Preparation began to work with Vince Wall from Herald of Hope at our town  show in October 2024. Originally, we were  going to host a Farm and Faith ministry in  Benalla but soon realised that an outreach  centred on the Benalla Agricultural Show  was more appropriate.  

Two years earlier Vince had explained how  he uses various venues and methods to  reach people with the Gospel and left our  church with numerous gospel tracts and  fresh ideas on how to evangelise. 

Vince explained to us that witnessing is like  fishing and that to catch fish you need a  fishing line with a hook and bait. We all had  the bait of the gospel, but we did not have  a successful way to get the public’s interest  and to hook them in. 

Over the years I have simply walked down  the main streets of town singing hymns  and handing out tracts and that stirred  an interest in what I was doing and was  effective. 

In the past myself and Bernie Hong and  others from our fellowship had simply  walked around the show grounds handing  out gospel tracts which was a blessing.  However, the approach to the show  ministry this time was very different. After  a brainstorming session with our people,  we decided to use the theme of the Titanic  as our way of getting the public’s attention.  I contacted Vince Wall, and he emailed me  

DIY plans of how to make a toy size model  of the Titanic out of wood. However, to make  the Titanic models ourselves was out of the  question.  

So, we prayed for a way to make these little  gospel baits and one of our men spoke to  the local Men’s Shed and to our amazement  the manager had a computer program that  was connected to a machine that once set  up could, cut out of pine wood, 12 model  Titanic’s in 2 hours. Later we found out that  the Men’s Shed manager ‘just happened’  to be an Irishman from Belfast where the  Titanic was built. 

The Men’s Shed continued to impress  by making wooden plaques with edging  suitable to print scripture verses on to hand  out to the public. 

Well, this was what we were looking for  to encourage the men in our fellowship to  make these models for the Lord. Our men  decided that it would be good to make one  hundred model ships and one hundred  scripture plaques and to hand these out for  free to anyone who wanted them. So, two  men in our fellowship who want the Lord  to get the glory, spent the next three to four  months sanding each model ship and then  painting each ship in Titanic colours. 

Additionally, each of the four funnels on  each ship had to be painted and glued into  position. As well as this, each wooden  plaque needed to be sanded, lacquered and background pictures chosen or photos  taken to print gospel verses on. A local  printer printed off the backgrounds, which  were cut out and rolled onto each plaque.  All this work was a labour of love, but the  fruit was worth it all.  

During the show we soon realised that we  would need at least five hundred model  ships in future shows, all printed out in  plastic and in colour by a 3D printer. We  applied for a stall at the show and set up  a 3×3 Gazebo with tables to display our  models, plaques gospel tracts and books  on the Titanic.  

Leading up to the show we had purchased  some large Titanic banners and table  runners. Because the theme was the Titanic  and to help “break the Ice” with the public, we purchased Titanic Caps and T Shirts  and Vince dressed up as Captain Smith and  another friend of Vince, Luke, wore a sailor’s  hat. Vince set up his large-scale model of  the Titanic cased in glass which really got  the public’s attention, and alongside the  Titanic were life buoys, (just in case). 

Once everything was set up, I asked Vince  how do you go about approaching the  Public? Vince said I just hand the people a  copy of a First-Class Boarding Pass for the  Titanic, which he had written as a Gospel  tract, saying something like this: “This year  is the 113th Anniversary of the sinking of the  Titanic.”  

I found this very effective. in fact over 2  days we handed out nearly a thousand of  these gospel tracts. But the best was yet to come, because to our utter amazement we  didn’t need even to approach people in the  end, because some children after seeing  the model Titanic’s being handed out,  they brought their parents back to our stall  requesting a model Titanic.  

And guess what was printed on the bottom  of each model ship? Either Jesus Saves  or John 3:16. All we had to do was walk up  to people with a Jesus Saves Titanic in our  hands and people wanted one, including  grandparents for their grandchildren. And  all were given a Gospel tract. Our display  even got the attention of our local state  member who took a Titanic model for her  child. It was the easiest outreach I had ever  been involved with. 

With the help of Vince who was carrying  some spare Titanic models we handed out  over 200 Jesus Saves Titanic’s, as well as  75 Gospel Plaques, and invitations to our  Sunday service, and 1000 gospel Boarding  Pass tracts. 

I must say it was a most encouraging time  meeting so many local people in town and  sharing the need for eternal life with lost  souls. But as a Pastor there was another  blessing probably more than anything else,  the blessing of seeing our people excited  about reaching others with the gospel. 

God worked a miracle, and our hearts were  filled with praise and thanksgiving. The  challenging work was worth it all. This was  the first time our church had ever had a stall  at the show, and unbeknown to me it was  the first time Vince had used the Titanic  theme in an Agricultural Show himself. 

If you are a Pastor reading this and you’re  looking for a way to motivate yourself and  your people to get out more with the gospel I  urge you to contact Herald of Hope and talk  to Vince Wall, you won’t be disappointed. 

All Glory to God! 

Leigh Davison, 
Pastor Fundamental Baptist Fellowship  Benalla, Victoria.

This article was originally published in the February 2026 issue of the Herald of Hope Magazine.