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Church hopes to pack pews for Easter cash giveaway

$500 will be given to 2 lucky souls who attend Lindenwald Baptist on April 24.

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 9:33 PM Monday, March 21, 2011

HAMILTON — Last year, the Lindenwald Baptist Church held its first “1,000 Strong Easter Celebration Give-Away,” in which it offered a $1,000 cash — $500 each to a member and a guest — to boost Easter Sunday attendance.

The church, which normally has a Sunday attendance of around 500, according to Pastor Randy Moore, recorded 1,137 in attendance that day, well-exceeding the goal of 1,000, and packed the sanctuary to the rafters.

“A lot of our members gave up their seats and went to the foyer to listen,” Moore said.

“We had a parking lot crew help direct traffic and a police escort to help everyone get out of here when we were done.”

Even better, he said, 36 people gave their lives to Christ that day.

It was such a momentous day that member Andy Judd was in the back room praying with the new converts and didn’t hear his name the first time it was called as a $500 winner.

He ended up giving all of it away anyhow, including giving $100 each to two boys who were among the 36 saved that day.

“I saw them shed some tears that day, and the Lord put it in my heart to give it to them,” he said.

The winning guest was Fairfield resident Elza Brock, who had been visiting the church off and on for a few months. He, too, gave the money away, first to his wife, Faye, of 56 years, who dispersed the funds to their son — who needed some plumbing work done on his house — and to another family needing some electrical work done on their house.

Brock said he wasn’t at all surprised to have won the drawing as he seems to have good luck with such things, having previously won a cruise, which he didn’t take because his wife doesn’t like being on the water, and a three-day vacation to anywhere in the U.S., for which they opted for cash instead because his wife doesn’t like to fly, either.

The Brocks became members of Lindenwald Baptist Church in September.

The church is going to repeat the offer this Easter, which falls on April 24, and on future Easters, the pastor said.

“With the economy as bad as it’s been, we felt this was a way we can be a blessing in the financial realm as well as the spiritual,” Moore said.

“We give a lot of money to foreign missions, but we thought that for Easter, it would be a blessing to give money to some of our own.”

The Easter service will also include a musical program performed by members of the congregation and an Easter egg hunt for children afterward. The church offers a bus ministry for children every Sunday, Moore noted.

“It’s not just a money give-away, but a full gospel program,” he said.

And if the house is packed again, Moore said that members of his congregation agreed to go outside and listen through the windows if necessary.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

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