GPS Stories Archive

Living Branch Community Fellowship in Englewood just completed their Spring Revival in partnership with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Wort, Texas. During the preparation for the revival the Church distributed nearly 600 door hangers to the high concentration of apartment complexes in its area. While the "results" from the door hangers may have seemed questionable, Tuesday evening they received a phone call from an obviously distraught caller we will call John (name changed).

 – Pastor Steve Scott, Living Branch Community Fellowship, Englewood, Colo. 

More than 80 volunteers showed up at 9 a.m. at First Baptist on March 27, double the number who showed the weekend before for prayerwalking.

– First Baptist Church of St. Charles, Waldorf, Md. 

Wes Higuchi, a member of Kahului BC says, "We joined together with Maui Philippine Baptist Church to prayerwalk and pass out the GPS information. We also joined together for an early morning Easter service and breakfast. We had several visitors and with the joint service, the highest attendance for the early morning service for probably the last 10 years! Our members who prayerwalked and passed out flyers have shared that they were blessed by going out into the community. We are planning on continuing to prayerwalk and meet with our community throughout the year."

– Faith McFatridge for Kahului Baptist Church & Maui Philippine Baptist Church, Kahului, Hawaii 

Pastor Bryan Wittekind reports, "We passed out our 1,000 flyers and look forward to what god is going to do in our community."

– Faith McFatridge for Waianae Baptist Church, Waianae, Hawaii 

The church celebrated Easter by dedicating their new sanctuary to the glory of God. The church members distributed 4,000 packets into the surrounding community and received many contacts.

– Faith McFatridge for Kihei Baptist Church, Kihei, Hawaii 

About 100 church members from children, youth, and adults, distributed over 7,000 packets in the Mililani community. A core group of members had already been active in the church's FAITH ministry and were excited as more members joined in to promote the church's GPS efforts. Pastor Derrick Norris was anxious to start prayerwalking in February and was one of the first to receive the boxes containing the materials for GPS. According to Dan Van Alstine, senior associate minister, a new member's class will be starting up soon. he noted that one couple was assigned a street and discovered a co-worker living there, they invited them to church and they came to church on Sunday. He said that there were many testimonies about how the members are seeing God work in their community."

– Faith McFatridge for Mililani Baptist Church, Mililani, Hawaii 

Pastor Gary Yafuso and six members went out to place door hangers in their community on Saturday, a week before Easter Sunday. Yafuso said, "We intentionally went out a few weeks before and did prayerwalking. We added a flyer for our Easter Sunrise Service into the packet that a friend printed at no cost." Members of the church are excited about reaching one community for Christ and have begun sharing ideas.

– Faith McFatridge for Aina Haina Baptist Church, Honolulu, Hawaii 

First let me say Find it Here was great for our church. It was great to see people come together to pray for the people in community. Before we went out we met, and each person held a packet and prayed for the person recieving it. We had a great time, and it brought us closer together. We also had the largest crowd we have had in some time. We have reached people that we have not in the past. I thank God for the chance we had to get out in our area. praise the Lord

– Donnie Ray, Swan Lake Baptist Church, Hydro, Okla. 

The church distributed over 1,000 packets with information about the Easter Sunday Service included. Interim Pastor, Bob Duffer, says "There were about 450 attending the service at Maui Tropical Plantation. It rained earlier and during the service, and a beautiful Hawaiian rainbow could be seen in the sky. What a great way to see God's beauty as we worshiped and gave glory to Him." The church will be following up on the registration cards they received from the service.

– Faith McFatridge for Valley Isle Fellowship, Wailuku, Hawaii 

Prayer walked 3000 homes by the church. We saw that a whole new generation of people had moved into the homes around us since the church started 20 years ago. God showed us the people and is giving us a heart to reach them where they are!

– Vince Smith, Cross Pointe Baptist Church, Sioux Falls, S.D. 

Pastor Tullos Jones reports that they had approximately 150 attend their Easter Sunday service and potluck. He said there were seven people who renewed their commitment to Christ and four who desired to know more about having a personal relationship with Christ. The church distributed most of the 1,000 packets in the Kona community.

– Faith McFatridge for Kona Baptist Church, Kona, Hawaii 

Pastor Steve Bishop reported that members passed out 1,000 flyers. "We had about 112 were in service and four families came on Easter Sunday because of the flyer. We had an overflow crowd. Next year, we will need to set chairs outside so that everyone will be accommodated." After service, the men of the church cooked a meal and almost everyone stayed for lunch and had a great fellowship.

