December 16, 2002

MORE THAN 1,000 people ate a catered holiday dinner under a huge circus tent at First Baptist Church of Colleyville Dec. 7 in an outreach effort dubbed Mission Colleyville. Church members helped 325 families register so the families could receive additional assistance.

FEEDING THE 1,000:
Church invites neighbors to dinner
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___COLLEYVILLE--Within the economic prosperity of Dallas' northern suburbs lies an unseen community of poverty-stricken families.
___Ron Cogburn, an engineer and chairman of deacons at First Baptist Church of Colleyville, looked not far from his church this year and discovered a large pocket of this population within shouting distance.
___Since then, he's taken on the task of shouting out the message of salvation in Jesus Christ, while at the same time offering a generous hand of help.
___Cogburn recently led the church to stage an event called Mission Colleyville, at which 1,039 people were fed a seated, catered holiday dinner of turkey, ham and all the accompanying dishes under the glow of a huge circus tent.
___Church members donated bulging bags of grocer

CHILDREN participated in a special program in the church's jungle-themed children's building.

ies that were distributed to the 325 families who attended the event, as well as hundreds of toys to be given to the families for Christmas presents.
___When Cogburn first started talking about the need for Mission Colleyville, he commonly heard responses such as, "I didn't know there were people with those kinds of needs in Colleyville."
___But there are, he explained. For example, not far from the church sits a community of 1,200 residences where 80 percent of the households live at or below the federal poverty line.
___These Texans largely are Hispanic laborers, and they are receiving few social or spiritual services, he discovered.
___"God laid it on our hearts that this is the place we should go," he said.
___He and other church leaders began visiting the neighborhood weekly, witnessing door-to-door and assessing needs. Several students from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary have helped with the evangelistic outreach over recent months.
___Out of this, Cogburn inspired the church's deacons to take the lead in organizing Mission Colleyville, which was held Dec. 7.
___In addition to other publicity, church members blitzed the neighborhood early on the afternoon of Dec. 7, handing out small fliers and announcing that buses would come through later that day to transport anyone who wanted to go to the church.
___The evening began with a performance by the Groundwork Bicycle Stunt Team. One of the cyclists, a gold medalist at the X-Games, had recently become a Christian and approached Cogburn one week before Mission Colleyville asking how he could help.
___Under the tent, 10 rows of tables ran 150 feet long, each covered and decorated in a holiday theme. The church's guests loaded their plates in a buffet line.
___After dinner, volunteers staged a special program for children in the church's new children's building, called "The Jungle." At the same time, adults attended a brief praise and worship service in the sanctuary.
___Pastor Frank Harber preached a 15-minute message from John 3:16, concluding with an appeal for everyone who never had done so to commit their lives to God through faith in Jesus Christ.
___He then said: "We are going to make this as hard as possible. If you are not ashamed of Jesus Christ, and you have asked him to come into your heart tonight, I want you to get up out of your seat and come down front. I am going to draw a line across the front here, and I want you to come and stand. I want to shake your hand."
___Cogburn described what happened next: "Before he could finish his sentence, the people began to flood to the altar. Men, women and children of all ages began to hurry to the altar with tears streaming down their faces."
___Not counting other decisions recorded in the children's event, 205 people made public professions of faith in Jesus Christ that night. Twelve were baptized before they went home.
___Now, families from First Baptist Church have been paired with all 325 guest families that registered at Mission Colleyville. The church families are following up with individual visits to their homes to offer Christmas presents and other help as needed.
___The majority of those attending Mission Colleyville never had entered a church before, Cogburn reported. "We literally threw open the doors, and all those nobody else wants to talk to came."
___The effort not only changed the lives of the guests but also invigorated a sense of mission among the church members, Cogburn said.
___One 75-year-old deacon told him afterward, "I have never seen or experienced anything like this in my life."
___Church members now are mobilizing to carry on a year-round ministry with their neighbors, including Bible studies and possibly a mission church.
___

The Baptist Standard



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