Permit me to introduce you to what God Almighty did in shaping the Mobile Gospel Billboard truck for the sowing of his Word.
There are secular mobile billboards in some cities of the world charging as much as four hundred and fifty dollars a day after set up costs. That should tell you something of the value of the mobile Gospel Billboard's effectiveness and the cost of maintaining it in fuel, maintenance, and insurance with a sharp appearance appealing to the eye. Secular billboards operate from advertising income. We operated from contributions for years with a volunteer driver. Our income was much much less. So were our operational costs.
Our strategies were uniquely different. Secular billboards spend most of their time moving in traffic. The mobile gospel billboard was sometimes moved from one prize billboarding location to another, proving equally as effective. We also had the advantage of having our heart fully into the work of billboarding whereas owners and drivers in secular billboard companies are simply in it for the money. Their drivers often times drive aimlessly without any real concern for the positioning of their vehicles for maximized advertising or for the speed they are driving. Obviously a billboard truck speeding along the freeway at eighty miles an hour is not going to influence many drivers with its message, but a skillful billboard driver can influence not only the traffic passing it, but also the traffic coming toward it.
The Mobile Gospel Billboard was used to sow the good Word of God in four Southwestern States: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California as far North as San Francisco and also in Mexico. The Word of God was sown not only from the billboards, but over the public address system primarily by means of pre-recorded power readings from the holy Book. "How shall they H E A R unless a preacher be sent?" We also had readings done in Vietnamese, Korean, and Spanish.
Secular billboard companies carry professionally designed billboard designs. We had the grace of God to have Eddie Lee, a computer design expert, do the work for us. We were able to see precisely what the design was going to look like before the vinyl letters were cut. Each letter was nearly two foot tall and wide enough to be see from far off. We know the message was God inspired by God because of the incredible public response everywhere. We billboarded for five years for less than twenty thousand a year financial support for the driver as well as operating costs and could have done much much more in a newer model vehicle.
There were locations where people came one right after another to find out what "LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD," meant. Some were sinners. Other were saved. They all had one thing in common. They did not know Life was hidden from them. Were there just a few instances of Christians not understanding Life is hidden from the Church as well as the world, I would say no more. But there were hundreds perhaps thousands of Christians who were curious to know what was meant by "LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD." The cause of this horrendous deficiency in their understanding can be explained by the fact religious leaders everywhere are teaching a YOU HAVE ARRIVED theology for every believer baptized in the holy Ghost.
The truth is: the apostles and prophets were Spirit filled dear brothers and sisters. When your life is totally set apart unto God like their lives, you too would hope to discover what it means to be Spirit filled by seeking the Lord continually. Were you to do so, you would understand LIFE is synonomous with being Spirit filled. Think about it! Whose Spirit are you to be filled with? Christ, of course! And is he not "the way, the truth and THE LIFE." To be Spirit filled then is to be filled with LIFE!!!!! Salvation is a gift, but to be Spirit filled is hard work.
So, the message on the mobile gospelbillboard is profound. It was the fisherman's bait provided by the guidance of
the Lord. I did what so many do when they know not what to do. I opened the Bible and used the verse my finger found
without searching with my eyes. The phrase in the verse was "LIFE IS HID WITH CHRIST IN GOD."
In looking back, I do not think there is a verse
more necessary and unoffensive to both the Church and the world of lost sinners nor can I imagine a phrase of Scripture more alluring to
both the lost and the saved.
The Public Address system was used to sow the Word of God audibly. High powered Japanese speakers carried the Word of God a hundred yards either side of the truck. When huge crowds along the side of the road or streets were encountered, every head would turn to read the message on the fourway billboards of the mobile Gospel billboard truck. The public address system was versatile. The preacher driving the billboard could proclaim truth using a microphone or pre-recorded cassettes could be used to broadcast continually. (Cassettes do not get tired nor do they know fear when the police are present to persecute.)
There were wrestling matches with authorities everywhere, not for any illegality but America is populated with a people in rebellion against God. There is an intense determination throughout this once Christian nation to run the God of the Bible out of the land. So it is important for any Church or evangelical group to have a budget to pay for legal costs as well as operating costs. Otherwise, you will most likely lose your truck to the towing yard while you sit in jail for broadcasting the Word of God in public.
Another thing worth mentioning is the need to seek the Lord in fastings and prayers for his
power in your recorded broadcasts. This is easier said than done, so we have copied some of
the dynamic Bible readings we used in the Mobile Gospel Billboard campaigns from City to
City, and State to State: You are certainly welcome to download and use them if you are
going to put a broadcast vehicle in the harvest field for the glory of God: Just click
on the Bible Broadcast reading below to play the public address recording. (A small
windows media box will appear on your upper left screen and the reading will automatically begin in about five
seconds. Imagine while you are listening to it the effect: the voice tones, speed of delivery and
enuciation will have on the public. A broadcast tape should be made with great care.)
Every Church congregation should put a mobile gospel billboard to work for the Lord. It is definitely a rubber meets the road ministry.
Here is THE BILLBOARDERS CREED every driver of a witnessing vehicle ought to live by, every church board ought to seriously consider passing all twelve of them as commandments for their church to focus on doing together as a militia for God, and every congregation ought to pray earnestly for this sort of unified commitment .....knowing unity results when some members of the family of God resolve to sow the good seed of eternal Life continually day and night in all we do as a Church.
Each Church congregation in America and throughout the world has this choice. To live for God or for their own selves.
Living for God will unite you in purpose. Living for yourselves leaves you "disconnected".
