As Christmas approaches, Arkansas Baptists around the state are taking the opportunity to share the gospel and God’s love.
In Malvern, First Baptist Church held a “Christmas Mall” at two senior living facilities in town. The residents were given the opportunity to shop for themselves and for Christmas gifts for friends and family.
“The Christmas Mall was an opportunity for FBC Malvern to show the love of Jesus by sharing gifts with the residents of our two local nursing homes,” said Jennifer Rood, member of First Baptist Church.
‘Highlight of the day’
“The past several years we have focused our Christmas Mall on needy families in Malvern, but this year we decided to focus on the residents of Encore Health and Rehabilitation and Arbor Oaks Nursing Home,” Rood said. “To watch the residents’ faces light up and realize this was all for them and to be able to pray with them was the highlight of the day. We were all blessed.”
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In Ferndale, Pleasant Grove Baptist Church got involved with the annual community parade held the first Saturday in December. Pleasant Grove Baptist Church pastor Chris Kinzler called it a huge event.
Children complete crafts at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.
“It’s so exciting to see everybody in the community there. For us, as a church, from day one we wanted to always be outwardly focused not inwardly focused. If the community is doing something, we want to partner and just try to make it the best possible that it can be,” Kinzler said.
Before and after the parade, the church offers a place for residents to enjoy food and fun activities like games and cookie decorating. They also offer their gym as a location for the extension office’s craft show.
Love for God on display
The youth group at First Baptist Church Brinkley put their love for God on display during two community parades with their float earning first place recognition at both events.
The youth group, comprised of approximately 30 students from seventh to 12th grade, was led by two couples — Jason and Regan Martin and Paul and Brooke Hoggatt.
Donna Wilson, ministry assistant at First Baptist Church Brinkley, said they used the month of November to build the float. The theme was “Jesus, the sweetest name I know.” The float featured a manger, and the students had several sweets and candies to pass out to parade attendees. Several of the students were also in costume, dressed as various sweets.
In Cave Springs, The Oaks Church, which is being planted by Chris and Renee DuBose, was involved with Christmas in Cave Springs, an event hosted by the city of Cave Springs and a local family, the Nelsons.
Chris said they partnered with them to provide all the volunteers for the kids games and crafts. Additionally, they provided a s’mores station, greeters at the entrance of the tent, and people to walk around and connect with families. During the event, they passed out hundreds of invites to their candlelight Christmas Eve service at the Illinois River Watershed Pavilion on Main Street in Cave Springs. Chris said they were blessed to have more than 40 people serving with them from six different churches from the Northwest Arkansas area, Fort Smith, and Little Rock.
“It was a beautiful display of the larger body of Christ coming together to reach the community and help plant a church. God led us into numerous meaningful conversations with people who are looking for a church home,” he said.
Needs met during the holiday season
The Family Church South Asians in Rogers has two evangelistic outreach events taking place this month.
On Dec. 15, the church has an evangelism engagement planned for the local neighborhoods at Centerton. On Dec. 23, they have an evangelism among soccer friends event.
Fresh Start Community Church, a church plant led by Torvac Amos and family, is giving a “holiday hug” where they will be blessing families with toys, clothing, and other items on Dec. 16.
“We are also partnering with other agencies to get social needs met in this holiday season,” Amos said, noting they have approximately 80 families signed up to help.
These are just a few of the churches sharing the gospel and God’s love within their communities over the holiday season.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Mary Alford and originally published by Arkansas Baptist News.
