folks who already heard it so many times.”
The site got another plug when a driver racing a FindItHere.com-sponsored car won the A-modified class race, and representatives from local churches and the MBC waived the green flag, rode in the pace car and presented the trophies.