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Unique Events Attract New Faces to Church Crowd
02/08/2012
HARTFORD – After seeing a larger crowd at its first “Beast Feast” than at Sunday morning church services, Pastor Kenny Rager of Living Faith Baptist Church had to find a larger venue for its next wild game dinner, scheduled for March 17.
To be held at the Family Wellness Center in Hartford, the event will include a special speaker who will give a gospel presentation.
“We had three people accept Christ last year,” Rager said. “We drew people from all over the county and helped people get connected with a church. We’re excited. We’re anticipating a larger crowd. That’s why we’re moving it off site.”
For “Find It Here 2012,” Baptists around the country are emphasizing “attractional” events, such as concerts, block parties and other events designed to reach a certain affinity group—hunters, motorcycle enthusiasts, cowboys, classic car collectors and others.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is encouraging individual churches to host a special community event leading up to Easter, April 8.
The spring events will be backed by an advertising campaign similar to one in 2010 that reached 85 percent of all Kentucky households.
“Our goal is always to reach out with the gospel,” said Ross Bauscher, leader of the KBC Evangelism Growth Team. “At these events, we want church members to seek to meet some of these visitors, hopefully so they can share Christ with them.
“It creates a lot of interest. If churches prepare and do them well, they will get a lot of people there.”
Also reaching the outdoorsmen and women of Kentucky are the churches of Tates Creek Baptist Association in Berea and Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Corbin.
Tates Creek Baptist Association hosted a Wild Game Dinner Jan. 21 at Kirksville Baptist Church in Richmond. It attracted more than 300 men and boys and resulted in 26 first-time professions of faith in Christ.
The event featured a talk by Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Patterson refuses to come unless we encourage lost people to come,” said Tates Creek’s Director of Missions Hamp Valentine. “There were so many people there it was hard to count them all. It was a wonderful event.”
The Corbin congregation has gone in a slightly different direction. Its third annual Tri-County Sportsmen’s Expo at Lynn Camp High School will be held in late August.
Outdoor enthusiasts await a special speaker at Calvary Missionary Baptist Church's Tri-County Sportsmen's Expo. The Corbin congregation began hosting the event as a way to introduce themselves to people in their community who perhaps do not attend church regularly or have never heard the gospel. This year, Kentucky and Southern Baptists are encouraged to host similar events prior to Easter as part of the ongoing "Find It Here" gospel-sharing initiative. (Photo courtesty of Calvary Missionary Baptist, Corbin) Click here to download this photo.
Pastor Kevin Roach said the expo emerged from the church’s missions committee following the first Find It Here emphasis in 2010. After first considering a wild game dinner, they decided to sponsor an outdoor expo.
Calvary Baptist invited dozens of vendors to display products, give demonstrations and award door prizes. It also invited Gary Miller of Harrogate, Tenn.—founder of the ministry, Outdoor Truths—to speak.
Prior to the grand prize drawing, Miller presented the gospel. At each of the first two events, 10 to 15 people responded to his invitations to accept Christ as Savior.
The expo and other attractional events have not only grown in size, they have sparked growth within Calvary, Roach said.
After seeing eight or 10 baptisms annually in recent years, that number reached nearly 20 in 2011.
“There’s a sense among our folks of satisfaction, of having done something that pleases the Lord,” the pastor said.
“I’ve had people come to church in the last two years who have come and stayed because they see we’re trying to do something to share the gospel. I believe God is honored by this.”
Averaging 130 on a Sunday means the Corbin church needs considerable participation to stage its expo. Roach said it takes up to 75 members to contact sponsors, distribute brochures, handle mailings and set up and tear down equipment at the event.
The effort is worth it: of the 350 people who usually come to an expo, only a fourth of them attend church, Roach said.
“Over the last two years our church has had the chance to share the gospel with a lot of people,” Roach said. “How long would I have to preach the gospel to reach 275 lost people? That would be a lot of sermons.”
Rager said Living Faith’s Beast Feast hasn’t dramatically increased church attendance, but the congregation has established better relationships within the community.
“Our church has become a beacon, known in our community for helping people,” Rager said. “People are seeing we care.”
The Hartford-area church will follow up its dinner with a community-wide Easter egg hunt. Rager said they hope it will increase attendance at its Easter services, which will be held this year in the Ohio County High School gymnasium.
More to Come
From March 11 to 14, Tates Creek Association will reach out to another important group: students.
Youth Connect will be held at First Baptist Church of Richmond. The Seth Medley Band and area youth ministers are on the program. They hope to draw 750 young people to the event.
Bauscher said he hopes other Baptist associations will follow Tates Creek’s example and follow up church activities with an attractional event this fall.
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HARTFORD – After seeing a larger crowd at its first “Beast Feast” than at Sunday morning church services, Pastor Kenny Rager of Living Faith Baptist Church had to find a larger venue for its next wild game dinner, scheduled for March 17.
