Taking Jesus to Mardi Gras

The street witnessing team I was a part of in college was looking for a large project to do together. The 20 of us wanted to take our street ministry to the next level. Someone made the comment "Let's take Jesus to Mardi Gras." We knew from that moment on we would be going to New Orleans. This was in September, which left us little time to prepare. There was much to be done and not a lot of time to do it.

Thankfully, we already had a mode of transportation. Our group had been given a bus for our street ministry. Until our road trip to New Orleans, it had only been used to transport us to the streets in Oklahoma City and the people we met on those same streets to church. It was now going to take us a little over 700 miles to New Orleans.

I called a friend of mine whose brother was a pastor of a church in Slidell, Louisiana. I was hoping the church there would be able to help us get some great rates at a hotel nearby. They did better than that! The church made arrangements for us to stay in their youth's rec center. And, they weren't going to charge a penny for it. That was less money we'd have to come up for our trip. All we needed was sleeping bags and we were set. They were more than happy to open their doors to us any time during Mardi Gras.

We began talking to our home churches, looking for funding to get us to Mardi Gras. I have to admit, we got several strange looks from people. A few even thought we were looking for church funds to finance a drunken binge. Thankfully, we were well known in most of the churches so this didn't happen often. Most of the churches were more than happy to "pass the plate" and help us get to New Orleans. What money we didn't get from offerings, we earned with car washes, bake sales and took out of our own money. We were not going to let a little thing like money keep us from telling people about Jesus!

Thankfully, we were able to schedule our trip so we would only miss two days of classes. We left on a Wednesday afternoon and would be back the following Sunday evening. Most of our instructors didn't mind too much that we would be absent and none of us missed any tests or assignments. God was certainly moving to get us to Mardi Gras.

News began to spread about our trip to New Orleans. It wasn't long until college students from other universities with Christian ministries were wanting to go with us. "Young Adult" Sunday School classes were speaking with their pastors about taking Jesus to Bourbon Street. Before we knew it, our one little bus turned into a convoy. They other groups would have to find their own money and places to stay, but they were more than welcome to join us. We ended up with about 200 people going with us. One was an 89 year old great-grandmother who wanted to help "young people tell New Orleans about Jesus."

After a moment of prayer for a safe and productive trip, vans, buses and cars pulled out of the church parking lot where we all agreed to meet. People waved and held signs as we left. Some even followed us down I-35, honking and waving. We were on our way!

We stopped every couple of hours for gas and bathroom breaks. We'd eat the snacks we brought or buy something at the convenience stores where we stopped. We were all wearing our "Taking Jesus to Mardi Gras" t-shirts that we had made. Even Sister Vivian, the great-grandmother, wore her t-shirt!

Shortly before dawn, we arrived in New Orleans. We couldn't wait to get to the French Quarter. We drove through, looking at the people making their way back to their homes or hotels. For the 20 in my group, we made our way to Slidell to get some sleep before we headed out that evening.

We must have been a sight for everyone in the French Quarter! There we were in our matching t-shirts, passing out tracts and telling everyone who would listen (and a few who wouldn't) about God and His love for us. Sister Vivian and her walker kept us with us just fine. We even met other church groups who had decided to take Jesus to Mardi Gras as well.

We were in the French Quarter every minute possible. We were able to share Jesus with thousands of people. We got names and phone numbers from hundreds who wanted a ride to church or help with something else. We passed those on to the church where we were staying so they could do some form of follow-up.

After we would get back to the church's rec center, we would end up talking for hours about the people we met. We shared stories of how we had shared Jesus with Bourbon Street. It was like a giant slumber party! We ate junk food, laughed and sang. It was much more fun than I ever imagined.

The real thrill of the trip for me was picking up the people for church in our bus on Sunday morning. Moms, dads, kids and grandparents all got on our bus and off to church they went with us. That showed me that not only was I able to take Jesus to them, I was also able to take them to Jesus. It may be silly, but I was thrilled to know that those people were in church on that Sunday in the middle of Mardi Gras.

That was a while back. I'm still in touch with several people who took Jesus to Bourbon Street that year. We always talk about how we were able to share God with so many people in such a short amount of time. Yes, we realize that it was a small thing to do and many of the people we spoke with won't remember us or take advantage of the Gospel we shared. That doesn't matter. We did something. We took a stand for what we believe in and God will honor that. He has already honored that. I'm just thankful for the opportunity to have been, as the song says, "somewhere workin' for my Lord."