School Lunches Pt 3

School lunches are a major part of our strategy to reach students for Christ, here are some benefits of going to school lunches:

1.  We get to build a relationship with the school, community and their administration.  I once had a principal tell me that a new family asked him about any good churches in OKC to attend and he suggested People's Church because of our presence we had on their campus.  He told me he didn't even suggest his church because he's never seen their youth pastor there.  We have also been contacted by schools when tragedies hit to help, this wouldn't happen if the school didn't know about us.

2.  It's a great way for our students to introduce their friends to their pastor and to give their friends a little glimpse of Epic.  The reality is as youth pastors we are the face of our ministry since every week they hear us teach for 15-45 minutes depending on how long winded we are, lol.

3.  It's a great opportunity for me to meet new students and then remember their names when they come to Epic and personally welcome them.  This is huge, like the Cheers song says "everybody wants to go where people know their name."

4.  I'm a walking billboard reminding students who have been missing at Epic that we miss them and hope to see them soon.

5.  I'm a walking billboard for Epic in general, one of the questions I get asked the most is "who are you?"  They are thinking who is this old bald white guy, but out of their mouth comes "who are you?"  Every time I answer that question I introduce students to our student ministry.

6.  I empower my students to invite their friends to Epic.  Many times when students introduce me to their friends they follow the introduction by saying "you should come to my church tonight" and I say "yeah we would love to have you."