People might not be surprised that John Fain calls Selma “an interesting place to be, a great place to live.” After all, his college major was history, and Selma is a historic town. People might be surprised, however, to see the nontraditional approaches to outreach often taken by Selma’s First Baptist Church, where Fain has served as pastor since 1994.
“Our church is finding ways to minister to a city,” Fain said.
The Selma church reaches out to employees of the city. On Valentine’s Day church members take cookies to every city employee. “We share the gospel along with our cookies,” Fain said. Some 6,000 cookies were given out this year.
Two months ago the church reached out in another unusual way — to local political candidates.
Fain noted, “The Bible says to pray for your leaders. We are praying not only for our leaders but also for our potential leaders.
“We encouraged our members: ‘When you see a sign or poster, pray for those people.’ We sent words of encouragement to every candidate in our county, telling them we are praying for them and their families,” Fain said.
The church has hosted a barbecue and invited local baseball and softball coaches. “We talked about how to organize their baseball practice and how to organize their lives,” Fain said. “We shared training techniques, and we shared the gospel.”
The Selma church’s youth are involved in outreach. On Wednesday evenings they visit their peers. They participate in puppet ministries and nursing home ministries as well as choir. Their Joyful Messengers ministry features interpretive movement based on music.
Selma First embraces interdenominational efforts. Park Chittom and other church members were involved in planning and implementing last month’s “Jesus Day” in Selma. After two downtown streets were blocked off, “We had citywide, outside worship,” Fain said. “It was two hours of singing, eating, sharing and praying. Six hundred people of all denominations took part, black and white. We had a great time.”
Fain said the church’s members give generously to missions. Officially, about 17 percent of the budget goes to missions. “Our members give far past this, actually.”
The church sent four college students to do missions work this summer — one to Brazil and three to Panama City, Fla. The church is involved in a medical clinic in Nepal and a girls home in Thailand. Members helped fund a ministry training center in China, sending $40,000 a few years ago. “Several churches have been started through that,” Fain said.
Selma First is a praying church. About 100 people take part in the “Seven Fourteen Prayer Ministry,” based on 2 Chronicles 7:14.
But Fain noted, “It is hard to pray for things unless you are properly informed.” The church helps keep its members informed by providing the state Baptist paper to every family. “A lot of things that I forget to share with the people are there in The Alabama Baptist,” Fain said. “Also the paper encourages you concerning the gospel being shared across the state and around the world.
“It is helpful for (members) to read about missions,” he said. “That is one of the major things. They find out what is happening in other churches. It is important to keep our people informed in all areas of church life and denominational life. The Alabama Baptist is a good point of contact.”
Last year the Selma church started using a local edition of The Alabama Baptist to send its newsletter. “We save a lot by doing it this way,” Fain said, “enough to upgrade our Sunday morning publications.”
On July 30, Fain and pastors across the state will observe “Read The Alabama Baptist Day,” emphasizing the ministry of the paper. “I would encourage every church to send The Alabama Baptist to every member,” he said.
A member of the Christian Motorcycle Association, Fain enjoys riding a motorcycle on country roads. Although Fain may seem like a nontraditional pastor, he has deep roots in the culture of south Alabama. He was born in Eufaula, raised in Troy and graduated from high school in Ozark. He and his wife, Debbie, have two children: Melody is a college sophomore, and Wesley is a high school junior.
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