– Faith McFatridge for Eleele Baptist Church, Eleele, Hawaii 

Almost four weeks ago, our church began stuffing and delivering "Find It Here" bags. We've had over 50 people (out of a congregation of about 125) participate so far, including children, a young man with autism, and elderly folks who walk with a cane.

Two days after beginning delivery, we had a young lady call our church after receiving a Find It Here packet. She said her grandmother had lived here all of her life, and as far as she can remember, she's never had anyone come by her house and give her this kind of information. The girl asked if there was any way that we could come get them for church this Sunday. What an exciting way to begin!

We've also had some great prayer meetings, focusing on people who need the Lord and the Find It Here delivery. This Friday and Saturday will be a concentrated effort in the community immediately surrounding our church. We look forward to seeing what God does in our community and yours!

- Linda Crawford, Petrey Memorial Baptist Church, Hazard, Ky

Pastor Steve Hedlund reports that 20 people went prayerwalking and distributed 2,000 packets.

– Faith McFatridge for Kohala Baptist Chuch, Kohala, Hawaii

In the shadow of the Sierra Mountains, the “Biggest Little City in the World,” comes to life when the sun sets and the downtown casinos light up the Nevada sky. But peel away the glitz of Reno’s nightlife and you’ll find a city spiritually asleep, with at least 96 percent of the population unchurched.

– Reno, Nevada 

Some 80 members of First Baptist Church in Pelham, Ala., gathered for a pancake breakfast before meeting with administrative pastor Robert Heard to receive 5,000 plastic door-hangers for 43 of the subdivisions and neighborhoods in the Pelham area, just south of Birmingham.

– First Baptist Church, Pelham, Ala. 

Pastor John Reimer says, "God continues to bless us and we are growing and working to bring glory to the Lord. We normally do only two worship services on Sunday but for Easter, we added two more. We are praying about starting a third worship service in the fall. If you count children, we had well over 1,000 in church on Sunday. We baptized 24 people on Saturday afternoon of Easter weekend, 17 of the 24 were adults and it was an exciting time of commitment as well as lots of fun and a great opportunity for public testimony. We made good use of the "Find It Here" invitations for the God's Plan for Sharing. We attached Koza-specific information and a map to our church and gave many away, resulting in an extra 350 people in worship."

– Faith McFatridge for Koza Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan 

Getting late on Saturday, one teen, two seniors and a happy pastor with bags in hand took to the streets. God led us to 75 homes to share his love and word with these opened hearts. It was a day that truly belonged to our Lord.

– Merrell Mckoy, Gibson Avenue Baptist Church, Wilmington, N.C. 

Members of the church went out for two Saturdays prior to Easter Sunday distributing the door hangers. The oldest member was 80 and the youngest was 19.

– Faith McFatridge for First Baptist Church of Wahiawa, Hawaii 

Pastor John Vaughn reports, "At Kalihi, GPS has come as we're revisiting our Great Commission Weekend commitments. It was a great thing. Kalihi and New Life churches joined together and started a prayer emphasis in February. On March 13, we hosted a GPS witness training session led by Michael Abagon, HPBC Evangelism Director. On March 20, we went prayerwalking in the community around our church. On March 27, the two churches worked together to distribute the GPS material as well as information about our joint Easter service." Getting ready for Easter included a clean-up of the church. On Easter Sunday, they celebrated with the baptism of five teenagers. One of the girls who was baptized had made a commitment at Acteens Camp held in March.

– Faith McFatridge for Kalihi Baptist Church, Honolulu, Hawaii

Members did a prayer-drive since most homes do not allow strangers on their property. Leon Baker reports that the church had 90-100 at their Good Friday Community Service and they had three first-time visitors at the Easter service. Pastor Leon said, "I was able to talk to two individuals who prayed to receive Christ from the Evangelism Response Center calls."

– Faith McFatridge for Paradise Park Baptist Church, Kapaau, Hawaii

I found this article about what's happening in Kentucky:

Ky. Baptists Kick Off Easter Evangelism Blitz

- Mike Ebert, North American Mission Board

We are so excited to participate in God's Plan of Sharing this year. There were 35 young people to go out with joy and to be blessed with peace passing out the "Find it Here" booklet to shoppers at four Asian's suppermarkets in North and South Philly. On two weekends prior to Easter, we have distribute about 2,000 "Find it Here" in Vietnamese to invite people to attend our Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday. Our church is happy to be part of God Plan of Sharing 2010 (GPS). Please continue to pray that God will use us as his effective tools to all people accross North America. This coming Sunday night, at our After-Easter Concert we would like to draw more people to Christ. Please do not forget to keep us in your prayer.

