Iowa State Fair GO!

Gospel Outreach Information

Each year at the Iowa State Fair, a group of volunteers gathers to share the gospel message through a booth in the Varied Industries Building. It is a great opportunity to reach unbelievers and encourage believers with 1.2 million people visiting the Iowa State Fair each year. Inside the air-conditioned Varied Industries Building, we have a 20 x 20 foot booth, open to aisles on both sides. The booth highlights a 10-foot scale-model of Noah's Ark with two O-scale trains running underneath to highlight the immense size of the ark. On each side of the booth we have tables and videos showing Creation Evangelism content and the gospel message. We have 3 tables to display and give away tracts and other gospel materials free to all visitors. Many kids love to come and get their dinosaur tatoo, stating that God made man and dinosaurs on day 6. If you want to find us while you're there, we are between the two large banners (100 and 200) near the main entrance on the North side of the building.

The first opportunity to share the gospel each year at the Annual Iowa State Fair is the Parade on Wednesday evening before the first day of the fair. Parades are excellent opportunities to distribute tracts and the Iowa State Fair Parade is one of the largest parades in the state. Check out the video below by Tony.

In parallel with the booth, Tomorrow's Forefathers runs a Testify Training Camp, teaching many volunteers to share the gospel. During the camp, they join us at the booth and across the fairgrounds putting into practice what they've learned.

The Gospel booth runs for the duration of the 11 days of the fair, starting on Thursday and going through the Sunday of the following week. The venue is open from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm each day and we schedule volunteers in 2-3 hour sessions to provide coverage for the full day. We open and close in prayer for the lost, to exault Christ, and encourage the volunteers. The booth is appealing and attracts many people to come in.

Tracts and resources highlighting God's Creation, Noah's Ark, Dinosaurs, and the Gospel message are made available to the volunteers and we distribute nearly 100,000 resources each year.

History

The outreach was started in 2001 by Roger Bishop and was run in conjunction with the Iowa Regular Baptist Churches. Many churches throughout central Iowa supported this effort and opportunity to reach visitors at the State Fair. The O-scale train and model of Noah's Ark has been a key feature, attracting many with the reality and size of the ark found in Genesis 7.

In 2016, Roger reached out to Ken Ham at Answers in Genesis to begin supporting the ministry. A committee of supporters in Iowa was formed and coordinated by Tony Ramsek. He led the effort each year on behalf of Answer in Genesis. During that time, many improvements to the booth including the booth graphics were upgraded during this time. Many new volunteers were recruited through the Testify Training Camp led by Tomorrow's Forefathers.

In 2024, Tulip Gospel Outreach began managing the booth operation and volunteer schedule. We are looking forward to many more years of sharing the gospel message through Creation Evangelism and Way of the Master.