A great attitude can make all the difference when entering into hostile territory with the good news of Jesus Christ. At the 39th Annual West Hollywood Gay Pride Parade we knew we weren’t welcome as Christian evangelists, so we came armed to the teeth, battle-ready. rucksacks packed with… great attitudes! (Start at the beginning of this series by clicking here.)

Anita Alvarado and Liz Ebert, two employees from Living Waters, traversed the entire length of the parade route, from beginning to end, completely emptying their backpacks of Gospel tracts. I was impressed with an account that Anita shared, because she had the right attitude:

There was one conversation where I ended up being chased by a lesbian. The conversation started off with the million dollar bill tract. I asked, “If you were to die, where would you go?”

“I know where I’d go,” she replied, “because my dad is a Pastor at a church out in Texas. I would definitely be going to heaven!”

I then took her through the Commandments. She and I both realized that another lesbian was listening in on our conversation; that’s when she switched and got a little aggressive with her tone of voice. “I’m a decent and good person,” she declared.”

I told her that our goodness won’t get us into heaven. She told me again that she knew where she was going: to heaven. “You can’t afford to be wrong on Judgment Day,” I pleaded. “Please repent of your sins and place your trust in Jesus Christ.”

At that point she folded up the tract I gave her and said, “Here you can have this back, I don’t need it.”

I quickly dropped my hands down and said with a huge smile on my face, “Ooops, I won’t take it back.” She looked at me and tried to put it in my pants pocket and that’s when the chase was on! I ran off (laughing and smiling of course). I said to her, “Give it to someone else! I won’t take it back!” She then caught up to me and forced it in my purse. I then pulled out another tract and ran back to give it to her, but she then just threw it to the ground. I just laughed some more! It was hilarious! Liz thought that I was going to get in a fight.

I will definitely never forget how I spent my 31st birthday!

Donnie Legg told me that another lesbian grabbed a tract out of his hand, ran away, and taunted, “I’ve got your paper! What are you going to do now?”

Smiling, Donnie shouted back to her, “Good grab!”

It’s all a matter of attitude.

Click here to read about the seven parades we attended in the last seven months: From a Christmas Parade, to the Tournament of Roses, to Martin Luther King, Jr., to Chinese New Year, St. Patrick’s Day and an anti-war protest, all linked together, each with a different strategy.