Evangelism Grants Enable Community Outreach Across Ohio

Vacation Bible School, Hillside Church, Polk
Pastor Mike Feliciano, Hillside Church

God blessed our second VBS since we launched Hillside. We averaged 24 with a high of 25. It was nice to see families walking to VBS in our town. One 12-year-old girl was saved and then baptized the next Sunday at our church pool party. We had two visitors that Sunday and four the next Sunday. Our volunteers worked hard and were amazing. What a great spirit. Thank you SCBO for your partnership in prayer and financial assistance.


Summit County Fair Outreach, Church on the Boulevard, Akron
Pastor Robert Hale, Church on the Boulevard

The 2025 Summit County Fair proved to be highly successful, providing numerous meaningful conversations and exposure that would not have been possible otherwise. A “fair" guess, pun intended, we estimate having engaged with over 150 individuals in discussions lasting at least 90 seconds. This event presented an excellent chance to share the gospel with a wide audience. Among these interactions, three involved deeper conversations with individuals interested in learning more at a later date. We connected them with a nearby SBC church for follow-up. Additionally, two families expressed interest in discovering more about Church on the Boulevard, its community work, and potential collaboration opportunities. Many attendees also paused for prayer, either by submitting prayer requests on index cards placed in a treasure chest or receiving personal prayers offered by dedicated volunteers. We are thrilled about the relationships forged not only with community members but also with partnering churches, and we value the encouragement and support from both these churches and SCBO. We are grateful for this incredible opportunity and eagerly anticipate future outreach events together.


July 4th Block Party, Good Shepherd Baptist Church, Amherst
Pastor Gabriel Ray, Good Shepherd Baptist Church

The event was wonderful, and all of the volunteers walked away tired, yet satisfied, because we had over 100 people at the event, with 14 families coming from around our community. We got to serve our guests, feed our guests, and talk to our guests. Many of us spent time telling them about our church and what Jesus has done for us. Even after all the time, energy, planning, and work that went into it, our congregation is ready to do it again. They are holding on to the hope that if we can show our community the love of God, more of them will be willing to hear about his love and sacrifice too.


A Year of Gospel Impact, Summit Association, Akron
Mark Jones, Summit Association Mission Strategist

The two main events we focused on as an association were to promote our gospel-centered congregations at the Summit County Fair in Tallmadge and to provide our congregations with school supplies to engage their communities locally.
 
The county fair event allowed us to engage hundreds with the gospel and for the glory of God. The school supplies are still impacting our association as we were able to equip at least six congregations.

We are so thankful for the investment of NAMB and the SCBO in the evangelistic outreaches in the Summit Association of Churches.


Continual Community Impact, Freedom Hill BC, Kent
Pastor Mark Jones, Freedom Hill Baptist Church

In the spring, we had over 600 people participate in the city-wide event. We partnered in gospel impact with three other local congregations.

We gave every child a piece of candy connected to a card with a QR code that pointed to a gospel cartoon from SpreadTruth.com.

In August, we had the opportunity to feed the local football team twice with burgers and chicken, but more importantly, with the gospel via cards inserted in their lunch bags, as we were not given the opportunity to vocally share.

Please pray for the families and players impacted. We are so thankful for the evangelism funds that allowed us to accomplish these events.


Community Outreach Booth, Vertical Church North, North Ridgeville
Tiffany Fairbairn, Vertical Church North, Leadership Team

The town festival was great! We had many conversations, and even a few opportunities to pray with people from our community. We handed out information about our church, invited the community to our school supply drive, and had crafts and popsicles for the kids. This event allowed us to get our name out in our community and helped us invite people to church who normally don't have access to the gospel daily. We're praying that we planted some seeds. Thank you again for your generous donation that allowed us to be present in our community and share the love of Christ.


Vacation Bible School, Grace Point Fellowship, Franklin
Pastor Regan Wagoner, Grace Point Fellowship

At Grace Point, we registered over 500 kids and volunteers at VBS and saw 37 kids take next steps towards Jesus! We baptized three on the Sunday after VBS on Family Day, and have baptized several more since then. One family we talked to after VBS came and spoke with me last week, as their 6th grader came and gave her life to Jesus. She then talked to her 12th-grade brother, and he gave his life to Jesus last week! Their family had never heard John 3:16 before we began sharing the gospel with them! God is good, and he moved at our two campuses during VBS, as we offered a day VBS at Grace Point Franklin and a Night VBS at Grace Point Hunter.


Back-to-School Bash, Elyria Church, Elyria

Elyria Church's first-ever Back-to-School Bash was great. Having it in our front yard drew the attention of our neighbors across the street. We had about 100 people show up. We grilled food, passed out backpacks of school supplies, and gave out additional school supplies. We also handed out teen bags for older students. Our Clothes Closet was also open. One single mom walked out with bags in her hands and tears in her eyes, saying, "Thank you so much. I was so worried about what we were going to do for school clothes this year, and here we got all our needs met for free." The conversations throughout the event were great. Questions were asked about wanting to know more about the church, what classes we have and for what ages, what other events that we offer to the community, as well as asking about who God is and why He is so important. Pastor Josh was able to give a brief testimony and share the gospel. We let people know about our service times and our Trunk-or-Treat in October.  It will be exciting to see who will show up on a Sunday morning service, as well as see if they will return to our next event this fall.