#4 Producing Your Own Newcomer's DVD

First of all, I would like to say how thankful I am to Celebrate Recovery at Saddleback Church for all the resources that are available for the promotion of this life changing, church growing ministry that we are involved in. I know for us at White’s Ferry Road Church in West Monroe, LA, the resources made the difference of being overwhelmed with trying to do it all, to on the other hand, using what was available to free us up to work on what was most important, the Newcomer.

The one resource I think of immediately is the CR Newcomer dvd, “Words”. We have used this dvd in our Newcomers 101 since it was released and were thrilled there was something of such high quality that shared about CR in such simplistic detail.

Now as we have grown and more people come in and are ready to serve, we have a responsibility to help people discover where they can serve best. And in doing so, we uncover some very interesting talents.

For us, it was a young man who had been filming for wildlife videos. Our CR TEAM decided we wanted to produce our own Newcomer’s video. So who do you think we got to do the filming? That’s right, Jacob, the wildlife videographer, who happens to be married to our daughter, Callie. Callie bought an inexpensive editing program for our computer and became the editor. So what I’m trying to say here is we kept it low cost and still achieved the results we wanted by producing a video that reflects our CR.

Now Newcomers in our 101 class will recognize the people they just saw in Large group and CR becomes even more on a personal level. Added bonus, it gave all our CR participants the opportunity to be involved in getting the word out by being a part of the dvd.

I have to add here, it’s also a great way to get younger folks involved since most of them are much more savvy on techno matters. Since Jacob & Callie produced the Newcomers video, not only are they working on their own hurts, hang-ups, and habits but they are also reaching out to other young people and getting them involved with CR.

Mac

#6 Spreading the Word - Part 2

Last time we were talking about this I told you about two amazing churches that get the word out through their local news stations. I hope you were able to check out their links and brainstorm how your group could do the same. If this is the first time to read my blog, look back two posts and see where you can access these two exciting links.

Mary and I, along with Jim and Paula Kirchner, were very excited to be a part of Green Acres Baptist Celebrate Recovery 4th Anniversary Celebration. We saw first-hand what a mighty work God is doing in East Texas. Their group meets on Monday night which some might say, “That’s not a good night for CR." But wait, did I mention it was raining and cold enough to have a chance of freezing rain? So you might think attendance was down. ARE YOU KIDDING?! There were almost 300 in attendance that night! Thanks to Marty, Carri, and the crew at Green Acres, they are working hard and getting the word out!

Marty said their average attendance is about 180. So they had a few visitors that night, many of which were 1st timers. Of course, their growth is attributed to our Father. And because they know God said He would work through them, they are working hard as well getting the word out about this life changing ministry.

At Green Acres they take to heart the verse found in 2 Corinthians 5:19b-20,
“God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you.” The Message

So now that God has given us this privilege of speaking on His behalf, how are we going to get the word out? Remember we have to think about all the resources that are available to us. One of our CR leaders, John G., has a lawn care service. He takes care of a radio station’s property, so he trades out his time for advertising spots and donates them to CR. We ask different small group leaders to give a 30 second testimony about where they’ve been, what happened, and where they’re at now.

I want to hear how you're getting the word out. Email me at mowen@wfrchurch.org

Mac