Ben Riggleman

If you’ve gone to a home baseball game at the South Portland Campus, or even just walked by during one, you’ve probably interacted with Ed Heron. It’s hard not to. He stands strategically at the corner of Fort Road and Pickett Street so that he can spread the word of God to passers-by through colorful gospel tracts.

On a bright Saturday afternoon, a Beacon correspondent interviewed Ed to find out what keeps him coming to games when most students who know him actively avoid him. The following are excerpts from that conversation.

BR: Why do you stand here passing out tracts at SMCC baseball games? What motivates you?

EH: Well, ever since I got saved in 1974, I — God puts love in your heart, more than I ever had, you see. And so, God loves you too, right? He wants you saved, he wants to see you in Heaven, right?

BR: Mm-hmm. Now why do you come here? Why do you come to SMCC?

EH: My boy plays on the SMCC team.

BR: Oh, really? On the baseball team?

EH: Yeah, sorry, on the baseball team, yeah. Do you play baseball?

BR: No, I don’t.

EH: Ah, ok! Well, I used to play, but I was the worst on the team, you know. I just couldn’t hit, I was scared of the ball, and… [laughs]. We like baseball. We’re carpenters, you know, we do carpentry for work. You know, so I can take off, you know, when I need to. … I work six days a week, but if there’s a game, I’ll take off, quite often — not always, but quite often. And it’s fun; ‘bout the only thing we do, you know, besides church — you know, work, church, baseball. …
BR: So you enjoy watching the games as well?

EH: Yeah! Yeah, I do. I don’t see much from here, but I can see enough [laughs]. But I’ve seen some people interested in the Bible here come by. There was a young gentleman the last game, Friday, that said he was interested.

BR: Really?

EH: Yeah, and he took a gospel paper — so I’m hoping. I pray for his salvation. I’d like to see the whole town saved.

BR: Do you often experience disrespect when you’re passing out tracts?

EH: Very little! Here, it’s just a wonderful — so many people are polite. One person gave me a hug, you know, and I get a lot of “thank yous.” … There’s some people who don’t understand. There was a Satanist here earlier, he says he’s a Satanist, and he didn’t want to have a gospel paper.

BR: He said he was a Satanist?

EH: Yeah, he told me he was a Satanist. So, you know, just pray for him, and hopefully one day he’ll be able to read the Bible and see that God loves him. Because this guy we had in our Church here [points to tract, “My Search for Peace”] — he was a Satanist, and he overdosed many times to drugs. And finally he got peace through the Lord Jesus Christ, and now he’s a preacher. And he got born again. He came to our church, and he’s a good preacher. So there’s hope for that Satanist who walked by here. I don’t know his name, but hopefully God will work in his life so that he’ll want to read a gospel paper.

BR: What is your church?

EH: Our church is in Union. It’s on the radio. Right next to Rockland, it’s in a little town called Union. It’s For His Glory Bible Baptist Church. And For His Glory, that’s capitalized, because that’s talking about Jesus Christ. And our pastor likes to do everything according to the Bible. … He’s on the radio, 8 o’clock, Saturday morning, 105.9 FM. …

BR: How long of a drive is it from Union to South Portland?

EH: Well, see, we live near Farmington ourselves. We live in Wilton, so it’s close to two hours to get here, from Wilton. Yeah, it’s… We’d like to see people think more of the Lord, you know what I’m saying?

BR: Yeah, I do.

EH: I know the students have studies they’ve got to think about. But, you see, I got saved when I was in University of Maine-Orono, when I was a student there; that’s when I got saved at the age of 20. Because I saw my life — I wasn’t really into drugs, you know, but I saw my life going nowhere. I just — I tried working hard. I used to get up at 3:30 in the morning and work until 8:00 at night, and I used to do that, like, I think seven days a week. … I’d drop, sleep, then do it all over again. I thought work was life, and I finally figured out, that’s — that’s a drag.

I tried sports; I wasn’t good at that. And I couldn’t tell you at that point in my life, but I was searching for something. For what life was all about. And when I found Jesus, I was satisfied. That was enough. That was what I was looking for. Before that, I couldn’t tell you what I was looking for, but I was really looking for the real meaning of life, why we’re here on Earth. And when I asked Jesus into my heart that night, my life started to change. …

I like to see God use me to win souls. You know, I led my Dad to the Lord about 30 years ago. That was a good day. I know my Dad’s going to Heaven. And He wants to save you too. God loves everybody. The Bible says that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” …

BR: Are you familiar with the Christian student groups on campus — there’s InterVarsity [Christian Fellowship], and I think there’s one called Alpha and Omega…

EH: Really!

BR: Yeah, they’re, uh —

EH: Nice! Well, I didn’t know that. Ho, okay, well that’s good! … I think high schools — a lot of times high schools kick out God. But it’s good to hear that this campus doesn’t, you know.