Ben Snyder’s first memory is of kneeling beside his bed to invite Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior. When other kids in school were collecting baseball cards, Ben was collecting autographs of missionaries in the back of his Bible. In the 7th Grade, he filled out a career card and said he wanted to be a pastor. “It just felt right to me,” he said. He led prayer groups and was mentored by a leader his church’s junior high ministry.
Then along the way, something happened. Ben got caught up in a spirit of self-righteousness and arrogance. And he turned his back on his religion. “In my last year of high school and into college, I became the opposite of a Christian,” he says.
Following the “Carpe Diem” path, his life became harder and harder to control. “I found myself empty and directionless,” he says. One night, armed with a fake ID, he went out drinking. “That’s when it hit me that I had to rely on external circumstances to have a good time,” he says. “Suddenly, I just wanted to be home with my parents. They had always been gracious in dealing with their son who was ‘a little off the reservation.” When he went to church with his parents, God spoke to him. “I finally recognized I was precious to Him not because of my efforts to win His approval, but because of Who He was.”
Fresh off the Carpe Diem Path, it was time to start looking for a church. But after three weeks at one church, no one had spoken to him. “Reality set in,” says Ben. “When I walked through the doors, I didn’t look ‘the part.’ No one ever reached out to welcome me and it irritated me because I’d seen enough people who could dress the part, but who didn’t have a heart for God.” Wearing earrings and spikey hair, Ben was on a search to reconnect with God, but in an environment that didn’t seem to know what to do with people like him.
Eventually, I wound up at Cedar Creek (near Toledo, Ohio),” says Ben. “That’s where I found a vibrant, passionate community that welcomed everyone—even spikey haired types like me who wore earrings!”
Fast forward a few years. Ben is now the campus pastor for Cedar Creek’s satellite site in South Toledo. But Cedar Creek’s philosophy in welcoming everyone hasn’t changed. If anything, it’s intensified. With a clearly defined mission to: “help spiritually restless and unchurched people love Jesus, serve others, and tell the world about Christ,” Cedar Creek is intentional about how they reach out to people.
Here’s how they do it.
- Cedar Creek runs commercials on secular radio to engage “unchurched” people. “One commercial invited people who’d lost connection to the church to come,” says Ben. “A local shock jock started ripping on it and talked about showing up to play basketball in our gym.” Lee Powell, the senior pastor, sent basketballs to the three on-air personalities and extended an invitation to come play basketball any time. They came. And they were floored by what they found at the church. “Before he [the shock jock] even understood what it meant to reach others for Christ, he became one of the biggest advocates for coming to church,” says Ben. “And a year or two later, he invited our band to the studio at the radio station right before Easter to play on air. That’s how a Christian band showed up to play a Third Day song (“I Am a Thief”) on a rock station in Toledo, Ohio.
- Cedar Creek was thrilled when they found an empty travel-sized wine bottle in the ladies’ room—two weeks in a row! “Do we want people getting drunk?” asks Ben. “No. We don’t know if they’re emptying out the contents of their purse from the night before or if they’re trapped in a battle with alcoholism, but what we do know is God’s Spirit can transform lives. Jesus was clear—He came for the sick, for those whose lives were a mess. He came for people like me who were getting fake IDs and going out to get drunk, then sitting in church and feeling far away from Him. Jesus says, ‘Trust Me. Let Me lead your life.’ And He says that to everyone, even people who dispose of empty wine bottles in a church’s restroom.”
- “We know 45-50 percent of people who attend Cedar Creek did not attend church regularly before they found us,” says Ben. “On the weekend the South Toledo campus opened, a guy came who had not been to church in 20 years. His marriage was about to end. He received an ad in the mail announcing the opening of the new campus and he came. He accepted Christ and now he and his wife serve as ushers and greeters in church. I just performed their wedding renewal service on their tenth anniversary. This couple got a new start because of Christ.”
- “Our team sees God potential in every person who walks through the door,” says Ben. Cedar Creek expresses that vision through how the services are built. “We share stories, and often what we hear is how scared and intimidated people were to walk through the doors.” What they found was an environment where people welcomed them, where music drew them in, and where they heard a message that God could change them.
- Cedar Creek has a “Change Life” wall that’s prominently displayed in the church. “We share stories (and pictures) of people who were far from God and by His grace have found their way back,” says Ben.
- “I make it my mission to be as accessible as possible,” says Ben. “I can’t be Superman, but I can be available to welcome people and get to know their names and learn about their families.” Cedar Creek has lobby hosts who are present in the lobby before and after services to discern people who might be confused or lost and to help answer questions or offer directions. A “Next Steps” team is available for anyone who makes a decision or has questions about church or about Christianity. “The team is made up of people with the gift of evangelism and/or shepherding and who are mature in their faith,” says Ben. “Someone on that team gets in touch with the person who has a question and listens to their story and helps them discern a next step.”
- “We encourage people in our congregation to eat out at local restaurants. We ask them to get to know the servers,” says Ben. “Tell them you go to Cedar Creek, and tip generously. In restaurant world, Christians are notorious for being ultra-demanding and being skimpy tippers. We want servers and those in the restaurant industry to get a different picture of a Christian.”
- Cedar Creek sends coasters with information about the church to bars for them to use.
- “We advertise,” says Ben. “Toledo is a small market and our ads tell people if they’re searching, we have a seat for you at Cedar Creek.”
Their strategy is working. Cedar Creek as a whole has grown to just under 9,000 in attendance each week and the South Toledo campus, which opened in December, 2011, has an average attendance of 1500.
“We want people to say, ‘Cedar Creek makes our city better,’” says Ben.
