A Trip to the Beale Street Blast

The Beale Street Blast is an annual three day drunken street party on the streets of Memphis, Tennessee. My dad has been attending for several years - not to get drunk, but rather to share the gospel with anyone who will listen. Actually, there's several hundred Christian street preachers and families who go there every year to share the gospel with the crowd.
This year, Dad took Jemima, Liz, and Ruth with him.
I'll let Jemima fill in the captions, since I wasn't there...

"You Must Choose Between Sin and the Saviour"...Signs such as these grab the attention of the crowd, and signs with scripture verses defining sin incite serious discussion. Most of the street preachers who attend were once on the other side of things...former Satanists, drunks, drug-addicts, and violent or suicidal...

"Bez" interacts with the crowd, as a young man steps forward to take the "Good" test.
Going through the ten commandments, everyone fails on the first one:
"Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart..."
Most people admit they have broken every one of the ten.

When asked, "Have you ever taken God's name in vain?" most of the folks on Beale Street say with a laugh and a curse word, "I sure have!" Yet as they admit to breaking God's law, their friends all yell, "He IS a good person!"

We pray that they will remember this as a moment when they were confronted with the holiness of God, and someday humbly ask Him for mercy.

Dad (left) likes talking one on one with people.
He can identify with many of them, being a former atheist, rebel, and drug addict.

Each day before entering the street party, our group knelt at the entrance, asking God for wisdom, protection, and open hearts.

"Tell ye, and bring them near; who hath declared this from ancient time?...Have not I the LORD? And there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."
Isaiah 45: 21-22

Jemima and Liz enjoyed seeing their friend Joanna Craft again.
We met her family a number of years ago when they were traveling through the area, doing street preaching all over the country.