Alabama balloon launch leads logger to Christ

Earl Tidmore, a 42-year-old logger from Summerville, Ga., never imagined a balloon could change his life — but he now realizes that God works in all sorts of ways.
   
One day this past spring, Tidmore found a card that had been tied to a balloon that landed on his logging trail. The Great Commission was printed on one side and the name and address of a church on the other side.
   
“I’d been traveling down this trail all day, and something told me to look off to the side,” Tidmore said. “I wrote to the church, and they called me back and sent cards and pictures.”
   
In October 2004, New Bethel Baptist Church, Tuscumbia, celebrated its 119th anniversary, and two ladies from the congregation had the idea to release balloons with the church’s information as part of the celebration.
   
“We used laminated cards that had the Great Commission on one side, and on the other side, we explained we wanted to see how far the balloons would go,” Pastor Greg Beasley said. 
   
About 200 balloons were released on a Sunday morning as part of the anniversary celebration, and the first phone call was received later that afternoon from someone near Greenville, S.C.
   
“This first man who called said he was out of fellowship with God — his father had died just a few months earlier,” Beasley said. “We’re hoping he’s back [in fellowship] now.”
   
The church heard from six more people who found balloons, and then, at the end of April, the church got Tidmore’s letter.
   
“He got off his skidder (a tractor used for hauling logs) to get the balloon and then contacted us,” Beasley said. “When I first talked to Earl, I asked if he was a Christian and he said yes, but he said he wasn’t involved in a church.”
   
Over the next month, Tidmore called Beasley two more times to talk.
   
“The third time he called, I could tell he was really torn up,” Beasley said. “He said he wasn’t saved, and so I shared with him over the phone and he prayed the prayer.”
   
The next evening at the church’s service, Beasley held his cell phone up to a microphone so Tidmore could share his experience with the church.
   
“When I picked up the card, a feeling went all over me,” said Tidmore, who keeps the card in his wallet. “I had never had an experience like this before. The Lord is really working on me.”
   
Beasley said the balloon story has taught his congregation an important lesson.
   
“It shows us that through creative evangelism how God can work in the smallest ways,” he said. “God can take a balloon and drop it at the feet of someone who’s lost.”
   
According to Beasley, the balloon story has continued to have an impact on spreading the gospel to others.
   
Last month, the church took its annual missions trip to Dauphin Island to do Vacation Bible School during the day and work at local drug-rehabilitation centers at night.
   
“Each evening, I spoke and ended with the story of Earl,” Beasley said. “I would ask them, ‘Is God trying to drop a balloon at your feet?’ More than 30 people were saved that week, and it’s due to God using balloons.”