Keeping the fruit of Evangelism

[Juanita]

So, I was working on finding the path to get from here to the future God wants for me...

Jerry, Jerry Hartman, is here for a couple days. We are discussing visitor retention. His visitor retention program is working unbelievably well! I am amazed at how well!!! Good for those churches that are part of the program.

Now we talk about advancing the Kingdom across the region. In the plan is to send out evanglists. They will preach the good news across the region. The natural outcome will be people being stirred. And challenged to be in church. And so, those who may not have darkened the door for many years will step through that door. But, in our region, not just one door, doors across the region.

That is a problem. We know it is a problem. A pastor who lives right down the road from us told us this... he did an experiment. He visited almost every church in our region. He said that he was not welcomed. Not once, not a couple of times, but time after time. What this means...

If we aren't deliberate in equipping churches, our harvest will die on the vine. People will walk into church, not have a good experience, walk out and be done with it.

We can't have this. This cannot be part of our plan.

Soooo... options...

What should the expectations be? ...that the churches be expected to learn how to be effective in visitor retention. Simple. And, if they learn together there will be the added and necessary component of community. Learning in community, from and with each other. What could be better?

Street preachers... need to be supported by churches. Churches who are are actively building skills in visitor retention. These will be the churches who grow as the harvest comes in.