John 3:16 Horse shoe ministry (Rev.2)

I was a member of NAMB’s ICE team and first observed the horseshoe ministry at Crossover in Indianapolis a few years ago. I was not impressed at first because it was slow. But another member of the ICE team worked with this ministry and made it more evangelistic. That same guy talked me into bringing it to River Fest in 2010 and it went great. We gave away 900 horseshoes and had over 100 decisions for Christ. We took it to the Kansas State Fair and it was even better. We gave away 4800 horse shoes, 4500 heard the Gospel and there were over 120 decisions for Christ.

We tell them the horse shoe with their name and John 3:16 stamped on it is free, but we require them to listen to a few minutes presentation of what John 3:16 means to us. We primarily use the EvangeCube to share with groups of 5 to 25. Very seldom do we have someone who won’t listen to the Gospel. But we tell them that we only give shoes to the ones who hear our John 3:16 presentation.

We have done state and county fairs, fall festivals, block parties and one rodeo. We have taken it to the Rose parade (the day before) for 4 years and twice on mission trips to Winnipeg. We have found it works better with non-horse people. Horse people say they have enough horse shoes. Non horse people just love them and will wait over an hour to get them. As of the first of the year 2015, we have given away over 40,000 horse shoes and estimate over 3,000 decisions for Christ.

The anvils, hammers and stamps were bought at Harbor freight and the flat black paint from Wal-Mart. We attach a card with a tie wrap with the plan of salvation on it and some contact info. We have a good printer in Wichita who does the cards and we buy the tie wraps on line. We always give tracts and have Bibles and Personal Commitment guides there for the ones that accept Christ. We make sure we get their contact info and get it to a local church for follow up.

Originally we bought the shoes from a Cowboy church planter out of North Carolina. They did a bunch for us but with all their ministries we did not want to continue to burden them so we spent almost 6 months searching for another source. We found a horse shoe maker in Minnesota who forged John 3:16 in them when they were made and they looked very good. We had to buy 10,000 to get a good price of $1.267 each. The second year they went up over fifty cents a shoe. We now buy from a company in the Netherlands that stamps John 3:16 in them after they are made and they do a great job. They cost us $1.30 each if we buy 10,000 or more. This year God has blessed us and we have ordered 15,000 shoes so we can sell them to churches that just need 500 or so and can’t buy 10,000. (That would be $1.30 for each shoe plus shipping) On you tube there is a short video on the River Fest outreach that the North Carolina team helped with. Just type in river fest horse shoe and you should get it. We plan to eventually have a short doc on all the aspects of the ministry.

Below is a short article my wife wrote for the Baptist press after our first time at the state fair. I am no longer at the association; I am associate pastor of outreach at Believers SBC in Wichita. Carl Brown, who is my partner on this ministry, is also a member at BSBC

The Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association (HOKSBA) sponsored its first “horseshoe ministry” event at the Kansas State Fair this year. The horseshoe ministry was first used by the association at the annual River Festival in Wichita and was such a success that it was decided to try the event at the state fair. Loren Phippen, Director of Evangelism for the association and Carl Brown, member of Country Acres Baptist Church, worked diligently to pull this event together in just a few weeks’ time. The association had never attempted an event of this size. But once the idea was out, the volunteers, the money and the interest just blossomed. The association ordered 5,000 horse shoes in anticipation of what God would do at the fair. The horseshoe ministry worked in a very simple fashion. As people approached the booth, a greeter told them they would be given a free horseshoe with their name stamped on it if they would allow us to tell them what John 3:16 means to us. While their name was being stamped on the shoe the gospel was shared with them, and they were given the

opportunity to pray and accept Christ as their personal savior. Whether they prayed to receive Christ or not, they were given a gospel track with their horseshoe and offered a New Testament. The Ridin’ For Christ Horseshoe Ministry in North Carolina generously stamped all 5,000 horseshoes with John 3:16 and shipped them in time for use at the fair. Around fifteen of our local churches signed up to man the booth during various days and times. We also had a great group of volunteers from First Baptist Church in Pratt, Kansas, a church in Central Association. In total we had over 120 volunteers. There is no way anyone was prepared for the response they would see and the work that it would take to pass that many people through the booth, but they all worked like true servants of God and gave it their all. It was proof positive of what we can accomplish if God’s people are willing to come together to reach our communities for Christ.

