Serving, Blessing, and Healing

One of the core values at the church where I pastor is that we follow the model of Jesus as we relate to the world...we serve, bless, and heal.

Each year, like so many cities in the south, we have a fair. Ours runs 9 days, and attracts 200,000 visitors - almost the population of the county. For years, I wondered what we could do to reach some of these folks. God showed us something last year, and we did it again this year.

We rent booth space (it ain't cheap) and we give away stuff! This year, we are giving away a 32" LCD HDTV, an XBox, a BBQ grill, some homemade pen and pencil sets, and various other prizes. There is no catch, no cost, no information required (other than the person's name), and no strings attached. We just ask people to give us their name, for verification purposes in case they win. We don't contact them; they contact us via our website to see if they won a prize.

After they sign up, we ask if there is anything we can pray for them about. Most of the time, people say "yes." We ask if we can pray on the spot, and most allow us to. We don't try to shove tracts or church literature at them, but we do try to see if God is working in their lives. If we sense that, we pursue that as far we it goes.

Most people are skeptical. They think there must be some "bait and switch" going on. They think we will put them on some mailing list or proselytize them or otherwise hound them. They are wrong. But yet, we see many who will walk around us when they realize that we are a church, not stopping to see that this is nothing more than a way to bless a few folks with some neat stuff...and prayer.

Why is that? Because the church has such a rotten reputation with pre-Christians. We have so long ignored them or used them that they cannot fathom that a church just wants to bless, to give (as opposed to asking), to pray...no strings attached. We're trying to make headway. We're trying to build bridges. We're blessing, serving, and healing. Are you?