About a year ago, before launch, we had a several hundred books of matches printed with the Restore logo. We took them to bars, clubs and restaurants in the area. Some places were delighted to have them. Others couldn't believe that a church would pass out matches.
We didn't pass out all of the matchbooks. I found the extras while cleaning out a closet at the office so I brought them to service for our Contribute Fair.
A woman who attends Restore was passing by the table and noticed the matches. She came up to me and wondered why we had them. I told her that the matches had been part of a little marketing plan we had before launch. She couldn't believe. She went on to explain that her father was a smoker and had been scolded repeatedly by his church community years ago for smoking. When he couldn't (or wouldn't) quit, the church turned its back on him. He quit the church immediately. He hadn't ever gone back.
And so this woman was standing there holding a matchbook and said, 'that's why I love it here--we're trying to reach everyone."
She took a couple of matchbooks for her father and told me she looked forward to serving the community at one of our events.
While I don't condone smoking, I do know that the matches got people thinking about church in a different way. Sometimes that's all we need to accomplish.
