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The Original Route 66 ministry had its birth in September 1997 at the close of a several day long Christian Life seminar. The assignment was given for each of us to start a Christian Life project and follow it through. If we could not start one, we were to become heavily involved in being a part of an existing one. Here again, the follow-through to completion was stressed. I was in my mid 50’s and had a life-long interest in all things automotive, and had been a heavy user of Gospel tracts all my Christian life. God’s Holy Spirit impressed upon my heart to assemble a Gospel message that would have a broad-based appeal so the general public would pick it up on their own. I also thought it should link the Bible truths together in a memorable way where point A links to point B and so on. That way the Holy Spirit will bring these truths back to the heart of the reader even years later. I had heard that 1997 was the seventieth anniversary of Route 66 and it was getting some wide-spread publicity within car fan circles and of course the Bible has 66 books, so I decided to call my project the real Highway to Heaven, the true Freeway of Love, the King’s Highway, and the Father’s Road. With much help from friends with spelling, grammar, and punctuation, I got someone to type up the first few drafts, (of the tract) and then I had some photo copied, cut out and folded. The pastor at my church asked his personal secretary to help me. It required a dozen or so trips to her to get to this point, but at least the layout was O.K. and you could read it. The next step was to get a print or copy shop to get these “Tour Maps” to the next level. I traded out some work to a copy shop owner and he said that I must re-print and re-lay out everything. After 6 or 8 “tweaks” and corrections, he ran off a few hundred copies of the “Tour Maps” for me and we cut and folded them by hand. At this point, I started approaching printers, publishers and distributors of Christian literature and almost all of them turned me down. Some wanted “big bucks” up front and would not help distribute. Many said it was a great concept but they only used in-house writers and or “current topics.” I finally got a call back from a dear, elderly gentleman from Tennessee. He said that he had been in ministry almost 60 years, and in 1968 he started putting out Bibles and Christian literature and by now they had sent millions of pieces of material around the world in 15 different languages. He said he liked the tract (I like to call them “Tour Maps.”) a lot and it was one of the very best he had ever seen. He offered to print up 25,000 and also do some distribution. Well Bless God! It had been just a little over five years since the inception of the “Tour Maps.” The very first day out of the box, I handed out (did not have racks yet) 3,000 “Tour Maps,” one-on-one, at a big car show and only got 3 or 4 “No thanks,” or “I’ll pass.” In fact, several people started reading them right on the spot! We have since put together a display rack for counter top use in high-traffic public areas, and folks pick up “Tour Maps” at a “good clip.” I have personally put together a
“Gospel Wagon” and parked it All this before the release of the movie Cars, and all the interest it will generate about Route 66. My wife and I, along with a friend from church have done a mail-out to over 5,000 car clubs, museums, and Route 66-related businesses all over the country. Each one hand addressed and prayed over. Our prayerful goal is to have racks of “Tour Maps” in 10,000 + Christian-owned businesses such as restaurants, dry cleaners, gas stations, hardware stores, beauty and barber shops, etc., so that the general public will pick up the Gospel message and God’s Holy Spirit will speak to their hearts through His Word. I came from a broken, shattered alcoholic home and grew up from “pillar to post” with little or no supervision or direction as a young person. I quit school at age 15 and started running with “the guys,” looking for trouble and often finding it. But let me tell you how the Lord found me… On March 29, 1961 at 4:00 pm, I was asked by some middle- aged friends if I was going to the Billy Graham meeting at the Palm Beach High School football field that night. I said, “No, I don’t get into that “religion” stuff.” I was a “cool cat” and did not want to hear anything about God, period. But oh, how He came looking for me! His Holy Spirit drew me to that place by 7:00 pm! And, in a crowd of 10,000, I came upon those folks that had invited me. And, bless God, He reached down and brought me out of the miry clay; it was a horrible pit… (Psalm 40:2 & 3 are my life verses.) …He sought me out and washed all my sins away! Then, He wrapped me in His robe of righteousness and presented me to God the Father, blameless and pure, by His marvelous grace. I don’t think most folks get up in the morning and say, “today is the day I’ll get right with God, today I’ll get saved.” But, He is always seeking those who He can speak to by His Holy Spirit through His Word, that they might yield to Him and be redeemed. It’s our job to pray, and get the
Word out and pray some In His Service,
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in a high-traffic spot in a major “high class”
Concourse D’Elegance, and people pick them up at the rate of 250-300 per hour!
more. We have found that this “Original
Route 66” concept is very effective at getting the Gospel out and pray that you
will want to be a part of this ministry. 