Skip to content
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • The Alabama Baptist
  • The Baptist Paper
  • Log In
  • Subscribe
  • Renew
  • Donate
The Baptist Paper
Search
Close
The Baptist Paper
Search
Close
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • Request a free trial
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Your state news
  • Classifieds
  • Request a free trial

Worms, hooks & a witness for his church

  • March 13, 2022
  • Art Toalston
  • Church Life, Featured, Latest News, Missions, North Carolina
(Photo courtesy of Art Toalston)

Worms, hooks & a witness for his church

He showed up with a bunch of worms.

He didn’t ask his pastor if it would be a good idea. He just wanted to invite people to church.

Plastic worms

He had packaged the worms, plastic worms he’d made as lures for bass fishing, in sandwich-size bags, a half-dozen or more were in each zip-top bag.

On the outside of each bag he put a sticker fashioned with the logo, worship times and address of Anthem Church in Angier, North Carolina, a rural town of south of Raleigh where a Crepe Myrtle Celebration has been held annually for nearly 50 years.

“It made it easier for me to talk to people,” said the Anthem member, an avid fisherman since his early teens. “It’s not about me,” he said, asking that his name not be used. “It was strictly about inviting people to church, giving them something they couldn’t forget if they started looking for a church.”

A man might think, “Some church was giving out fishing worms at the Crepe Myrtle festival. Let me find that one.”

After the initial year, the Anthem member, who is an app developer, added a QR code to the packages. The code connects a cell phone camera to the church’s welcome page, relaying the church’s goals and beliefs and introducing its lead pastor, Rick Gutierrez.

“The mission of Anthem Church is to fill our community and the world with love-filled, faith-filled, hope-filled followers of Jesus Christ,” the web page of the 8-year-old congregation states.

“Rick has taught me a lot about how to care for people,” the Anthem member said in describing his enthusiasm for touting the church and its pastor. “He is one of the most on-mission men I’ve ever seen.

“The whole town may not come to Anthem Church but they know where we’re at and what we stand for and that we’re willing to serve as disciples of Christ.

“Being a guy,” he added, “if I would have been around an Anthem Church when I was younger, I’d be a lot further along in my walk with Christ because I didn’t know you could be a Christian and enjoy it and have fun.”

‘Just share’

Gutierrez draws encouragement from the fishing enthusiast’s witness as well as several praise band members who perform individually and as a group in various community settings.

“It shows how God has commissioned the church and believers to operate in their own spheres of life,” Gutierrez explained. “Not everything has to be a program by the church or some event, but it really is, as Matthew 28 says, ‘Go therefore and make disciples.’ As you go about your daily life, just share the good news.”

That will be important, Gutierrez noted, because Angier no longer will be an island unto itself, as Raleigh-Durham’s spiraling growth portends development and diversity for Angier in the next few years.

The hook

With each bag of worms the Anthem member and others hand out, they make a point of saying, “We give out the hooks on Sunday.”

He carries a supply of hooks to church, ready to demonstrate how best to rig the lure for catching bass.

The fruit of the fishing enthusiast’s initiative includes a student in the youth group and his parents. This gives Gutierrez joy in “seeing the gospel living and at work and God using people with their own gifts and talents and passions.”

The Anthem member, who credits his wife for getting him to “step through the doors” of a church in the early 1990s, began making lures after watching YouTube videos.

“Once you get set up,” he said, “it’s cheaper to make them yourself than it is to buy them.”

The process involves combining hot plastic with various colors, and a bit of metallic auto paint to enhance their reflection in the water, then injecting the mix into worm-shaped molds.

“I’m doing what I’m supposed to do according to God,” he said, “to let people know there’s a church here in Angier that they’re welcome at.”

Share with others:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

Latest News

  • Disaster Relief leaders across U.S. meet, prepare for 2023
    Disaster Relief leaders across U.S. meet, prepare for 2023
    February 1, 2023/
    0 Comments
  • First Person: God was faithful to missions trailblazer George Liele; I believe He’ll be faithful to me
    First Person: God was faithful to missions trailblazer George Liele; I believe He’ll be faithful to me
    February 1, 2023/
    0 Comments
  • 2023 SBC Annual Meeting: Pre-registration now open
    2023 SBC Annual Meeting: Pre-registration now open
    February 1, 2023/
    0 Comments

Sign up for the Highlights

Get all latest content delivered to your email a few times a month.
Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

Related Posts

Disaster Relief leaders across U.S. meet, prepare for 2023

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteer Jason Yarbrough kicked off his first year as state disaster relief director for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma by

First Person: God was faithful to missions trailblazer George Liele; I believe He’ll be faithful to me

A missions trailblazer — that’s who George Liele was.  He was born into slavery. His owner freed him so he could pursue God’s call on

2023 SBC Annual Meeting: Pre-registration now open

Pre-registration is now open for churches to pre-register messengers for the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, set for June 11–14 in New Orleans. Pre-registration

What can a church learn from Krispy Kreme about advertising?

Whether doughnuts are healthy or not is another subject, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who doesn’t like Krispy Kreme. Churches buy them by

Want to receive news highlights throughout the week? Sign up here!

Email is required Email is not valid
Thanks for your subscription.
Failed to subscribe, please contact admin.

About

  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us
  • Our Story
  • Our Team
  • Our Partners
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Contact us

Explore

  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • State-specific news
  • Archive
  • Opinion pieces
  • Sunday School lessons
  • Persecuted Church
  • Podcasts
  • Videos

Submissions

  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy
  • Story suggestions
  • Your Voice/Letter to the Editor
  • Photos / Videos
  • Corrections/other
  • Submission Policy

Subscribe

  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
  • Subscribe
  • Renew subscription
  • Gift a subscription
  • Start a new member subscription
  • Start a new group subscription
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Hosted Church
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Request free trial
The Baptist Paper
Address:
3310 Independence Dr.
Birmingham, AL 35209
Copyright © 2023 TAB Media Group
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ
  • Privacy/Terms of Use
  • Help
  • FAQ

Email:
news@thebaptistpaper.org

  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Editorials
  • Archive
  • Your state news
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Persecuted Church
  • Submit your news
  • Photo Galleries
  • Latest News
  • Trending
  • Editorials
  • Archive
  • Your state news
  • Opinions
  • Podcasts
  • Videos
  • Persecuted Church
  • Submit your news
  • Photo Galleries
  • Our Team
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Hosted Church
  • Donate
  • Contact us
  • Our Team
  • Manage your group
  • Manage your account
  • Subscribe
  • Start a new subscription at the group rate
  • Advertise and Promote
  • Classifieds
  • Hosted Church
  • Donate
  • Contact us

Log Out?

Lost your password?

Log In

Lost your password?

Log in

Become a part of our community!
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy/Terms of Use

Reset password

Recover your password
A password reset link will be e-mailed to you.
Privacy/Terms of Use
Back to
Login
×
Close Panel