Open Air Outreach

For the fourth year Forest Baptist Church led services at the Pinery Provincial Park near Grand Bend, Ontario. This provincial park is open year around for camping and is one of the highest traffic parks in the system, with one thousand camping spaces.
We held sixteen services, with the final service on the Thanksgiving weekend. All the messages were from the Gospel of John. Those who were interested received a copy of the Gospel of John when they arrived and were also offered other Scriptures, including New Testaments which we received from LifeLight Ministries. Each week, following the service, a number of people came by the picnic table, spread with a variety Scriptures, and helped themselves.
One father, with a few children, came by the table following the service, and the little boy (seven or eight years old) picked up one of the New Testaments. I showed them the features and helps in it, and the boy asked his dad if he could please have one. His father said, “If you take it, you must read it!” The boy took it!
Up to 155 people attended the services in the middle of the summer, with about twenty people from the church serving as greeters, leading the worship team, reading Scripture, praying, preaching and helping with the setting up and taking down. During July and August we also had a children’s program behind the stage during the message. (Victoria Day weekend was snowy, and only six people showed up!)
Thanks to a grant from LifeLight Ministries, we were able to put more than fifty New Testaments in the hands of people from Michigan to the far reaches of Ontario, and only the Lord knows how they will be used and what the results will be in changed lives.
We have already confirmed that we will be having these services again next summer—a great outreach into this primary vacation spot near our church!
Pastor Laurie Morris