November 26, 2001
'Come as you are' service draws a crowd in Canton
___By Orville Scott
___Texas Baptist Communications
___CANTON--A Sunday morning "come as you are" worship service conducted by First Baptist Church of Canton drew 1,531 people to the First Monday Trades Day grounds Oct. 21.
___The attendance equaled more than half the population of the East Texas town.
___"A key reason for holding the service in the marketplace is to reach out as Jesus did, taking the church to people who might not feel comfortable in a church building," explained Pastor Tim Watson.
___A family from Dallas, about 60 miles from Canton, came looking to purchase toys for their young daughter at Trades Day, but after a parking volunteer explained they were two weeks early, the family decided to attend the worship service, featuring music by choirs and soloists and a message by Pastor Watson.
___Twenty-five participants at the service registered decisions for Christ, including 10 who came forward to announce they had prayed to receive Christ as Savior.
___At the service, Watson emphasized that the Bible says religion and good works alone will not get a person to heaven. "Only a relationship with Jesus Christ will do that," he said.
___"The crucial difference in Christianity and other great religions is that the founders of those religions are dead and in the grave, while Jesus rose from the dead after three days and is alive in the world today, waiting to receive those who will repent of sin and invite him into their hearts and lives."
___The church's first "come as you are" service last year drew 1,146 people, with 19 of them registering decisions for Christ.
___This year's participants included people from Argentina, several other states, and from as far away in Texas as Corpus Christi and Hereford.
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