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Members Preview Manual
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COMEBACK ROAD FOR CHRISTIAN OUTREACH, CHURCH GROWTH, AND FUND RAISING Page Table Of Contents
As a Christian minister and as the founder of Comeback Road, my heart aches when I see, live with, know, and interact with persons who do not know our Lord. For many years, I have worked with persons who are poor, homeless, disadvantaged, disabled, un-churched, and who lack any kind of working faith in God. These people have given me a perspective on what the un-churched and those who lack a tangible faith in God see in those of us who are Christians. As a disclaimer, I wish to state at the outset of this article my views are valid based only upon my own experiences working with the population delineated above. My views may not be valid for other persons who also work with the referenced population. In 1981 I was called to the Christian ministry and immediately saw needs in the lives of people the traditional church did not normally address. Today, the number of persons entering Christian ministry are reportedly on the decline. Many churches have stagnated in their growth or have declined. As I worked with hostile groups in presenting what appeared to them to be content free of anything religious, I began to see Christians and Christian ministers the way the unsaved and un-churched in real need often see us. I would like to share these observations with you, not to find fault with Christians (I am one), but to demonstrate the enormous potential existing in the world for what Christians call "outreach." In the following article, we will call the un-churched poor, homeless, disadvantaged, disabled, and many others who are unsaved "the lost." Many of the lost who do not go to church. They are often antagonistic toward any form of religious practice or faith and see persons of faith in the following ways:
Talking about anything religious or anything relating to God in a public forum is touchy business. Therefore, we encourage those persons of faith who become part of our Comeback Road program as members or teachers to take the observations above to heart. Do not offend anyone in a public forum. If you want our seminars presented in a totally Christian context, those arrangements can be made. However, presenting our seminars in a totally Christian context can, in many cases, reinforce the perceived observations of those persons (the lost) who are unsaved and un-churched. In other words, if you form special groups where only a Christian faith-based program is presented, you are no longer reaching out to the essentially un-churched and unsaved who are the lost. Just because it is easier and more comfortable to reach out to persons who are already Christians does not mean you should implement that kind of program with our methods and materials. Scriptural Basis Of Comeback Road As A Fishes And Loaves Ministry In a Christian sense and from a Christian viewpoint, Comeback Road can be considered a fishes and loaves ministry. Matthew 14:15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food." 16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat." 17 "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered. 18 "Bring them here to me," he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children. (NIV) Mark 6:37 But he answered, "You give them something to eat." They said to him, "That would take eight months of a man's wages! Are we to go and spend that much on bread and give it to them to eat?" 38 "How many loaves do you have?" he asked. "Go and see." When they found out, they said, "Five--and two fish." 39 Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. 41 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42 They all ate and were satisfied, 43 and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44 The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand. (NIV) Luke 9:12 Late in the afternoon the Twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away so they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside and find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place here." 13 He replied, "You give them something to eat." They answered, "We have only five loaves of bread and two fish--unless we go and buy food for all this crowd." 14 (About five thousand men were there.) But he said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each." 15 The disciples did so, and everybody sat down. 16 Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke them. Then he gave them to the disciples to set before the people. 17 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. (NIV) John 6:8 Another of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up, 9 "Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?" 10 Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." There was plenty of grass in that place, and the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish. 12 When they had all had enough to eat, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted." 