Approximately 4,700 horseshoes were given out at the fair, and the response from fairgoers was overwhelming. Over 120 people made public confessions of salvation and were willing to give their personal information so our local churches could do follow up and disciple them.

There is no way to know what God is doing in the hearts of all the others who heard the gospel during the ten-day event. It was amazing to see how many people were sincerely open to hear the gospel message.

The world wants us to believe that no one is interested and that people will not listen to believers who are willing to share their faith. Those who saw lives touched by hearing the gospel message know better. They look forward, with anticipation, to see how God will use them in other witnessing venues and also again next year at the fair.

This year will be our 6th year at the Kansas state fair. Not only do we see lives changes for the ones we share with we also see lives changed in our volunteers. We have seen many people go from just volunteering for manual work to sharing the Gospel. We have approximately 12 people who had never shared before sharing the Gospel. PTL.

Below I will give you more detailed information on the ministry and most of the material you will need. I will

have some numbered pictures and will reference them to a particular item.

Photo 1 Top of work bench. Bench is 36 in long, 18 inch wide and 34 inch high. 2 by 4’s and plywood. We have one bench for each anvil. You can work 2 to a bench but it is harder. Anvils are 55 lbs. and bought at harbor freight for $60. Hammer shown is 4 lbs. and we prefer that when we us 3/16 punches. Behind the stamps which are 3/16 is a wire brush, we use different sizes from harbor freight, we prefer the long handled yellow one.

Photo 2 a little better shot of the table. Below table are about 20 pieces of 4” P.V.C pipes filled with cement with a cap on one end and a hook on the other end. These hang off the ends of the canopy with tie-downs to hold the canopy in place with Kansas winds. On top of the tubes are rubber mats for workers to stand on.

Photo 3 is a picture of both size metal stamps. The front ones are 1/8 and bought at harbor freight. Took us years to find the 3/16 stamps. They are in the back yellow box. We bought them at the Yard Store in Wichita. The 3/16 work the best but you are limited to 8 letter names. With the 1/8 you can squeeze 11 or 12 letters, but the 3/16 look better. The cost is around $10 a set for either one. Make sure you have extra sets because you will bend, flatten or lose some each time out.

Photo 4 Picture of about 3600 shoes making room for the 15,000 we just received. We have 1.30 in each shoe and will sell them to you for 1.30 each and you find and pay for shipping.

Photo 5 and 6 are pictures of signs on the trailer. When we travel someone always asks what the sign means and we get to share the Gospel.

Photos 7, 8 and 9 are pictures of the paint booth. We have another picture later. We use flat black paint for .99 cents a can at Walmart.

Photos 10 and 11 show the 5 ft tables where we take names, put tags on shoes and give to person. Also, use one table for tracts Bibles follow-up stuff and misc. Table also shows P.V.C. and hold down straps for the canopies. We buy tables for around $40 at Sam’s.

Photo 12 shows the large EvangeCube that we share with. This works great with a big group and can be purchased at e3resources.com

Photo 13 shows the 10x8 or 10x10 screen that we buy from harbor freight for $40ish. We put up the canopies and then the screens so the hammer operator faces the

screen and no one will get hit by ricocheting stamps. Before the screens we hit several people and lost a lot of stamps.

Photo 14 is a bag of tie wraps that we use to tie the cards to the shoe.

Photo 15 is at the state fair and shows the canopies anvils and part of the setup. We usually set up 5 canopies, 2 for all the work to be shaded and 3 separated with chairs for use while we share. Summer in Kansas you must have shade.

Photo 16 is me sharing with the EvangeCube. That is the biggest cube they make.

Photo 17 one of our volunteers painting the finished shoe.

Photo 18 just a photo of what the shoe looks like before putting name on it.

