The Great Commission.  All four Gospels record Jesus’ instructions to the Apostles after He rose from the dead on the third day.  Each of these books records the Lord’s words a little differently, but the meaning behind them is the same (Matthew 28:19, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:47, and John 20:21). They express what Jesus called the Church to do. If you study Mark 16:15 in various versions of the Bible, you will notice words like preach, announce, proclaim, the Good News, the Gospel, every creature, and all creation. The New Living Translation truly reveals the heart of Jesus: “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere” (Mark 16:15, NLT). The words “everyone, everywhere” really stand out in this verse.

If you hadn’t noticed, not everyone attends church each week. Sharing the Gospel isn’t limited to the church congregation, and to be frank, it never has been. Jesus taught this in the Scriptures and lived it by ministering anywhere and everywhere and to anyone and everyone. The goal of Christianity is not to see how many people we can stuff into the church pews each week. The goal really is to plant seeds of kindness that will ultimately lead a person to Christ. Christianity cannot be boxed into the four walls of a church building.

THE CHURCH

There are countless ways to plant seeds of God’s love in the hearts of others. For the Church Body though, what is the most effective way to reach everyone, everywhere? The clear answer is missions and outreaches. It’s so simple – it’s genius. Reaching out, showing practical acts of kindness to those in need reveals Jesus to the world.
For the past year, Overflow has been observing local churches in the Tampa Bay area, looking for three churches that live out the Gospel through extraordinary community outreach. We were overwhelmed by how many churches truly demonstrate the goodness of God so effectively to our communities and across the world. The churches we chose are by no means a complete list, but they are the churches we’ve had the privilege of witnessing God’s love at work.

Christian Family Church, The Crossing Church, and Victorious Life Church have displayed astounding commonalities among their approaches to The Great Commission. The selflessness exhibited by the leadership, staff, and congregants is a true testament to the vision of their churches, which is to grow the Kingdom of God. We found unity in their values, which we believe is what makes their outreaches and their churches so successful in bringing others to Christ. Among those values is the importance of building up the Church Body by empowering the congregation, having an awareness of the needs in our communities, and showing God’s love in these communities. Thus, their efforts are building trust and changing the world’s perception of Christianity one person at a time.

BEYOND THE WALLS

Outreaches open the door for the Church to share the Gospel. Pastor Jennifer Mallan of Christian Family Church shared the well-known quote, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” So, how do you show people you care, and what exactly does an outreach look like? “An outreach is an activity that goes beyond the four walls of the local church. It’s when we endeavor to meet both practical and spiritual needs within the community itself,” said Pastor Ed Russo of Victorious Life Church. In other words, “Outreach is taking the church to where people are,” Pastor Rob Mallan of Christian Family Church said.

“Think missionally,” Pastor Ed said. Pretend you are a missionary in a foreign place. What exactly would you do to reach people for Christ? Most missionaries start by connecting with the culture and the community in practical ways to learn their needs and meet those needs. This is exactly the idea behind an outreach, except we are missionaries to our own communities. The culture in each of these churches is to be “others-minded” with an emphasis on reaching out to those in need. Pastor Greg Dumas of The Crossing Church said that everything the church does is “in an effort to reach, teach, and grow people.”

Each of these churches makes it their business to be aware of the needs in their respective areas, and they go a step further and do something about it. They have adopted communities to take care of, showing the people that the Body of Christ cares about their city and the people in it. Outreaches touch people on a personal level and plant seeds of hope for their future. Pastor Greg said it well, “If people experience God, they change.” So it’s obvious why the government doesn’t have to be the sole caretaker of people in need. The Church can help, and these churches are showing we can do it together, in unity, partnering with one another to revolutionize the way the world perceives Jesus. And each of these wonderful churches has made it a priority to bless our city.

CHRISTIAN FAMILY CHURCH

Pastors Rob and Jennifer established Christian Family Church Tampa in 2009. It’s amazing to see how much God has grown the church in just four years, but it’s undoubtedly due to their many years of faithful service, following the Lord’s direction. Pastors Rob and Jennifer spent over 14 years in outreach ministry prior to planting their church. “We went on the streets and ministered to 700-3,500 children a week in public housing,” Pastor Jennifer said. “I really had a heart for people in the inner city, young people in detention centers, and at-risk youth because I knew where they were coming from,” Pastor Rob shared.

