Do you want fries with that?

PHOTO BY Claudean Boatman

Three years ago Reuben and Donna Drebenstedt inherited an A&W Family Restaurant they didnt want. The leaseholder had defaulted on the Frisco, Colorado, property that had been in the Jewish-turned-Christian couples family since 1986. Torn between a banks tempting offer to buy the property or adopting again the burden of the business world, which they had left for Christian ministry 25 years before, the couple made a prayerful decision.

We heard from God,  Reuben says. God spoke to us at the same time to make this into a mission. So thats what we did.

From the outset, Donna envisioned the marquee displaying a Christian message. The marquee, with scripture references on both sides, draws some of their customers.

The Christian witness continues inside the restaurant. Bibles and tracts in several languages are free for the taking at each entrance and near the cash registers. The music of choice is Christian, some with a distinct Jewish flavor. Quality customer service and cleanliness are important at this A&W. Everything here needs to honor God. We want people to see its different, says Donna.

What we hope to do, she says, is to provoke questions and conversations about the gospel.

Their A&W has accomplished that. The couple reports that many have been saved through the restaurant ministry, including staff and customers.

Perhaps one of their favorite salvation stories is that of Andy Ting, longtime employee and manager of the A&W. The Drebenstedts built a relationship with Andy, sharing Christ with him when the opportunity arose.

The Chinese man was a practicing Buddhist. Even so, when he observed a child crumpling a tract near the cash register he said, This is about God. You dont crumple things about God. The Drebenstedts went with Andy to a Chinese church in Denver. One December day, in an A&W booth, Andy asked Jesus into his life.

The evangelical purpose of the restaurant is explained to prospective employees, including summer missionaries. Christian employees are encouraged to share Christ with non-Christian employees and customers any time the door is open. Employees are given time off to attend Bible study, worship services and Christian functions. Videos, tracts, books and Bibles are available in several languages since employees come from all over the worldcountries such as Russia, Belarus, China and countries in South America.

The Drebenstedts transferred ownership of the restaurant to HaShem, Inc., under the umbrella of Menorah Ministries. Reuben directs Menorah Ministries. Profits go to missions. Menorah partnered with Colorado Southern Baptists to begin Jewish and Russian congregations in Denver. The Drebenstedts continue the partneship by donating the use of the restaurant to church planters in the Frisco area.

Hes more than a carpenter
Don Knotts is no Barney Fife but the West Virginia pastor does have big-gun plans for his small-town church. Now in his fourth year as a bi-vocational pastor (hes also a building contractor), Don divides his time between building a congregation, constructing buildings and raising a family.

Don Knotts with his blueprints for work and blueprints for life. PHOTO BY dale sparks

We dont sleep, he says, laughing. Sleep is just a waste of time.

The lines between his three careers are increasingly blurred as necessity calls for his building and ministerial skills to work side by side. For example, catastrophic floods swept through the state a couple of years ago destroying the homes of local residents.

Rebuilding homes is a ministry in itself, Don says. I love doing that.

Don began his ministry in local hospitals like United Hospital Center in Clarksburg, West Virginia, where he would visit patients and hold church services. From there he moved on to become a fill-in pastor for several unpastored churches in his area. He did this all while he and his family were still active members of another church, Fellowship Baptist Church.

But then Don was called to work as an interim pastor at Wayside Baptist Church in Buckhannon, West Virginia. He is now a senior pastor who has seen his congregation grow from fewer than 30 to nearly 100 attenders. Rather than a radical move, Don sees pastoring as a natural progression for many serious Christians.

Growing and maturing in the church calls for more responsibility, and out of necessity you begin to do what Gods plan is with your own family in the church and then spreading out to do other ministry, Don says. God gradually grew me and matured me and moved me in that direction.

In addition to pastoring and preaching on Sundays, Don still visits hospitals as well as retirement villages and homebound residents. And because these people have a hard time making it to church, he has set up a makeshift video ministry so these special needs people can watch the service at home. His church also has started outside-the-box ministries such as biker Sundays to attract local motorcyclists, plus hunter and sportsman Sunday and Superbowl parties during which Don will show a video of professional athletes sharing their testimonies.

