Praise the Lord for all of the meaningful conversations we had with teachers. Many times we had the opportunity to not only share the truth of creation, but present the full gospel as well, starting with the bad news of Adam's sin.

Last year one of the highlights of AiG’s NEA outreach was being used by God to encourage a first year delegate’s heart. A Christian teacher named Sarah came by the booth in tears of joy because she was so happy to see fellow Christians standing up for the truth in the midst of an overwhelming darkness. Jenna Dee and I talked with her for about half an hour and we all left very uplifted and encouraged.

This year Sarah dropped by the booth again. She talked with Frank and me for a while and we were so encouraged by her testimony of how the Lord used the booth in her life. Apparently it strengthened her faith far more than we imagined. She stopped by to thank us for being there and told us that she was praying for us even before we arrived in Philadelphia. That was such a blessing to hear! Listen for yourself below and praise the Lord with us.

This is my son, Stephen who is four years old. He was excited that Daddy was preaching the gospel at the NEA. We have been praying as a family for a long time for this outreach, so it was on his mind. I thank the Lord for my little guy. Please pray that Stephen would grow up to be a mighty man of God, preaching the gospel in all humility, perhaps one day at the NEA convention!

Below is a picture of my three oldest children along with their great friend Amber (Stephen's on the left). Amber is 12 years old and really did share God's truth with the NEA teachers for two whole days. She was there with her Dad and her 17 year old brother, Aaron. They were stalwarts, eagerly engaging and talking with the teachers about the truth of creation and even the gospel message. At one point a teacher asked Amber what she thought about Mormons. Amber told her the truth that they are not Christians, at which point the teacher walked away. Ric mentioned toward the end of the ministry how encouraging it was to see his son and young daughter sharing God's word with unbelievers. What a blessing!

  A woman named “Joy” shrieked out in joy as her name was called out over the loudspeaker system at our booth. Her survey was the second to be drawn (the first was not filled out completely and thus set aside). After I read out her name, I quickly glanced at the results of her survey and noticed that she was a professing Christian and believed that God created the earth thousands of years ago. Encouraged in the Lord, I shouted out ‘Praise the Lord!’ over the PA system. There was a lot of suspense and excited in the air as a crowd had formed around the booth to see the results of the drawing.

The prior day, after one of the winners had received the prize, she stated, “I’ve been reading these materials for years and it’s finally paid off!” We all had a good laugh at that one. I’m not exactly sure where she was coming from, but it was pretty funny at the moment. Either way, it was encouraging to hear that she really had been receiving our materials over the last few years.

I praise the Lord for the volunteer who suggested we hold this type of prize drawing. It really drew in many people who might not otherwise have stopped by. There were numerous times when folks who rejected our materials would stop in their tracks when we offered them to fill out the survey for a chance to win $100. That would then give us opportunity to ask them a few questions and share a few answers. So it really worked out well, praise the Lord.

Here's a teacher filling out the questionnaire.
 

Here are the questions from the survey. It was designed to get truth in front of them. We used lots of Scriptures because we have confidence that the Word of God will not return void. The surveys fulfilled their purpose in that the teachers stayed around the booth longer for us to talk with them about the truth of creation and Christ.  

Survey must be filled out completely to qualify for daily prize drawing. Winner must be present at draw time to claim prize.

 

Name (Required for prize drawing). _________________________________

 

Are you a public school teacher?

Yes No Other _____________________________

 

The Bible says "By grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works so that no one can boast." Do you consider yourself a Christian? Yes No Other ______________

 

It is written "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." Do you believe in God? Yes No Other

 

The Bible states that "Every word of God is tested" "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching." Do you believe the Bible is infallible and inerrant? Yes No Other _____________________________________

 

Dr. J. Sarfati (Ph.D in Physical Chemistry) states "Adaptation and natural selection are biological facts; amoeba-to-man evolution is not. Natural selection can only work on the genetic information present in a population of organisms—it cannot create new information. For example, since no known reptiles have genes for feathers, no amount of selection will produce a feathered reptile. Mutations in genes can only modify or eliminate existing structures, not create new ones." Do you believe in Darwinian (amoeba-to-man) evolution?

