Thanks to the USA Today tip, we heard about New Life Christian Church in Centreville, Va. and their ice cream truck. They spent $10,000 on an ice cream truck and have been driving around their community handing out free ice cream all summer long. Now there’s a way to get attention.
They have a blog chronicling the experience, though it hasn’t been updated in a while. But the blog does give an idea of the response:
Of course, most people were shocked that the ice cream was free. One lady was so blown away by free ice cream her only response was, “I gotta start coming to a church that gives out free ice cream.”
In addition to the ice cream, they’re giving out fliers advertising an upcoming movie night, which is a nice, non-churchy way for people to experience the church. It also sounds like they’re filming part of the experience (though the best lesson from that story is that the person answering the phone at church knew what was going on).
Free ice cream—now there’s an idea that doesn’t suck.
Kenny (blaqenedwyte blog)
August 23, 2005
Awesome, awesome, awesome idea. One of those ideas that make you kick yourself for not thinking of it first.
Greg Wythe
August 23, 2005
Depending on how hot it was outside, I might well convert to anything that offered me a free Mickey Mouse bar.
That said, I’m curious about this as a marketing concept. On the surface, the idea is certainly cool enough (pun intended). But the measure of marketing success, in commercial terms, is sales. In terms of church marketing, I’d think the measure of success would be to either a) gain people over to Christ, and/or b) get Christians who aren’t going to church into church. I’d be curious to see if there’s any results along these lines that relate to a few out-of-the-box ideas such as this.
kevin
August 23, 2005
My one complaint is the creepy large-headed people. They’re kind of freaky looking!
Michael
August 23, 2005
Love it! I agree with Kevin that it’s not the design I would have chosen…might have been cool to have the whole truck look frozen…Greg, good thinking…cool (puns are cool) this is great) isn’t enough. They need to make the churches name more prominent and definetly have a marketing plan and not just a marketing vehicle (another pun, this is great)…gaining a captive audience is the first step -accomplished- but it is what you do with that audience that matters long term.
eddie
August 23, 2005
this church spends $10,000 on an ice cream truck, most likely spends even more money buying ice cream to give away for free and then of course you have to buy gas to run this thing too…. and this is a great idea? is this really how god would want christians to use money collected in his name? has the church really become so impotent that it would resort to using cheap gimmicks like this to con people into filling up their pews on a sunday morning? is that really the point and purpose of the church? i’ll be honest, i no longer go to church and have seriously begun to question my faith because of self serving crap like this.
of course, this is just the way i see things and what do i know.
eddie
ruth
August 26, 2005
I think this is a great idea, but the church could just sell the ice cream to break even and not make a profit. You get the word out about God and maybe have bottled water donated to be given away free. Then you are also being conservative with God”s money, but not insentive to peoples needs. “Living water” always provied by God.
Michael
August 28, 2005
I just shake my head when people complain about the church spending money to attract people. Folks, when did the church become above being attractive?
Read your old testament. Gold walls, gold pillars…and we’re talking solid gold here…the house of worship was designed to attract and to echo the glory of God in it’s excellence.
It’s time that the church stop being so passive and meek…be bold! Don’t walk in the shadow of the world, don’t let the world set the pace of excellence…shine bright and cause the world to take notice.
ok…I feel better now.
eddie
August 28, 2005
you know, you’re absolutely right. keep living in the old testament and keep spending money trying to attract people to your churches instead of taking the time to actually serve them. after all, that’s what jesus would do, right?
eddie
Michael
August 29, 2005
Yes, eddie I’m stuck in old testament times…but I gotta tell you, it saves a lot of time…I never even have to church, a quick sacrifice of the family goat and we’re all set. Much more beach time that way.
I think you missed my point. I never said not to serve them. We should serve them and serve them exceptionally well. But in order to serve someone they must arrive first. The most talented, friendly and eager waiter is useless without a customer to wait on.
Would you like fries with that?
eddie
August 29, 2005
why must you wait for someone to arrive before you can serve them? do you not have two feet to take you to those in need? do you not have two hands you can use to help where you can?
believe me, i got your point just fine… i just don’t believe in your agenda.
Michael
August 30, 2005
Well I guess we all have our giftings and ways to minister. For me it is better to reach a grouping of people, for you it may be to reach them one by one.
We need a mix of both, sometimes Christ ministered one on one, sometimes he reached the masses. We should do BOTH as Christ has asked us…love your neighbor…don’t forsake the assembly…
My ‘agenda’ is quite simple, tell people (in my case as many as possible) about what Christ has done and what He can do.
tencent
August 30, 2005
all I can say is, the ice cream truck vendors in that area who pay for a state license and town vendor’s permit are screwed. If its anything like here in some parts of MA, to lease a truck costs $300+ a week, not to mention buying the ice cream for resale and gas at about $25 a day. The church is doing these guys a huge disservice. Somebody should be crying foul and not about the church bringing in the sheep with an ice cream truck.
Phillip Ross
September 4, 2005
How does authenticity square with a church that does ice cream truck evangelism? What does ice cream have to do with the gospel? Surely, generosity is a good thing. But giving ice cream away to a nation suffering from an epidemic of obesity hardly qualifies as Christian charity.