Pastor Rob had a difficult childhood, and when he was arrested at 19, he was faced with jail time. He accepted Christ while in prison which radically changed his life. Sharing Pastor Rob’s story during outreaches gives them an avenue to connect; it gives them relevance. We all have a past – good or bad. Our testimonies are a valuable tool to minister to others. Through our stories, we can tell them where we’ve been and they can see where we are now – all because of Christ. Pastor Jennifer called it “The Miracle of Christianity.” Jesus delivers us from our mistakes and our sins, He guides us and saves us; it’s the power of changed lives that reaches people.

With two pastors so immersed in the outreach culture, it’s not surprising how God has shaped the church. “Christian Family Church will never be a church that’s defined by its walls,” Pastor Jennifer said. “God has led us to various places where His people are. He put our congregation in the middle of outreach, in the middle of a movie theater, and in the middle of Ybor, where there were fish all around us that could jump in the boat.” Pastor Rob said, “People came in [to the church service] from the movies to see what was going on and ended up staying in the service and getting saved.” God strategically moved the church from one movie theater in Tampa to another, then to The Italian Club (in Ybor), outgrowing each location.

The church had a building fund set-aside, but when the earthquake in January of 2010 devastated Haiti, Pastor Rob knew they had to go and be a part of the relief efforts. Pastor Jennifer shared what the Lord impressed on their hearts, “If you’ll take what has been put aside for your building, and go and lift up the gates in Haiti so the King of Glory can come in, then I will lift up the gates for you in Tampa.” Christian Family Church went to Haiti to give food, build ramps for amputees’ homes, give medical relief, and build a well. They started the ministry Caring 4 Haiti. Afterwards, they purchased land and established Christian Family Church Haiti, which holds weekly church services, hands out medical supplies, and offers language classes. (Learn more at www.Caring4Haiti.org.) Today, Christian Family Church continues to send missionaries to aid the people of Haiti.

OTHERS-MINDED

Christian Family Church has several local outreach events throughout the year, but their major events include The Great Egg Race, the National Day of Prayer, a back-to-school event, Thanksgiving Breakfast and Blankets, and Operation Christmas Gift. Pastors Rob and Jennifer expressed that Matthew 22:37-39 inspired their sub-mission statement: “Love God. Love Yourself. Love People.” This led to the theme of every outreach: “I Love My City.” At their events, you’ll see staff and volunteers donned with shirts reading this message. Most of these outreaches are centered on Tampa (with their last two events at St. Peter Claver Catholic School and the Nick Capitano Boys and Girls Club).

“Eggs equal souls,” Pastor Rob said. The Great Egg Race, where they distribute thousands of eggs filled with candy and Scripture to over 3,000 people, isn’t just about spreading some Easter cheer. “It’s about getting people there so they can hear the message,” he said. Every outreach brings the opportunity to pray with someone, meet a need, or introduce a person to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. At the 2012 Operation Christmas, children sat with Santa, received a Christmas gift, won prizes, ate food, played games, jumped in the bounce house, and heard the message of Jesus’ birth. It was a day for people to forget about life’s circumstances and see the glory of God through the kindness of strangers.

Outreaches aren’t designed just to meet a one-time need, get as many people as possible to say the salvation prayer, or to add another congregant to the church. Although these things are valuable byproducts of outreaches, the real goal is to impact the community and continually bring Jesus to them. “When we do outreaches, we train our leaders that it’s not about building the local congregation. It’s about building the Body of Christ,” Pastor Jennifer said. “We do outreach because God has been good and it is an overflow of Him being good.” Speaking of God being good, at the end of 2012, Christian Family Church was able to purchase their first church building in Tampa! Learn more at www.cfctampa.org.

THE CROSSING CHURCH

Crosstown Community Church and The Pointe Church merged in 2005 to become The Crossing Church, where the vision is based on the Kingdom, prayer, people, and God’s presence. The banner statement for The Crossing Church’s vision is “Transformed Cultures through the Power of Jesus Christ.” Pastor Greg Dumas said The Crossing Church is Kingdom-focused and the hope is to “create a generation, a group of people, a church, and a mindset that is so winsome in its influence that the city can’t ignore it.” They want to make the Name of Jesus famous and help the Church become culturally relevant again.

