I chose “Making a Difference” for my blog title years ago because when I started The A Group, my intent was to help churches, ministries and businesses to make a difference in the lives of people in their communities and around the globe. And we have. Over the past 9 years we have helped our clients to become better and more effective at what they do. Last week I was reminded again that we are still making a difference.

Pastor Bruce Frank of Biltmore Baptist Church in Asheville, NC, spoke to the Groupers (that’s what we call anyone on the The A Group team) on Friday about the impact our Easter marketing had on his church. We often hear of the percentage of increase in attendance during our media campaigns, total growth numbers over last year’s attendance, and conversions. Those are great ways to measure the return on investment for the people we serve, and we love hearing good news. Pastor Frank’s story was different. Yes, they had a very successful Easter with two thousand more people than last year, but he was excited to talk to us about a single person.

Right before Easter, one of Biltmore’s members saw a man sitting alone at a restaurant and used one of the mini invites (business card-size invitations) we had designed and produced to invite the man to the Easter services. What she did not know, was that the man had planned on committing suicide after finishing his meal. That was his “last meal” according to his account. Her invitation gave him another option. He kept the bullet he brought along to the restaurant in his pocket and decided to give the church a try. He chose Hope on Easter and gave his life over to Jesus Christ. Last week Joe was baptized at the weekend church service and shared his story publicly with the entire congreation.

I know that our markting piece did not change Joe’s life. God is the only one who can do that. But it made easier for a single lady to invite a stranger to come to church where his life was saved, literally twice.

What tools have you used to break the ice or make an invitation to someone you did not know well?