Ice cream evangelism is simply a gimmick. And gimmicks are not authentic. Authentic people do not employ gimmicks.
Phil
Amy Stokes
September 6, 2005
I read your posts and have been praying for you Eddie. My husband and I will continue to pray for you. I pray that God would soften your heart and show you His truth. It seems as if you may have been hurt in the past by someone in the church and I am sorry that has happened. Remember that because of sin’s presence in the world, no human is perfect and that includes Christians. We are forgiven through Christ and only because of His blood we are made white as snow.
God has called us to reach out to others for His glory. It’s not about filling up the pews for self-gain. Think how many more people hear His message by filling those pews. Think of those that may not have come to church because of the ice cream, but a seed may have been planted. It could be days, months, years for that seed to develop but at least they (the church) are taking a chance. A church does not grow by just sitting there. This passage has always stood out to me. To reach others, Paul became like them.
1 Corinthians
9:11 If we sowed spiritual blessings among you, is it too much to reap material things from you? 9:12 If others receive this right from you, are we not more deserving?But we have not made use of this right. Instead we endure everything so that we may not be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ. 9:13 Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple eat food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar receive a part of the offerings? 9:14 In the same way the Lord commanded those who proclaim the gospel to receive their living by the gospel. 9:15 But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing these things so that something will be done for me. In fact, it would be better for me to die than–no one will deprive me of my reason for boasting!7 9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! 9:17 For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward. But if I do it unwillingly, I am entrusted with a responsibility. 9:18 What then is my reward? That when I preach the gospel I may offer the gospel free of charge, and so not make full use of my rights in the gospel.
9:19 For since I am free from all I can make myself a slave to all, in order to gain even more people. 9:20 To the Jews I became like a Jew to gain the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) to gain those under the law. 9:21 To those free from the law I became like one free from the law (though I am not free from God’s law but under the law of Christ) to gain those free from the law. 9:22 To the weak I became weak in order to gain the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that by all means I may save some.
9:23 I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.
9:24 Do you not know that all the runners in a stadium compete, but only one receives the prize? So run to win. 9:25 Each competitor must exercise self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
9:26 So I do not run uncertainly or box like one who hits only air. 9:27 Instead I subdue my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself will not be disqualified.
May you be blessed.>><
eddie
September 7, 2005
hi amy, please don’t pray for me. i do not want or need your agenda driven prayers. contrary to what you might think, i have not been hurt by anyone in the church, i simply do not believe in its self-righteous purpose anymore. also, if you really want me to tell me something, i’d be more than happy to listen to YOU. but quoting the bible to make your point just tells me you don’t have an original thought of your own and i don’t need your holier than thou interpretation of it.
you can keep your blessings, thank you.
eddie
shamque
September 12, 2005
Wow! Eddie you are very deep. All I can say is at least they are trying. I wonder what you are doing to save souls and to sow a seed to the lost or should I say unbelievers. You don’t go to church anymore, but I hope you have that RELATIONSHIP with GOD and the Holy spirit who guides you, comforts you and gives you more understanding about everything. In my opinion it is not all about how much the bills are when your walking in faith and allowing the holy spirit to lead you (if you know what I mean). It is a blessing to be able to give and my Daddy has always told me GIVE AND IT SHALL COME BACK TO YOU, GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN SHAKING TOGETHER, AND RUNNING OVER SHALL MAN GIVE TO YOU. I hope your feeling me. May God bless you and your family!
vanterpool
September 16, 2005
hey I was just surfing the net to purchase a ice cream truck to use for fundraising at our church to help our youths men you guys are intense! Well I was wondering if you would thing that a ice cream truck could be use as a tool for fundraising instead of a primary tool for evangelism.
Kelly
September 16, 2005
Isn’t is serving to give out ice cream to hot people? Doesn’t serving cost money?
just curious…
Eddie
September 24, 2005
“All I can say is at least they are trying.”
trying to do what? save unbelievers from their self-righteous judgment?
“I wonder what you are doing to save souls and to sow a seed to the lost or should I say unbelievers.”
i don’t save souls, i’m not god… are you?
“It is a blessing to be able to give and my Daddy has always told me GIVE AND IT SHALL COME BACK TO YOU, GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN SHAKING TOGETHER, AND RUNNING OVER SHALL MAN GIVE TO YOU”
is that really what you see this church is doing with their ice cream truck? please! you can at least try to use that in it’s proper context (but you probably have no idea what i mean).
look, you guys can do whatever you want and believe whatever you want to believe. i honestly don’t even know why i bothered to chime in here… but i’ll try not to make that mistake again.
eddie
Rob
December 3, 2005
I didn’t read through all the comments but i wanted to quickly add my two cents to some of the fired up people out there. It really is just a question.
If even just one soul comes to know Christ through that Ice Cream truck, is all that not worth it?
Jen
March 17, 2006
Um, going back to an old post from August 28.
Eddie said: “INSTEAD of taking the time to actually serve them…”
Well, I thought the whole point of the Ice Cream Truck is TO “serve them.” HELLO?