For over 700 people, March 30th, 2019, was no ordinary Saturday at First Baptist Church Naples. Those 700 people were not there for a children’s ministry event or a concert; they came together that day as a church family to serve and share the love of Jesus with their community.
“There is nothing more powerful than meeting here [FBC Naples] in the morning, seeing the auditorium full of folks wearing red shirts about to launch out into this community and share the love of Jesus,” said Kevin Taylor, Pastor of Evangelism and Missions at FBC Naples.
After gathering together Saturday morning, the 700 members were assigned to 33 different Love Naples serve teams and then dispersed throughout Naples taking part in the various projects.
“We had teams in our public schools and even had principals inviting us to come back and to pray over their schools and for us to be a part of what God is doing there,” said Taylor.
Some of the 33 projects and site locations included: four block parties, prayer and water stations at the beach, going into laundromats and paying for peoples laundry and sharing the gospel with them, hosting over eleven concerts in local nursing homes, praying and encouraging local firemen, washing the entire fleet of officer cars for the Naples Police Department, community trash and debris clean-up, free car washes, and free dental treatments at a local women’s shelter.
“We even had freestyle teams going out and doing street evangelism and random acts of kindness and loving on people. They had a chance to pray with folks and they even came to church with us that weekend – that’s fruit that remains,” said Taylor.
FBC Naples even partnered with several non-profits including: Helps Outreach, a Pregnancy Resource Center, Protected Harbor, St. Matthew’s House, and Habitat for Humanity.
“I could go on and on about the opportunities that God put in front of us,” Taylor said. “It was an incredible day as our church family came together; we lived the Bible, we got out, we put our faith into action, and we showed the love of Jesus.”
Though this is the first time FBC Naples has hosted a Love Naples Saturday, Taylor hopes that it is not the last.
“I pray that days like [Love Naples] Saturday are just the beginning of what we should be doing every day. We should be living the gospel every day, showing the love of Jesus right here where we live. And this will just be the beginning of an incredible story God is writing in the life of our church.”
