SETTING UP A BOOTH AT THE COUNTY FAIR # 2

I want to continue my thoughts about setting up a successful county fair booth.  Far too often these booths go unnoticed or passed on by.  So with the experience of others you can make your booth spiritually successful.

3) Get people to sign-up for Bible Correspondence Courses.  We live in a time where people do not want to be bothered with the word of God.  They believe that they are ok in their walk with God and don't want you and me interfering.  But we have to find a way to break through and reach their hearts.  I have tried different methods over the years and have found a few that worked and some that did not.  One way was in having a give away.  Those that would pass by would be drawn by the sign that said, "Free Bible Give-away."  All they had to do was sign a card with their name, address and a phone number.  This was not a raffle.  No one gave us any money for the "chance" at a new Bible.  But on the card we also placed an area for them to sign up for a in home Bible study, Bible Correspondence Course, and/or looking for a new church.  They might not have thought about wanting to participate in a study before, but given the opportunity they sign up anyway.  Sharing with people that come up to your booth that you offer such things as this is also very helpful.  We do not want to run people off with a high pressure type of attitude, but we are in this to win the lost to Christ.

4)  Information to give away.  Never miss the opportunity to give people reading material on salvation. But there are some important things to always remember;  first, get up-to-date looking tracts.  The worst thing that a church can do is give out tracts with pictures of people from the 50's on the front.  These are not very attractive and can draw people away from.  The best set of tracts that I have found come from House-to-House Heart-to-Heart.  You can view a list of these as well as order them from housetohouse.com.  Another great give-away is from the World Video Bible School (WVBS).  They have outstanding DVDs on salvation, evil/pain/suffering, along with a host of other material to draw people in.  Many people today will watch a DVD rather than read a tract, so have this option as well.  If you buy these DVDs in a somewhat larger quantity the price is drastically lower.  Many work out to only $1-$2 per DVD.  There website is wvbs.org.  Finally, make sure that people know where your building is located.  Have a map showing its location or a tract about the congregation with a map placed on it.  Do also have times of services and the church phone number.  It is not beneficial to have the minister's home number.  I have found this to be problematic.  My number is already in the public phone book.  If you have a favorable contact then give them your card.

5) Volunteers at the booth.   Having members for the congregation is an essential part of your booth.  Never underestimate the talent that you have at your disposal.  The members know the people that are walking by and can sometimes relate better than the minister can.  But there are some things that the local church must set up in the way of rules for your volunteers.  First, never argue with those that come to your booth.  Far too often people just want to see if they can get you angry.  If questions arise at the booth then have the following exchange with them, "That is a great question.  If you would like we can set up a Bible study either in your home or at the church building."  This disarms the person that just wants to fight and if the person does want to study they have the opportunity to sit down one-on-one.

Second, tell your volunteers to be very positive.  This is not the place for gossiping, trash talking the other denominations and especially not the place to say anything negative about the church.  If someone hears these things you possibly could lose the chance to teach them the Gospel.

Finally, make sure that those who work the booth are dressed modestly.  This is the worst first impression from those of the church.  I prefer no shorts but due to the temperatures sometimes this is not possible.  If you must include (or allow) shorts, then set the rule for knee length.  But if at all possible suggest that no one wear shorts for the booth.  Look around, the other booths of businesses have volunteers without shorts (for the most part).  Again, our best foot forward.

There are many other things that could be said about setting up a booth at the county fair, but this will get you started and help make for a successful experience.  Don't forget to pray about this effort before you begin.

With a booth at the county fair we can Minister our Message....

SETTING UP A BOOTH AT THE COUNTY FAIR # 1

Tis the season for county fairs all over the country.  Some county fairs are going on with one major presence missing, the church.  The church must be very active in the community.  One outstanding and easy way to accomplish that goal is to set up a booth at your local county fair.  I want to give you some ideas that have helped me over the past 20 years.

