Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

had first been held by “Slick” Goodman of Beth Haven Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky,
who brought 334 riders; later a young boy in First Baptist Church, Hammond, Indiana, brought
351 from one route on one Sunday. Henion worked several weeks to pack his buses, and when
space ran out he began asking adults in the homes if they would follow his bus to Sunday
School; the 29 who came in cars were not counted in this record attendance of 387. On Roundup
Day four routes averaged 200 riders or more, also noteworthy of record.
Four hundred and ninety teens met at the high school a few blocks away. Last Easter
40,000 Easter eggs were distributed in a city park. A huge speaker system was installed; the
mayor and members of the city council were present, and police helicopters dropped the candied
eggs on the clusters of children throughout the park. Over 5,000 tracts were distributed and the
gospel was preached to the 10,000 who gathered.
On another occasion, workers from the church handed out 40,000 tickets inviting people
to “the world’s largest banana split,” a 520-foot-long banana split.
Markets donated hundreds of pounds of bananas and Ferrell’s Ice Cream Stores donated
140 gallons of ice cream.
At other times, Ray has had an elephant, Gentle Ben the Bear, of television fame, and
pony rides to promote church attendance. When criticized, he simply replied, “The generation of
this world is wiser than the children of light.” He went on to indicate, “We never take away from
the gospel, and the promotion always takes place after Sunday School.” He went on to comment,
“Children ought to have a good attitude about Sunday School, and if we can’t win them to
Christ, then someone else down the road might reach them with the gospel.”
Last Easter, Ray sponsored a drive-in church at a local drive-in theater and over 1,000
attended, who were not in his usual Sunday morning congregation.
On Family Day, a color photograph was taken of every family present by a commercial
photographer, who set up three cameras after the morning service to photograph all the church
families, who had to return the following week to get the free photograph. The project only cost
the church $200.00. Promotion involved four letters to the families, before and after the outreach.
According to Ray over 200 new families were reached with the gospel.
On Marriage Reaffirmation Day all who were saved or rededicated since their salvation
were asked to stand before the church and to reaffirm their marriage vows in a Christian
ceremony—to the glory of God; over 60 individuals participated in the service.
On Perfect Church Sunday a large picture of a church was cut into segments and sent to
people in the Sunday School with the exhortation, “Attend so the church will be complete with
your part of the puzzle. Make it your church home.”
On Policeman Appreciation Day over 200 policemen and their families attended. A
personal letter of invitation was sent to every police officer in Orange County. Ray had secured
the signature of Governor Ronald Reagan for a certificate of appreciation to the policemen. The
certificate, on fine linen paper, was printed in the church’s print shop.