Involved in the community?

Some quotes from today's Dallas Morning News Religion Section:

"The goal is to have a Christian presence and participation in a lot of the Super Bowl activities," said the Rev. David Fannin, pastor of Nassau Bay Baptist Church and chairman of the Houston Super Bowl Evangelism Project."

And: "Our goal is not to go in and present some overly evangelistic witness at Super Bowl venues. We just want to establish some Christian presence there, establish relationships with folks in the community and just let people know the church is here and wants to be part of the community."

Can I ask why a formal program (of which a guy is paid full-time to design stuff like this in each "event" city) for this is necessary?

Their heart seems to be in the right place, which is what is encouraging to me. For example: "From a religious standpoint, one thing we have found out is that when our church members start getting involved with the community, the community starts getting involved with the church," said Knopps, whose events ministry is called Timothy Institute.

Mr. Knopps is absolutely correct. He and I simply differ on what "involved in the community" looks like and how to effectively reach that community.

So, I guess what I'm saying is this: Instead of a lot of effort being put into handing out leaflets and praying over every seat in the stadium, why not put the effort into just building genuine relationships with non-Christians? Go to their parties without showing a video at halftime (maybe even having a knowlege of pop culture's halftime stars, too) presenting the Gospel. Host a party and invite the neighbors (if you're an adult, you might even have some beer available for them, too). Just be a normal functioning member of a community, loving those whom God has brought into your sphere of influence and living out a genuine walk with Christ.

I think programs like that are being developed and designed by a generation of leaders who something like this would've had great appeal...(stealing a quote I recently heard) It's a fast-food approach to a generation of coffee shop afficianados.

Just live abundantly, folks. Others will be drawn to it.