An estimated 65, ooo crammed the streets of downtown Los Angeles to get a chance to view the world champion Lakers on the back of a flatbed truck. Twenty-one members of the evangelism team had a more noble purpose: to preach to as many of the spectators as possible. And we did!

Here’s the crowd we preached to:

And using “Hellboy” and “Little Mike,” our trusty sound systems, quite a few heard the message as we asked this question from multiple areas within this crowd: “If you died today, would you go to Lakers Heaven, or Celtics Hell?”

Since most had missed church the day before (we polled them), we were actually providing a service as they waited, and waited, and waited…for this: A two minute glimpse of someone holding a trophy. (See a clearer picture from the L.A. Times here.)

Many fans were bummed after waiting for hours in the hot sun to see, well, uh, not much of anything. According to the Times, one fan, Sharon Dacosta, a 38-year-old medical technician who lives in South L.A., said she was upset that she had not been able to catch a glimpse of Bryant. “What an insult,” she said. “I barely saw anyone. You see more cop cars and firetrucks than players. People drove a long way. People took time off work.”

While on their way back to their cars we tried to ease their disappointment by heralding the good news that God demonstrated His love for us in this: While we  were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We look forward to a Three-peat next year!