March 3 , 2023
Ten Ways to Increase Your Bus Attendance
As we get into this new year and especially into the springtime , we want to get things going on our bus routes quickly and with excitement ! I want to give you ten ideas to help increase your bus attendance for this year !
We do not want to get into a slump on our bus routes by going through the same motions on Saturday , the same activities and motions on Sunday and by having the same results week after week — or worse , by seeing our attendance begin to drop . When attendance drops , discouragement sets in , worker participation dwindles and we begin to lose vision for our route .
Let me share with you a few things that will help to increase your bus attendance .
1 . Make a Plan
Look at your year calendar and make plans to have a great year ! Make a list of special days that are naturally good days to set goals and have big days on the bus route .
Include all of your workers , in - cluding your bus driver , in a meeting to share ideas and promotional plans . There is nothing that will ex - cite you quite like planning special days and programs and big days !
I wonder how far ahead major events are planned in the sports world . Most likely it is an ongoing
Editor ’ s Notes
■ Continued from p 2■
What people expect you to do and what you ought to do may be two entirely different things .
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What the contemporary experts tell you to do and what you should do may be and probably will be two entirely different things .
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Ten years ago it was blogs ; now the rage is podcasts . To this day I have not heard of even one person who got saved because of a blog or a podcast . But knocking on doors , personal soul winning , public invitations and bus routes , well , that ’ s a whole different story with daily reports of souls saved .
National Sword of the Lord Conference , July 17 – 20 , at Gospel Light Baptist Church , Walkertown ( Winston- Salem ), North Carolina
We are going to have a lot of good things for you and your family as well as your pastor , your church workers and everybody else . Re - member — every seat is a free seat , no registration fees at all . All sessions , everything , is open and available to all who attend .
Sword Men ’ s Conference , November 10 – 11 , 2023 , at Sword Headquarters , Murfreesboro , Tennessee
We will have full details very soon . This is a special event for men ( ninth grade and up ). The seating process that goes on around the calendar .
2 . Set a Goal !
You do not have to set a record attendance goal to get your route going and growing again , but you do need to set a goal . When we set a goal it gets our minds to thinking of the work and details required to reach that goal .
A goal causes us to get back to the things we were doing when our route was going and growing . Set a goal to increase your numbers by just ten over the next month and see if that doesn ’ t help .
3 . Spend Time in Prayer
Ask God to let you remember the burden you once had . Ask God to let you see what you did when you first took that route and visited each house and person for the first time . Do you remember the broken heart you had ? Do you remember the passion and desire you had for those children ? Get alone with God and pray until God rekindles that fire in your heart .
4 . Enlist Workers to Help You
Ask some folks at church this week if they will help you next Saturday and Sunday to reach a goal you have set on your route . I have found when I go soul winning with a new soul winner or partner that I am motivated in my wit - nessing or signing up new riders , because I desire to be a good
space in our auditorium limits this one to about 250 , so early registration is good .
Let ’ s Not Forget
“ Then beware lest thou forget the
LORD , which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt , from the house of bondage .”— Deut . 6:12 .
In those famous words to Israel now preserved in God ’ s Word for us , we have a solemn warning alerting us to the danger of for - getting God . It is an alert that needs to be heralded across the land and it needs to begin in the house of God . I think often of another warning from the New Testament .
“ For the time is come that judg - ment must begin at the house of God : and if it first begin at us , what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God ?”— I Pet . 4:17 .
With those mandates in view , let ’ s consider :
1 . There is a God in Heaven .
“ But there is a God in heaven .…”— Dan . 2:28 .
“ I am the LORD , and there is none else , there is no God beside me : I girded thee , though thou hast not known me :
“ That they may know from the rising of the sun , and from the west , that there is none beside me . I am the
LORD , and there is none else .”— Isa . 45:5 , 6 .
2 . The Bible is the Word of God .
“ And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures , which are
SWORD OF THE LORD 3 example for others . 5 . Prepare a Sharp Flier
This is a good practice for every week . Perhaps you have become bored in even preparing the fliers for bus visitation . Add some pizzazz to your flier for your new goal ! Add some sparkle to your flier that will grab the attention of your workers and riders .
6 . Listen to Sermons That Will Stir You for Souls
Recently while traveling home from a meeting , I listened to Dr . John Rice via MP3 . I had planned to drive halfway home that night and finish the trip the next morning . While listening to sermons on revival I was so stirred and excited that I drove all the way home , which was nearly four hundred miles !
There are hundreds of sermons available that will stir you up about your bus route and soul winning .
7 . Plan an Extra Visitation Time
Certainly Saturday visitation is the best time to visit a bus route in preparation for a Sunday . But to get that route going and growing again , plan some extra visitation time for a Tuesday or Thursday evening . Make a point to win a bus family to Christ on that night .
8 . Go to the Parks or Places Where Kids Are Playing
Take some fliers and go where kids are outside playing . This will allow you to find what you may not find in going door to door . This could be a big boost to getting that route growing again !
9 . Call Your Riders on Sunday Morning to Get Them Up and Ready for the Bus
This is always a good idea but perhaps something that you have forgotten or neglected to do . Make a list of the names and telephone numbers and call the kids about
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus .
“ All scripture is given by inspi - ration of God , and is profitable for doctrine , for reproof , for correction , for instruction in righteousness .”— II Tim . 3:15 , 16 .
3 . The church is God ’ s idea .
“ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together , as the manner of some is ; but exhorting one another : and so much the more , as ye see the day approaching .”— Heb . 10:25 .
4 . Marriage and family are a priority !
“ So God created man in his own image , in the image of God created he him ; male and female created he them .
“ And God blessed them , and God said unto them , Be fruitful , and multiply .…”— Gen . 1:27 , 28 .
“ Marriage is honourable in all .…”— Heb . 13:4 .
5 . The Christian lifestyle is a scriptural expectation .
“ Teaching us that , denying ungod - liness and worldly lusts , we should live soberly , righteously , and godly , in this present world .”— Titus 2:12 .
6 . The Great Commission is still our assignment .
“ Go ye therefore , and teach all nations , baptizing them in the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost :
“ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you : and , lo , I am with you alway , even unto the end of the world . thirty to forty minutes before pickup time . This will allow them to get up and get ready before the bus arrives .
With the use of cell phones , this is much easier to do now than it was previously when we always used land lines .
10 . Award Not Only Riders but Also Workers for Outstanding Work on Your Route
Most often we spend money on promotions for the bus riders , which is good and right to do . However , you may establish a reward or prize for the bus worker that produces the most for a week or a month on your bus .
You may take him out to eat , take him to a baseball game or invite him to the captain ’ s house for a meal . Also , recognize him in church . The pastor would be glad to recognize a worker that brought visitors to church .
Until next time let ’ s keep those buses rolling ! Also , let me hear of the blessings of the Lord on your route or ministry . Write to me at pastorfugate @ msn . com ||
Amen .”— Matt . 28:19 , 20 .
7 . Jesus is coming again !
“ In my Father ’ s house are many mansions : if it were not so , I would have told you . I go to prepare a place for you .”— John 14:2 .
Obviously , the list could be longer , but there is little need to lengthen the list until we get these basic matters in place .
With our world headed so wrong , it is all the more important that you and I keep our perspective , guard our testimony and stand our ground . Certainly the ancient admonition of Deuteronomy 6 is still timely , “ Lest thou forget ” ( vs . 12 ).
This and That
The Power of the Gospel
The apostle Paul wrote , “ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ : for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; to the Jew first , and also to the Greek ” ( Rom . 1:16 ). Instead of being ashamed of it , he was tremendously convinced of its power !
Anyone not conscious of the power of the Gospel is apt to be ashamed of it . Therein lies the secret for much of the unreadiness to preach Christ today on the part
The first weekend of February , Betty and I drove up to Paducah for the 70th birthday of my brother David . We met on Saturday noon with my siblings at a restaurant where we ate a good meal and enjoyed the celebration with David .
On Friday night we met at the same restaurant with Betty ’ s siblings and others of her family . The restau rant was not crowded and they graciously accommodated our group of 22 . We had a really sweet time with all of them .
Midafternoon on Saturday Betty and I made the 180-mile trip back to Murfreesboro . We arrived home just after four o ’ clock , watched some basketball and made ready for church the next morning .
John H . McComb
of ministers and laymen .
So many professing Christians lack personal knowledge of what it can do — this Gospel . They have never been saved by it ! Therefore , they feel no obligation to give it to others .
Looked at merely as a theore - tical philosophy without reference to its power or what it claims to be able to do , Christianity appears to the unregenerate mind as a thing to be ashamed of .
Its Founder died a criminal ’ s death . His followers were for the most part , in those early days , the poorest of the poor , lacking educa - tion , men who had little money and little respectability .
The upper classes held them - selves aloof from such a belief . The idea of man needing a Saviour to die in his place is repulsive in the extreme to the unregenerate heart . Such a heart is self-sufficient and self-righteous .
It denies God ’ s claims because it cannot appreciate them . The natural man reasons that if he needs saving he can do it himself . But he cannot .
But on the other hand , when one is conscious of the power of the Gospel to transform lives and situations , communities and move - ments , one is not ashamed of it . Paul knew this power because he had experienced it and seen it at work in others .
From a persecutor of the church and a sworn enemy of the Gospel , the power of Christ had trans - formed him into the apostle to the Gentiles . He knew what it took to effect the change in himself .
The first place to appreciate the power of Christ is in one ’ s own heart . Again and again , Paul referred to his marvelous conversion because it conclusively demonstrates the power of Christ and shows Christ is the Son of God , the Lord from Heaven .
But Paul knew of the power of the Gospel because he had seen and was continually seeing its effect in the communities to which he brought it . He in his ministry had a greater opportunity to see this .
He had taken the Gospel to Corinth , where luxury and im - morality abounded , and had seen a flourishing church spring up out of the gospel seed . He had taken it to Ephesus , the center of the worship of the heathen goddess Diana , and had seen the Gospel bring forth a strong church there .
He had taken the precious seed to Philippi and , despite the worship of evil spirits there , had founded a strong church . He knew the power of the Gospel . Rich and poor , cultured and uncultured had been converted as he preached the Gospel .
Today the Gospel has the same power . I too have seen the Gos - pel ’ s power convert souls in all sorts of communities . The Gospel transforms men and women . I am not ashamed of it .
I have seen it deliver men and women from sin ; I have seen it make drunkards become sober and devout ; I have seen it free drug addicts from that accursed habit ; I have seen it make prostitutes pure , liars truthful , thieves honest and arrogant men humble and kind .
Therefore , I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ , for I know it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes .
Though I was brought up in a Continued on p 8 ▶