CHURCH FINDS NEW WAY TO REACH COMMUNITY WITH HUGE IMPACT
By Combining the Greatest Message with the Most Popular Trend –
First Baptist Church of Florence , SC Expands Outreach and Increases Membership
Florence , SC — First Baptist Church of Florence , SC was the pilot church to utilize the innovative Love God Love All™ outreach strategy that many have now come to experience as remarkable. This church growth outreach strategy is based upon what Jesus shared was the greatest commandments of all. In Mark 12, Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is, “to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, soul and strength, and the second greatest is to love your neighbor as yourself”…Love God Love All™. By taking advantage of the current wristband trend and creating bands that promote the best message of all—to love God and love each other—together with a 12-week sermon series, First Baptist of Florence, SC has experienced spiritual growth of church members, attracted new visitors, encouraged new members, increased numbers of salvations and developed an increase in community awareness of their church.
Sr. Pastor Rev. Kevin Qualls wanted to do something different to tell people in his community that God loved them. “I wanted a very practical tool that every member of our church could use to share their faith with the waitress, grocery store clerk, co-worker, neighbor and every other person they knew and would meet” said Rev. Qualls. “And as always, I wanted to educate and inspire the church to a greater level of serving our Lord in a more thorough understanding of the scriptures.”
Love God Love All™ began at FBC Florence with the preaching a 12-week sermon series on the Ten Commandments grounded with the greatest commandments to love God and all each week. Each message was exemplified with the practical use of the Love God Love All™ wristbands to give out community wide. Wristbands have Love God Love All™ on the outside and the church’s website address on the inside, providing a message of faith and purpose along with where to learn more about it.
“We handed out all 3,000 wristbands within the first four days! I ordered 3,000 more and they were gone within five days! We have since given out a total of 12,000 wristbands. It is truly amazing to think that with an average Sunday service attendance of approximately 500 we have handed out over 12,000 wristbands to our community.” Qualls continued, “You see, there is nothing easier than wearing a wristband and having someone ask you ‘what is that you are wearing?’ When they ask, you tell them about your faith and give them the wristband that you are wearing. This is the simple yet profound beauty of the Love God Love All™ ‘believe, wear and share!’ concept. ”
“When someone gave me a wristband and shared their faith with me I welcomed it because it was so natural and frankly, non-threatening, it made me want to get to know this person and visit their church. I did! I am so excited about my new found family at First Baptist. God has really used them to share His love with our town,” commented Florence resident Renee Mitchell.
Some of the results the Love God Love All™ campaign had at FBC Florence include:
- 12,000 bands were given out, inundating the Florence community with unprecedented awareness of its church
- Over 120 phone call requests for bands during the first week of the campaign, with FBC’s call volume increasing overall by 1000% in total
- Over 45 new families visited FBC during the campaign
- Many reported salvations and rededications
- Doubled normal worship attendance for “Love your neighbor day”
Student Minister Alden Ellis declared with excitement, “If you want to try something really cool, relevant and different that will impact your community with the truth of the Gospel, then I highly recommend you consider the Love God Love All™ campaign for your whole church or youth group or Sunday school class.”
First Baptist received emails, phone calls and heard countless personal stories of how high school classrooms, a college sorority, a prison chaplain with all his inmates, a men’s small group, a girls basketball team, a woman’s get together circle of friends, a hunt club and so many more stories of those that have been blessed by this message. Plus, they even sent 5,000 desert camouflage bands to the troops in Iraq for the soldiers to wear. All of these people have used the Love God Love All™ Wristband concept to minister to themselves and to each other.
“It truly spread like wild fire and our church was at the center of this wonderful outreach. How terrific! It’s still amazing to think that while we were learning God’s purpose for our lives each week through a better understanding the Ten commandments, we were able to focus on others and witness to them,” exclaimed church member, Anna Clanton.
“Wow! What an amazing twelve weeks we had!” said Deacon Richard Skipper. “But for most of us the 12- week sermon series was just the beginning. I still wear my wristband and give them away to others. It’s not ‘just’ a campaign, some wristbands or even a series of sermons . . . it’s a way of life.”
About First Baptist Church of Florence , SC
First Baptist Church of Florence , SC ( www.fbcflorence.org) exists to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ by teaching Biblical Doctrine, sharing His grace and mercy with others, providing a spiritually nurturing and compassionate fellowship where all can experience God's love. Rev. Kevin Qualls is the Sr. Pastor of FBC Florence. In addition to pastoring this membership of over 2,000, Rev. Qualls’ messages reach hundreds of thousands of people every week through the church’s radio and TV broadcasts.
About Love God Love All™
Love God Love All™ ( www.lovegodloveall.com) combines multiple communication tools—from teaching to apparel—to reach deeper and broader into our global community by inspiring and motivating the individual to love the Lord God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength and to love their neighbors as themselves. Key tools, amongst several, include the Love God Love All™ Sermon Series and Love God Love All™ Wristbands. Love God Love All™ is a for profit enterprise that desires to support, empower, enlighten and quicken people in this pursuit of ultimate truth. Simply put, Love God Love All™ is a business that hopes to bless people.
