Spring Break Campaign 2007

Our spring break campaign is now part of Mt. Dora's history. But the work continues on. Here are the fruits of our efforts granted us by our gracious God:

Doors knocked 1386
Contacts made 527
Studies set up 16
Studies taught 15
Correspondence Courses set up 28
Prayer requests 125
Door slammed in our faces 5

The students came from Heritage Christian University (formerly IBC - International Bible College) in Florence, AL. There were 11 students and 7 adults plus Stephen Guy. The adults came from two congregations in Strickland and Booneville, MS. What a great bunch they were! All of the students and adults were good workers. All of them had a passion to serve the Lord.

Brother Guy's theme for the week was Revival. Starting Sunday morning and going through Wed night he preached lessons designed to reach those who were searching and those in the congregation. We had several of our folks go forward to ask prayers for strength and renewal. We had one baptism - one of our teens (Tyler Newton). His dad (Jeff Newton) baptized him. Jeff really got choked trying to get out the words as he baptized his son. We had several of the people that we contacted through our door knocking attend at least one the meetings. So we have a lot of work ahead of us as we follow up and make sure that we try to help these folks come to Jesus.

One of our teams actually came across a Hindu family that had never heard of Jesus. What a time they had trying to help this family understand the gospel. They spoke to them at the door and really had an interesting discussion with them. Who knows where this might lead.

Several of our members came out each door and door knocked with the students. It was great to see so many of our folks involved in this way. We had quite a food crew that served breakfast and lunch to the campaign workers each day. It was a great effort.

Door knocking consisted of taking a religious survey of five questions. I wasn't all that impressed with asking the first and last questions. As I interviewed people I tried to listen to their answers and ask "take off" questions. Sometimes it would lead to some interesting side issues. For the most part those who were home seemed willing to answer the questions. I've been told that the first three questions on this list are what Rick Warren used when he first began in the Saddleback community.

1. What do you think is the greatest need of people in our community?
2. Why do you think people do not go to church today?
3. If you were looking for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for?
4. Do you have any prayer requests?
5. Would you like to study about the church mentioned in your Bible and how you and your family can be saved?

The prayer requests (125) mentioned above were actually community prayer requests from our survey. We wrote down their names and requests and then put the requests up on PowerPoint and then specified someone during the service each night to do the community prayer. What a joy to pray for our neighbors.

During one morning of door knocking we (the group I was with) met a young homeless couple. They were recently evicted from their apartment and were just visiting the neighborhood where we were knocking (God certainly was at work that morning). After talking to them we invited them to come have lunch and breakfast each day with the campaign workers. They came a couple of times but have since disappeared. One of our elders was trying to contact some local business people that he knows to help them find jobs. We also have some food and other things left over from the tornado disaster relief materials that we can give them. We have a cell number so we hope to contact them and help them even more.

I know that door knocking campaigns have pretty well run their course. Not many congregations think they are effective so they don't do them anymore. It does seem strange to knock doors during the day when most are working. However, regardless of whether of not this is considered effective I'm convinced that God did direct us to people that needed the gospel or needed help. As a congregation we will be thanking God for the fruit borne during the campaign and for the fellowship we enjoyed with these wonderful campaign workers for quite some time.