WACO, Texas -- As First Baptist Church of Woodway grows, the church staff is encouraging members to spend more time getting to know each other. The 1,200-member church launched a Friendship Connection project in the spring that encourages members to spend time together outside church, according to the Waco Tribune-Herald.
"We have 30 seconds of greeting one another in the service," said Dudley Callison, the church's associate pastor of lay mobilization. "It's big and meaningful, but it's not relational."
People meet weekly in members' homes or other locations for activities that range from cooking and crafts to woodworking and golf. For three weeks prior to the program's launch, sermons and Sunday school lessons examined friends in the Scriptures, such as David and Jonathon, Callison said.
Nine billboards touting the Friendship Connection have helped draw people from outside the church, according to the newspaper. The report didn't indicate how many people are involved in the program.
