The Ken James Version
By Ken James
August 2009
Have you ever used a GPS? What a wonderful new gadget that helps us get to a destination. “God’s Plan for Sharing” works much the same way. Our final destination is every believer sharing and every person hearing by the year 2020. First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City has taken this challenge to heart, making the decision to coordinate two large scale outreach events each year, fall and spring. As reported at the KNCSB God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS) planning committee, FSBCJC conducted its first large scale, faith-building event to challenge, encourage and stimulate the faith of those who attended as well as those who planned and hosted Easter Worship Celebration 2009.
The idea for our Easter event began during an evening with pastors and friends of the Smoky Hill Baptist Association. During the evening, I listened to Ken James as he told us to “dream big” for our evangelistic outreach. On the way home that evening, I discussed with my wife, Terry, a vision I had for an Easter outreach in our community. Following William Carey’s quote, “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God” and Ken James’ challenge to “dream big” we decided to do just that. We set a goal to extend an invitation to every home in the Junction City and Fort Riley Communities to celebrate Easter with us.
Coordination began in early January by calling together our “dream team” of individuals gifted as being visionary. During the first meeting our dream team conducted a brainstorming session thinking of as many ideas as possible. We gathered ideas and began to close in on our objectives. We prayed, set a budget, prayed, scheduled planning dates, prayed, developed team leaders, prayed and divided out the required tasks. During the next three months, members of our church worked diligently to organize all the big and small details. We wanted to be sure to grab the community’s attention. Our outreach led us outside of the church building to a different venue as we moved Easter Worship Celebration 2009 to the Junction City Middle School. We believed that God would do amazing things and that we needed additional seating. The middle sch=ool auditorium not only provided more than 700 seats, but this nontraditional church setting was also less threatening to the unchurched.
Over 4000 candy-filled, plastic Easter Eggs were used to draw families from the communities who may not have been actively involved in a church. In addition to the Easter Egg Hunt, we coordinated to have the band “Neely” lead our worship. During the worship all children 3 years of age through 3rd grade were invited on stage during our “Kids Connection” to hear the Easter Story using the Resurrection Eggs. The children were then escorted to the gymnasium for games, crafts and a puppet show, while their parents remained to hear a message from John 3:16.
Our Sunday activities culminated in an Easter dinner. More than 500 meals were served to our guests, members and their families. The meal consisted of fried chicken, potato salad, beans, and more that 700 cupcakes decorated as Easter Baskets.
Easter Worship Celebration 2009 was only the beginning of an ongoing effort to reach our community. Our follow-up began by having designated families deliver a gift bag to the homes of each one of our guests before the worship ended. The bags were hung on the door knobs. Inside each bag was a travel mug filled with Hershey kisses, and a card inviting each family to join our church family for a complimentary “Mother’s Day” breakfast. DVDs were personally delivered to those families requesting a copy.
First Southern Baptist Church of Junction City is seeking God’s guidance as we conduct Outreach Number 2, Thanksgiving Worship Celebration 2009, at the same venue as Easter. Our worship will be led by the band “Solar Eclipse.” We will offer a Thanksgiving meal. We have our vision, and are now in the process of building a plan. We do not want to miss out on what God has in store for us.
God’s Plan for Sharing is directing our church to seek ways to reach the unchurched of our community with the story of Jesus. The journey to our destination has mileposts along the way: praying, engaging, sowing, and harvesting. Do you have plans for Thanksgiving 2009 or Easter 2010? Bring together a “dream team” and begin to think outside the box. GPS is not a “one-size-fits all” strategy. Remember the words of Ken James, “Dream Big.”
By Nate Butler
Pastor, FSBC., Junction City, Kansas
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