Sharing the Gospel Without Fear at a County Fair

By Brad St. Clair, Evangelism Coach

Have you ever handed someone a giant $100 bill and watched their face light up — right before they realized it was a Gospel tract?

That's the kind of icebreaker that turns "I don't know what to say" into an actual conversation.

If you've ever frozen up wondering what to say to a stranger, or worried that sharing your faith would come off forced or weird, you're not alone.

That's exactly the tension this report is about.

Christian County Fair, Ozark, MO — July 15, 2005 Archive

This report was originally published on July 15, 2005, and comes from the outreach archives of Repent and Turn Ministries, the ministry that later became YouEvangelized.

Sharing the Gospel with Giant $100 Bills at a County Fair

This is an archived report from a night at the Christian County Fair in Ozark, Missouri, back in 2005.

This is about a year into my evangelism journey, when I'd probably handed out somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 tracts total.

A handful of Million Dollar Bill and Giant Money tracts was already my go-to tool for gospel conversations.

Looking back now, over 22 years and tens of thousands of tracts later, here's what I've learned: you don't need a rehearsed conversation planned to plant a seed.

Sometimes all it takes is a fake $100 bill and the willingness to hand it to someone.

Tonight my wife and I, along with my daughter, went to the Christian County Fair in Ozark, MO (I love the name of that county — feels like a sign, doesn't it?).

We passed out gospel tracts, mostly the Million Dollar Bill and the Giant Money $100 bills. We handed out somewhere between 100 and 150 of them.


Giant $100 bill gospel tract held up like real currency, front side showing Benjamin Franklin.The giant $100 bill gospel tract — the kind that gets a second look before anyone realizes it's actually the Good News.
Million Dollar Bill gospel tract designed like real currency, featuring Theodore RooseveltThe Million Dollar Bill gospel tract — a little curiosity goes a long way when someone's holding a million dollar bill.

No One-on-One Conversations, But Plenty of Curiosity

We didn't get a chance to do any one-on-one witnessing that night, although we mentioned to some folks that there's a gospel message on the back side of the tract.

We're praying the Holy Spirit will use those words to convict the hearts of everyone who reads one.

People love getting these two tracts. They almost give themselves away — you'll see people standing around in the crowd, reading them.

Sharing Gospel Tracts with Fast-Food Workers

When we left the fair, we walked inside McDonald's to grab something to drink. I asked the cashier, "Can you break a large bill?" and handed her the giant $100 tract.

She loved it — and so did everyone else working at the counter.

We ended up passing out Million Dollar Bill and Giant Money tracts to about five or six employees — and made sure to let them know they were gospel tracts.

They were still reading them when we walked out the door.

Key Takeaway: A Tract Is a Seed, Not a Sales Pitch

Notice something about this whole night — we didn't have any deep spiritual talks.

We handed out gospel tracts, made a joke about breaking a large bill, and let their curiosity do the rest.

You could see it happen — people stood right there in the crowd reading before they even took a step, and the McDonald's employees were still reading theirs when we walked out the door.

That's really the whole job of a gospel tract: it's a door opener. It's just the start of something only God can finish.

A tract like this is more like a seed planted than a full-blown conversation — the Holy Spirit is the one who makes it grow.


I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow.

It's not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What's important is that God makes the seed grow."
— 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 (NLT)


This is exactly why you don't need a perfect speech ready before you talk to someone. Your job is to plant. God's job is to grow it.


Your job is to hand it over.

God's job is what happens next.


Some of those 100–150 tracts probably got thrown in the trash before anyone read them. But some are probably still sitting in a purse or a junk drawer somewhere.

God will have them read it at the right moment in their life.

Your Challenge This Week

Grab something a little unexpected — a Million Dollar Bill gospel tract, a Giant Money tract, whatever gets a second look — and keep a few in your car, purse, or pocket.

Look for one ordinary moment this week:

  • The checkout line
  • The drive-thru
  • The break room

Hand it over with a smile, maybe even give a little joke like we did, and trust the Holy Spirit to do the rest. You're not responsible for the harvest. You're just responsible for planting the seed.

If you're nervous about that first step — or you just don't want to figure this out alone — that's exactly why I started The YouEvangelized Report.

