Bonnaroo is a four day long music and art festival in Manchester Tennesee. It draws anywhere from 60-100 thousand people each year. This is my experience at Bonnaroo.
“Hello Ali, would you like to come to Bonnaroo with me to Evangelize? You won’t have to pay for your ticket or your airfare” -Cheryle
“Let me think about that….YES” – Me
And thus began my evangelizing experience with Cheryle Touchstone, a life long evangelist. A month went by from our short conversation and the next thing I knew I was in Manchester, Tennessee wondering what I was doing there. I was eager to learn but anxious about going up to strangers and saying “would you like to have a personal relationship with Jesus?”
Shortly after I became aquatinted with our hosts, Ron, Amanda and Karen, I was out with Cheryle in the parking lot of WalMart talking to the many tailgaters of Bonnaroo about Jesus. I mostly listened and prayed during this time. My prayers consisted of “God, only you can change hearts, guide our words and actions” and “Lord, I don’t know what I am doing here, help me!” I went to bed that night thanking God for taking me out of my comfort zone and landing me in a place where I had to rely on his guidance.
The next day Bonnaroo began. It was hot, crowded and completely new to me.We met a lot of people, listened to great music and prayed with 77 individuals who decided they wanted Jesus in their lives. I even met three individuals who after hearing about my upcoming World Race, helped in the purchase of my travel chair that I will be bringing with me.
^The masses of people that entered Bonnaroo daily
As we walked around I followed Cheryle’s lead as she so easily started and held conversations with strangers. Eventually, after getting to know a little about the person or people we were talking to Cheryle would naturally lead into speaking the following words from the bible; we all have fallen short of the glory of God, the wages of our sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus and all who call on the name of Jesus will be saved.
It seemed easy for Cheryle to bring this up, I was actually amazed at how well received her words and our presence was. After presenting the gospel she would ask if anyone would like to confess they had made mistakes in their lives, had fallen away from God and then invite Jesus into their lives.
^Cheryle and I hiding from the sun under an umbrella.
I felt pretty uncomfortable the whole first day. I knew that this was not how I came to be a follower of Jesus and I questioned if people’s lives were really being changed by the work we were doing. I felt guilty that maybe I had just gotten a free ride to Bonnaroo and I wasn’t really making an impact on anyone’s life and that I wasn’t introducing them to Jesus. I had very little faith that I would be able to speak so freely about the love of God to strangers.
Throughout the next couple of days I received feed back from Cheryle and Ron. I also spent alone time reading the bible and praying. I slowly became aware that there is real power in speaking the word of God. I also realized that I had been trying to use my intellect to convince people of the love Jesus has for them. I will never convince anybody of that. It is something they have to chose to accept for themselves. I was taken back to the prayers I prayed in the WalMart parking lot just a few days ago; only God can change hearts. It felt like I received a whole new perspective on evangelism, it’s not me doing the heavy lifting, I am simply speaking out what the Lord has said inviting people to receive His truth.
As the festival came to an end, I felt full of gratitude for those who had invested their time and money towards this life changing experience. Not only was my faith strengthened but it felt like I saw a tiny glimpse of the power of Gods word and the authority that has been given to me through Jesus Christ.
It’s like a new compartment of my brain was opened, the part that see’s others as my Father in heaven see’s them, the part that understands that life is not all about me, the part of my brain that wants nothing to do with sin and separation from God and everything to do with worshiping and pleasing the Lord. I thought I knew a lot about the Love God has for humanity. I now understand that I’ve only just begun to grasp the magnitude of God’s great love for us. I can not wait to travel the world knowing that God’s love is in me and he has given me the ability to allow others to experience this great love that knows no end.
If you want to hear more about how this experience changed me, please click and listen to the interview I had with Ron Fuller on the Sojourner's Hub.