We do these things to reach people where they are, he says. We want to show them that, yeah, were still a church full of flawed people, but were saved and trying.

Along with the core congregation that has increased during the last few years, Don inherited a 20,000-square-foot building at the corner of Route 43 and Brushy Fork Road that should provide Wayside Baptist with plenty of growing room.

In the future he would like to have professional video equipment to record sermons for hospital and homebound residents. He dreams of some day moving into full-time ministry. But until God says otherwise, his sermons will play on VHS tapes and his living will come from Knotts General Contracting, the company he owns.

Were just having a good time, he says. Were just starting. Were like a new work.

Harvesting heritage

Eliseo Aldape holds a walking stick he made at a camp in Colorado.

PHOTO BY Richard mccormack

This summer more than 30 people made professions of faith during an evangelistic service held in conjuntion with the annual meeting of the National Hispanic Baptist Fellowship and Southern Baptist Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. Fifteen of those new Christians helped form the core group that started a new Hispanic church in the area.

As a national missionary for the North American Mission Board, Eliseo Aldapes goal is to start more of these Hispanic churches. This new church was born because of the hard work exhibited by the local people who labored to bring lost people to Christ, says Eliseo.

Starting Hispanic churches is part of Eliseos heritage. His parents helped start a Hispanic church in Texas in 1928. Eliseo was born and raised in Crystal City, Texas. His father, born in Mexico, was a field laborer while his mother, a native Texan, stayed at home and made sure the family was well fed and taken care of. As a child Eliseo attended Primera Iglesia Bautista where his parents were founding members.

During his four years of high school the church didnt have a full-time pastor, so he and a friend took turns preaching at the church. Thats when Eliseo started to feel that God was calling him into the ministry. My friend and I were very active in the youth group and everything else at church, says Eliseo. Out of that environment I realized that God was calling me into full-time Christian service. I made my commitment to serve God, wherever he wanted me, right before I graduated.

Eliseos role as a national missionary is to assist church-planting leaders across the convention to develop and implement church-planting strategies.

This awesome task is not without its struggles. We have a real need for qualified, God-called church planters, says Eliseo. We know that God has prepared many for the harvest, but we need more pastors. We are hoping that strategies being developed by the North American Mission Board will empower Hispanic leaders to go beyond themselves and start a movement of church planters.

Surfs up at church

PHOTO BY MORRIS ABERNATHY

If you visit Pacific Beach in mid-morning, you might see Evan Lauer slide from his 1960 VW mini-bus to check the waves. But the 40-year-old married father of three is preparing for more than a day of sun bathing and surfing. He happens to be a Southern Baptist pastor, and to minister to his community he uses everything.  This includes his six surfboards (three of which are on active duty), his long-term relationship with west coast waves and his mode of transportation, which has become a sort of icon for the surfing community.

Because surfing is the central point of life for many in the San Diego community, Evan makes it his life to meet surfers, and others, where they are.

Thats who we know, says Evan. Ive been in the surfing culture 20 years, and Im able to meet people in this community on their level.

While Coastlands Church appeals to surfers with its surfing pastor, the informal dress code (many attenders arrive in beachware) and the fact that it occasionally holds services on the beach, Evan wants people to experience faith, not fad.

The only thing that makes it a surfer church is that we have a lot of surfers who attend, says Evan. I dont want people to come because were surfers, but because God is here. I dont want them to think Oh what a cool church, because being cool is not whats going to sustain us.

This year the church will celebrate its fifth year in the Pacific Beach community where it meets in the 500-seat auditorium of a local middle school. Average attendance is around 100 and much of the churchs interactions take place in local coffee shops, on the beach, along the road near the beach or over email.

While Evan and his staff do have offices, they try to spend as little time there as possible. I really try to spend time in our community. I hang out on the main streets in Pacific Beach.

I make sure Im meeting people on their turf instead of expecting them to meet me at my church.