GIVE FRIDAY NIGHTS TO JESUS
                              by Josh Hunt

Fasten your seat belt, friend, this is the most high powered approach we
have. I do not know anything that could work any better than giving Friday
nights to Jesus. Giving Friday nights to Jesus will reach more people in
less time than any method I know. In fact, if you give Friday nights to
Jesus and your class does not double in two years or less it can t be
done. Giving Friday nights to Jesus is the most powerful discipline we
have. 

But, the really unbelievable thing is that giving Friday nights to Jesus
is more fun than a barrel full of monkeys. You wouldn't think it could be
that a ministry so effective could be so fun. Would you believe it?
Wouldn't it be just like God to make something so effective and so fun at
the same time. 

We didn't dream this ministry up, we stumbled onto it by accident. If I
had not seen it in action, I may have never been convinced of its
effectiveness. Here is how it works. 

We used to have our friends over on Friday nights to play cards. We would
have dessert, tell jokes and play games together. One day Sharon suggested
we invite a couple who had visited the church to join us on Friday night.
So we did. And we had a good time too. We laughed and played cards and ate
dessert and told jokes. We never said anything about church or Sunday
School or the Bible or anything. But, do you know what? They joined the
church in a few weeks. Now, he is teaching a class himself. And they would
tell you that they were not living the disciple s life before they played
cards and ate dessert with us that night. 

A few weeks later, we invited another couple over. We played cards, we
laughed, we ate dessert, we had a good time. And guess what? After a few
weeks they joined the church and are very active in the class now. They
too would tell you they were not living the disciple s life before we
played cards with them. 

After six months of this I did a little research. I discovered that
forty-five couples had visited the church during that period of time that
would be prospects for our class. We were able to have ten couples to our
house to play cards. Nine out of these ten joined the church and were
involved in the class. Out of the remaining thirty-five, only three had
joined. I don't know of any ministry more effective in assimilating
visitors than this hospitality ministry. 

That is why I say, if you want to double your class every two years or
less, give Friday nights to Jesus. Have your friends over. Play cards. Eat
dessert. Tell jokes. Laugh. Have a good time. And include an outsider
couple. Ministry has never been so much fun. 

This ministry is based on sound church growth thinking: people are not
interested in a friendly church; they are looking for friends. That is
what we were to these people. We were friends. And they were friends to
us. When we had our baby, they were there. They are our friends. 

Let me answer a couple of obvious questions. No, it does not have to be on
Friday night. You do not have to play cards. You might take them out to
lunch. You might go bowling or play golf. You might go out after church
with them. But, do something fun with them. Do whatever you do with your
friends. But include some outsiders in your life. 

I used to teach fourth grade boys a long time ago. The most effective
outreach I had with those guys had nothing to do with the class time. I
would spend one afternoon a week and would go and take them out for a
coke. I would listen to them and try to get into their world. This too is
an example of giving Friday nights to Jesus, only it was on Tuesday
afternoons. Some of them came to faith in Christ

This is what the Bible says, in the form of a command, Get in the habit of
inviting guests home for dinner. (Romans 12:13b, LB) If you will just do
what this command says, you will see tremendous fruit.