3 Big Wednesdays
My family and I have absolutely love being here in Visalia. We love the area, we love the people and we love our God that brought us here.
When we first arrived here in Visalia two months ago the student ministry was about 60 each week. Last Wednesday night we had 182 in attendance - 67 first time visitors and 36 students accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
Here is how it happened.
We developed our plan.
We decided that one time each month we would do a BIG Wednesday night service that not only had a great worship service and interactive message, but also had a really fun event after the service that teenagers would want to bring their friends to.
In the Central Valley here in California it is really hot during the summer. So we thought what better way to get teenagers out of the house than give them a chance to cool off at church. So we decided to have a GIANT Slip-N-Slide and serve Free Pizza to every student that attended.
Our goal was not to be real flashy … just real fun.
We built anticipation.
Two Wednesdays before the Slip-N-Slide Night we gave Bright Yellow “3 Big Wednesday Shirts to our Volunteers to wear during the youth service. We made a couple of low budget videos and put them on Face-Book, and did an all out push the during the Weekend Services. We had volunteers standing outside and in the lobby area with their 3 Big Wednesday Shirts, passing out invitations to every family with a teenager as well as just being friendly and welcoming everyone as they came into church.
We also had a 3 BIG Wednesday Slide showing during pre-service and our church media team made a special SLIP-N-SLIDE promo video that ran during the weekend announcements. By the end of the weekend the entire church not only knew about the event, they were amped up about it as well.
We equipped our young people.
The Wednesday before the Slip-N-Slide Service, I did a message titled “Why not ask?” In this message I talked openly about how for some reason it is easy for us to ask our friends “will you go with me” to everything in our lives … except for church. That for some reason we find it very tough to ask people to go to church with us …but the question I have is why? Why not ask? (If you would like the notes to this message just email me at growmoore@gmail.com and I will send them to you)
At the end of the service I asked all the students that were willing to ask a friend to come with them next week to reach under their seat and we had some yellow wrist-bands that said “3 Big Wednesdays” taped under their chairs. Every student in the place grabbed the wristbands and came forward. We then spent about 10 minutes praying over them that God would give them the boldness to ask a very simple question, and we also prayed over their friends that when they asked … their friend would say “yes”.
I am so honored to work alongside the incredible students and volunteers of our student ministry. This first BIG Wednesday was a very strong step towards what God is calling us to do.
In July we will have our second BIG Wednesday. We are doing a Back Yard BBQ.
We are serving free burgers and hot dogs, giving away two long boards, playing lawn games, and having a live band outside. I have no idea the turn-out we will have, but I believe if we will do our part and develop our plan, build anticipation, and equip our young people - then God will do his part. What more could we ask for?