How do they obtain relevance in the community? Norris Brown, the Pastor of Outreach at The Crossing Church, shared with us their three-part strategy. First, the church has embraced the responsibility of forming relationships with leaders and city officials in Tampa, not for the sake of The Crossing Church, but for the sake of building a bridge between the faith-based community and the government. Second, the church goes into the community. “We believe the heart of the community is the school system. If you can win the hearts of the children, you win the hearts of the parents,” Pastor Norris explained.

Thirdly, The Crossing Church has over 150 Life Groups throughout Hillsborough county. “We’re convinced that these are little churches,” he said. The Life Groups are missional-minded and mobilized throughout the year to adopt and impact the communities in which they reside. Additionally, the church staff, including the leadership and pastors, takes one paid-day a month to do a staff outreach, whether it is a park cleanup, visiting a nursing home, or facilitating a food-packing event. The Crossing Church doesn’t just preach to the congregation to get out there and serve – they live out the vision together, making outreach a priority. The idea is that once the power of Jesus touches a school, a neighborhood, a community, a city, and a county, the culture in that region will be transformed.

SEEK THE WELFARE OF THE CITY

Pastor Greg explained, “The reason we go out and do all these things is to seek the welfare of the city,” just as Jeremiah 29:7 instructs. “I think God wants regions. He wants the earth back for His dominion. He calls men and women to reach a region.” Pastor Greg believes that for far too long the Church has been saying, “What can you do for me?” when it should be flipped around. God calls the Church to be a blessing to city officials, to those who are hungry or homeless, to the under-resourced, to schools, to everyone. “Acts says that David served his generation in his time. That’s what we [The Crossing Church] want to do. We want to serve this city so well that people say I think Jesus is worth my life. It comes through us manifesting what He looks like,” Pastor Greg said.

Jesus is manifested through the many outreaches made possible by The Crossing Church each year. The major events are centered on the 33619 community and Clair-Mel Elementary. The church has adopted this community seeking to reach the children and their parents. To give you a picture of the socio-economic climate of this area, the majority of children at this school receive a subsidized lunch. “We’re trying to penetrate [this] community and let them know we’re here to serve them,” Pastor Norris said. By throwing events like Go!fest (which took place last October), The Crossing Church has connected to this community. They had 650 volunteers donate their time to serve in various ways, including free haircuts, manicures, a health fair, a food packing event, free groceries, prizes, live music, motivational speakers, and much more.

Additionally, the school grounds at Clair-Mel have been beautified and instruments have been provided for the music department. A teacher told The Crossing Church that because of their support and love, the culture at their school has been completely transformed and the school has changed for the better. “Our hope and prayer is that every school in Hillsborough county would be adopted, that every school would get that kind of support. The vision is that every community would see that happen and churches would come together and work together [to make it happen],” Pastor Norris said.

The Crossing Church also partnered with Rebuilding Together Tampa Bay in 2012 to do healthy home rehabilitations, which included removing lead paint, re-roofing, and replacing HVAC units in homes in the Clair-Mel and Southshore area. The church provided professionals and volunteers to help with the projects, and they were the organization’s first faith-based partner. Pastor Norris remarked, “We’re showing the faith-based community that we can work with secular organizations.” The Crossing Church has truly demonstrated what it means to lead like Jesus. Learn more at www.crossingonline.org.

VICTORIOUS LIFE CHURCH

In 1987, Pastor Ed and Janis Russo founded Victorious Life Church (VLC) in Wesley Chapel. In the early years, the church was motivated by a mission to “reach the lost, equip the saints, assimilate new believers, and lead in a progressive, relevant way.” Now more than 25 years later, VLC has become known for their slogan, “Showing God’s Love in Practical Ways,” throughout the Tampa Bay area. “What we’ve learned is that small deeds done with great love can have a great impact,” Pastor Ed said. One of their major values is love, and they believe that people should be loved at all times, under all circumstances.

There are two Scriptures that capture the motive behind VLC’s outreach efforts. “Second Peter 3:9 says that God is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. From that, I gather that the will and purpose of God is for every person on the planet to be saved. Romans 2:4 says that it’s the kindness of God that leads people to repentance. [We’ve] married those two Scriptures together and came up with the understanding that every act of kindness is moving someone closer on their faith journey toward the open waiting arms of Jesus,” Pastor Ed explained.

