It was a quiet weeknight as church and community members made their way through the front doors of the Shady Point Church in Eagle Point, Ore. Smiling church members distributed reading materials, and the excited murmurs of those gathering broke the silence of the sanctuary as they began to find their seats in the pews for the start of a Bible prophecy evangelistic series.
James Ash, Shady Point Church pastor, watched with church members as 58 guests arrived on opening night.
Leading up to the evangelism series, the church followed a five-step process in creating an inviting and involved church culture, reaching out to neighbors, and connecting with their community through service and seminars.
“Eagle Point and our area are extremely difficult to reach into. So, we had to shift our thinking in how to reach our community,” says Norm Allred, Shady Point Church member. “I was afraid holding it in the church wouldn’t reap any benefits because of the location. But people showed up and stayed through the entire series.”
“This was my first evangelism series, and I was admittedly nervous about the whole process,” Ash recalls. Wanting to reach as many people as possible, he worked with SermonView Evangelism Marketing on an innovative campaign that included direct mail and social media marketing, leading to all those guests on opening night.
During the series, Shady Point Church handed out Bible study lessons and other material in hopes of planting seeds in those who attended. Some attendees who had missed a night would even come to ask what materials they had missed.
After the series, Shady Point Church saw an influx of new believers as a result of their seed-sowing. Members are changing some of their Sabbath School and other programs to help nurture these new believers.
“Sometimes I think we bring someone new into the church and expect them to fit right in,” says Allred. “After the series, we started a class for new members that I’m teaching where we focus on deeper questions and where people can interact with one another. I feel like it’s helping to stabilize new members in our church.”
“We had six baptized and two professions of faith at the end of the series,” says Ash. “We are a small cog in the plan of the Holy Spirit, and I praise God how He is able to use our small efforts for His greater plan.”
