Donna Wright said years ago someone invited her to a self-defense class at a martial arts studio, and she went — and learned more than just how to defend herself.
She also learned the art of putting out an invitation that’s hard to turn down.
“I hardly knew the friend who invited me, but I was interested in knowing more about how to defend myself,” said Donna Wright, who serves as education minister at West Mobile Baptist Church.
So recently when her church was brainstorming ideas for Making a Difference Mobile, a countywide outreach effort held throughout the month of March, she suggested they think the same way — to come up with events that people were already interested in.
And she started with the same invitation she’d accepted — she suggested they hold a self-defense class of their own.
“I was trying to think of something our women could do that would be an outreach but that would be easy to invite ladies to,” Donna Wright said. “We wanted to get people into our building and get them to meet some ladies from our church.”
It worked. On March 14, when West Mobile Baptist held a women’s self-defense class, 15 guests joined 35 church members to learn pressure points, escape moves and the most important things to keep in mind during an unwanted encounter with someone.
Being prepared
“After it was over, I shared the gospel by talking about us preparing for the unexpected and how we also need to prepare for the expected — the day we die,” Donna Wright said.
She said she and the other women at West Mobile Baptist thought it was a success for several reasons, one of which was that their guests “could kind of picture what they would be coming to — it didn’t have that element of the unknown as much as normal for an unchurched person walking into one of our buildings.”
Their self-defense class was one of 48 events put on by 35 congregations throughout March as part of Making a Difference Mobile.
Variety of events
Events included block parties, revivals, health fairs, dental clinics, door-to-door prayer, a men’s steak night, a sports clinic and home repairs for foster families. The purpose was to engage people who don’t typically attend church and invite them to attend, with Easter Sunday as the target.
Thomas Wright, executive director of missions for Mobile Baptist Association, said Making a Difference Mobile “has proven true to its name.”
He said he saw God work through both small and large churches throughout this effort.
For smaller congregations especially, Making a Difference Mobile was an opportunity to have teams from other churches in the state come alongside them to help them conduct a bigger outreach push than they would normally be able to do on their own, he said.
“Making a Difference helped respond to three challenges to event evangelism: knowing how to conduct an effective event, funding the cost of the event and providing workers to participate and follow up,” Thomas Wright said.
Every church in the association was offered help with planning, and funds from the Myers-Mallory State Missions Offering undergirded the effort, he said. “Statewide promotion helped connect volunteers with events, and online resources will continue to help every church with future events even if they weren’t able to participate [in March].”
Those resources include a prayer guide, evangelism tools, a community survey, demographic information and three sermon outlines from Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
Wright said they’re still hearing stories of the fruit that came from the 48 events spread around the county. In Saraland, pastor Ernesto Hidalgo and the Hispanic mission of Shiloh Baptist invited the Hispanic community to a dental and health clinic and also provided games, food and clear gospel presentations.
Lyle Dease, associational missionary for Pickens Baptist Association, brought a team down that day to support Shiloh Baptist.
He and his wife, Claren, helped with translation at the clinic, while other volunteers — including a clowning team — plugged in through other ways.
“It was the first time Shiloh’s Hispanic work had ever done an outside evangelistic event, and they weren’t sure how things would go or what the numbers would be,” Dease said. “But there was a pretty steady flow from 9 to 1.”
Finding Jesus
Of the 85 people who came, four professed new faith in Jesus.
“We saw God work, and I think the church made some good contacts,” Dease said. “It was good to see what God is doing and how He’s working there.”
At First Baptist Church Tillman’s Corner, they also saw God at work, according to pastor Derek Allen.
By the end of the week, 436 FBC members engaged in hands-on missions, giving out 4,524 invitations to church and having 335 gospel conversations.
Lance — who along with Rick Barnhart, director of the SBOM office of associational missions and church planting, helped design the event in Mobile — said this effort “is a model we plan to use across the state in years to come.”
“Making a Difference Mobile was a uniquely cooperative effort in which churches of the Mobile Association reached out into their communities in ways which touched the lives of all ages of people,” Lance said.
“Thomas Wright offered excellent organizational and inspirational leadership for the effort, and churches dedicated four weekends of ministry outreach to the larger Mobile area communities.”
It’s something he’s excited to see repeated — Making a Difference Gadsden/Etowah is already set for 2025.
“We have gleaned many lessons from the Mobile experience which will help us in our future endeavors,” Lance noted.
Barnhart said the Making a Difference effort is both a great outreach opportunity and “an opportunity to train people to do missions at home.”
“It’s a good short-term missions opportunity and also an opportunity for pastors to take their church members … to see opportunities that maybe they hadn’t thought of being able to do in their local area.”
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