if you look at the Matt Maddix style Block Parties (which we are doing in August with a youth evangelist called Shannon Peacock from Georgia) or the style of outreach services that Tim Downs does (we just finished up with him, had over 130 first time guests and 30 something baptisms just that day) they are where we are heading to in regards to evangelism. the pity is that baptists and other groups have been doing "Bridge Events" for almost 2 decades now and we are just catching up.
They work, our church ran 80ish about 4 months ago, we are running 120ish now after the Tim Downs event (
www.GoWinSouls.com he rocks and delivers the goods) with lots of bible studies going and lots of visitors. Once we buy a church van in a few weeks we should push it to 150ish on Sunday Mornings for the lower income apartment dwellers. The secret is building a strong database, having the ministers pick up the phone and staying in touch. basic sales and customer service 101 in the business world. these events are a opportunity to get visitor cards, build a positive image with folks, and have the opportunity to let them know your church is there.
i've been suprised the in the last 18-24 months, there is a whole new breed of "working evangelists" that are being trained by these guys who go to a church on Wednesday, hit the streets, do door hangers, flyers, and flat out work towards building a crowd for a saturday public event or a Sunday super service and reap some insane numbers that even the 'old school back in the day we did this or that' evangelist would be hard pressed to measure up to... and they are doing it weekly. im a eye witness and can tell you its a better way of building a church than the old school way of getting a special speaker (also known as a evangelist) and expecting that alone to bring something we call "revival" (usually nothing but emotional self-love with little to no outward value to the community as a whole)
Give me fresh new contacts, discipleship, and training... you can build a church on that.
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