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. (NIV) Our Objective Is To Feed Members What is extraordinary in these four accounts is not their parallelism, but the lack of preconditions and post-conditions. There is no worldly reason for Jesus to do this miracle. In the accounts, we see the apostles perceived the multitudes could have fended for themselves. However, Jesus loved the multitudes, as He loves us, and as He expects us to love others. Jesus did not feed these people to get them to listen to a message. He did not feed them to score political points or gain some kind of advantage in any respect. Jesus fed these people simply because He loved them and because they were hungry He fed them. In the same way, we want everyone to be fed when they become a member of Comeback Road without any preconditions to our feeding them. The multitudes in the Biblical accounts did not have to repent, they did not have to surrender their souls, they did not have to adopt a new kind of lifestyle, and they did not have to give money. After the miracle, Jesus did not stay around to get some kind of self-gratifying glory, recognition, or praise. Jesus did not do this work to gain more of a following or to build up membership in His cause. What may be even more instructive for us is in the first three accounts Jesus gives the order "You feed them." What must He be saying to us each day when we have an opportunity to feed the multitudes? Are any of us callous enough to say the multitudes around us are not starving? Are any of us naïve enough to believe Jesus did not know the real nature of their real hunger was to accept Him as Savior? The result of this miracle was to gain for Jesus credibility among the multitudes. Nothing speaks to people more powerfully than results in their bellies or in their lives. Comeback Road gets results for our members. Our methods and the contents of our program are guaranteed success strategies. As an organization, we take the risk in terms of giving a money-back guarantee. Our objective is to feed our members strategies giving them new ways of dealing with adversity, pain, suffering, failure, and setbacks, all within a context of faith in God. The idea of feeding is reiterated again just before Jesus ascends into heaven. The last words of Jesus should give each of us pause as to our personal ministry and the ministry of our faith. John 21:15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me more than these?" "Yes, Lord," he said, "you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my lambs." 16 Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?" He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep." 17 The third time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, "Do you love me?" He said, "Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you." Jesus said, "Feed my sheep. (NIV) For Jesus, love and feeding are connected, for if you love then you feed. Notice the implied logic statement of Jesus solidifies the ironclad connection between love and feeding His sheep. The implied statement being "If you love me then feed my sheep." Christ's Hard Road And Comeback Road Luke 21:2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." (NIV) As Christians, in our walk on Christ's road we must never count the cost. We must not survey the investment value of what we give. For if we look at giving as an investment to give us returns, we will only give a part of what and who we are. As Christians, we are all supposed to give our all. We are supposed to empty out the coffers of our soul before Christ. We are supposed to give out of both our poverty and our plenty. The power of Christ in us demands we never look back over our shoulder to see the benefit of what we do, but the power of Christ in us calls us to humbly kneel at His Cross. When we are willing to surrender our last mite of resources, a blessing ensues. The blessing may never come to us in this life, but we are not supposed to be enslaved to this life. We are called to be giving and compassionate out of our need. When we need, we are to give. As radical an idea as this might be to the world, it is the cornerstone upon which our lives as Christians must rest. We do not know what happened to the widow in this life. She might easily have died of hunger. What she left behind, however, has endured for over two thousand years. We must remember it is not what we get in return from our giving, it is what we give without caring about a return that glorifies God. Comeback Road is about our giving to you so you can give to others without expecting anything in return, ever. If there is one secret to success in life the secret is people who are truly giving are the truly successful ones. Most of us who are Christians want an easy and quick way to get others in church and saved, or the reverse depending upon your perspective. Our preference to achieve our evangelistic goals would be mass rallies where thousands come forward. Then, after these thousands come forward receiving new hearts and new lives, the newly saved would clean up their lives, clean up themselves, get good jobs, build great families, and last but not least, flood our sanctuaries and our collection plates. Too often, some Christians want an evangelistic quick fix. However, there is no evangelistic quick fix. True evangelism happens on the rough comeback road of life, on a person to person basis, sometimes in small group settings. As the founder of Comeback Road, I want every church and synagogue in America to sponsor a Comeback Road group because of what the program does for others and because of what the program can do for the sponsoring church and synagogue. Comeback Road As An Outreach Effort If you use Comeback