Incredible!! 300 to 600 in one night!

In my post, “One person at time“, I raised the topic of “promotion” for consideration. It’s a topic many wrestle in general; however, applying it to the church tends to really raise some eye brows. Start talking about pastors and churches use of social media or what might be termed as traditional marketing tactics to build their church and you’ll see arguments surface on both sides of the fence. To further elaborate, here is a short excerpt from my previous blog:

“First, let me start with the art of promotion. In today’s culture, many have focused on utilizing many tools which can be found in business to market and promote. A casual glance at social media will find numerous post promoting the next big event. That big event might be a Christian leadership conference, next Sunday’s service, a student ministry function, or simply a post saying “Got Jesus!” Are we doing a disservice to the Gospel and the model Jesus taught us by branding and marketing the Gospel in this manner? Furthermore, when we do it, is this about validation of ourselves or is it truly because we want people to know Jesus?”

Well, today I am here to give you a status report. @CatalystTPCC is the student ministry we’re apart and I’ve referenced a few times in the past. Over that past few weeks, the team decided to use some of these “promotional” methods.  Here is a summary our ministry coordinator provided:

“Handed out 5,000 invite cards.
Called over 2,000 families.
Posted LOTS on social media
Reached students at 2 TAILGATES
Prayed for HOURS about this night”

Let me emphasize the last one, prayer.  As the hearts of those who serve in this ministry truly understand, #jesusisthereason. Yes, as I’ve emphasized in prior post, it always comes back to the “why”. In our flesh, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever have 100% pure motives; however, Jesus can use us if we allow Him.

Results? Yes, @CatalystTPCC’s Student Ministry went from averaging around 300 students in attendance on Sunday evenings to over 600 students in attendance last night for our fall kick-off event.  The event was incredibly filled with energy to include fireworks shot off at the end. If not already, I encourage you to click on the video links from within.  Additionally, you might like to reference CatalystTPCC on Instagram.

Now, I’ll be the first to point out that we haven’t created disciples of Christ yet; however, everything has to start somewhere. What I can assure you is that many students attending hadn’t heard who “Jesus is” previously in the manner which @PetieKinder preached.  I anticipate God used the environment to plant seeds which will see come to fruition in the weeks, months, and years ahead. Clearly, it’s our hope and prayer that the majority, and more, of these students will return next week. It’s also our hope that, like we regularly see, these students get plug into life groups within the ministry which is where we tend to see God really work in peoples lives.

So, it’s all for His glory and we’ll keep you posted!  May we always remember John 3:30 ESV  “He must increase, but I (we) must decrease.”  Please pray for @CatalystTPCC!