Serve Tour numbers are in – and CMBA has a lot to celebrate! Our churches saw God moving through the more than 1,000 volunteers from 80 churches in 14 different states, who traveled to the Midlands to serve alongside of our churches in the NAMB Serve Tour in late August. The best news is that 67 people prayed to receive Christ, more than 830 gospel conversations took place, and 47 community projects were completed by the mission teams.
Coordinated through North American Mission Board’s Send Relief, the Serve Tour had invited local churches to “dream big” on missional community projects and outreach events for more than a year. After identifying a final project list, the Serve Tour staff paired volunteer mission teams from across the country to assist CMBA and Lexington Baptist Association churches in completing those projects over the course of about 48 hours.
Several CMBA pastors and members recently shared their experiences and about how they saw the Holy Spirit moving in mighty ways throughout the Midlands during Serve Tour.
Gregg Heinisch, Senior Pastor of Temple Baptist – “An investment greater than expected.”
Temple Baptist’s project assignment was the “Grill Walk,” which involves small teams starting conversations with neighbors by offering free hamburgers. While one member walks to fulfill the order, the remaining team asks questions that lead to gospel conversations. Send Relief supplied the food and a few custom grills that were easily connected to the back of a pickup truck, and the teams did the rest.
Despite it being a rainy weekday, Heinisch says “God provided beyond expectations, both in volunteers and energy that helped Temple Baptist love on our neighbors.” The team handed out 300 hamburgers, prayed with over 200 people, and led one person to faith.
The Grill Walk team used a pet puppy to start a conversation with its owner that led to them being able to share the gospel and pray for the man. They learned the man had experienced homelessness and struggled in drug activity, but he’d recently secured a job and an apartment. Heinisch called it a “powerful moment to share the gospel but, when we spoke to his physical and spiritual needs, you could see a genuine reaction that he knew he was being loved on.”
Because the Send Team ‘knocked it out of the park’ with their ability to care and provide for churches, Heinisch is interested in serving in a future Serve Tour and would love to assist the team from Oklahoma that spent the weekend with his church. “We saw God move in ways that were completely unexpected. Now Temple is buzzing to serve in new ways moving forward.”
Jim McNinch, Member of Temple Baptist – “Made me excited to get back to church on Sunday.”
McNinch, a long-time member and leader at Temple Baptist, has never been on a mission trip but is quick to say that Serve Tour is one of the best things he’s ever been associated with.
“I participated on Friday, during the heavy rain, and the response was amazing. I prayed with people over needs, invited them to church, and shared the Roman Road in our conversations,” he says.
As he looks back on the experience, McNinch says he is more aware of the needs of people around him than he was before. “I saw where they live, what they did, and I saw what many didn’t have. I am closer to the Lord than I’ve ever been because of what we did during Serve Tour, and that’s saying a lot,” he says, adding that he’s “excited to get back to church on Sunday.”
Matthew Phillips, Senior Pastor of Palmetto Life Church – “It’s good stewardship: The Lord blesses us, and we can bless others.”
Palmetto Life Church is a new plant meeting in the former Park Street Baptist location. Phillips welcomed the Serve Tour work teams to help with much-needed functional and beautification projects around the downtown property. Volunteers spread mulch, built a landscaped bed for a new Palmetto tree, and sanded and repainted an awning and some prominent outside doors. Inside, they painted the children’s area, freshened up the main welcoming area for children and families, and polished handrails and sanctuary pews.
Phillips was struck by the generosity of the teams then learned they were serving because they, too, had received Serve Tour teams at their own church last year. “Because they were blessed, they wanted to be a blessing. It’s good stewardship to say the Lord blesses us and we can bless others,” he says. “It has challenged me to do this with our people.”
Phillips noticed stares from curious neighbors as they drove by the church during the Serve Tour projects. Palmetto Life’s volunteers were primarily college students who impressed Phillips with the long hours they served and their offer to pray for his church while gathered on the front steps. “The innocence and passion they brought is a reminder that we shouldn’t lose this innocence. I was blessed I could see that child-like faith in them.”
JayWill Wilson, Senior Pastor of City of Refuge Church – “What would happen if we told the neighborhood about our Savior?”
Initially, he was skeptical of hosting the Grill Walk – “It felt like the gimmickiest thing ever!” – but today, Wilson is celebrating 49 professions of faith and is following up with 60 neighbors who responded to the two-day Serve Tour apartment complex outreach.
“It wasn’t because we passed out hamburgers, the hamburgers didn’t save anyone. It was that God’s people stepped out in obedience asking ‘what would happen if we told the neighborhood about our Savior? What would He do if we did that?’ The gospel was saving people,” he says.
On Friday of Serve Tour, the volunteers with City of Refuge served more than 300 hamburgers, met 110 people, and saw 28 professions of faith. The next day they fed about 100 people and had 21 professions of faith. Grill Walk teams shared hope with one woman who said she wasn’t sure where she’d spend eternity.
“Hearing that mercy was available, and that Jesus wanted her, she broke down crying on a staircase and received Christ,” Wilson recalls. “She went to get her friend who came back with her, heard the gospel, and received Christ at the same time.”
The next day, a grandmother said she’d heard the gospel but knew she didn’t live for Jesus. Wilson says the team shared the gospel and prayed with her. “The grandmother cried, saying she’d been praying that someone would share hope with her. That grandmother and her grandson received Christ right there in the doorway.”
Several more Serve Tour projects were completed at the neighborhood elementary school City of Refuge has developed a relationship with, including a student walking trail to the school. An administrator told Wilson that every big project the school dreamed about, City of Refuge has made a reality. After a recent walk with that same administrator in the school’s new trail, Wilson reports “they’re dreaming again.”
Additional Content: NAMB’s Serve Tour Summary that includes many more stories from the CMBA Family of Churches and Lexington Baptist Association.