Saturate USA aims to help people – for the first time or the first time in a long time – become active in local churches by telling the good news of Jesus Christ in a grassroots neighborhood-walking campaign.
Saturate USA asks people to get a team together and “adopt” one or more zip codes. The organization will then send, free of charge, packs that include door hangers, an app, access to streaming material, multi-language Jesus Film DVDs, gospel tracts, and adopted area maps.
Then go forth and saturate.
“We also provide a booklet in there. It’s called, ‘Do you want to know God personally?’ It’s a very simple tool that allows a person to read through and get to the point where they can understand what that relationship looks like,” CEO Scott Baller said on Washington Watch Wednesday.
The ministry asks that teams make sure to include local church information or a brochure in each pack, report the completion of adopted areas to Saturate USA, and share with the organization pictures, videos and testimonies.
The ministry began approximately four years ago when a group of lay people set a goal: Start a revival by getting outside the walls of the church to share the gospel.
"We all were very involved in different ministries in regard to doing foreign ministry, missionary work," Baller recalled. "We really wanted to do something that really tried to affect the people that we live every day with, the people we drive by when we come home from work, that we wave to as they're mowing their yard and so forth."
Inspiration for the group came in part from the Christian research group Barna. It released survey findings about five years ago that said only 5% church attendees in the United States felt “comfortable” sharing their faith and telling people about Jesus.
Baller said more than 13,000 churches in the last four and a half years have engaged with Saturate USA, and almost 50,000 homes have been adopted by a church.
“It’s been just phenomenal," he said of the growth. "We were looking for an easy way to try to empower people to get back to the local church."
When the blessers become the blessed
In the radio interview, Baller shared the story of a Florida woman who was able to lead her dying husband to Christ after opening a Saturate USA kit that was left at her doorstep by volunteers.
"When they went back for the follow-up, the lady answered the door and said, ‘My husband had cancer. He passed away about a week ago. Fortunately, he was able to watch The Jesus Film and go through the booklet, and I got to lead him to Christ.’ She had been trying to get him to go to church for a while. What a powerful story," Ball
Many teams have reported similar stories.
“We think (when we go out) we’re blessing everyone. Well, it turns out we get blessed, and we have story after story of people that are at a point of need. When the Lord is in charge and the Lord’s doing things it’s amazing how those things work,” Baller said.