– Philip Pham, Vietnamese Baptist Church, Philadelphia

God is using our church to deliver 500 bags to homes in a five day period. Those delivering bags range from 3 to 78 years old. God is good.

– Phil Young, First Baptist Church of Holly Springs, Ga.

David Whitehead, pastor of church, said "God touched people's hearts at Cornerstone Christian Fellowship. We distributed 700 GPS flyers with a copy of the "Find It Here" commercial on a DVD in about 25 of the packets. On Easter Sunday, there were about 40 additional guests. During the service, four indicated that they had accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and there were about 40 re-commitments."

– Faith McFatridge for Cornerstone Christian Fellowship, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii

Just passing along that our participation in GPS resulted in several new families visiting our church. Some of them have remained faithful in attendance since their first visit on Easter Sunday. Also, on Easter, we had one come forward for salvation. Our prayer walk was refreshing and we distributed approximately 500 door hangers.

– Pastor James Gregory, First Southern Baptist Church, Mountain Home, Idaho

The GPS campaign at our church was a very successful. Here a few of the things that we did in the community before Easter Sunday:

• Our church did a large bulk mail out to our surrounding neighbors. Over 1,000 postcards that matched the "Find It Here" materials were sent out. These cards contained a personal invite to join us for Easter worship service and instructions on how to access the Find It Here website and evangelism hotline.
• We prayer walked our community – but because we live in a rural location we had to do most of our praying in vehicles.
• We gave out nearly 500 "Find It Here" invitation packets through our door-to-door visitation.
• Signs were put up around town the week before Easter reminding people to join us.

Results that we saw:

• The sanctuary was full, basically to capacity. This was the largest crowd I have ever seen at our church for a worship service. Many who attended indicated they will return next Sunday and I pray they will.
• The racial barrier was broken down a little. I was so proud that I our church members were willing to visit black AND white houses and offer personal invites to church. Many in the African-American community were shocked that we were personally inviting them and I think this gave our church a good testimony in the community. I pray it demonstrated that the Gospel can cause racial reconciliation.
• Many people discovered our church for the first time. I was shocked to find that people who lived not 15 minutes away from our church had never heard of us before! The GPS campaign helped us to get our church's name into the community.

Thanks SBCV for all of your hard work in putting together the GPS campaign this year. It was effective and we praise God for all that He has done.

– David Rathel, Fork Baptist Church, Scottsburg, Va.

Pastor Marino Ramones reports that they displayed the GPS banner on Easter Sunday. They had six visitors in attendance and had plans to baptize seven the next Sunday.

– Faith McFatridge for Pahala Baptist Bible Mission, Pahala, Hawaii

GPS - God's Plan for Sharing. Plain and simple - share the gospel with every household in the United States by 2020....can this be done??? Oh yes!! We are in the beginning stages of sharing...Last week, Wilton Baptist prayer warriors walked (yes I said walked) the Town of Wilton praying individually over each house...It was cold, it was windy, it was wet but IT WAS A BLAST!!!! Read More >

– Wilton Baptist Church, Wilton, Ala.

God's Plan for Sharing already at work in Cuba, Missouri At First Baptist Church of Cuba, Missouri, a 75-year-old man who'd been attending the church heard them promoting GPS saved. A couple of weeks ago he told the pastor, "I've been hearing you talk about putting the Gospel on every door in Cuba. I think that's

During the gospel door hanger distribution last week there was a lady sitting outside her apartment, so I simply handed her the bag and asked how she was doing. After some small talk, I asked her "in your personal opinion, what do you think it takes to get to heaven?" She responded with a works answer. Because of the Find it Here campaign I was able to present the gospel using the new CROSS acronym I had learned. She prayed to receive Christ. I then went and got my Pastor who was with me to meet her and they prayed and celebrated. This grandmother was from South Carolina and was watching over her grandson while her son was away in the military. She may have thought she was just there to watch that child, but she was really there to become a born again child of the King! Praise God!

– Justin Grice, The Grove Church, Hattiesburg, Miss. 

Here's a recent article from the Newnan (Ga.) Times Herald:

Area Baptist churches are moving forward with plans to participate in the national Find It Here program – which adds Internet resources to traditional evangelistic methods.

Find It Here is a program initiated by the Southern Baptist Convention's North American Mission Board. Baptists – and other denominations – have initiated widespread evangelistic programs before with coordinated materials, advertising and shared themes.

Word spreads on Find It Here program

- Mike Ebert, North American Mission Board

Pastor Chris Martin says, "We began the month of March with prayer and preparation for GPS, or "God's Plan for Sharing", with prayerwalks, door hangers and other events to saturate our community with the message of Christ. Our Easter service was overflowing with members and guests. We plan to have follow-up for 4 weeks after Easter."

