My daughters and I went down to hear evangelist Ray Comfort preach open-air at the base of the Huntington Pier. The big draw though, was the 7 foot fake gorilla with glowering red eyes that stood next to him as he tried to gather a crowd…

About 100 people listened to Ray preach on Intelligent Design Vs. Evolution. Unfortunately, there were more Christians listening than pagans. He couldn’t even get a heckler too worked up (according to Ray, a good heckler rightly provoked will increase the crowd). Then the lifeguard told him he’d have to move because the crowd was blocking the entrance to the pier.

No problem. Coincidentally, a portable stage was positioned just 50 feet away and the church group who came to rehearse for the Easter service the following day, gave him permission to use it. A New Zealand film crew came to film everything and I was interviewed by a correspondent who didn’t care about heaven and hell. How did I know that?

I asked her.

A guy named Dru came from beyond the Simi Valley to hear Ray and we shared our faith with a few people while handing out over 200 million-dollar bills before we reached the end of the pier including a drunk fisherman and a lady who said good-bye this way: “Have a nice life.”

-Steve Sanchez