All BRN churches are invited to participate in Send Relief’s Serve Tour Philly on September 15-16

Barry: Hello, BRN Family! It’s good to be with you today!

Barry: I have with me today, someone that many of you already know. It’s pastor Buff McNickle. He’s our Compassion Ministry Director, and also the Director of Network Development. And he is working alongside of a team in Philadelphia of a special event that’s coming up this September. Tell us about it Buff.

Buff McNickle: Well, I’m excited and Philly, I want you to really lean in because there’s a great emphasis that’s going to happen in the city of Philadelphia. I, along with Gerald Waters, one of our church planters in Philadelphia, are working in concert with the North American Mission Board and Send Relief. They’re doing a tour at different cities and they’ve chosen Philly to be one of those cities that we can come and the goal of this tour, it’s happening on September 15th and 16th, it’s an emphasis of how the church can build bridges and engage with their communities to do compassion ministry and see people hear the gospel and be changed and transformed, not by just what we say, but what we do. It’s the gospel in action and so Philly, I want you praying right now. I want our churches, our pastors, and I want you to participate and there’s great opportunities right now on the screen, you can sign up, get early access, join us, be a part of it. Get information all about this great opportunity that’s coming to your city but it’s not just the city and the churches in Philadelphia.

Barry Whitworth: Okay

Buff McNickle: The goal is they want 50% of the people that participate that weekend to come from Philly, but they want 25% to come from all of Pennsylvania/South Jersey.

Barry Whitworth: Wow!

Budd McNickle: And so we really want some of our churches that are coming from Pittsburgh. We already got churches committed that are coming from Wilkes-Barre and South Jersey in different cities saying, “Hey we want to be a part of that. We want to bring a group over for Friday or Friday and Saturday” and they’re going to participate. So we’re excited about that. So BRN churches, we want you to come, and we want you to participate as well. And then the last 25%, they’re getting nationally

Barry Whitworth: Okay.

Buff McNickle: From churches, some of our great partners, like North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, they’ve already committed to bring groups. The early access right now, there’s over 300 that have signed up to participate.

Barry Whitworth: Wow, that’s amazing! So, if a church signs up to come, what’s going to kind of be something they’ll be doing, you know?

Buff McNickle: They’ll be different projects. I’m actually, me and Gerald are going to Montgomery this next week and see the serve tour in action. But there are projects, whether it’s helping a bi-vocational Pastor engage with the elementary school. It could be a project of construction, that there’s some construction that needs to be done in a certain area of the city. There’s opportunities to help build bridges with some of the city officials or some of the city community developments. Different projects. The pastor’s of Philadelphia have a say-so in the projects, it’s not Send Relief coming up with a project. It’s you, the pastor in the churches in Philadelphia coming up with a project. So if you got questions about projects contact Gerald Waters or myself of how you can get a project on the list to be able to see how you and your church can really engage in Philly.

Barry Whitworth: Okay, so here’s a question: if a church from Erie, a church from Altoona, a church from Williamsport would say, “Well, why should we come to Philly?” What, what could be in the outcome for them by them coming and becoming involved in the serve tour project?

Buff McNickle: Well two things; one, it reminds them that there were part of God’s kingdom and we’re part of a family and the BRN family is key and so we can’t reach every man, woman, boy, and girl in Pennsylvania/South Jersey alone. We need each other. So, they remind themselves they’re part of the kingdom and the family. But second, when they come, there’s something that happens when you get somebody out of the pew and into the streets and the Holy Spirit, gets in the middle of that. I tell you what, the goal of it is it becomes a catalyst, a spark in that individual’s life to say, “Hey why not just do it here in Philly? Let’s go back in Eerie. Let’s go back and Wilkes-Barre. Let’s do this in our city and our town and our neighborhood.”

Barry Whitworth: I love it. So, if you’d like more information, Buff has already told you where to get it, if you have any questions, reach out to him. But hey, we’d love to see you at the serve tour in Philadelphia on September 15th and 16th. Thanks Buff for sharing today and I pray that this event brings God much glory, and makes Jesus more famous. Thanks for listening in today, God bless you!