Sometimes a good idea goes a lot farther than you imagined, especially when you train your church to be watching for faith-sharing opportunities. Jeff West attended a class last year on taking his faith to his community and workplace. The class was led by Tim Lundy, one of the teaching pastors at West’s church, Fellowship Bible Church of Little Rock, Arkansas. Fellowship emphasizes taking “church” to people and challenges the congregation to think about life-on-life ministry.
When West learned of Fellowship’s plans to implement multiple video worship venues as a ministry growth strategy, he immediately thought about the community he knew best: firefighters. West is a fire fighter in North Little Rock. He knew that a lot of firefighters are stuck at the firehouse on Sundays. Could they somehow bring the church to the firehouse?
West shared the idea with Phil Pounder, who was driving the church’s on-campus parking shuttle. Pounder was not only a fellow fireman, but the chief. The two men enlisted the support of their department’s chaplain, Larry Seifert, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, who was excited by the project. They also approached the leadership team of Fellowship Church with their idea.
“Some firefighters really want to be part of a church, but cannot due to their Sunday work schedules,” Steve Snider, an elder at the church, said. “Others seem glad for an excuse not to go to church. Jeff West wants to reach both groups.”
The innovative firefighters sat down with the technical team at Fellowship and also with Craig Cheney who oversees the remote worship venues. Soon they were equipped with a DVD copy of the Sunday sermon, the note-taking outline from the bulletin, and a brochure the church produces to introduce the current sermon series. The only adaptation made was to add special graphics to the DVD for a firehouse edition.
Pounder soon took the role of host at his firehouse, starting the service, playing the DVD, and facilitating an after-sermon discussion. The idea caught on, and now there are five firehouse worship sites and plans to add more.
Viewing and discussing a teaching video is just the beginning. “It’s a connecting point to attract people into the life of our church body,” Cheney said. The next natural step is to connect the members of the fire company with a church community group. “Without a relationship, we’re just bringing them a program. Programs don’t produce life change. God uses people in relationship to each other to bring about life change. And life change is what it’s all about. What started as one man’s desire to be nurtured personally became a vision to reach many, with discovery of a practical way to do that.”
Warren Bird writes for Leadership Network, which connects innovative churches for greater effectiveness.
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