Church gains a new member

Enjoy this guest post from author Greg Miller and contact him to let him know you saw him on the Christian Daily Blog!

Restaurant Manager came up with an idea to beef up the menu of the upscale restaurant she operated.

Restaurant Manager said diners could share their recipes in the following categories: Meat-and-Potatoes, Veggies, Breads and Desserts.

Four weeks later, Restaurant Manager chose the winning entries, which were added to the menu. Madylin’s Meat Loaf-and-Sweet Potatoes won in the Meat-and-Potatoes category.

Each winner received a certificate good for two free meals at the restaurant. All winners gave their certificates to community members, who were in the lower income levels.

All of those who received the certificates felt they had received a great blessing from the Lord. “The only places I can afford to eat are fast-food hamburger restaurants,” said MandiLu, who received Madylin’s certificate.

MandiLu went to the restaurant for her first free meal. While there, she asked to speak to Restaurant Manager. “This is a great restaurant,” said MandiLu. “I’m going to tell everyone about it.”

“Thank you very much,” said Restaurant Manager. “Word of mouth is our most effective form of advertising.

“While I’m here, I’d like to invite you to the church I attend,” said MandiLu. “Our pastor preaches that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. The pastor tells us that it is the job of every Christian to tell others about Jesus’ love.”

“Your pastor preaches it like it is,” said Restaurant Manager.

The following Sunday, Restaurant Manager visited the church. Restaurant Manager was so impressed that at the end of the service she asked to become a member of the congregation. She told the pastor, “You preach the Word of God in a powerful and relevant way. I’d be proud to be a member here.”

“It’s my pleasure to welcome you as a new member,” said the pastor. “And to honor you and all of our other new members, we’re having a time of fellowship and refreshments after tonight’s service.”

During the time of fellowship, all of the new members were given an opportunity to share some thoughts with everyone.

“This is the most dynamic church in town as far as I’m concerned,” said Restaurant Manager. “It serves the best spiritual food in town. I’d also like to take just a moment to invite everyone to visit the restaurant I manage. I believe we serve the best-tasting meals in town. Once again, thanks for allowing me to become a member of this church.”

“It’s our pleasure to have you here,” said the pastor. “I believe you will be a great testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you will be a great asset to this church.

“And don’t forget…like I say in my sermons… ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.’”

“That’s good preaching,” said Restaurant Manager. “And it’s one Bible truth that makes for a tasty spiritual dessert.”

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To contact the writer of this column about speaking engagements and puppet ministry, please e-mail kidcool4jesus@yahoo.com.

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Three Ways to Reach Out in Love

I'm a big fan of Servant Evangelism - both the concept and the website. If you've never visited there, I encourage you to do so! There are literally thousands of small, inexpensive ways to show the world you care because Jesus cares and to do it with flair. So I'll be sharing a few occasionally as they come to mind.

Here are three to get you started:

Use your computer and printer to create business cards with scriptures, Christian graphics, etc. and your contact information on the back if you want. Attach these to:

• A mint with the saying "God's Love is Mint for You" or "I Mint for You to Know Jesus Loves You!"

• An inexpensive kitchen sponge into small pieces with the saying "Soak up God's Love."

• A stick of gum with the saying "Choose [chews] Jesus" or "Jesus will Stick to You for Life!"

Have other ideas? I'd love to hear them!

Unique Ministry Ideas

Outreach and evangelism have been on my mind lately (as they often are). My desire to see others come to faith in Jesus is so strong that I read a lot of books on outreach, service evangelism, and such. Many of the ideas I come across are things I've tried, or seen, or at least heard of from others. Today, I came across a few ideas that I had never heard of before, or which were - at the least - more unusual. Since I'm always open to new methods of sharing the gospel with unbelievers - within reason, of course! - these sounded pretty neat.

About.com's Christian Teens section suggested a Craft Donation where volunteers make items to send to our soldiers. While I know a lot of people send things overseas, what struck me about this project was the aspect of making things rather than simply buying them. If I were away from home, I'd be thrilled to get a gift that someone (especially a teen or a child) took the time to create just for me.

The same site suggested a Prom Dress Exchange where everyone brings in their gently used formals and swaps them with others who can use them. I'd take that a step further and give them to those in need, even if they didn't bring a dress to swap. If you've looked at prom dresses recently, you know how expensive they are! We had a young girl in one of our churches who wouldn't have been able to go to her prom if we hadn't bought her dress. And I'm sure there are many others with the same kind of need. Maybe you could even work to find sponsors who would buy prom dresses for some of the youth.

With summer coming soon (Thank You, Lord!!), your church might consider setting up a program to mow lawns for your elderly or disabled. Lawn mowing is hard work. And it's heartbreaking to see people pushing a lawn mower around a yard who are obviously not in good enough shape, physically, to be doing so. Sign up young people to mow lawns on a regular basis as a service to the older members and prospects in your church.

Then those elderly can provide after-school tutoring for the kids. One small-town church I know of does this very well and has made a huge impact in their church and community with this program.

The Church of the Nazarene has a program where we create emergency Care Kits filled with specific items such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo, etc. There is a detailed list we follow so that each kit is the same. We then send the kits to our General Church office and they are disbursed around the world as needs arise. (Hundreds of these were sent to Hurricane Katrina victims, for instance.)

While I love this program and always take part, it strikes me that we shouldn't have to wait for an emergency to show we care. And we shouldn't care only for those in other countries. There are homeless persons, prisoners, elderly, disabled, nursing home residents, single parents and many others who would probably be thrilled to receive a plastic bag filled with toothpaste, deodorant, soaps and other necessary items. And creating local care kits is something most anyone can do to spread God's love in their own neighborhood.

These are just a few of the hundreds and hundreds of ideas you can find for ministering to others. But whatever you decide... do something to reach out to others in Jesus' name.