Get the Word Out!
Get the Word Out was born from our conviction that the time is short and that we must do everything we can to reach the lost of our city. Our desire was to accomplish this by getting outside the walls of our Church and into the community. We wanted to seek meaningful connections and conversations with our neighbors around the topic of salvation in Jesus.
Get the Word Out 1.0, Part One
Truly believing that the Word of God can change hearts, we set out to get a copy of the New Testament into the hands of as many of our neighbors as we could. So, we hit the streets and distributed 5,000 copies of the New Testament person-to-person, hand-to-hand.
Aside: A Work Born of Prayer
Every meaningful work of God is bathed in prayer. So, we began praying together. Jesus is the head of the Church and He leads through His Holy Spirit. And so, prayer is where we began. Before we talked about where we would hand out the New Testaments, or how we’d go about doing so, we prayed together. We understood that this was our mission field. The soil into which we were about to sow the seeds of the Gospel needed to first be prepared by prayer.
We prayed with thanksgiving, thanking the Father for the ripening harvest fields that are all around us. All that is in the earth is the Lord’s, after all (Psalm 24:1).
We prayed that the Lord would send laborers into HIS field (Matthew 9:36-38). The earliest believers understood this, so “they lifted their voices together to God and said, ‘Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them … now, Lord … grant your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness …” (Acts 4:24, 29).
So, we prayed that the Lord would open doors for us to share His Word. God is the one who opens doors that no one can close – even as Paul asked the church at Colossae to pray “that God may open … a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ …” (Colossians 4:2-3).
We prayed that the Lord would prepare the hearts of those who would receive a New Testament beforehand, for the Lord who goes before us. “It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed” (Deuteronomy 31:8).
We prayed that Jesus would direct each New Testament into the hands of someone He’s reaching for. “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak …,” He promised (Ezekiel 34:16). For Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
We prayed for guidance from the Holy Spirit with respect to specific details (Acts 16:6-10). And that the Lord would lead us with His own strategies and wisdom so that we might confound the enemy and make Jesus famous everywhere we go! (Just think about the strategies He gave to Joshua for victory in Joshua 6:3-5!) And we prayed that the Lord would use our work to bring about a fruitful harvest! We work the field of souls, but it’s the Lord who brings the harvest!
In 1 Thessalonians 2:13, the Apostle Paul rejoiced that when some in that city had “received the word of God” they “accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” We prayed that it might be the same with the people of Woonsocket!
Get the Word Out 1.0, Part Two
Each Bible contained a detailed plan of salvation and a special introduction we prepared to help them approach God’s Word. You can read it HERE.
This was an exceedingly joyful time of ministry for us at Harvest. Typically hitting the streets after service on Sundays, we were able to distribute all 5,000 copies of the New Testament from March to September 2022.
We called this initiative Get the Word Out 1.0, but the Lord was still moving and we were far from done!
Get the Word Out 2.0
Get the Word Out 2.0 took a different tack. This time we moved from the written Word to the video Word. Partnering with Saturate USA (https://www.saturateusa.org/), we set out to get a copy of The Jesus Film into every household we possibly could. That was no small endeavor; there are about 17,500 households in Woonsocket!
GTWO 2.0 was headed up by Jim Albanese and Cindy Carr, who were mightily used of the Lord in the endeavor!
The map of our city was divided into sections and Jim and Cindy coordinated teams that would go out and deliver the ‘door hangers’ to each household in the city.
Each packet contained a special note from our Church to our neighbors – you can read it HERE. It also included a DVD of The Jesus Film, which also contained a special edit created especially for children. The film was available in eight audio languages and a multitude of other languages via subtitles.
The film is taken right from the words of Luke’s Gospel and is one of the most accurate depictions of the life of Jesus ever produced. For those without the ability to play DVDs, a streaming code was provided. You can scan it too, right here:
All of these materials arrived from Saturate USA on large pallets and had to be assembled into packets.
And so, the Church gathered together after Church on several occasions for a pot luck lunch and a work party to assemble all 17,500 packets for distribution, one by one by one! And that’s how they’d be delivered too: one household at a time.
Each packet also included a tract that shared the message of how to find forgiveness for sin in the Person and Work of Jesus Christ.
We had the privilege of partnering with brothers and sisters from other local churches too and, after two years of work (2023-2024), Get the Word Out 2.0 was complete. But, guess what? The Lord was still working (John 5:17)!
Get the Word Out 3.0
After these two projects were completed, the Lord led us to take yet another tack. This time, we’d use the city’s social calendar to be a presence for the Lord wherever people were gathered. And there are a number of gatherings where many people congregate throughout the year. Autumnfest, Woonsocket’s four-day festival is the largest annual event in all of Rhode Island.
So, we rented a tent and set up our ministry right smack dab in the middle of it!
We partnered with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), who provided us with some training for interactions with young people. We adapted one of their great ideas to our needs: the Salvation Bead Bracelet. This is an easy way to share the Gospel. We simplified it, knowing that we’d only have limited time in each encounter.
We partnered with the Gideons too, who had representatives present distributing Bibles. They handed out 500 in a single day!
We floated around the park engaging people in meaningful conversations about faith and what happens to a person when they die.
We handed out tracts and copies of The Man on the Middle Cross by Alister Begg. And, of course, we gave people access to The Jesus Film. It was an amazing time of ministry – and for fellowship among the GTWO team.
But there are other events too! For instance, Get the Word Out looks for opportunities to sing Christmas Carols and share the Gospel around Christmastime at events like the city’s Winter Stroll. It’s c-c-c-cold, but the Lord warms our hearts!
Amelia Emmons and Lori Kast – two of Jesus’ best – helm 3.0. It’s a daunting task to be sure, but they’re more than equal to the task with the Lord’s help.
So, there it is, Get the Word Out. If you are a believer who senses the importance of sharing the Gospel according to Jesus’ command, if you’re aware of the lateness of the hour, then there’ is definitely a place for you with us!
Jesus: “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation” (Mark 15:16).
Jesus: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
Jesus (in a parable): “The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled’” (Luke 14:23).
And so, into the world we go with the Gospel on our lips and joy in our hearts!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our GTWO 3.0 leaders, Amelia Emmons (amelia7joy@gmail.com) or Lori Kast (lorizkast@gmail.com).