Once a month, around the first few days of the month, I'll send you heartfelt encouragement, practical outreach tips, and new tools and resources.

You'll always have a next step and a reminder that you're not doing this by yourself.

Common Questions in Sharing the Gospel Without Fear at a County Fair

Evangelism Q&A with Coach Brad

Is it legal to hand out gospel tracts that look like money?

Yes — it's been tested in federal court. Back in 2006, U.S. Secret Service agents raided the office of Great News Network (GNN) in Denton, Texas.

That's a ministry I was connected to. Agents seized roughly 8,300 Million Dollar Bill tracts. They treated them like counterfeit currency.

A years-long legal battle followed. Judge Jorge Solis finally ruled in 2010.

His verdict was clear: the tract "poses no reasonable risk of deceiving an honest, sensible and unsuspecting person."

Why? Because of the gospel message and disclaimers printed right on the back. He didn't stop there.

He also ruled the Secret Service broke the law by seizing the tracts without a warrant.

So no, you're not committing a crime by handing one to a cashier. You're just making her day a little more interesting.

How do I know if a gospel tract made a difference if I never see that person again?

Most of the time, you won't know. I didn't stick around to see what happened to those 100 to 150 tracts we handed out that night at the fair.

Same thing with the tracts the McDonald's employees were still reading when we walked out the door.

That's the hard part of this kind of evangelism — you plant and you walk away.

Paul told the Corinthians the same thing: planting and watering matter less than who makes it grow. Your job ends at the handoff.

This is the same seed-planting mindset I coach in Way of the Master Week 5, where a tract works as an icebreaker, not a guarantee of results.

So you probably won't get a follow-up call telling you someone got saved because of a fake hundred-dollar bill (unless you put your contact info on it).

You just trust in God that the seed landed somewhere it needed to.

Is it okay to bring my kids along to hand out tracts at something like a county fair?

100% yes! We brought our daughter with us that night. A county fair is about as low-pressure as an outreach gets.

Nobody's cornering anyone for a deep theological conversation — you're just handing people something a little funny and moving on. 

It's also one of the best ways to teach kids that sharing their faith doesn't have to be scary or weird. They watch you do it, and they do it. No big deal.

What's the difference between something like a Million Dollar Bill gospel tract and a Giant Money tract — does it matter which one I use?

The cost! 😉 Not really — both do the same job. They're designed to look like real money at a glance, but when it's flipped over, people see a gospel message on the back.

The only real difference is how they look.

A giant $100 bill grabs attention because it's oversized — and these are easy to give away in bulk, which makes them great for something like a fair or a parade.

A Million Dollar Bill grabs attention because not too many people have held one — and they look real.

Either way, you earn a few extra seconds of curiosity that make people reach out and take one instead of walking past you.

Pick whichever one you can get your hands on — you can browse both styles here — or grab both and see which one gets a bigger reaction in your area.

What if someone thinks it's real money and gets upset when they realize it's not?

It hardly ever happens. Over 22+ years of handing these out, I've had only a handful of people who thought I was giving them real money.

When that happens, they usually just say, "Wait, I thought you were giving me real money!"

Most people figure it out fast and either laugh or read it right there on the spot, which is exactly what happened at the fair and at McDonald's.

If anyone seems confused for a second, just smile and say, "It's actually a gospel tract. There's a gospel message on the back."

Does YouEvangelized still do outreach events like this county fair, or was this a one-time thing back in 2005?

This particular report is an archived story from 2005.

Back then, Repent and Turn Ministries was just getting started — before it ever became YouEvangelized. The fair itself was a one-night event.

But the approach behind it has never stopped. We still hand out gospel tracts. We crack a small joke.

We trust God with the rest. That's still exactly how I coach people to start.

Brad St. Clair headshot

Brad St. Clair is an evangelist and evangelism coach, and the founder of YouEvangelized — formerly Repent and Turn Ministries — with 22 years of hands-on ministry experience. He's an independent ordained minister with an Associate of Ministry Degree and a Diploma of Biblical Studies. Brad has trained hundreds of believers, led public-outreach sessions, and open-air preached to crowds. His ministry is documented at YouEvangelized. When he's not training others, Brad often turns motorcycle rides into opportunities for prayer and gospel conversations.