Ministries & Evangelism

Evangelism: Loren Phippen
Monday, September 1, 2008

Our Good Neighbor Centers continue to minister to the needy providing food, clothing, and most of all, the Gospel. They can always use food and clothing for the 250 people ministered to each week. The dollars you give to the centers are stretched greatly due to the ability to purchase food for 16 cents per pound. Work projects are always available and youth groups are extremely valuable in reaching the youth of those neighborhoods. All of our GNC's are in need of volunteers on a weekly basis, especially the West Side GNC.

Disaster Relief

The shower trailer is currently being used in Greensburg along with our rebuilding ministry. We are getting close to fielding our chainsaw trailer. The trailer and much of the equipment has already been purchased. We will have chainsaw training and certification on November 1st from 9a.m. - 2p.m. (location TBA). Notify us of your interest by October 18th. Disaster Relief will open many doors to tell the lost and hurting about Jesus. If God is calling you to this ministry, please contact Loren Phippen, Bill Riley or Elmo Brawley. We are available to speak about Disaster Relief.

Evangelism Missions Trips

So far this year we have been on four evangelism mission trips.

  • The first one was at the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California. Three of us from Wichita teamed up with approximately 100 people from around the country to share the Gospel with thousands of people that are open to hearing the Gospel.
  • Seven of us that went to Mardis Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana and teamed up with 50 men from around the country. We handed out thousands of tracts, shared the Gospel, and saw fruit from our labors. Each year we hand out 60,000 plus tracts and hear back from hundreds when they get home from Mardis Gras.
  • I went to an Intentional Community Evangelism event in Lafayette, Georgia, where we saw many decisions made for Christ in the little town and numerous church members getting excited about evangelism. In fact, one young mom went out with us for the first time in her life and watched us lead many people to Christ. She was so excited about sharing her faith that she came to Wichita to help at the River Festival.
  • I also went to an ICE event the week before the SBC conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. We worked with five local churches in Indianapolis and saw over 700 decisions for Christ.
  • I will be attending an ICE event in Denver, Colorado, with one of our pastors during the Democrat National Convention. The people of Denver tell us that there will be 36,000 delegates there, 100,000 protesters, 40,000 prostitutes and numerous security guards. Please pray for us as we share the Gospel there.

Start marking your calendar for our annual evangelistic trip to New Orleans during Mardis Gras. We will be leaving on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 4:00 from the Associational office and we are planning to return late in the afternoon on February 22. In the past few years we have had a group of seven. This year, we are praying for at least 12 to fill two vans. This is a great experience to share the Gospel to people who are hurting. Please pray about coming along with us.

Also, please start praying about going to the Rose Bowl parade with us this year. Over a million people line Colorado Blvd in Pasadena and thousands of them arrive the day before to save their spot for the parade. There are many opportunities to share the Gospel. We will leave here on December 30th and return late on January 1st. We provide our own transportation and living expenses. It is best to fly in and out of the Ontario airport so it will be easier for the team to pick us up. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested.

The River Festival runs from May 8th-16th. Our events will be from Thursday, May 14th to Saturday, May 16th. We will have a Team Impact type of event on Saturday. Street evangelists from around the country will be helping us all week during the River Festival. Our goal this year is to have one of our church members along side the evangelists every day. So start praying about when you would be available to work the streets and learn a very productive way to share the Gospel. Thousands of lost people are at the River Festival every year and we need to reach out to them. We will also need help with music and volunteers to man the inflatable's and snack food station. Let's make this the most productive festival yet for reaching the lost and dying in Wichita.

We are continuing to minister in some of the area's youth detention facilities. There is a need for ministry at the juvenile facilities. These youth need to hear about our Lord and see His love in a real way. Please call me if you have an interest in getting involved. Many of you may know that I have been a Wichita Police Chaplain for the past few years. This has been such a rewarding ministry to me because of the opportunities to minister to so many individuals. Part of the job is delivering death notices and ministering to the families who have lost a loved one. The other part is riding with our police officers. This allows me to get to know them and it also gives me the opportunity pray for their special needs. This also gives them someone they know that they can go to when things get tough in their very stressful job. Please lift this ministry and our police officers up to our Lord.

Please continue praying for the Set Free house and for the ministry. Many of our local churches have "work days" at the house. We have also had a mission team from Arkansas work there. The work is coming along but we still have a lot left to do. Please contact Bart Buresh at 316-619-8648 if you are interested in taking a work group there. We will soon be starting on the drywall and finish work.