Part of an ongoing series, focusing on those who are dedicated to evangelism in the 21st century. These articles will spotlight individuals who deal with Leadership, Youth and Evangelism in the United Methodist community.

In the summer of 2008, God gave four youth leaders and myself a vision for a ministry to youth that was outside the box. We had an average youth group size of about 12 regulars that at times would be 25 to 30 on a Wednesday evening. The vision was to find a place in a neutral location outside the local church building. This is not because we are against the local church in any way, we just realized that we needed to reach a group of teens who had no background with church and the traditions that so many of us have come to know and love. We found a storefront building in our small downtown community and negotiated a rental agreement with the landlord.

Our first hurdle was to present the vision God had given us to the Church Council. We wrote up a proposal that included the cost of rent and utilities and then shared what we believed God had shown us, that there were many teens who needed a place to belong, a safe place, where they could learn about Jesus and not be intimidated by the elements of Christianity they didn’t understand.

There was a unanimous vote from the church council to allow us to move forward. Our first priority was the issue of how to staff the new ministry site and how often to have events. We decided we would hold all Wednesday evening Youth Group activities there as well as Sunday School on Sunday morning. We went quickly on Wednesday evenings from an average of 12 to 20 youth to about 40 youth each week. We started to challenge the youth at that point to bring their friends and to help get the word out about “Out of the Box” (OOTB) and within a year we were averaging around 60 youth every Wednesday evening for Bible study.

At this point we started to host “5^th Quarter”; at the conclusion of all our local high school home football games we would have free pizza from 9pm to midnight. The first event drew 130 teens from the community and the second 150. Since that time we have used OOTB for many things related to the community. Some of our teen girls have held baby showers for local teen girls who are pregnant, the local school system uses OOTB for after school tutoring, and most recently groups from the church and community have started to host adult bible studies.

Many people have asked us how we can afford to have such a place and my only answer is that God has provided. We have spent an average of$10,000 on the youth each year from 2009 to 2010 and we have never gone without. We have had donations from people in the community who do not attend our church and have no youth of their own, they are just grateful that we are offering a safe and fun place for the youth of the community. Most of the money spent is outside the budget and is given by those who see the work and want to be a part of it. We have had donations of video equipment, computers, soda, Gatorade, Monster Energy Drinks, snacks, pool tables, foosball, WII Game system, furniture; you name it and we have received it.

As the minister for Out of the Box I essentially pastor a good size church. I connect and communicate with the youth, which numbers more than 100 youth, through text messaging, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and through YouTube video’s. The communication is constant, the youth send me questions and I deal with them through bible studies, “Three Minute Thursday” Video’s, and any other venue available. The truth is, our youth in 2011 are as busy as the adults. They have youth, church, school, sports, clubs, jobs, etc… through the use of social media the youth and I have built some of the strongest relationships in my 20 plus years of working with this age group. It opens the door for them to ask questions in private and then we can sit down face to face after they realize that I will not judge them. It is a win win situation. When we come together for an event or a Bible study we have a crowd because of the relationship building that happens mostly online.

What about Evangelism? The evangelism that we do is in the “Relationship Building.” I have a heart for evangelism and I came up through a generation that taught me to share my faith by going door to door and I am thankful for that. I have led many people to Christ through the years by sitting in their living room or in a laundry mat, or some other setting by sharing my faith; what we would call a “cold call.” I believe this can still work today but by in large it doesn’t. People want to know who you are and if they can trust you before they will hear anything that you have to say. Gone are the days that people will automatically give you a listening ear just because you represent a church. We live in a culture where people want to see your faith in action first. We are doing evangelism, sharing our faith, in the weekly youth bible studies, in community outreach such as 5^th Quarter’s, and through social media.

A second hurdle we reached is how to get the youth from the youth group to church membership. We were drawing large groups of youth and they were making commitments to Christ and doing ministry in response to that but we were not very successful at attracting the bulk of them to our home church. We were having the most youth in the history of our church attending Sunday morning worship services and then again on Sunday nights but it was a small number compared to the youth who gathered on Wednesday nights for Bible Study. We looked for ways to receive the youth into membership through the youth group but that never materialized.

In February 2010 Holston Conference of the UMC approached us about taking First Hillsville UMC to a Multi-site church to help meet the needs of those who were coming to OOTB Youth and 78 percent of our county who are not attending church anywhere on most Sunday mornings. On January 2^nd, 2011 we launched the Out Of the Box Worship Center (OOTBWC), once again we negotiated a lease for a space just a couple doors down from the youth center and we launched the first Sunday with 100 people, and on our most recent Sunday we had 137 in attendance. First Hillsville UMC has moved from an average 350 in attendance to more than 400 each Sunday. On Sunday mornings at OOTBWC nearly half of those in attendance are under the age of 21, while every age group is represented, from infants to senior citizens.

Once again God has given us a vision to reach people with the gospel. God has provided the path and the plan, we are just doing all in our power to walk the path with Him.