Road in an outreach effort (which every church and synagogue can do), remember Comeback Road members want to see the proof you love them enough to bring the program to them with no strings attached. To invite people to a meeting like Comeback Road only in hopes of evangelizing them later can be dishonest and deceitful if the people you invite do not know of your agenda from the beginning. The World According To Christians As Christians, we want the un-churched and unsaved to see the world the way we see the world and after they see the world the way we do, then we will be more comfortable having them in our midst. We want the unsaved to build a bridge over the troubled waters of their lives first and then come to visit us on Sunday morning. Unfortunately, in our current ways of Christian thinking, we don't really believe we need to build a bridge to them because we see them as being in the shape they are in because of their sin. Is it any wonder so many of the un-churched and unsaved see us as arrogant? For too many of us who are Christians, we feel our personal responsibility in terms of outreach stops at the church door. From this perspective, if the unsaved and un-churched don't want to come into the church then we tell ourselves they will have to burn with the consequences. When we don't want to go to the unsaved and un-churched but we want them to come to us, the un-churched and unsaved are watching our attitudes. The un-churched and unsaved are not dumb. Many of the un-churched and unsaved see us as arrogant persons who want to ramrod our beliefs down their throat with little or no caring on our part about where they are and what they need. From our perspective, we know what they need and we don't mind telling them…all the while not communicating enough or showing them enough we love them. Too many times, if Christian outreach has to be long-term, slow, with uncertain results, as Christians, we are not interested. In addition, if outreach does not build membership and tithing we are further not interested…and the un-churched and unsaved lost know this is our attitude. Our Actions Speak Louder Than Our Words Most of the time, our actions speak louder than our words. This is not the kind of truth evangelicals like myself like to hear. However, when a church organization reaches out to the un-churched and unsaved lost on a continual one on one basis, an invigorating change in the church takes place. Genuine outreach efforts like Comeback Road, with no strings attached, demonstrate love to the unsaved and un-churched lost. During outreach to the unsaved lost, Christian young persons see the Light come alive in those receiving outreach and these young people open themselves up to the Lord's call to the ministry. Using Comeback Road, the members of the outreaching church get to put some of their belief system into real action. Then the realization occurs that love really does change the world one person at a time. Comeback Road, grounded in our Judeo-Christian ethic and belief system, emphasizes each week the importance of faith in God. Today, un-churched and unsaved people are not just starving for the truth, they are starving to see the truth walking and breathing in another human being. We are, if we turn on the TV or radio, bombarded with evangelistic words every hour when we turn to the right religious program. We are seldom bombarded with Christian love in action. In an age when Christian organizations are rife with conflicts from within and pressures from without, dynamic outreach like Comeback Road can build and rebuild godly fervor in the church body. A program like Comeback Road betters the lives of others with no evangelistic strings attached. This kind of program can come as a welcome respite to passively sitting and listening from the pew for church members and those targeted for outreach. Outreach or action ministry like we do with Comeback Road is the toughest to do if you do it well. You spend a lot of time humbly showing the gospel of Christ's love without speaking about it. However, when you see the gospel Light come on in the eyes of those you help, you are immersed in the Love of His Light and Truth. The solution to filling our sanctuaries and overcoming our difficulties as a faith is not more talk…it is more Christian love in action like Comeback Road. As a body of Christian believers, the solution to overcoming our difficulties within the faith and filling our sanctuaries is reaching and touching the heart and life of those who we would not find in our padded pews…one of the goals of Comeback Road. In Comeback Road, we welcome…
Comeback Road is about outreach. It is the kind of outreach demanding patience, hard work, and a willingness to meet people where they are rather than expecting them to meet us where we are. Comeback Road Guidelines For Christian Outreach
In our Christian world of Christian thinking and Christian constraints, the above guidelines might seem impossible to do. However, all things are possible with God with His love in your heart. Realistically, all the above guidelines are Christ revealed in us and through us. How A Church Benefits By Using Comeback Road As A Form Of Outreach
Comeback Road can also serve as a second income for bi-vocational pastors, field workers, associate pastors, and others within the church Master Plan of Evangelism, The, 2d ed. |
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