Did Paul use gimmicks to get people's attention?
No. Paul did not use gimmicks or a Madison Avenue approach to get people's attention. He simply preached the Gospel—Christ crucified, buried, and risen—and in its simplicity people were convicted and converted out of paganism. The Word, not gimmicks, took care of their sin and changed them.
Les explains that Paul did not have the advantage of approaching people who already knew there was a God or had any concept of biblical morality; they were abject, blatantly immoral pagans. Yet all Paul did was preach the Gospel, and they came out of it. He was not looking for a gimmick to get people's attention or a Madison Avenue approach to draw the masses. Whatever he preached, in all its simplicity, people were convicted. Les illustrates this from his own teaching: a man in his class for about 15 years said Les never said a word against drinking, smoking, cursing, gambling, or illicit sex, yet the Word brought him out of that lifestyle. Les says you don't have to get on people's case about drinking or immorality; get them into the Word, and the Word takes care of it. Paul preached Christ crucified, buried, and risen from the dead, and that is the power of the Gospel. In 1 Thessalonians 1:9, these former pagans shared their faith wherever they went; their mouths could not be shut.