Memoirs of Black Friday Blitz 07’

I don’t even think the leftovers had a chance to chill in the fridge and the alarm was going off. It was 2:45am which is a painful time for your alarm to go off, but even more so when your 8 month old keeps you up until 12:45am… kids are so cute….(when they are sleeping!) Anyways, I was up and out the door by 3am and ready to head out and face the greatest shopping day of all year…

If you’re shaking your head in disbelief thinking that’s too early to shop, I agree! We were heading out for our second annual Black Friday Blitz. As hundreds upon hundreds of people line up to wait for the doors of their favorite store to open up, we sow the seed of the Gospel with Little Red Books and a smile. If you’re shaking your head saying that’s too early to go out tracting, Shame on you! People trying to get their hands on earthly treasures were out far earlier!

Anyways…

3am - I drove to Tim Horton’s and found to my great dismay that they had yet to reopen after their Thanksgiving break… Didn’t they know we’d all be up way too early? Anyways I drove to Hess for a Cappuccino, and did a quick drive through the Super Wal-Mart parking lot to see if my prediction was true…Sure enough about 30 people lined up in the cold, and snow with only 2 more hours to go before the doors opened.

3:15 - I drove the Tim’s house and we caravanned to Kohl’s to see a beautiful sight of about 200 people lined up ready to shop. We loaded up with tracts and together handed out about 150 before 4am. People were very nice for waiting in line since 1am and most people took the tracts with a smile.

4am – Tim and I arrived at Church to meet Derek, and wait to see how many responded to my request for soldiers. Aaron showed up to pick up some tracts, and even though he wasn’t going out with us and had to go to work he passed out about 250+ out at the Henrietta Toys-R-Us. Praise the Lord! Alex and Peter showed up, and then Rachel, Christina, Jordan, their cousin, and Kim, and we were set to go.

4:30am – Sent out the teams. Kim took Rachel, Christina, Jordan, and their cousin to cover Wal-Mart, Sam’s and Office Max. Alex and Derek went to Toys-R-Us, and Peter, Tim, and I went to Best Buy.

4:45am – Tim, Peter, and I arrived at Best Buy to see tons and tons of people lined up almost to K-Mart. It was wonderful! The cops were there to keep the crazy shoppers under control, the Best Buy guys were out there pleading with the people to be civil and try to not kill each other…it was a sight to behold. I went up to the front of the line and started wishing people a Happy Holidays, and putting a tract in their hand. People were pretty tame, but all of a sudden I hit an area of people that already had tracts. It was the Mission’s Pastor from another church, Charlie. Amen! He was going shopping, but he brought tracts with him! If only the many other brethren I met in line had done the same.

Anyways…

We finished off tracting the line, and moved on to Circuit City. Alex and Derek had finished Toys-R-Us, and the other group had covered their stores. We all headed to the mall, and covered Circuit City, and left to head back to K-Mart. Kim, Rachel, Christina, Jordan, and their cousin stayed to cover the growing line at Target.

5:30am – We all met up at Denny’s for some breakfast and fellowship. In all there were more than 1000 tracts passed out before breakfast. All Glory and Praise to God, it was a wonderful morning!

Some Concluding Notes:

Timing is everything! We missed the first line at Circuit City because we were a few minutes late. That may have represented over 300 tracts

Next year we meet somewhere with a bathroom before we go out. Old church parking lot may be strategically ideal, but Hess has a toilet!

If people had committed ahead of time we could have covered more ground. Apparently the words “Please…no seriously, Please respond and let me know if you can come” just doesn’t have enough umph!

Best Rejection Line: “Oh No, get that thing away from me” said a female in the line at Circuit City, as if the Gospel tract was a pit-bull with AIDS.

If you are a Christian and a brother tries to hand you a Gospel tract, just take it, and say thank you! Please don’t refuse it and try explaining to me that you are already a Christian, JUST TAKE IT! People who pass out tracts will all agree as soon as you get someone who refuses a tract, you get about 10 more who will not take one. TAKE THE TRACT, AND EXCLAIM “WOW I REALLY NEED THIS, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR CARING ABOUT MY SOUL!” You will do more for the cause than if you say no, and then you will have an extra tract to pass out, we all win!