Evangelism is a duty of every Christian. Coming from the very lips of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, we are to go and win people by His precious gospel. Although we cant change the powerful message of the cross, we can however make a creative way in delivering to it. Enter those amazing money tracts that are eye catching unbelievers and encouraging to Christians. We connected with Andy Lawniczak to talk about these cool tracts and about evangelism:
Delighting Grace: Hi Andy. First off, can you share your testimony on how you got to know Jesus?
Andy: I grew up as a Roman Catholic, but was not very devout myself. My parents were, and my father still is, going to mass every single day (my mother died in 2004). I was dating a girl in my late teens that was Nazarene, which was a breath of fresh air from my hard-pewed Roman Catholic days. However, I didn’t get saved in the Nazarene church. It wasn’t until I met my wife, (who grew up Pentecostal) when we got married, moved away and became Southern Baptist. (Talk about a crazy religious journey!) In 2003 I heard a revival preacher speak at our church and realized I had never repented and put my trust in Christ. That night i did and was baptized soon after. I now understand the reality of my sin and continual dependence on Christ for mercy.
Delighting Grace: What’s your first time in sharing the gospel? How did it went out? How about your first encounter with a gospel tract?
Andy: Soon after being converted, I was surfing the internet to kill some time one day and stumbled upon the Living Waters / Ray Comfort “Good Person Test.” I loved that so much because it made things make sense. I emailed it to quite a few people (saved and unsaved) and began researching their ministry. I saw some “Way of the Master” TV shows, and was hooked. I bought some tracts and went to the courthouse near where I worked at lunch every day. It took several days before I could even build up enough courage to hand out a Gospel tract, let alone talk with anyone. By God’s grace I did it, and felt fantastic after handing out those first tracts and speaking to those first people. Later on, I went to an “Evangelism Boot Camp” and open air preached for the first time. Was great to get out of my comfort zone. Currently, i try to hand out tracts as I can, but i don’t get out to open air preach much. It’s tough to balance being a husband, father of 4, and foster father of 2… all that and get out to evangelize, but i hope to get out more in the future.
Delighting Grace: Yes Ray Comfort’s ministry is also an influence to mine. What’s your favorite Bible verse about evangelism?
Andy: The key verse for Gospel Tract Planet is “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). I love that verse, and decided to use that for the basis of the ministry, as well as the name itself (All the world = the whole planet)
Delighting Grace: How did Gospel Tract Planet started?
Andy: Back in 2006, I had designed a gospel tract for a guy named Marv, who is now the owner of “One Million Tracts.” He showed the design to someone else, who contacted me to design a Texas-themed tract with Sam Houston on it. When I finished that, the customer asked me about starting a custom tract ministry. We prayed about it and decided to partner up and start what was then called “Custom Tract Source.” Then in 2013, we decided to part ways. I purchased the other half of the business and changed the name to “Gospel Tract Planet.” I’ve been running the ministry this way since then, and it has been a huge blessing to me and my family.
Delighting Grace: Can you tell us the process of making a tract? How do you get ideas for a tract and placing the right artwork or images?
Andy: Different types of tracts are done in different ways. In most cases, people will approach us and have an idea for a tract they want to produce. They usually have the message written out and just a basic idea of what they want to see. I take these ideas and create a custom-designed tract. If we like the final tract, many times we will print them and make them available on our website.
For the design itself, I typically start with a high quality stock photo (or several of them). There are online sites I use for this, where I pay a nominal or monthly fee for access to royalty-free images. Then I composite those images into a high quality tract. Typically these images are the pictures on the money tracts, or the graphical portions of folded tracts, or background designs and such. Then I lay out the text to work best with these graphics. Money tracts take 5-8 hours or more to design, depending on the complexity. It also depends on whether it’s a brand new design, or a design that starts with an existing design as a base. Folded tracts take about 5 hours, and most of the card tracts take 1-2 hours to complete. For a good example of how a tract comes together, here’s a video with a timelapse of our recent “Thanksgiving Bucks” tract.
Delighting Grace: Can you share with us tips on sharing your faith? How can a Christian shake off their fear in evangelism?
Andy: If you find a way to shake off your fear, please let me know! I continually battle fear, and I am ashamed that it wins more often than I’d like. I guess I would say, “let love swallow your fears.” Ray Comfort always says this, and I agree. The more we love people and realize their eternal state, the more we’ll just do what it takes to get out of our comfort zone and warn them. If you see a child fall into a swimming pool, you wouldn’t even think twice about jumping in after them, even if you’re not a terrific swimmer. We should do the same with people’s souls, because even more is at stake.
Delighting Grace: We use your awesome tracts and they are an eye catcher. So please invite our readers to check your tracts.
Andy: Thanks for the encouragement! We’d love for your readers to check out our site and try some of our unique Gospel tracts. The website is www.TractPlanet.com. We *always* have something on sale, or some special going on. In fact, for brand new customers, we’ll give you $10 OFF any order $20 or more. Just use the code 10off20 at checkout. This is good for in-stock tracts, or even custom tracts!
Delighting Grace:Wow! That’s awesome. So guys please do check his website and I’m sure you’ll love the tracts. And happy evangelism!
Delighting Grace 