Yes No Other ____________________________________________

 

The Bible says " The first to plead his case seems right, until another comes and examines him." Have you ever researched the problems with evolutionary theory? Yes No Other ____________________________________

The Bible says "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day." How old do you believe the earth is?

Billions of years

Thousands of years

 

 

The Word of God states "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Do you believe evolution is a fact or a belief system about the past?

Fact Belief Other _______________________________________

 

The Bible clearly teaches that on the sixth day "God saw everything that He had made and behold it was very good." Is it within the realm of possibility that a model of origins other than Darwinian evolution could be true?

Yes No Other ________________________________________

 

Are you aware that all dating methods are fallible and have unverifiable assumptions? Yes No Other ________________________________

 

What is the best evidence for evolution? Please be very specific (i.e don’t just state "fossils", what about the fossils allegedly proves evolution?) ________________________________________

 

Additional Comments (Optional) : ________________________________

Another teacher stays at the booth a bit longer to fill out the questionnaire.

Many of the volunteers took a try at emcee'ing the prize drawings. Here's Dr. John doing a great job.

Here was a happy winner!

This gentleman actually called a friend via his cell phone to let him know about our booth. He apparently thought it was a pretty incredible sight. Later as he wagged his head, passing by, Dr. John engaged him. Here's an audio report. Please pray for him.  

Dr. Cherian John presents some creation information. Tom Hill in the background is having a tremendous time. Tom is doing such a great job here and is totally in his element. I suggested he should think of a career change from 'bean counter' to full time creation evangelist!

Bill Craig helps out an interested teacher.

Here are a few pictures from this morning.

This banner challenges the evolutionist/humanist bias. It makes an issue out of the fact that they are biased and that they have a belief system. That evolution is not fact, it's a belief. The picture on the banner is probably the most published Christian photograph of the year. It is of the Creation Museum lobby showing children with dinosaurs together. We're encouraging teachers to come to the Creation Museum and 'get educated'.

We've given away almost 1000 of Dr. Tommy Mitchell's DVDs.

 

This gentleman comes by every year to talk with us. Continue to pray for him.

This young man came back twice to talk with us about the gospel and his new Muslim faith. He used to be in the Baptist church. Please pray for him. We will try to talk with him tomorrow as well. Thanks.

Listen to Frank's account of his conversation with this young Muslim man. Please pray that God would use the truth that Frank, Aaron and Dr. John shared with him to cause his conversion. Pray that he would come to his senses, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second day of the conference has started and we are having some great conversations with lots of teachers. We’ve had numerous theistic evolutionists and many Christians as well. Some of the Christians have taken our children’s curriculum to teach young students. The day seems to be a bit busier than yesterday, which is great. We are excited that we can take this Lord’s Day and worship Him through this evangelistic outreach. Please keep praying.

Join us in thanking the Lord for a tremendous day of sharing the truths of God's Word. There were so many good conversations where we presented either the truth of God in creation or the full gospel message. I'm so excited for these opportunities and rest in the fact that God's Word will not return to Him void, it will accomplish what He set it out to do. The new surveys we are doing this year seem to really help folks stay longer at the booth and allow us to get into a nice dialog with them. I count it a success every time I share the gospel, regardless of the reaction of the listener. To me, God's job is to do the convicting and conversion, mine is simply to present.

For some reason, the crowd was not as large today as they have been in previous years, so we have thousands of books and DVDs to still hand out. But I'm very encouraged by all the meaningful conversations I heard and saw take place. Unfortunately I was blogging much of the day and didn't get into as many talks as I would have liked! I did get to share the gospel with a professing Catholic who thought his good works would help get him into heaven (like I used to think previously as a Roman Catholic). Below is a picture of the gentleman. Please pray for him as Frank and I shared quite a bit of the redemption story with him.