1) Plan, plan, plan and plan some more.  You will fail in attracting people to your booth if you have no idea what you want to do.  The main focus for a booth is to reach people with the gospel of Christ.  And let me be the first to tell you that there is so much that can be done in that arena.  Your planning must have the focus on the goal of reaching lost souls.  It is essential to have your times of services but you must try to reach out to their hearts.  It is great for the community to meet your preacher but the main goal is for the community to meet up with Christ.

One of the first steps in planning is to find out what sizes are available at you county fair.  It is a waste of money if you have too much space and no plans to fill it.  It is also difficult to get your word out if your space is too cluttered.  Many booth sizes are six to eight feet standard.  Let's say yours is six feet.  Somewhere back at the building, set up a six foot table with all the information that you want to give out.  Get others in the congregation to give input as to the look of the table.  Ask them, "if you were passing by a booth like this would it attract you or repulse you."  Have them write out suggestions and place them in a box.  Then look through all the suggestions and (with an open mind) make the table better.  Go to the fairgrounds early and locate where you booth will be set up.  Make sure that if you need something plugged in that you have a power source nearby.  Take measurements of the space to make sure you have the right size that you paid for.

2) Pick a theme for your table.  You might be asking, "I thought that the gospel is the theme?"  The gospel is what you are trying to spread.  But if you have a theme then you will draw people to your table quicker.  Each year we have an overall theme to our booth.  Two years ago this theme came from our VBS, which was from Apologetics Press about the days of creation.  So we painted large boards as a back drop that had the days of creation on them.  We also were able to get some dinosaur eggs from Oriental Trading which the kids went crazy over.  This year our theme is "Walking with Jesus."  We are planning on giving out necklaces with "I love Jesus" on them.  Also, we have bags with "Walking with Jesus" printed on them.  I mentioned that we ordered stuff from Oriental Trading.  This is a great place to buy in bulk.  But as with anything, watch the prices.  Discount stores such as Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Ollies and the like might have similar items cheaper.  But no matter what having a give-a-way is a great way for people to remember you and the booth.  If possible place a sticker on the back of everything that you give out.  On this sticker have the name of the congregation, the address of the church building, a contact number and the times of services.

In the next article, I will discuss how to get people to sign up for Bible Correspondence Courses.  


To be continued... minister your message daily...

Are You A True Friend?

I cannot even begin to count all the many blessings that God has given.  One of the great blessings is that of friends.  When I mention friends I do not mean those that you have on Facebook, although some might be your true friends.  The kinds that I am discussing are those like Jesus.

How do I know when someone is a true friend or how can I be sure that I am being true friend to someone else?  We know that we are friends of Jesus if we do that which Jesus commands.  Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14).

I have come up with a simple way to help you know if you are a true friend.

A true friend is one that:
    F orgives wrongs (Colossians 3:13)
R equires truth (Proverbs 12:22)
I mitates God (Eph. 5:1)
E ncourages at all times (Phil. 2:3-4)
N ever speaks evil (Matthew 5:22)
D esires to share the gospel (Romans 10:15)

Continue ministering your message.

THE DISCIPLINING FATHERS

I am a Christian father with two children.  I have a son who is a teenager and a daughter who wants so much to be but is only a pre-teen. So before I get yelled at for not understanding what I am talking about, let me clear up that issue. Let me clear up another issue, my wife and I are not our kids BFFs. We are our children's parents. That is our position in their lives and we take the God given position and  responsibility very seriously. We are not perfect and have learned many things, sometimes by trial and error. But we have learned how to be a father and a mother, and not exactly from other parents but from our heavenly Father.

Paul wrote, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:4). Discipline has to do with boundaries and correction.  I give guidelines to my children and if they go beyond the boundaries that are set, then correction is warranted.  This correction is not done out of a lack of love for my children, but just the opposite.  I love my children and God has given me the responsibility to direct them in the way they should go.  As Father's Day is approaching we must remember that as fathers we are to be engaged in the home.  To be engaged means that we are the ones that administer the discipline.  We are to be the spiritual leaders.  We are to protect and even die for our families.

