No, these aren’t protestors…just people carrying out the Great Commission. For an hour on Thursday night, members of the Open Door Baptist Church answered the challenge in this post’s headline, holding up Bible verse signs and quoting scriptures at State Street and Capitol Avenue.

I’m surprised to say that there was a ton of positive response: people waving, words of support, friendly smiles. I’d never been present on one of these events before, so I simply expected the worst. It was a neat experience. First was a round of singing, pictured above, then people split into groups in the corner of the intersection. The guys took turns belting out their favorite Bible verses while the kids held up signs.

Yes, the church did have a meeting permit from the city, and no, this is nothing like certain wackos you may have read about in the papers a short while ago. This is a Bismarck church, a legitimate Christian one, just putting out the word: You must be born again. That’s a term I thought was just feel-good nonsense before I became a Christian… then I realized that Jesus himself coined that term in John 3:3 and 3:7.

So it was an uplifting evening. Some people walking by took some gospel literature, we got to sing, and it was a really positive experience. Like I said, we got lots of honks and waves. The only person to flip us the finger had a North Dakota Peace Coalition bumper sticker on his truck…I guess that helps clarify the liberal position on God.

Most people have no problem getting up and cheering or telling the world about their favorite football team or NASCAR racer. They’ve got t-shirts, hats, stickers, sleeping bags, the works, all emblazoned with logos. But if you put a Bible verse on any of those articles, people tend to take a step back and calling you names. Have you ever pondered why that might be?