I'd like to take the time to thank all of you who are praying for this outreach and the souls of men and women who we are sharing with. Without your prayers, all this would be in vain, so I thank you whole heartedly.

Amazingly, this year has followed the pattern of the last several where we seem to almost be getting more positive feedback than negative. I praise the Lord for the response and eagerness of the individuals who come by the booth and receive free materials. Below are some pictures.

A public school teacher eyes one of 1000 Dr. Tommy Mitchell DVDs we are handing out.
 

Pray for this professing Roman Catholic as by his own admission he is trusting in his good works to get him to Heaven. Frank and I spoke with him about the true gospel of grace for about 20 minutes.

Bill Craig (the founder of this caucus) waits patiently to engage a teacher while she fills out a survey for a chance at the $100 cash prize.

Toward the end of the day, the Lord put on Frank and my hearts to share the love of Jesus with the homosexuals at the "Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender" booth. We had a very amiable and hopefully ‘bridge-building’ conversation. Our prayer is that we might discuss the truth of the gospel even further as we go back tomorrow. Please pray for this encounter.

We asked the lone gentleman behind the booth about the origins of the rainbow colors as a symbol for the homosexual movement. He gave us some history, apparently in San Francisco is where it originated. It was meant to reflect the diversity of lifestyles. This was an easy springboard to a discussion of the origins of the actual rainbow. We talked about Noah's flood and God's promise to Noah (and by implication all people down through the times, including sodomites, whom we love) that He would never destroy the world again through a global flood. This personable and easy going man told us that he grew up in the Nazarene church where he was put off by the ‘black and white’ standards of right and wrong conduct. He had some recollection of the "Noah story", but we explained to him that Noah's flood was a real historical event and that it was the judgment of God on sin. He acknowledged sin and even that he was a sinner, even further that there is a heaven and hell. Of course, like most people he thought that when he died he would go to heaven. Listen to the clip to hear the rest of the story. Please take a moment to pray for the folks at the GLBT booth.

To be crystal clear, it is out of love that we share the gospel with any and everyone, including homosexuals. In the New King James Version 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God." This burdens our hearts because we know that unrepentant sodomites will not inherit the kingdom of God, they will perish in Hell. Thus our compassion and love for the lost compels us to preach the gospel of grace to these folks. For we know that "there but by the grace of God go I" as the very next verse states, "And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." Praise the Lord there there is forgiveness available for all sins through our Lord Jesus Christ! Through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus, sins of sodomy, idolatry, adultery, etc. can be forgiven, placed as far as the east is from the west. Praise His merciful name!

 

Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell had the distinct pleasure (?) of being accosted by an angry man. Listen in.

Another audio clip. 

Dr. John uses his cardiology experience to explain antibiotic resistance in bacteria to a public school teacher.

Hear Roger Patterson explain an interesting situation that happened at the booth. Clearly every man has a God given conscience. If men harden their hearts, their consciences can become seared, but we pray that the work the Lord is doing here will prick men's consciences to a godly sorrow that leads to repentance.

I think this is my favorite audio clip so far. We praise the Lord that He is using the materials we give out in people's lives. In this particular case, students in the classroom have been watching Dr. Menton's video on the Scopes Trial (we handed out over 1000 of these last year). The teacher is not even a Christian, but he felt the truth was worthy to show to his students. Praise God!

Here's a picture. Please keep praying for these folks. Thanks.

Frank and Roger had the joy of talking with a gentleman who has been to our booth every year for the last few years. Hear a report from Frank.

We are doing something new this year to try to keep more people at the booth so that we can engage them in conversation and share God's truth with them. Over the next few days we will be giving away at least $800. We have printed up half page surveys that anyone can fill out and put in a box for the cash prize. Every two or three hours we will have a drawing to select a winner. This is really causing people to stop and talk with us. Praise God that we have tons of opportunities to share the creation message and the gospel of grace.

Bill Ballard sharing God's truth.
 

