Dale and Sue Detro, authors of the booklet, Little Is Much, When God Is In It, report over 75 racks being serviced by their team every week. The tract rack ministry has been responsible for distributing over 500,000 tracts in 5 Indiana counties, plus tens of thousands more provided for home and foreign missions.
As their booklet explains, Dale and Sue had a vision about 6 years ago to saturate their community with the gospel. They bought some small card racks from WalMart and began to place them in local stores, restaurants and gas stations. They would return every week and refill the racks with Chick tracts.
When the ministry grew, their church agreed to help them with the cost and other members joined them. Within a few months, they realized the plan was working when they would attempt to hand someone a tract and the person would ask for another title because, they would say, “I’ve already seen that one.”
With the church name stamped on the back of the tracts, inquirers began coming to the church and new members resulted. In addition, church members saw how easy it was to witness with the tracts and many started reaching out with a new boldness in personal evangelism.
The Detros are rejoicing over some personal victories in their use of the tracts. One Roman Catholic lady had been the Detros’ tax preparer for about 30 years. They had witnessed to her and shared tracts with her but she held fast to her hope in the “church” for salvation. Finally, on a recent visit, she told them that she had accepted Christ and no longer looked to the pope for her eternal life. Another lady, a Christian attorney who had helped the Detros from time to time, agreed to let them put one of the tract racks in her office. A young couple who recently joined the church quickly caught the vision and began placing and servicing racks in other stores. They placed 6 racks their first week. In some restaurants, two racks were required to supply the demand.
Dale gets calls all the time from other churches and individuals who want more information about setting up a rack program in their communities. Dale is glad to share his story of how his vision was realized by simply asking business managers for permission to place the attractive, Free—Take One, tract rack where customers could easily reach it and then faithfully restocking it week after week. He is quick to tell them how the tracts do the job of either leading people to a commitment to Christ or standing as a witness against them on judgment day.