by Kelli Cottrell

PASADENA - More than 70 volunteers, including evangelists from across the country, led 12 people to make professions of faith in Christ on Pasadena's Colorado Boulevard while waiting to view the 119th Tournament of Roses Parade.

The group, spearheaded by Martin Davis, a member of Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, used a variety of outreach efforts to share the gospel on New Year's Eve.

Two mime teams performed more than 35 times along the parade route, with Darrel Davis, a full-time evangelist and Inner City Evangelism (ICE) team member for the North American Mission Board, sharing the gospel afterward.

"It's a unique environment," noted Davis, who joined the parade ministry for the first time this year. "When I heard about this opportunity I knew the Lord was calling me to help. There is a lot of seed-planting going on here. We gave them a lot to think about."

For the past 12 years, Debbie and Davis Trim, both members of Shadow Mountain, have organized evangelism teams.

Dean Osuch, pastor of evangelism at Shadow Mountain, handed a seven-year-old boy from Ohio a free bag of popcorn as he waited to see the parade. Osuch asked, "Do you think about God?" 

After a brief discussion about the gospel the boy went back to where his family was camped out.

But Osuch had such a burden for the child he began to search for him. He walked in the direction he thought he'd gone and found him a few blocks away standing with his parents and two sisters. The family had traveled from the Midwest to see the annual Parade.

After Osuch shared the plan of salvation using John 3:16, with the boy's two older sisters watching over his shoulder, he asked if he was ready to pray to ask Jesus into his life.

"His two sisters instantly said yes, but the boy didn't," noted Osuch, who brought 15 church members, including his son with him to help give away hundreds of bags of free popcorn. "As we prayed I could tell the boy was praying too. He had this big smile on his face and I knew he got it. He really understood what he had done."

Before Osuch could leave the boy had already scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper for him to call later to follow up.

"God orchestrated the whole thing," Osuch said of the three siblings who received Christ.

Volunteers also included members of three Calvary Chapel churches and New Life Church in West Covina. Teams of street evangelists used a flipchart featuring trivia before preaching the gospel on stepstools.

"We have one purpose tonight - to evangelize," said Steven Guiterrez of New Life Church who came out for his second year. "There are so many people here and they have nowhere to go. It's all for God's glory."

Other volunteers distributed free popcorn, made balloon animals and painted faces.

The next morning volunteers distributed 14,500 brochures featuring the order of the parade floats and including steps to becoming a Christian and contacts for local Southern Baptist churches.

Toting a briefcase full of tracts, Graham Lingg, 21, a student at Wichita State University, walked up and down the parade route distributing the gospel message and engaging people in conversation.

"I really enjoy sharing the gospel with people and I'm on Christmas break, so I flew out here to tell people about Jesus," said Lingg, who traveled with two friends from Kansas to participate in the ministry.

The parking lot of Calvary Chapel of Pasadena on Colorado Boulevard serves as home-base for the Rose Parade outreach.

Volunteers set up tents and trailers beginning about 2:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve, to warm up by a fire-pit throughout the night or grab a cup of coffee until they get up to hand out brochures the next morning.

"I love this ministry," said Debbie Trim of San Diego. "I used to be so shy at first and now I am the one sharing the gospel over the bullhorn. This is just part of my holiday plans every year."

Martin Davis, who receives $3,000 each year from NAMB to print the brochures, has a vision to increase the number of volunteers.

"This is an interdenominational evangelistic outreach . a Kingdom effort," Davis said. "This is a great opportunity to bring members of an evangelism class to put into practice what they have just learned. It's all about street witnessing. Even if just one person comes to know Christ, it's worth it."

For more information or to volunteer for next year's Rose Parade outreach effort, contact Davis at mdavis@totlpg.com.