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Gasoline Super Sale
This outreach event is always one of my favorites. Many churches (after their initial skepticism) have tried it and loved it. The idea is to offer a super sale at a carefully chosen gas station, where you lower the price of gasoline for a period of time — usually two or three hours. If you want attention, this is guaranteed to get it. Everyone who buys gas pays attention to this outreach event, member and non- member alike.
This project must be well planned. Drive around your church or a given area and find a well located gas station that is easy to access and familiar enough to advertise well. Explain to the manager the idea of lowering the price of gasoline for a period of time. Let him know that at the end of the specified time period the church will pay the difference between the current price and the sale price. For instance, if gasoline is $3.00 per gallon, for two hours the advertised price would be $2.50 or whatever you determine. The church will pick up the 50 cent difference per gallon. The price must be low enough to create a buzz and draw people to the station, but not so low that it will bankrupt you. You can also limit your expenses by reducing the time of the sale.
My personal ministries leader was absolutely excited to hear about this idea. After a brief search, she was able to identify two stations that were excellent candidates. One station was directly off the freeway exit to our church. The other was not as close to the freeway, but closer to the church. She chose the station closer to the church because it was easier to see from both directions and had a larger parking lot. This is important because you want a crowd but you don’t want to obstruct traffic. And you want your workers to be able to safely move around and interact with the customers.
Agree on times and dates with the station manager. Then advertise everywhere! On the day of the big event arrive early and set up signs with the super sale price. People wearing sandwich signs always draw attention. Involve plenty of people, especially youth, in bringing free water or other refreshments to the drivers. They should wash windows, pump gas and maybe check the oil. They should also have connection cards with information about the church, in case people ask.
For those who are doing the math and are a bit nervous about the expense — relax. Most churches report costs of no more than $500 for a couple of hours. The time it takes to attend to each car keeps the cost down.
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