I’ve been handing out tracts regularly for over six years so I can sometimes forget how terrifying this exercise can be to those who are newly introduced to this highly effective method of sharing the Gospel.

In every evangelism class I teach, the homework is to hand out one tract a day for the duration of the class. I have them do this so that they may possibly develop this habit for life after graduation.

Ricardo is a new student in our class who describes himself as being rather shy. He attended the Long Beach Veterans Parade with the evangelism team over the weekend. This was his first parade and his first evangelism outing. Watch what happened as he handed out his Giant Money tract to a parade-goer:

We started him out with a “beginner’s stack” of 250 Giant Money tracts. We also filled a fanny pack with our Teddy Trillion tracts. By the end of the parade he was almost completely out of his Gospel literature.

How do you feel about Gospel tracts? Do you think they are effective? Are you personally afraid to hand them out?

A spokesman for the American Tract Society said that 53% of all who come to Christ worldwide come through the use of printed Gospel literature.

Did you know that George Whitefield, the great preacher of the Great Awakening, was saved by a Gospel tract? After reading it he wrote, “God showed me I must be born-again or be damned.”

The great missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, was also saved by reading a tract.

God even used a Gospel tract as the tool that led Greg Koukl, founder of Stand to Reason, to Christ. He has stated that “some brave soul” put it in the bottom of his grocery bag while checking out.

So why should you use Gospel tracts? Because God uses them.

“When preaching and private talk are not available, you need to have a tract read… Get good striking tracts or none at all. But a touching Gospel tract may be the seed of eternal life. Therefore, do not go out without your tracts.” — Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)