Snellville Church Giving Away Free Gas

First Baptist Church in Snellville, Ga., seeks to fill its churchgoers with the Holy Spirit, but it also plans to fill up a couple of their cars.

The Associated Press reported that the church is raffling off two $500 gas cards and gives free raffle tickets to every attendee of a church event between Sundays and Wednesdays. In front of the church’s large campus is a sign proclaiming “Free Gasoline!”

“We don’t know how far it will go with these soaring prices,” Senior Pastor Rusty Newman told the AP. “But it will make someone’s night.”

The church boasts a membership roll of about 9,000, but its weekly attendance has been mired in the 2,500 range, something the gas card initiative could change, at least in the short term.

The idea belongs to James Lee, the church’s minister to seniors. “How can we capture those people?” he asked. “We're strong in door-to-door evangelism, but there's no way to reach them all.”

Media inquiries from as far as Seattle have kept the phone boards busy and the e-mail boxes jammed, as Newman has been invited on many radio and television programs. The church actually had to install an additional phone line and hire a receptionist to man it.

Newman knows that many will perceive the move as a gimmick, but he draws a parallel between the gas cards and Jesus feeding the 5,000.

“Some pastors have questioned our motives,” Newman said to reporters. “If it was just to get people in the building, it would be wrong. But we want to meet someone's physical need and eternal spiritual needs.”

First Baptist, Snellville is not the first church to use gas prices as a conduit for ministry. Church Solutions reported in March that a church in Xenia, Ohio, did something similar.

Snellville is a northeastern suburb of Atlanta.