Party Evangelism!

January 13th, 2009

Wow.

WOW!

T’was “the mother of all parties!” Providence Ministries hosted an NDY gig at The Dugout in Mahtomedi Friday night and the place was packed! By the time “Kingdom” came on (a band headed up by Norm Blagman, worship pastor at Woodland Hills Church), the place was standing room only.

The energy in the room was amazing — “magical” as one person said. I and the other members of “Not Dead Yet” (the rock band I play in) had the time of our life.

And “Kingdom” — well, in all honesty, these folks have the potential to become the best R & B band in the Twin Cities if not the entire country. Un-Be-Liev-Able! As they opened with “Chain of Fools” jaws hit the floor.

The purpose behind the band “Kingdom” is simply to spread the Kingdom (hence the ingenious name Norm came up with). Norm’s goal is to have this group play at venues around the Twin Cities, blow the socks off everyone, and use the opportunity to build relationships that will, hopefully, lead some to Christ. As pastor of Woodland Hills Church I’m going to encourage people in the congregation who feel called to follow this band with the same intention — building relationships for the Kingdom. We might call this strategy “Party Evangelism.”

Nowhere in the New Testament does it say we’re supposed to spread the Kingdom by inviting people to our church services. We’re supposed to spread the Kingdom by bringing the Kingdom to them. What better way than by throwing the best parties in town and doing it on their turf!

Having a Christian group as good as “Kingdom” partying in a venue like this does wonders to blow up stereotypes many have about “Christians.” I was walking through the pool hall after the party and overheard a guy saying to his friends, “And I heard the whole band is a bunch of f***ing Christians!” I shouted, “YES!” in my spirit.

As if all this weren’t enough, the gig allowed Providence Ministries to raised $3600 for kids in Haiti. This is enough to send roughly 75 Haitian kids to school for one year — kids who otherwise wouldn’t have this opportunity. What a night, some people got a new perspective on Christians and a lot of Haitian kids are going to have their lives positively impacted, and we all had a blast! That, my friends, is what I call a very good party!