– Faith McFatridge for Lahaina Baptist Church, Lahaina, Hawaii 

We as a church worked last week to pass out 1000 invitations to our community. We have already had five amilies visit and more have committed to visit. And from the cards mailed in we have had two professions of faith.

– Mark Graham, Siloam Baptist Church, Glasgow, Ky.

In a small town like Socorro, city population approximately 10,000, GPS seems like a very simple yet thorough strategy. Perhaps every family in Socorro could be invited between the TV ads and the door hangers! FBC Socorro responded positively to the outreach idea presented earlier in 2010 by New Mexico Baptist Convention Director of Evangelism, Mike Napier.

A week before Palm Sunday, Pastor Bob Farmer encouraged everyone to participate in GPS during his morning message. He exhorted the congregation to discover and utilize one's spiritual gifts, but that hanging on a door a bag containing the gospel message and an invitation to Easter service did not require a spiritual gift, rather a small sacrifice of time and energy. Convinced of this, a total of 30 volunteers assembled and distributed 2000 invitations to Socorro homes. No doubt others participated in prayer. This was an incredible turnout for our small church.

In growing excitement, another group of volunteers spruced up the church property's appearance to make a more welcoming environment. People painted, cleaned up the courtyard, set out flowers and prepared themselves to greet guests.

While we are thankful for the handful of people who actually visited on Easter Sunday, the biggest accomplishment might be that the congregation has a new awareness of the need to reach out over the long term. Hopefully, others will visit these upcoming weeks, and we will continue in our desire to give a warm welcome. Meanwhile we will be praying for continued effect of the project and for the opportunity to build evangelistic relationships. To God be the glory!

– Emily Brindle, First Baptist Church, Socorro, N.M.

We are an SBC church plant with only 24 official members, but we plan on distributing 3000 gospel find it here door hangers with an invitation to church on Easter Sunday. I am so excited to see what God will do.

- Justin Grice, The Grove Church, Hattiesburg, Miss. (a church plant)

Pastor Robert Miller and church members spend several weekends prayerwalking their community. On Saturday, March 27, church members took the packets with the "Find It Here" brochures to the Waialae and Kahala communities. Pastor Miller says, "I'm excited about the possibilities that will come from telling people about our church. We have already had more visitors, and church members are beginning to talk about ways to reach more people."

– Faith McFatridge for Waialae Baptist Church, Honolulu, Hawaii

The ability to share Christ so easily is one of the key reasons Riverside Baptist Church joined thousands of other congregations nationwide in distributing millions of bags as part of "God's Plan for Sharing: Across North America." More >

– Riverside Baptist Church, Denver

Church members handed out 4,000 "Find It Here" packets and Kapaa Mission handed out another 1,000. Pastor Chris Metcalf says, "Teams from our youth to our senior adults demonstrated a compassion for our community and did all their hands and feet could do to let our community know Jesus Christ loves them. I can't say enough in appreciation for the servant hearts demonstrated. On Easter Sunday, we enjoyed a great breakfast with many guests and three Spirit-filled worship services with special music from our choir and children's ministry."

– Faith McFatridge for Lihue Baptist Church. Lihue, Hawaii

Pastor Emerson Wiles says, "God was active in and through Waikoloa Baptist Church. We had a great "Son Rise" service followed by breakfast with two regular Sunday morning services as well." Church members distributed 2,000 GPS flyers and Pastor Wiles said that one person was saved. Pastor Wiles also added, "we finally found a bass player!"

– Faith McFatridge for Waikoloa Baptist Church, Waikoloa, Hawaii

Our church has been participating in the NAMB GPS (God's Plan for Sharing) in winning our country for Christ. We have been prayerwalking, distributing the gospel and preparing for the harvest of the project that Kentucky Baptists have called "Find It Here". Easter Sunday our attendance doubled. Many people that were our guests told us they came because of the gospel packet we took to them. They were from neighborhoods that we have not reached before and now the doors are open. How exciting! I know this must have happened in your churches as well. Praise God that we can see results like these.

Today I spoke with one of our college students who had brought a guest. He was excited that his girlfriend had enjoyed her first experience of our services so much that she quickly made plans to return next week and he is making plans of joining our church next Sunday. Doesn't that make you wanna shout?! Praise God our people felt the urgency of the needs in our community and are reaching out to share the Christ that gives hope, peace and love we all desperately need. Just doesn't get any better.

– Marilyn Creighton, Kentucky