Dekalb United Pentecostal Church located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Pastor Myron Wideman, started an Outreach Campaign in April 2019 and the results were outstanding. “Of course, we encourage everyone to invite and bring guests every service,” said Bro. Wideman, but we wanted to do something a little different. So we added an incentive to our outreach efforts because who doesn’t like a little incentive”?
The campaign, coinciding with their Spring Revival, Had a huge impact at Dekalb UPC. “We held the campaign during our Spring Revival in April and our guest Evangelist Mark Drost ministered that weekend,” said Bro. Wideman. “We saw great results. We had over 30 first time visitors and we retained at least one family (4 people) from the Outreach Campaign. We also had 18 people receive the Holy Ghost and 4 people baptized in Jesus name.”
The contest was a lot of fun and the members of Dekalb UPC bought in and participated. “We’re supposed to be winning souls anyway, this just added a little friendly competition,” said Bro. Wideman. “There were some ground rules. Anyone can participate, member or guest. You must have a minimum of 5 guests to qualify and each visitor must be a first time guest. Finally, the guest must check in at the information desk and put your name down as the one who invited them to church. The 3rd place winner received a $50 gift card, the second place winner received a $75 gift card and the 1st place winner received a $100 gift card.”
The Campaign for Christ Competition was a huge success and Dekalb UPC will definitely use this method in the future. “We probably will go bigger with it and increase the stakes,” said Bro. Wideman. “We will have Bigger prizes for those who bring 10 or more guests. It had a huge impact on our church and community. It energized and motivated our members to get out and do something they were already supposed to be doing.”