Loving Your Community in a Big Way
A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single purchase. Cue “The Big Spend” and churches across Canada championing local businesses on July 25th. The big idea came from one of our PAOC credential holders, Tim Schindel. Simply put, #TheBigSpend was an innovative way to love our neighbor.
“In my work with Leading Influence, I get to meet with and support leaders from across Canada. Kick-starting our economy is on ALL of their minds. The Big Spend became an intensely practical, and I might add, easy way to help Canada start down the road to recovery in every city across our nation” Tim Schindel, National Director of Leading Influence and founder of “The Big Spend”
Alberta First
The ABNWT was the first District in Canada to get behind the first #BigSpend on June 11th. The Alberta Chambers of Commerce were the first provincial group to get behind the initiative in May. 160 chambers of commerce and 57 churches would join in over the next 2 months.
Early Adopters
Pastors Hayward Eastman and Mark McMillan in Cold Lake Alberta are examples of what can happen when a pastor decides to motivate his or her church to support local business. Mark says, "When the church first heard about the Big Spend Event we knew we wanted to be involved. I called the local Chamber of Commerce where we were greeted with great enthusiasm and they offered for us to be co-sponsors of the event for our local community alongside with the Chamber. We have been promoting it online in conjunction with the Cold Lake Chamber of Commerce and through the church.”
Pastor Stephen Valcourt in Pincher Creek, rocked a FB campaign for Abundant Springs Church with #TheBigSpend and rallied his congregation and community to shop local #ForPincherCreek. “It’s NOT all about you,” was a great reminder of the church’s call to selfless community service.
The pastoral staff at Whitecourt Family Worship Centre helped promote, “Christmas in July” with a promo video to show love by shopping local.
Pastors Bert and Donna Faulkner and Westside Community Church in Lethbridge were #BigSpendFriends.
Pastor Marlo Jenkins and his staff at Eaglemont were seen as champions of promoting local business in Beaumont. “As a church, this was a great opportunity to show our support for hard working local business owners, and let them know that the church in their community is thinking of them.”
Pastor Dwayne Mitchell led Lakeview Gospel Centre in Bonnyville to show “they care” by shopping local.
The pastoral staff at Gateway Family Church got behind “the multiplier effect,” and were seen supporting Leduc business.
Tammy Pratt saw Loredana Reddekopp supporting #TheBigSpend, and did her part to promote shopping local in Sylvan Lake.
The mayor of Barrhead gave a shout-out to Bethel Church for informing him of #TheBigSpend and their effort to support the community.
One church in Ontario purchased $5,000 of gift cards from local businesses. When the pastor went to buy the cards the owners were shocked that a church wasn’t asking for a donation of gift cards, but actually purchasing cards.
The Finance Minister from Ontario, Rod Phillips, tweeted thanks to Pastor Marie Miller for getting behind local business and helping spur a recovery through #TheBigSpend.
The Big Spend got the attention of MP’s, MPP’s, MLA’s and even the Premier of Nova Scotia, the Honourable Stephen McNeil, promoted #TheBigSpend on his Facebook page.
Its still to early too tell the total of expenditures but early estimates are solidly in the millions.
Going Forward: 7 Simple Ways To Support Small Businesses
Tell your church family and friends.
Write a positive review of the business.
Follow them on social media.
Engage with their posts.
Give them a shout out.
Sign up for their newsletter.
Rinse. Repeat.
We Are Just Getting Started
The pay off for a local church using an idea like #TheBigSpend is that you will be seen at the forefront of doing something that is good for someone other than you.
You'll be seen as a community partner, maybe even as a community leader. You'll gain the respect and appreciation of the business community because you championed their cause.
Leaders and influencers will begin to think about you differently and begin to view you as strategic, maybe even essential, to the recovery of the nation.
And that is Good News.
Was your church involved in The Big Spend and I missed you? Please share your story in the comment section. Thank you and watch for the next #BigSpend or your own initiative to love your neighbour.
Bob Jones is the founder of REVwords.com, an author, blogger, and coach with 39 years of pastoral experience. Bob is also an Advance Coach with the ABNWT Resource Centre. You can connect with Bob here.