Creating “Field of Dreams” Experiences at Your Church
This past week Major League Baseball held their first game at the “Field of Dreams” field when the Yankees played the White Sox. They played the game at the same location that the movie the “Field of Dreams” was filmed. It was a thrilling game that ended with a walk-off home run by the White Sox.
Have you ever seen the “Field of Dreams” movie? If not, its a movie about Ray Kinsella who builds a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield in Iowa that attracts legendary baseball players, including Shoeless Joe Jackson to come and play baseball. What Ray initially thought was a way to help these baseball players play the game they loved again, it was actually a way for him to reconnect with his father. It was a powerful story and a movie I would highly recommend.
What stands out to me is that this movie, is that it evoked a response from families not seen in a lot of other movies. This movie and the impact it has had on them has caused families from all over to come to and experience this, just like Ray Kinsella did with his father. See, the movie “Field of Dreams” was about relationships. It was about a connection between a father and a son. It related to families all over about how baseball connected people together. As James Earl Jones said, “People will Come” and come they have to this cornfield in Iowa year after year after year.
This brings me to our ministries. What are you doing in your ministry or what type of experiences are you creating that are creating a “people will come” moment? They may think they are coming for a Christmas play but it’s more than that. It’s about the experience and the feeling they get about connecting with their families and Jesus.
What king of experiences can you create this year for families that they are drawn to your Church week after week, year after year because it is something more? That is the challenge for all of us.
Church is never meant to be something we do and then go home. It is an experience for us to be part of. Look at the first Church in Acts 2:42-47. They shared their lives together and came day after day after day to experience this together. And the craziest thing happened. More and more people came all the time. Peoples lives were changed because of what was happening. How can you create those kinds of experiences? Again, that is the challenge for us today.
People will come to an experience they can’t get anywhere else. They will even travel halfway across the county to a cornfield in Iowa. What can you do today to create those kinds of experiences in your Church or ministry? You’ve got this! You can do this!
What do you think? Share your ideas below or on social media using #ymsidekick when you share.
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