Fliers in the Face of Doubt

T

he commitment of Living Branch Community Fel- lowship in Englewood, Colorado, might have saved

a man known as John. He left a mysterious message for church members thanking them for leaving a fl ier on his door. He described how it caused him to think about his life and he talked about how he believed in Jesus, but had fallen into sin. John received one of nearly 600 Find it Here door hang- ers that Living Branch Fellowship distributed the week before Easter to a cluster of apartments. The effort was part of Southern Bap- tists’ nationwide “GPS: Across North America” initiative. As pastor Steve Scott and the church’s ministry team listened

to the message, John’s tone turned desperate. Speaking of “knowing what he needed to do,” it was obvious he meant to harm himself. But without a phone number or address, the church was helpless. Or so they thought. “So we did what we could,” Scott said. “We prayed.” Trusting God with the outcome, the church shared John’s phone call as a prayer request during a revival

service that night. The next morning, John called back and left another message, leaving his phone number this time. The church was able to contact John and share with him the love, forgiveness and hope found in Christ Jesus. John attended the church’s men’s breakfast the next morning and shared with them, “The door hanger saved my life!”

An estimated 15 million pieces of literature were distributed in neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and Canada as Southern Baptists fanned out across their communi- ties the week before Easter. Prior to that, congregations prayerwalked neighborhoods near their church. “Based on what we’re hearing

from our partners, GPS has gotten off to an amazing start,” Frank Page, vice president for Evangelization at NAMB said of the 10-year evangelism effort. “The sto- ries we’re hearing of how God worked are reason for cel- ebration. I’m confi dent the gospel seeds that were sown these last few weeks will bring a harvest to Southern Baptist churches that we’ve not seen in many years.”

ON MISSION • Summer 2010 35

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