The First One
Comedy Worx, Peace Street
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Our first Sunday morning ever and our first Easter together was spent at Comedy Worx on Peace Street.  We unpacked a biblical passage that describes Jesus as the ‘first born over all creation’ and the ‘first born from among the dead.’ Through solid teaching, we learned what the meaning is behind these words.  Afterward, we invited all of our guests to join us for a delicious lunch and took the opportunity to share with them our church plant’s unique vision to make an impact in Raleigh.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade Easter Service Promo
Moore Square, Downtown Raleigh
Saturday, March 15, 2008
We knew that Raleigh's big St. Patrick’s Day parade was the weekend before Easter, so we used this as a platform. Wearing our blue and green T-Shirts advertising "Come spend Easter with My Peeps," we descended upon the parade crowd.  Our strategy was to use our cameras and photography talent to be an unexpected blessing to parade goers in Jesus' name. Many people go to parades with family and friends and forget their camera, so we set out to take absolutely free pictures of parade goers.  We allowed them to visit our website, which was printed on the Easter invite we gave them, for a free copy of the picture.  We had countless conversations, prayed for people, took over 100 pictures and passed out over 1,000 Easter invites.  Also, knowing we would encounter the poor while downtown, we were ready with Chick-Fil-A gift cards.  We had only 20 gift cards and were able to give them all out.  The rain held off and this amazingly fun day served to pump up our team for our first Easter Sunday service.
 
Explore Seminar
Helios Annex, Boylan Avenue
Monday evenings, January 21– March 3, 2008
During each week of this seven-week class hosted by Fellowship Raleigh, Matt Schoolfield, teaching pastor of Fellowship Raleigh, taught for an hour on the basics of the Christian faith.  Following that hour, questions were answered regarding our study and any others about the Bible and the Christian life.  We answered questions like, ‘Can I believe the Bible?  What is the difference between religion and a personal relationship with God?  How is Christianity different from other religions and worldviews?  What is the church and do we really need organized religion?’

Free Newspaper, Coffee, & Prayer 
Inside the Beltline Neighborhoods, Raleigh
Saturday, January 2008
Desiring to bless people throughout many neighborhoods inside the beltline, we set out with newspapers and coffee in hand.  In teams, we went door to door and offered our free gift, prayer for those we met and an invitation to our Explore seminar.  We were encouraged by many of the conversations that we were able to have with people and by the opportunity to pray for the many needs of those living within the city of Raleigh. 

Black Friday Doughnut Handout & Toy Drive
Malls throughout the Triangle area
November 2007
On Black Friday, starting at 5 am, we handed out 1,000 Krispy Kreme donuts to the cold, hungry and line-waiting shoppers at Crabtree Valley Mall and Triangle Town Center.  We also included an invitation to our toy drive & vision night at the Raleigh City Museum.  Building Together Ministries hosts this toy drive annually and we worked hand in hand with them to bless children throughout the city of Raleigh with Christmas presents. 

The Quest for Authentic Manhood
High Park Bar & Grill, Whitaker Mill Rd.
Wednesday mornings, September 26, 2007 - March 19, 2008
In our quest to discover what it means to be an authentic man, we studied such topics as ‘uncovering a man’s wounds,’ ‘biblically defining manhood,’ ‘deepening the marriage relationship’ and ‘creating a manhood plan.’  We had breakfast together, watched a video related to the weeks’ topic, discussed our lives and encouraged one another on our individual quests. 

Sunday Night Bible Study 
Raleigh City Museum, Fayetteville Street
Sunday evenings, September – December 2007
We met weekly on Sunday evenings at the Raleigh City Museum in the heart of downtown Raleigh.  We couldn’t think of a better place to start telling our Fellowship Raleigh story than at the museum solely dedicated to telling the story of the city of Raleigh.  Behind a life-sized statue of Sir Walter and surrounded by artifacts from Raleigh’s history, we spent six weeks studying our six Biblical and enduring pillars.  After the six weeks we celebrated the Lord's Supper (Communion) for the first time as a church.