Far too often fathers have left the home without even moving out of the dwelling place.  What do I mean?  Well, some fathers do not take a stand and guide the family in the right direction.  The direction that leads his family to God.  Remember what the wise king Solomon wrote, "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him" (Proverbs 13:24 ESV).  The rod of the shepherd in the Old Testament was used for two purposes when it came to his sheep.  First, this rod was used as a guiding tool.  If the sheep would stray from the fold or start to tread into a dangerous place, then the shepherd would give the sheep the needed amount of force with the rod to redirect it.  So, as a Christian father when my children go in the wrong direction or start to tread in dangerous waters, I redirect them with the tools at my disposal.  This does include spanking, grounding, timeouts, etc.  Of course father must never cross the line and physically abuse the child.  The punishment that is used is for guiding them back to a God-lead direction.

Second, the rod used by the shepherd was also a tool to protect.  If a wolf or other dangerous animal wanted to do the sheep harm, then the shepherd could use this rod to strike the intruder with enough force to protect his sheep.  The fathers in the home must also do whatever it takes to protect the spiritual and physical well-being of his children.  Use of the rod in this case can be the teachings of the Bible that give direction to the children.  The rod of protecting them from evil speech, immorality at school (such as the public dances), and the humanistic teachings that continue to be expressed in the public school systems.

Whatever goes on is the world around us fathers, just remember that we have the God given duty to protect our children with the discipline that God ordained.  Continue to minister the message of God...

HYPED-UP WORSHIP?

I have started to hear this term being thrown around a little these days.  But this term is not a new one.  What "hyped-up worship" means simply is that a church must make their worship so exciting that everyone that comes leaves worked up "for Jesus."  This type of worship is not limited to praise bands and the like, but also to what is called a "spirit filled" sermon that "rocks" the crowd.  According to dictionary.com, "hyped-up" means, "intensively or excessively stimulated or exaggerated."  These worship services become a place where the person gets intensively stimulated or overly excited.  What is wrong with that?

The problem with this type of mind set is that they change the focus of worship from all about God, to some about God but mostly about them.  You see the worship is not "good enough" unless I get all worked up about it.  Does this make biblical sense?  Is this what God had planned for us in our worship?  Now don't get me wrong, if I leave the worship service excited about service to God then I am blessed.  But my worship is not about me.  This "hyped-up worship" is a me-centered worship rather than a Christ-centered worship.

If I don't have the best singing in worship, then it was not good enough.  If I didn't have the sermon that made me just jump out of my seat and run out the door screaming about Jesus, then it was not good enough.  Jesus said, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth" (emp. jer John 4:24).  Does the modern day "hyped-up worship" fit with this pattern?  Some will try to pull the word "spirit" out of its context and define it as such.  Ok, let's define the word in this passage and see.

 Wayne Jackson writes, "True worship must be in spirit. Genuine worship involves the plunging of one’s spirit into the act (cf. Romans 1:9; 1 Corinthians 14:15) in a humble and sincere way (cf. Joshua 24:14). This disposition eschews the superficial, the ostentatious (cf. Matthew 6:1ff), the self-centered (Luke 18:9ff), and the hypocritical (Matthew 5:23-24; 15:7-9)" (christiancourier.com/articles/282-jesus-and-the-samaritan-woman).  The "hype-up worship" does not fit into the pattern of worshiping God.  This type of worship is all about self.  Even though many claim that they are all about God.

I have studied with people that have said, "I just don't like the way they do worship."  Do you see the pronoun?  They want a worship that pleases themselves rather than God.  It has to be all about God with the removal of self.  Do we really believe the song that is sometimes sung, "None Of Self, And All Of Thee?"  Worship God, not self.  Continue to minister with your message...