This is from an on-fire student, Natalie Foley, who is currently taking my evangelism class.

At my first class of “Sharing Your Faith Without Fear” I took my million-dollar bill Gospel tracts with me to Home Depot where I was ordering appliances. The mild-mannered young clerk, “Reggie,” led me to the special services desk to schedule the installation date. When a co-worker joined him behind the counter I pulled out the million dollar bills and asked, “Did you guys get one of these yet?” They took them politely, then set them down while they continued working. Then they ran into a problem ringing up my order and called for “Maria,” a supervisor, who promptly arrived. When “Maria” saw the million dollar bills on the counter she picked one up and said, “What’s this?” Before I could answer she turned it over and started reading the questions on the back. In a very loud voice and mocking manner she began reading the gospel tract on the back of the bill. Did I mention she was reading it very loudly and that this was only the second time I attempted to hand out million dollar bills? Everyone within a 20′ perimeter could hear “Maria” reading God’s Word.

First “Maria” began reading out loud, “If you died tonight would you go to heaven or hell?” Then she looked at me, laughing and said, “I don’t believe in hell.” Before I could follow up on that question, she continued reading… loudly. “Have you ever told a lie?” to which she loudly proclaimed “YES!” Then she read the next question about looking at a woman with lust. Her supervisor, a tall jovial man, then came over and she repeated the question, directing it at him! His reply was, “Sure. The very first day I met you.” Together they laughed out loud. Then the tall jovial man spotted the million dollar bills and asked if he could have one. “Of course,” I said and handed it to him as he walked off.

As the woman continued reading the bill she got quiet. Then I asked her if she really didn’t believe in hell, to which she replied, “Oh, everybody’s going to Hell.” “I’m not,” I replied, “and it’s really easy to make sure you don’t go there.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with me anymore and started backing away. However, the two clerks working on my order were still having problems; they called her back over. “Reggie”, the mild mannered young man, looked at “Maria,” picked up where I had left off, and simply said, in a very quiet, serene manner, “It’s true. It’s really easy [to avoid hell].” She’d had enough and found a way to exit quickly. We finished up my order and I headed over to look at screen doors.

Another friendly clerk, “Jerome,” offered to assist me. When we were finished I handed him a bill. “What’s this?” he asked. “It’s a gospel tract” I said. Then he asked me to repeat myself. When I again told him it was a gospel tract he said, “What’s that?” “It’s a tool to teach people about God” I said. “Oh. I already have plenty of those,” Jerome said and started to make distance between us. So I asked if he was a Christian. “Of course I am, everybody is,” Jerome said as he moved to hand the bill back to me. I didn’t want to take the bill back, so I just said; “Oh, Jerome, that’s for you. You can keep it. I don’t need it back.” That’s when Jerome made a polite, but quick exit. But he still had the tract in his hand.

Truthfully the whole Home Depot experience was a bit unnerving because I’m not an outgoing person. But upon leaving the store (after handing out more bills to a few other customers and the guy checking receipts on the way out) something occured to me. God had used a mocker (“Maria”), to nearly scream his Law to everyone within hearing distance of my little crowd. A sweet young man who I didn’t even know was a believer and assumed the role of my partner. And seven other people walked away with life-saving questions.

-Natalie