A leader in the community, VLC has developed a Servant Evangelism curriculum to train and guide other churches that want to initiate a heart of outreach in their congregation. Pastor Ed spoke about the essential components to a successful outreach, but emphasized, “everything rises and falls on leadership.” The pastor of the church must have a vision for the outreach, a target, and a goal before they can strategize and develop an action plan. Next is assessing the resources they have and will need in order to make the event possible.

According to Pastor Ed, it’s also important for the leadership of the church to share their hearts for outreach with the congregation and teach about servant evangelism on Sunday as well as participate at the outreach events. “I still do servant evangelism,” Pastor Ed said. The key here is for the leaders of the church to show that they, too, believe in the vision and mission of reaching others. He also shared that some vital parts to every outreach are pre-launch meetings to share hopes and expectations and post-event meetings to debrief. The process allows the church the ability to evaluate whether or not the needs in the community were met and how the event can be improved for next time.

REACHING OUT

Each year, Victorious Life Church successfully throws an event called Baby Share, which Pastor Ed referred to as one of their biggest outreaches. VLC partners with other churches, the community, and area-ministries to give mothers in need a group baby shower, providing an afternoon of fun and fellowship. One of the most amazing parts of this event is watching these mothers walk away with loads of baby items, everything from cribs and car seats to clothes and diapers. Over one hundred women are blessed and brought one step closer to being equipped for motherhood. This year’s event will be held on March 12th (check out the ad on page 25 for more information).

In addition to Baby Share, back-pack outreaches, Thanksgiving-in-a-Box, and Christmas gift giveaways, VLC has the unique opportunity to reach out to the community at the Wiregrass mall through Easter egg hunts and Christmas gift wrapping. Pastor Ed shared that last year they gave away 75,000 eggs at the Easter egg hunt, and they wrapped gifts for up to 3,000 people a night for two weeks at Christmastime. While people wait in line, outreach volunteers just talk with people and minister to them. People are blown away that a church would wrap thousands of gifts for free every night leading up to Christmas. It’s a very practical way to show people God’s love. That’s the idea. Not every event has to be extravagant – sometimes simply providing a service that the community needs is the best way to connect and plant those seeds.

Cindy Clare, Pastor Ed’s assistant, also shared with us about VLC’s heart for the Wesley Chapel community and specifically, two greatly under-resourced, lower-income neighborhoods close to the church. “We know that God has strategically placed us here,” she said. “We don’t feel content, and we feel a responsibility to these communities.” So the question is, what can the church do to help? Cindy explained that they quickly noticed the lack of social service centers in the area, and they realized God was calling them to fill the gap. “We are currently exploring options to address the educational needs of youth in our area through an after-school program,” Cindy said. Additionally, VLC is working with the Health Department (who offers WIC) to hold some nutrition classes.

“We’re partnering with several agencies trying to provide wraparound services [to the area],” Cindy said. Along with VLC’s ministry, Lily of the Valley, which feeds the hungry and the homeless, the church will be offering other services and programs to the community through their partnerships with other agencies. Some of these include the Pasco Mobile Medical Unit, a Career Central mobile unit to help with job-placement and résumé building as well as Celebrate Recovery (a Christ-centered addiction recovery program). As time goes on and Victorious Life Church learns of new needs in this community, they will certainly lead the way for the Body of Christ to get involved. Learn more at www.victoriouslifechurch.com.

GENEROSITY IN ACTION

We don’t have the space to share every aspect of these churches’ outreach efforts, but we hope they can be an inspiration to the Body of Christ. We are living in a time where it is imperative for the Church to be more culturally relevant and to reach out to our communities. These pastors are training, teaching, and guiding their people to reach outside the four walls of the church – to see beyond themselves and manifest Jesus to the world, starting with the Tampa Bay area. With the understanding that an outreach event is simply generosity in action, we too can begin implementing changes in our churches to be more outward focused.

The genius of generosity is five-fold. Firstly, giving is contagious. Once people get a hold of the joy of giving, they will want to do more and more, causing a culture of others-minded Christians. Secondly, outreach events cause relationship building in and outside the church, which strengthens the Church Body as a whole. Together we can accomplish more. Thirdly, outreaches allow the Church to show the love and goodness of God while meeting the practical needs of the people in our communities. Fourthly, these acts of kindness change the world’s perception of the Church, breaking down the barriers. And lastly, the real genius of generosity is the fact that it brings people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Glory!