As a woman waits in the drive-through line to pick up her fast food, she’s about to get some hope.
She carries heavy burdens; she lost her husband and one of her daughters to long-term illness, and her other daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder recently.
When she reaches the window, the worker tells her that her meal has been paid for by the person in front of her and passes on a Gardendale First Baptist Church card from the mystery buyer. The card has the church’s contact information and reads, “We just wanted to show you the love of Jesus in a practical way.”
“This was an unusual act of kindness to a total stranger,” the woman later wrote to the church. “But for me, it was the only thing that has given me hope in a very long time, hope that someone in a cold world cares even if they don’t know you.”
This method of community outreach, called Fast Food Friends, was among the ideas presented during the Great Commission Ministries Track at the Feb. 28–March 1 State Evangelism Conference at Gardendale First.
The approximately 30 workshops covered issues ranging from church finances to youth ministry to social networking in ministry.
Phil Cronin, minister of new members and outreach at Gardendale First, told the Fast Food Friends story during his workshop, Community Outreach — Get Your People in the Game … “Show It, Prove It, Do It!”
He explained that it is important to engage the community, because if believers in Christ don’t, then other groups such as cults will.
“Every day we’re not engaging with community outreach, engaging with the gospel, our churches are losing and our communities are losing,” Cronin said, noting consistent, ongoing efforts work best. “Big events are great but the reason we sprinkle smaller outreaches all year long is that we’re trying to stay in front of the people all the time.”
Staying consistent also trains church members to be effective all year long, he said. “If you can get your people out of the pews, what you will find out is you’ll get some faithful people.”
Cronin suggested a number of ways to reach out to the community from giving out free hot chocolate at Christmas parades to providing hand sanitizer to schools during flu season.
Noting these types of outreach efforts don’t have to cost a lot of money, he told the story of one church that took doughnuts to the faculty of a local school. The school principal followed the church volunteers to their cars afterward and ended up being saved.
Bob Freeman, senior pastor of Southside Baptist Church, Talladega, appreciated the workshop’s practical suggestions for outreaches that don’t need huge budgets.
“These things don’t cost a lot, but they make a big impact on the community,” he said.
Phil Winningham, an associate in the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions’ (SBOM) office of evangelism who organized the workshops, said the various workshop topics were selected from feedback received from church leaders across the state.
“Each session was led by gifted men and women who not only know how to be effective in their field of expertise but are successfully implementing the principles they teach,” he said.
While the workshops took place simultaneously with the evangelism conference’s preaching sessions, scores of Alabama Baptists still took advantage of learning from this year’s workshop staff, who were from Gardendale First; Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, Ga.; Bellevue Baptist Church, Cordova, Tenn.; and the SBOM.
“For those who did take advantage of this great opportunity, their ministries and personal lives were refreshed and revived,” Winningham said.
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