I’m pretty sure we didn't talk to anyone “official” about
our plans, or apply for a permit. We just told everyone we could that we were going
to have “meetings” in the park that weekend. We loaded a piano into the bed of
a pickup and that became the stage. We drove the pickup onto the lawn at the
park, set up some folding chairs, and we were set. Somebody played the piano,
someone else led singing, and I stood up to preach the gospel.
It wasn't pretty, but when I gave the “altar call” there
were some folks in the audience who turned to Christ.
But a strange thing happened in the middle of our evangelistic
zeal. Somehow word of our outdoor evangelism had reached a group of Christians
in a nearby town. They showed up on one of the nights, and after I preached, a
group of five or six of them asked to speak to me.
They pulled their chairs in a circle, with me in the middle.
The spokesman, a young guy with a wispy beard about ten years older than I, asked me
a question: “Have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit?"
