PROJECT: Spartanburg County SC

Spartanburg is the largest city and the county seat of Spartanburg County in South Carolina and is the second-largest city of the three primary cities in the Upstate region of South Carolina.

"To date we have had 1,219 responses.
Of those responses, 1,088 have been Bible study interests."

In the fall of 2006, the Spartanburg Seventh-day Adventist Church stepped out in faith to sponsor a Steps to Christ mailing to 113,758 homes in their county, inspired by the mailings recently completed in the San Francisco Bay Area. The church, with the help of the Carolina Conference, was able to raise the funds for the project in an unprecedented 2½ weeks. The Path to Peace, the mass-mailing edition of Steps to Christ that would be mailed to every home, was customized with the county name and landmark images from the county seat of Spartanburg to better help connect readers with the book they would be receiving in their mail.

All 113,758 books were mailed from the Review & Herald in January 2007, arriving in the homes early the following month. Just after the books went out, the Sunday edition of the county newspaper carried a 3”x3” sticker on the front page, alerting 80,000 subscribing households that they would be receiving Path to Peace in the next few days. Additional mailings of 14,946 Steps to Christ were sent to the city of Gaffney in neighboring Cherokee County in February and May.

Pastor Mike Hill, associate pastor of the Spartanburg Church, who helped coordinate much of the mailing follow-up, shared his excitement about the project:

“PROJECT: Steps to Christ continues to be a blessing to our church and community. To date we have had 1,219 responses. Of those responses, 1,088 have been Bible study interests, coupled with hundreds of requests for information on various felt needs ranging from stopping smoking, loneliness, finances, parenting, and stress management, to name a few.

An “unexpected blessing” they experienced through the mailing was that of reaching Adventist members who “through the years slipped away” from the church. Pastor Hill shared how one such member found her way back to the Adventist Church after 30 years.   

“When she received The Path to Peace, the heart was pricked and conscience was aroused. At the initiative of the Holy Spirit, she has since attended Sabbath school and church services and is actively engaged in Bible studies.”

“As a pastor there is one thing that excites me above all others: members of my church becoming actively engaged in the
work of soul winning. PROJECT: Steps to Christ has
provided that opportunity.”

The Spartanburg County project has become a model project in many respects. Church participation has been on every level, from pastors to lay members, and from funding to follow-up.

The church put together a well-organized follow-up program, headed up by a local coordinator who was responsible for seeing that the ones who asked for materials or Bible studies were contacted to be sure they had received the material requested. A large number of members volunteered to help with the telephone calling.

Two of those volunteers were Daniel and Vicki. “It was a real blessing to be able to participate in calling the contacts from the Steps to Christ mailing,” says Daniel. “Almost everyone was very kind and seemed genuinely appreciative for the materials. We were touched by many of the prayer requests listed on the cards and it helped us realize how many people are hurting in our community. There are so many people reaching out for help and in need of a loving church family.”

Pastor Hill has seen the impact of the project on his members. “As a pastor there is one thing that excites me above all others: members of my church becoming actively engaged in the work of soul winning. PROJECT: Steps to Christ has provided that opportunity in a manner that effectively removes the intimidation factor and allows laity to join hands with Jesus in His great work.”

The Spartanburg project, while being a model of local church participation, has also broken other records. The response rate for this particular mailing has been almost double that of other mailings. Yes, Spartanburg is in the heart of the Bible belt; but the combination of much prayer and faith, along with the customized book and newspaper advertising, attended by the Holy Spirit, we believe helped make this project an overall success.

“Thanks to PROJECT: Steps to Christ and all the staff,” says Dr. Robert Addison, who helped launch and steer the project, “all phases of this project have gone smoothly. God has certainly blessed this project. Evangelistic series are being planned for the month of October.”

The Spartanburg Church has planted and now God is causing His life-giving word to spring forth in many hearts. For Pastor Hill the thousand plus responses has been encouraging, but he realizes it’s not about numbers. “While I know that many lives have been and are being changed as a result of the PROJECT: Steps to Christ ministry, one soul is worth the cost and all of the effort our church has put into this project.”

We couldn't agree more.

 “I finally found the truth in the Bible because of your books.
I have been looking for true under- standing for a long time.
I am 70 years old, so better late than never.”

Steps to Christ reader, Spartanburg County