Frank Zitzman showcasing the free materials to a teacher.

 

Praise God we have 14 people here at the booth!

Dr. Tommy Mitchell and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell (AiG speaker)

Dr. Cherian John (cardiologist, AiG supporter)

Dr. Jobe Martin and his wife Jenna Dee (creation ministry speaker see www.EvolutionofaCreationist.com)

Ric Nix and his two oldest children, Aaron 17 and Amber 12 (elder at my local church)

Tom Hill (accounting manager for AiG)

Frank Zitzman (AiG supporter)

Roger Patterson (author of Evolution Exposed, AiG staff member)

Bill Ballard (faithful supporter of this ministry for 10 years)

Bill Craig (retired NEA delegate who started this caucus)

Tony Ramsek (me)

Stay tuned for more pictures!! Keep praying! We are in the midst of it now. Thanks.

Below is an audio report from Roger Patterson. The Lord brought someone to the booth to discuss the creation/evolution topic even while we were in the midst of unpacking the boxes. During the brief conversation, the man asked Roger if tree rings proved that the earth is older than 6000 years. Roger gave him an answer with some technical details, which is how the audio first starts. Keep praying!

Just a short clip on how the Lord lead Tom Hill to come volunteer for the NEA ministry outreach.

Here is a picture of Dr. Mitchell unloading his car into the main truck. We brought so much material that it did not fit in the AiG supplied truck. Tom Hill also had a load of boxes in his car.  

Here's the booth brand spanking new.

Here's Roger and Dr. Mitchell putting up the banner. Tommy was there primarily for moral support.

Here's Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell helping to unload the truck.

Boxes everywhere in this picture!

Almost done with the setup! Roger Patterson (the big guy), Dr. Tommy and Elizabeth Mitchell, and Tom Hill.

Roger storing extra materials that won't fit on the tables! All of the tables were completely filled on top and the extra boxes could barely fit underneath all the tables.

The finished product, praise the Lord for all the good that will come from this outreach. May His name be magnified!

We prayed as soon as we arrived at the empty booth and after everything was unpacked and setup. Please join with us in praying for our words, that they would be God's words and for God to use His truth in teachers' lives.

Praise the Lord that AiG is donating 1000 of Dr. Tommy Mitchell's DVDs on "A God of Suffering?" to the Creation Science Educators' Caucus. Remember that AiG is not at the NEA conference 'officially' as Answers in Genesis. We are simply donating materials and manpower to the NEA Creation Science Educators' Caucus which was started by a Christian public school teacher 11 years ago. Dr. Mitchell will be at the booth handing out this DVD along with thousands of other resources. We are very excited to see how the Lord will work through Tommy over the next few days.

Month after month the world witnesses hurricanes, terrorist attacks, earthquakes, tsunamis and myriad other life-shattering events. It is quite understandable, therefore, that men and women demand a logical answer to the question, “Why would a loving God allow death and suffering?” That question is answered here.

This unique new DVD was shot on-location in the hurricane-ravaged community of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Documentary footage complements the illustrated presentation of AiG speaker and medical internist Dr. Tommy Mitchell. (Includes bonus footage about the special relief effort funded by the generosity of AiG donors to bring backpacks filled with school supplies to thousands of public school students “in the love of Jesus Christ.”)

Dr. Tommy Mitchell is the latest dynamic lecturer to be added to AiG-USA’s growing speaking staff. Tommy, an adjunct speaker with Answers in Genesis since mid-2005, has spoken to thousands of adults, youth, and children in a variety of settings, clearly communicating reasons to trust the Bible and the Creator Christ who wrote it. He has written articles for AiG’s website and other publications, and he was the featured speaker during Answers in Genesis’ relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, resulting in a Telly award-winning DVD, A God of Suffering?

Dr. Mitchell’s talks include: 1) a well-illustrated “relevance of creation” presentation explaining why the book of Genesis is so important in today’s “culture wars” and for the church, 2) a series of specialized talks addressing tough issues such as why a loving God allows disease, suffering and death, and 3) presentations for both adults and children about Noah’s ark, dinosaurs, the age of the earth, and other interesting subjects about which today’s Christians need to have answers.

