Outreach has come out with their Small Church America issue with tips and insights from small churches and what they are doing to build their members, and lead other to Christ.

You can buy the issue here

Here is a sample as the fourth of July was a few weeks ago.

Fourth of July Parade
“One of the most effective outreaches for us has been our town’s Fourth of July parade,” says Pastor Shane Frazier. “Here in our county of 55,000 people, the parade is a big deal, and 25,000-30,000 people attend. Knowing this, our church goes all out and participates in the float-decorating contest, tying it in with an upcoming message series. For a $10 entry fee and the cost of the giveaways we pass out, we’ve seen a lot of people give church a try.

“Last year, the parade theme was ‘Lights, Camera, Boone County,’ and we just happened to be launching a new series called ‘At the Movies’ the following Sunday. We made a huge rotating movie reel that showed what looked like movie scenes, which actually were pictures of Freedom [Church] attendees. We attached a large popcorn box imprinted with the date of the message series. About 50 volunteers passed out microwave bags of popcorn with an insert in them about our church and the new series. It was a huge hit! We won first place in the overall floats. Now, we have a sponsor this year.”
                                                                                               —Freedom Church, Lebanon, Ind.

You rarely hear anything good about Christianity, let alone someone saying it can save someone’s life. Well Bret Hume did just this on a recent Fox news message. Now I’m sure this will set off a bunch of scoffing by the media, but it was inspiring to see someone in such a public place stand up for their faith.