Impactful Evangelism: Port Sanilac's Community Outreach

Recently, the Port Sanilac church concluded a 25 night evangelistic series in Sandusky, Michigan. This area is better known as the “thumb” of Michigan.

Members have been praying and working to reach their community through local fairs, book distributions, health meetings and many other events. They discussed doing an evangelistic series last year but the timing was never quite right.  

Pastor Charles Stark became inspired after preaching his first evangelistic series at sister church Unionville during the conference wide “Discovering Revelation” event last October. Going into the series in Unionville he was discouraged and nervous. But the Lord blessed their efforts in that little town of 600 people. Two couples have been attending church regularly as a result of the meetings. He says, “What a blessing! To take the little that I know and put it in the Lord’s hands and see how He blessed really gave me courage that we could do the same for the church in Port Sanilac.”

Pastor Stark presented a concrete plan to the church who voted unanimously to support a local evangelistic series. They chose to focus on Sandusky, the largest town near their church with a population of around 1,800. They set up a website, obtained four billboards, ran Facebook ads around the town and did a mailing to homes and business. Pastor Stark visited five post offices with flyers. 

Opening night came and God blessed with over 50 people in attendance and an average of about 35 people each night. About 18 of thosse were guests from the community that attended faithfully four nights a week. 

Pastor Stark began his messages with topics most of the Christian world holds in common then moved to the heavier subjects, encouraging guests to continue attending even if they heard biblical material they’d never considered before—and they did! One of Port Sanilac’s youngest members, a 16-year-old young man, shared two of the presentations and visitors were impressed to see a teenager consecrated to God with such strong convictions. 

Today a family of three attend the church regularly, and another individual who went through the meetings has solidified her commitment to Jesus with a decision to join the church through baptism. 

Pastor Stark has learned a few lessons from these two public evangelistic efforts. “First,” he says, “God can use you! Yes, you, reader! He wants to use you. He is waiting to use you to complete the work. Don’t be discouraged. When Satan brings thoughts of condemnation for your sins, remember the promises of God not only to forgive you but to finish the work in you.”

The second lesson is this: Ministry will take your time, and lots of it. It will require reorganizing priorities. If you have too much going on to become involved in witnessing or evangelism, try cutting something else out of your life—maybe those expensive trips to Disneyland, or the hours of social media and internet surfing that add up to exorbitant amounts of wasted time.  

Pastor Stark continues, “Multiple times in my life, I have sacrificed things for God that every fiber of my being told me were essential. Recently, our long driveway had so many potholes that the local post office delivery truck broke an axle on my driveway. Everyone who came to visit almost disappeared in our potholes. The grass was growing; our financial obligations began to pile up. We even lost a pet the first week of the series. The pressure seemed to hit us from all sides as we were conducting this series of meetings. But we gave it to the Lord and said ‘You and Your commission first, God. You can take care of the rest of these needs.’ Lo and behold, my brother came for a long visit unsolicited. He filled the potholes; he mowed the lawn. Other friends came and helped us get the garden in. Our biggest tax return ever relieved our financial pressures. The Lord has always provided for our needs when we put Him first.” 

Often we heap upon ourselves projects and responsibilities and we convince ourselves these things must be done because God would not have us leave them undone. Then we back off from church responsibilities and neglect the essential tasks that would crown our evangelistic efforts with success. 

The last lesson Pastor Stark learned is the importance of unity. “We have to be united in Christ in our mission to reach the world. We have to humble ourselves together before God and set aside our differences. I have seen what God can do when we press together. Discourage anything that lacks a spirit of unity. But do so in a winsome way. May the Lord continue to bless our humble efforts throughout Michigan as we share such an important message of warning for the world. Be faithful in your town and in your neighborhood. Be faithful at that which lies nearest.”

The Post Sanilac congregation continues to look to ways to reach the local community. Strong Tower Radio was recently granted approval for a local radio station in their area and, by God’s grace, they have supported the effort and raised over $50,000 and obtained pledges for the monthly operating costs. Members believe the station is going to make a big impact in the surrounding communities.