By Kim Wilmath, Times Staff Writer
Monday, January 24, 2011
TAMPA — Amid the drunken, sailor-mouthed, chest-flashing ruckus invading the city Saturday, you might be surprised — or not — to see quite a few God-fearing folks ready to save souls.
Revelers at the Gasparilla Parade of Pirates may not want to hear talk of sin and hell and the devil. But the preachers will be there anyway, signs hoisted with messages like "You deserve hell!" and "Repent!"
Why?
"Because we care about people," said street preacher James Lyman of the Servants with a Sword Ministry based in Panama City. "Our hope is that they'll see their sinfulness and repent."
Lyman's is one of many evangelical groups that plan to witness along the parade route on South Tampa's Bayshore Boulevard. They will admonish alcohol, profanity, nudity, homosexuality and worshiping in faiths outside their brand of Bible-based Christianity — among other transgressions ...