church of the week
Barabbas Road Church Fitness Outreach Ministry
By Kara Lavengood
The 700 Club
CBN.com
–Pastor Matt Smith knew that multiple church-plants had already failed to take off in affluent La Jolla, California. So he decided to take an active approach to reach the community.
Barabbas Road Church gives a whole new meaning to “active membership.” Members spend Sunday afternoons working out at the park. They’re not just out to have fun; they’re reaching the affluent La Jolla community in a way fitting of the southern California lifestyle.
“One of the difficulties in planting a church in such an area like this is you can’t really give free car washes and people are excited. No one wants to get their Ferrari washed for free,” Pastor Matt said. “So how are you going to serve the people in the community?
One of the number one needs of the community—how to use their leisure time or how to have better health and wellness.”
Pastor Matt Smith is well-equipped to meet this need. He is a personal trainer and has about seven other trainers in his congregation. A fitness ministry was an ideal outreach for the church.
“Rather than just going out and clean up the beach or clean up trash off the street, why not use the gifts that were given?” Pastor Matt said. “So giving out free personal training to the area, we thought would be a good way to serve the community that we’re in.”
Each Sunday after the service, church members meet at the park across the street for fitness and for fellowship.
“It helps me to work out, to have the accountability to work out, to become healthier in that aspect and also to grow my friendships with the people in the church,” a church member said.
“On a typical Sunday, well, we have a trainer or two taking around people, anyone that wants to get personally trained, we can run around this entire park, or we can just stay right next to everybody,” personal trainer, Nick said. “We usually have a couple different sports going. We have volleyball right now, soccer, football, ultimate Frisbee, anything anybody wants to do, we have.”
Fun and fitness benefits aside, the obvious goal is to reach the community.
“We’re here to spread the word of God,” Nick said. “We figure if we keep Christianity into the confines of the church, it’s not going to go anywhere. So we want to get out in any way we can, into the community, and really grow the church and grow the word of God.”
“This gives us an opportunity to invest in people, in relationships, where they can actually get to know them on a personal level,” Pastor Matt said. “Nothing’s canned or corny. Everything’s authentic and they can get to know people and work on discipleship. And that’s the number one thing I want to see happen with this ministry.”
They’ve already seen results from this ministry… people like Paul, who came for the sports, but stayed for God.
“The best thing about coming here was not only did I get to meet all these people that I’ve pretty much got to fall in love with,” Paul said, “but I was also baptized through Barabbas Road. It’s touching people and I’ve already managed to bring people here who first start playing; they don’t want to go to church. They just want to play sports at first. Then because of the sports, they end up coming to church. It’s kind of interesting seeing people find Christ through soccer.”
For reaching out to the La Jolla community with its fitness ministry, The 700 Club honors Barabbas Road Church - America’s Church Of The Week!
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