I had the opportunity to review the many materials that Russ has been learning and drawing from to better lead our church in ministry and outreach. He shared with me the ways he has been leading the church family to approach Christian witness and outreach by gaining an understanding of the postmodern way of thinking, and how to share a personal testimony of what Jesus has done in their own life. He has also led the members to understand that postmodern influences are felt even in our small rural towns, where people may not naturally respond initially to a prophecy seminar, but they will respond to friendship evangelism, and then come to grow in the Lord. Right now, the Seneca church has begun to have a few new families with children starting to come to church as a result of taking this approach of meeting people where they are, entering into a friendship and inviting them to experience for themselves what a church family can be like. The Seneca church has also worked on their building and appearance to make it more, “user friendly” by installing a better entrance, making the interior more attractive and enhancing the appearance of the inside front of the church sanctuary.
They have also done something that is so smart, and yet something that many churches take for granted! They have taken great pains to make the bathrooms as attractive and bright and pleasant as possible.
While we members may just accept the appearance of a bathroom, that is one of the first things that visitors notice, and they tend to gauge their opinion of a church by the bathroom appearance—its cleanness, smell and décor.
Russ is one of several dedicated lay pastors here in the Pennsylvania Conference who is committed to the Adventist message and to leading his church to fulfill the gospel commission. We appreciate our dedicated lay pastors here in Pennsylvania.
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