BARTLETT, Tenn. (BP)–For many folks, fast food restaurants have lost their charm.
Instead of offering a convenience, they are now a necessary hassle. Most of the time, the food doesn’t come fast enough, the driver just ahead can’t navigate the drive-thru lane and, to top it all off, the cashier just isn’t friendly enough — and that’s on a good day.
But in Bartlett, Tenn., that isn’t the case. That’s because members of Ellendale Baptist Church are taking part in an outreach to bless others with random acts of kindness while demonstrating the love of Christ.
“We’re trying to have an emphasis on witnessing,” said Jon Medlock, minister of education and outreach. “More than 40 of our people went through ‘Share Jesus Without Fear.’ We just wanted to have a way for people to witness that’s less confrontational.”
Share Jesus Without Fear, written by William Fay, is published by Broadman & Holman, LifeWay’s publishing division.
“It’s just another way for us to share the gospel,” Medlock said, “a way of teaching our people to witness and reaching out to the community.”
The way the ministry works is simple. The church provides small cards about the size of a credit card to its members. The “connect cards,” as members call them, are kept in the tract racks at the church and members can take as many as they like. The front of the card simply reads:
“We hope this small gift brings some light into your day. It’s a simple way of saying that God loves you — no strings attached. Let us know if we can be of more assistance.”
On the back, the church’s address and phone number are listed, along with directions to the church. Church members can take the cards, pay for a stranger’s purchase and leave the card with people in restaurants, drive-thru windows or other stores.
“One child, about 10 years old, came up to me so excited,” Medlock said. “He said, ‘We used the card at Krystal and it was just so neat to see the expression on the cashier’s face.’ We think a lot about the people who are receiving the gift, but he was telling me how blessed that person, the cashier, was.”
The church officially began participating in the ministry last November, but the planning process began months earlier. Medlock said the church had been trying to think of a way to emphasize witnessing, and one day the church’s minister of youth mentioned a ministry idea he’d seen on the Internet. The website, servantevangelism.com, outlines the connect card ministry idea.
After reading about the ministry, Medlock and the church thought it was a good idea and began incorporating the connect cards into their outreach ministry and witnessing emphasis.
“The Lord has blessed it, and it’s just been really good,” Medlock said.
While the church has no idea how many church members are actually participating in the ministry because cards are simply placed in racks for members to use, the church is able to gauge the effectiveness of the ministry through phone calls.
“I’ve had some call who are Christians and are active in their own home churches, but they have called to thank us and tell us how this ministry will impact the community,” said Barbara Wray, Ellendale Baptist’s receptionist and secretary. “Some calls are from others who are not churched.”
One such call has come to define the outreach ministry, Wray said.
“There was one call in particular that was very emotional, and you could tell that God was working in this,” Wray said. “A young lady was traveling back to Texas from her mother’s funeral and stopped to eat lunch in Memphis. Well, someone in our church wanted to do something, and she was the beneficiary. She wanted to let us know that that helped her to make the rest of her trip back home after losing her mother.”
The woman told Wray that her mother had been a Christian, and that she had grown up in a Christian home with a father who was a pastor, but she had never accepted Christ. Wray prayed with her and, even though the woman did not accept Christ during their conversation, Wray assured the woman that the church would continue to pray for her
Upon returning home, the woman sent a note to the church, thanking them again for the act of kindness and said she was continuing to pray about her salvation.
“It was a real opportunity and blessing for me,” Wray said. “That’s what I see this ministry as — a blessing for all of us and those that are giving out of love. It says that we are here — that Jesus does love all of us.”
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