Do attractional evangelistic events work?
Jerry Pipes, president of Jerry Pipes Productions in the Atlanta area, says absolutely they do.
Addressing Alabama Baptists during the Feb. 28–March 1 State Evangelism Conference at Gardendale First Baptist Church, Pipes came to motivate. His message? God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) and the next focus in the decadelong emphasis: Reaching Across North America, or Reaching Across Alabama, as Alabama Baptists will call it.
The way to “reach” across the state is through attractional events, said Pipes, who was with the North American Mission Board when it developed GPS.
“Why did the 3,000 people in Acts 2 say yes (to the gospel)?” he asked. “Because they were there.”
And they were there because there was an attraction, Pipes explained, noting the 120 disciples scattered about the city telling what they knew about Jesus and the crowds were amazed.
The event connected with the culture, he said. Some argue missional or attractional but it’s not either/or; “it’s both/and.”
“Churches that are reaching the most people are missional and attractional,” Pipes said, noting a recent study found that more than 92 percent of the most effective churches hold attractional evangelistic harvest events.
But successful events don’t come from hard work alone, he said, noting prayer also is vital.
“When you work really, really hard, you get what you can do, but when you touch heaven, you get what God can do,” Pipes said.
He and Sammy Gilbreath, director of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, want to see what God can do in the state with GPS.
The initial GPS campaign kicked off in 2010 and was “a huge success,” Gilbreath said, noting nearly 1 million homes received an information packet about the gospel.
Pipes added that 10,500 Southern Baptist churches nationwide participated in the 2010 GPS event, distributing 15 million packets and touching nearly 45 million people.
“Ninety-five percent of Southern Baptist churches won’t lead one person to Christ,” he said. “But when you get God’s people doing God’s stuff, He shows up in amazing ways.
“GPS is not a program,” Pipes explained. “It’s an opportunity to engage people in God stuff. It’s an opportunity to train people. And people reach people.”
Going forward, the plan is for churches and associations to partner in media buys in their particular markets in March and April 2012.
Advertisements are available for the theme, “Hope. Find It Here.” (www.findithere.com).
The idea is for the campaign to create a question in people’s minds and for the local church to answer it, Pipes said.
“Do something that reaches your culture, your community,” he noted.
But the overall media campaign is already set and will be used nationally. There’s no need to re-create it or the theme, Pipes added.
The attractional event is what will be unique to each individual church and/or association, he said, noting the event should be held in March or April 2012.
For more information, visit www.gps2020.net and click on the Reaching Across North America 2012 button on the right.
Preparation guides for pastors, churches and associations can be downloaded for free. Ads can be viewed and downloaded. Teaching presentations are available for both PC and Mac users. The attractional events tool kit provides manuals for four types of events that can be downloaded or purchased. And Outreach Inc. offers a number of resources such as banners, bulletins and postcards.
“We are building off the momentum Alabama Baptists created in 2010,” Gilbreath said. “Let’s saturate this state with the gospel.
“I’d love to see every person in Alabama presented the gospel by 2020,” he said. “It’s not just that we can (do this); we must do this.”
Share with others: