SNELLVILLE, Ga. (AP) — So much for spaghetti suppers: The First Baptist Church of Snellville is fueling its membership drive with a sign in front of its sprawling campus proclaiming "Free Gasoline."
There's a catch, of course. The offer is a not a giveaway. Instead, each time newcomers or members attend a church event during a Sunday-to-Wednesday revival they get a pink raffle ticket for a chance to win one of two $500 gas cards.
"We don't know how far it will go with these soaring prices," said Rusty Newman, the church's senior pastor. "But it may make someone's night."
Newman's congregation boasts roughly 9,000 members, but only about 2,500 regularly attend Sunday services.
The church, like others, has long relied on special dinners and giveaways to draw in members, but elders wanted something a little more timely for this latest pitch.
They set up a sign advertising the offer outside the church's parking lot on a busy road near downtown Snellville, a traffic-clogged suburb northeast of Atlanta.
"How can we capture those people?" asked James Lee, the church's minister to seniors, who came up with the idea. "We're strong in door-to-door evangelism, but there's no way to reach them all."
Soon the calls came flooding in. Church staffer Lisa Gauthier said she's handled dozens of them each day, some from as far afield as Seattle. Radio show hosts in Oregon caught wind of the idea and invited Newman on air. So many inquiries came pouring in that Newman had to order a new phone line and dedicate a receptionist to answering each one.
Newman views it as a service to the community, and he's looked to the Bible for his endorsement. One passage he mentions to support his idea involves Jesus feeding 5,000 with a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish.
"Some pastors have questioned our motives," Newman said. "If it was just to get people in the building, it would be wrong. But we want to meet someone's physical need and eternal spiritual needs."
Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments
Jesus' feeding the 5000 was NOT a gimmick just to get them to listen to Him.
Catering to carnality does not produce lasting spirituality.
Let me see...... 9000 members but 2500 "regularly" {which probably means 1-2 times a month} Let's assume that 500 members {I'm being generous here.} are elderly or can't attend for valid reasons. What that really means is that the church has 3000 members, but 9000 people on it's membership rolls. I wonder if the elders or deacons call or visit the 6500 members who don't regularly attend. We do need to attend to our brethren who are lost.
I think it is quite embarrassing for churches that perform marketing strategies like this, particularly seeker-friendly churches, to boast of big numbers in membership yet have 1/3 of them actually attending services.
Why is there a need to feel like they have to 'capture' people through marketing? They must have go that idea from the book, Purpose Driven Church.
I thought the Scripture said that if Christ was lifted up, He would draw people to Himself. Where does the raffle come in for a $500 gas card? Couldn't that be considered gambling in the church? Didn't Jesus cleanse the temple because of impropriety such as this?
It's more about numbers and increasing revenues for churches like this as they resort to man-made efforts, which will never come close to fully feeding the people what they truly need, hearing an anointed word from God through His Holy Spirit.
I am noticing something interesting, maybe others can let me know if I'm imagining this or not: Does it seem like ever since the lifeway announcement that the SBC was declining in membership and that Sunday attendance is lower than membership counts in almost all denominations, that news articles have started including the Sunday head count along with the church's membership count whenever they talk about the size of a church?