Mission to America: Finding True Freedom

This week the 'Pocket Full of Quarters Lady', Cheryle Touchton, shares the love of Jesus with peopel in our nation's capitol.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives.  Luke 4:18-19 KJV

“Would you like a Liberty Bracelet?” we asked to the thousands of people who stopped by our booths in Washington D.C. on the 4th of July.  I joined Inside Out Ministries to participate in Christ on the Mall, held every year on the mall across from the Capital building.  We gave away more than 3,000 Liberty Bracelets and hundreds of Bibles.  We called the bracelets a “bracelet with a message.”

“Today America celebrates liberty. I find my liberty through Jesus Christ,” I would say to people of all different ages, nationalities, religions, and races.  “May I tell you what the colored beads mean?” 

Everyone said yes.

“If you died today, do you believe you would go to heaven?” I asked.  The answers varied but were usually versions of yes, no, I hope so, or I don’t know.

 “Why do you believe that?” I asked.  The answers were interesting.  “Because I’m a good person,” was by far the most popular response.

“We are just smart rats. Rats have no after life. We live like rats and die like rats,” was the most depressing answer. 

Surprisingly few gave the only true answer – I know I’m going to heaven because Jesus Christ is my Savior. 

I mostly used my EvangeCube, a pictured cube of cubes that can be flipped around to give a visual plan of salvation. I had them touch the different colored beads on the bracelet that represented the key points of the story.  Gold was for heaven, black for sin, red for the blood of Christ, white for being pure as snow after we receive Christ, and green for spiritual growth.

My body ached from standing all day. My voice grew hoarse  from speaking over the Christian music playing on the live stage. But I never grew tired of telling this amazing true story.  All around me, fellow team members from Inside Out Ministries were telling the same story with the same excitement I was feeling. 

“You can invite Jesus into your life right now.  You can pray and ask Him to be your Savior.  This easy prayer will change all of eternity for you.  I’ll tell you what to pray.  Will you please pray with me right now?” I’d invite.

“Yes,” said one person after another.  They would pray, “Jesus, I believe in you.  I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead.  I confess that I have made mistakes and ask for your forgiveness.  I invite you to come into my life right now.  Thank you for the gift of your Holy Spirit.”

You can pray this prayer right now to receive Jesus as your Savior.

Teenagers and children prayed, while relatives and friends watch and prayed.  Entire families prayed together.  People from China, Germany, England, and Thailand prayed.  Active church members realized they’d never invited Jesus to be their personal Savior and prayed to receive Jesus.  Jewish people, Muslims and Hindus listened, took tracts, and prayed.  These prayers started before we could get our booth set up and continued after we tore our booth down.  We only stopped when the fireworks made talking impossible.  We worked as a team for more than 12 hours.

There, in our nation’s capital, among tens of thousands celebrating our nation’s liberty, hundreds of people found liberty in Christ Jesus on the 4th of July.  I personally led 28 people to Christ that day. They share a spiritual birthday with the birthday of our nation.  They have found true liberty.

Next to the day I was saved, July 4, 2009 has been the best day in my life so far.

Check out CBN.com's Foundations of Freedom special

Follow the Mission to America Posts on ChurchWatch:

July 6: Mission to America: Touching the Mentally Ill

June 22: Mission to America: Week Two

June 16: Pocket Full of Change: Churches in America

June 9: Mission to America: Saving Souls, One Quarter at a Time

Learn more at http://www.pocketfullofchange.org/  

Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries.  She is the author of 2 Books: Pocket Full of Quarters: 5 Steps to Loving God and Pocket Full of Christmas: Having a Purpose Filled Advent. For more information or to schedule a speaker for an event, go to http://www.pocketfullofchange.org/ or call Gail Golden at (904) 316-5462.