What Can We Do During This Time of Crisis?

If you were able to get out and about but discovered that social distancing is making it more difficult to hand tracts to someone, there are many, many, places where you can stash a tract where someone is likely to find it. Public restrooms (where they are still accessible) have always been used by creative tract passers because people generally have time to stop and read it. Store shelves, park benches, bus stops, —you get the idea.

When you fill your gas tank, roll up a tract and place it under the trigger of the hose nozzle for the next person to enjoy while they are filling their tank. If you end up in a doctor's waiting room during a visit, make sure all of the magazines contain hidden tracts to be discovered by future visitors.

Some families are using this homebound time to clean out garages and closets of material for the thrift stores. Tracts hidden in coat pockets, compartments in luggage, or cooking pots will be discovered either by the thrift-store personnel or someone purchasing the item. The Lord knows how to direct them into the hands of someone who needs the message.

Just be sure that when you go out you have a pocket full of tracts. Then as you go about the grocery store or elsewhere, simply ask yourself where can I put a tract where someone will find it? If you were accustomed to paying your bills in person but now need to mail in your payments, include a tract in the letter with the payment.

Now might also be a good time to go through your address book and consider putting a tract in an envelope and mailing it by snail mail to anyone on your list who might need the encouragement of the gospel message.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you can reach across the social distancing and hand somebody a tract personally, give them a big smile and some word of encouragement that God is in control and that this, too, shall pass. When God called you to use tracts in your ministry, He promised to be with you and that includes creativity in engaging people’s attention. A warm smile is always in order. The joy of the Lord in your life is a powerful attractant in a troubled world.

One man who has dedicated himself to getting 300 tracts into people’s hands on the streets of Las Vegas every day, uses phrases like. “This will get you through these problems.” Or, “This tells you how to get to heaven without killing somebody.”

If he is handing out tracts where there is a large Muslim population, he will wear a T-shirt that says “I (heart symbol) Muslims.” That could be applied to many other categories if you were in a group with a specific interest or focus.

Crises, such as the present one, have a way of refocusing people’s attention on the important stuff, away from the distractions of modern entertainment and amusements. Sometimes that is the only way that God can get our attention. But when He does, He expects us to step up and take advantage of the new opportunity to spread the gospel of hope as widely as possible. Tracts are a wonderfully effective way of doing that.

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Notice A Pattern?

"I FOUND some of your tracts at a grocery store. They were instrumental in opening my heart." (Email)

"My life was turned around when I FOUND a copy of THE LETTER." (Georgia)

"I FOUND a THIS WAS YOUR LIFE tract and shortly thereafter I accepted the Lord as my Saviour". (Colorado)

"I have received Jesus Christ. I FOUND a Chick tract and it touched me right in the heart." (California)