General instructions: I am going to explain the ministry step by step by talking about each station/job.

1. The first contact with the person who wants a shoe is the greeter. She asks them if they would like a free horseshoe with their name on it and John 3:16 on it. Before taking their name she explains that the shoe is absolutely free, money wise, but we require that they listen to one of us share what John 3:16 means to us. If they don’t want to listen they don’t get a shoe. This is a very important step. If they are not told that they must hear the message they get mad at the presenter. So make sure the greeter understands and explains that every person who gets a shoe must hear the message. The greeter clearly prints their name on the back of the free horseshoe tag and it follows the shoe all the way through the process.

2. The greeter puts the slip with readable name on it and passes it to the anvil/hammer operator. He hand stamps the name on it. We are transitioning from 1/8 stamps to 3/16. The 3/16 look much better but they limit us to 8 letters for each name. You can squeeze 11 or 12 with the 1/8 but it does not look as good as the shoes arrive with John 3:16 with the larger letters. We must have quality control here, remember we are giving these out in our Lord’s name so they must look

good. Two common mistakes are not hitting the stamp hard enough and not keeping the letters in a straight row. It takes concentration but it can be done. Sometimes we will ask people to slow down so the shoe looks better and sometimes we might ask them to redo a shoe. Not everyone will be good at stamping but might be better at something else. Make sure you put the screens up in front of the anvil operator. Sometimes a miss hit will send the stamp into the crowd at a high rate of speed and hit someone. We haven’t hurt anyone yet and pray that we will keep it that way. Again put all the requests in a clip where all anvil operators can see them. Have the greeter put the new ones on the bottom and have the anvil operator take one at a time from the top of the stack. If they don’t follow that rule you will have people wait much longer for their shoe and could get frustrated. The card that says free on it follows the shoe and the painter makes sure they do.

3. The next person is the painter. Depending on how busy you might need two. They pick up the finished shoe from the anvil operator, spray it very, very, very lightly and then give it to the person who puts the tags on the shoe. I have to reemphasize how important it is to barely use any paint. It will dry faster and it won’t hide the letters. The leader and the person who puts on the cards must inspect each shoe for straightness and clarity of the name. If you have 6 anvils going you will need 2 painters. The flat black at Wal-Mart’s is the best and cheapest.

4. The shoe arrives at the final table where they pick-up their shoe with the paint dry. The FREE card with the name on it and the How To Become A Christian card are attached with small tie wraps. Having the name in big letters on the shoe makes it so much easier for them to find the shoe.

5. While the shoe is being processed one of us will be sharing the Gospel around John 3:16. I usually use the large EvangeCube and try to stay within a 10 minute presentation. We let everyone share in a way that they are comfortable with, but at least mention John 3:16. We usually have 3 canopies set up with around 45 chairs. Depending on how busy we are we try to have at least 4 or 5 sharing all the time. If I notice people zoning out and not paying any

attention, I mention that to those that are sharing. If you have someone talking over 30 minutes you need to remind them to stay within 15, especially when it is busy. If we have someone pray to receive Christ we give them a Bible and personal commitment guide. We also get all of their information so we or someone else can follow up.

This is my initial try at putting together a user’s manual for the horseshoe ministry, so I would welcome any criticism or feedback on how it could be better.

My heart cries for other people around the country to get involved in the John 3:16 Horseshoe ministry. After 20 some years as an evangelist I have never found an easier and more efficient way to share the Gospel. At times we can have over 50 people waiting in line to hear about John 3:16 so they can get a shoe. They think the reason they are there is to get a shoe, but God brought them there to hear the Gospel. We have given out over 40,000 shoes and each person has heard the Gospel. We estimate that around 2 to 3 thousand have prayed with us to accept Christ as their savior.

Our hearts must cry 3:16 for the lost. In 2 Peter 3:9 our Lord stated He wants none to perish but to come to repentance. That must be our prayer. Ezekiel 3:18 should challenge us to be the witness God wants us to be.

Love in Christ

Loren Phippen

lgphippen@gmail.com