Church joins effort to share gospel statewide

By ASHLEY COOK

The Lufkin Daily News

One Lufkin church is hoping to share its gospel message with every household in Lufkin by Easter Sunday, and they’re going high tech to do it.

Lufkin First Baptist has already begun distributing copies of a multimedia CD offering video testimonies, dramatic Bible readings and multilingual scripture teaching listeners about Jesus Christ.

Contributed photo

Members of Lufkin First Baptist hand out cookies in addition to distributing the gospel message on CD at the Christmas parade downtown in December.

The cover of the CD Lufkin First Baptist is distributing as part of a statewide effort through the Baptist General Convention of Texas to get the message to every household in the state.

The effort is part of the TexasHope 2010 project through the Baptist General Convention of Texas — with membership of about 5,700 churches and 2.3 million people in Texas, according to its Web site — which hopes to share the gospel with everyone in Texas by April 4, Easter Sunday.

“Faith comes by hearing,” said the Rev. Dr. Andy Pittman, senior pastor at Lufkin First Baptist.

The CD is titled “What’s Missing? Hope. For today. For tomorrow.” The Lufkin church first gave out copies at the downtown Christmas parade in early December. The parade route passed by two sides of the church, and it seemed like a perfect opportunity for outreach, Pittman said.

“We keep trying to take our church to Lufkin, and here is an opportunity when Lufkin comes to our church,” he said.

Pittman, together with some of his members, served hot chocolate to parade-goers, while also handing out copies of the CD. Even better than promoting their church was the chance to share the gospel, he said.

“It’s even more important that we reach out into a lost world and share the hope of the gospel with people who don’t know Jesus,” he said.

The church, which has about 1,5000 members, will next have its membership sharing CDs with their own neighbors in February, using an old-fashioned method to share a very modern version of discipleship.

The effort will happen through a “very low-tech way,” Pittman said. Members will count the houses on their street and ask for that many CDs, then distribute them to neighbors. The church is paying for the CDs itself, at a cost of $1 each. They are working to coming up with $27,000 — or a $1 CD for all 27,000 households in Angelina County — based on the most recent available data, through the 2000 Census.

Neighbor to neighbor is the best way to share anything, especially the gospel, according to Pittman, because you share the hope of Christ through that relationship, telling how God has made a difference in your own life.

The CD contains dramatic Bible readings in 350 different languages, by native speakers. Videos were shot on the East Texas Baptist University campus in Marshall, and include testimony from members of Texas Baptist churches describing their lives before and after encountering Christ.

By playing the CD on a car stereo, listeners can hear a dramatic reading of John 3 in English or Spanish, followed by a presentation of the gospel. By computer, the CD offers the entire gospel of John, and videos of people’s lives touched by Jesus, Pittman said, and a presentation of how to become a follower of Christ.

“You can become a Christian and have that hope that you’ve always wanted,” Pittman said.

There are also Internet links to free downloads of the entire New Testament in 350 languages.

More information is available online at whatsmissingtexas.com, or (888)-NEEDHIM, where a live chat and e-mail exchange is available for people interested in more information.