As a scientist, physician, and father, Dr. Mitchell has a burden to provide solid answers from the Bible to equip people to stand in the face of personal tragedy and popular evolutionary misinformation. Using communication skills developed over many years of medical practice, he is able to connect with people at all educational levels and unveil the truth that can change their lives.

Keep praying for Dr. Mitchell and the rest of the team at the NEA conference! 

Praise God that He opened up this door of opportunity to share the truth of creation and the gospel message with thousands of public school teachers, principals and administrators. At AiG we view this as a very unique opportunity for us to be "doing the work of an evangelist" as Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy. Along with the thousands of free AiG resources that we will be handing out, we have a stack of Bibles with us as well. Depending on how the Lord is working in a person's life, he or she may be just getting interested in the creation/evolution debate or they could be ready to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. In general our culture is becoming more 'Greek' than 'Jewish', click here for an article on that topic. Because of this, the proclaiming of the gospel many times needs to be preceded by a work of 'pre-evangelism'. By pre-evangelism, I mean that before the good news of forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ is presented, many times a person's belief in evolution needs to be addressed because it is causing him or her to trust that there is no God, no accountability for his or her actions. To be continued....

Giving the tremendous privilege and responsibility from our Lord Jesus Christ to make disciples of all the nations, what are some ways in which public school teachers can utilize this particular government institution to fulfill that great commission? I think first off we need to realize the principles involved, only after that Bible study has occurred should we look into how pragmatically we can accomplish the principle oriented goals.

About half of the volunteers arrived tonight into the heart of Philadelphia. Tomorrow morning we will go to the Philadelphia Convention Center and setup the "Creation Science Educators' Caucus" booth. The theme for this year is EVOLUTION EXPOSED as we are giving away 1500 of these books for free to public school educators this year. The author of said book is former public school teacher Roger Patterson. He will be at the booth handing out thousands of free materials including booklets, DVDs, etc.

Roger Patterson earned his B.S. Ed. degree in biology from Montana State University. Before coming to work at Answers in Genesis, he taught for eight years in Wyoming’s public school system and assisted the Wyoming Department of Education in developing assessments and standards for children in public schools. As a former evolutionist, Roger is well acquainted with the mounting pressures that educators face from pro-evolutionary co-workers, administrators, publishers and parents.

He encourages all who read this book to pray for courage for Christian students to challenge evolutionary ideas in their classrooms, and to pray for the men and women who are teaching tomorrows leaders, today.

Evolution Exposed is a 'survival guide' for biology class. This book helps teens to discern the chronic bias towards belief in evolution that permeates today’s three most popular high school biology textbooks. Virtually every chapter in each of the secular textbooks contains implied or explicit references to evolutionary beliefs, which are misrepresented as irrefutable facts. However, in Evolution Exposed these misrepresentations are cross-referenced with online articles and publications that provide both scientific and biblical answers. Key terms are defined, articles are summarized and false ideas are refuted. Evolution Exposed is thoroughly indexed by topic so anyone can use it as a reference. Christian students are equipped and inspired to recognize and respectfully challenge evolutionary indoctrination (in class, research papers, and normal interactions outside of school). Using tables, web links, charts and illustrations, documented facts that counter evolutionary teaching in a powerful and organized fashion are synchronized with each textbook’s sequence.

Prayerfully getting this book into the hands of public school teachers will be used by the Lord to open up eyes and hearts to the truth that the God of the Bible is the Creator and that Jesus Christ, His Son is the only mediator between sinful man and a holy God. We see this outreach as a type of pre-evangelism (though we do share the full gospel as much as we can as well). The creation/evolution topic is a great segue into the gospel presentation. Prayerfully over the next few days, you'll see some of that happening at the booth (via pictures, video, audio recording, etc). Keep praying!!