"Every Member a Committee Member"

MERIDIAN, MS - At Magnolia Lane Christian Church (MLCC), the new church slogan is driving a revival.

According to Pastor Jimmy Deason, "I've been here for nine years, and I haven't ever seen anything quite like this. Our church folks are just so excited about being here and about serving the community. I know it is an act of God, but I think the new church slogan has a lot to do with it, too."

TBNN has learned that MLCC had been gradually declining in membership for the past 13 years. Then something amazing happened. In February of this year, some of the members suggested a new slogan to get people excited. "I was a bit skeptical at first," said church secretary Melba Higgins, "but when I saw the reaction of the people, I was convinced."

What had been the problem for the past 13 years? Pastor Deason said, "We just couldn't get people to fill all of our committee positions. We currently have 66 committees, but last year only 24 of those had more than three members. Without the committees functioning, the church just can't operate as it needs to."

David Tett, one of the principle members involved in the new slogan, told us, "We saw a great need, and decided to meet it. We suggested the new slogan - Every Member a Committee Member - because it met that need, was original, and was something people could rally around." And rally they have.

Secretary Higgins reported at a church meeting last week that almost every committee is now full. That means at least seven members per committee. In fact, only five committees are lacking enough members at this time. These are: the custodial committee, the evangelism committee, the orphans and widows committee, the Christmas decoration removal committee, and the youth clean-up committee. Also, church membership is up by six over this time last year.

Even the youth think this is cool. Amanda Pauls, a ninth-grader at MLCC, exclaimed "Things are so exciting now! People actually want to come to church. We all get to serve on a committee - it makes us all feel so involved, and like we're serving. I'm on the youth fun and games committee."

Pastor Deason summed up the situation for TBNN, "Some churches believe that every member should be a minister, and that's fine for them. We caught a different vision. We wanted to take things down to the most basic level for the church. Thanks be to God that we realized that if the committees don't work, the church won't work. Once we got the new slogan in place, the committees started working again. That led to involvement and excitement in church. What a breath of fresh air!"