Why Bible Baptist Church has Fall Family Weekend

In part one, what Bible Baptist Church in Wilmington, Ohio does at Fall Family Weekend was explained. In part two, we will see why they have it.

Pastor Dixon, the church staff and the members of Bible Baptist Church in Wilmington, Ohio have a crystal clear why for Fall Family Weekend. Fall Family Weekend is a community outreach event. They want to see people saved. Some additional benefits of the weekend are the relationships built in the community and with members as they serve together and attend the weekend.

I asked the church staff if their goals were met. Sometimes churches have events like this, and what they hoped would happen, did not happen. I was told the goals the church had for the weekend were definitely met. The church saw 570 first time visitors and 75 salvations. This was not a guess or estimate; 570 people filled out a visitors card and 75 of those checked the box that they had received Christ as Savior.

Along with all the events that took place on Saturday and Sunday, the church had a plan to capture the names of those who visited the church and made a decision for Christ. On Saturday and Sunday, they set up a hospitality area, which was named “Connection’s Cabin,” that was staffed by volunteers. People were drawn to the “Connection’s Cabin” by letting everyone know there was going to be a drawing for three gift baskets that had over $300 in gift cards and products. The gift baskets were given out on Sunday afternoon after the rodeo. The gospel was preached at the service at 10 am in a large tent behind their auditorium and at intermission during the rodeo.  On Sunday, the gospel was also shared with some at the “Connection’s Cabin.”  The church begins the follow up process for all the names and addresses they captured during the weekend immediately. That includes any of the people involved in the rodeo or the Tractor Pull. If a person is out of town, a letter is sent with the name and address of a church near where they live.

Pastor Dixon shared a couple of the results of Fall Family Weekends. He said, one gentleman that’s 80 years old, accepted Christ as his personal Savior at Last year’s Fall Family Weekend.  This year he was involved in volunteering both Saturday and Sunday events at Fall family Weekend.  Pastor Dixon was also approached by an English teacher at our local vocational school to speak to their students about life and adulting.  The impact of Fall Family Weekend has far exceeded expectations in reaching their community.

The impact on the people starts before the weekend. Proceeding the weekend is 30 days of prayer, and the weekend is followed by 30 days of praise.

The following is some advice from the church staff about Fall Family Weekend. “Regardless of COVID or whatever society throws at us, get outside of the box and reach people. Put in the prayer, the planning, and the work. We’ve seen, for the past 2 years, over 2,000 people attend each weekend with over 150 recorded salvations. The key is to get everyone to fill out the card during the rodeo church service; Pastor Dixon directs the decision of salvation to the card. It does two things. First, it records the salvation. Second, and very important, it gives us the contact information to be able to follow up. Now the real work begins.”

 

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