Augusta church brings fellowship and the gospel through cookies

Everyone enjoyed tasting and bidding on the delicious variety of cookies. CURTIS BAPTIST CHURCH

AUGUSTA – What do Curtis Baptist Church, cookies, and Christmas have in common? The answer comes in the form of fellowship, friends, and missions giving called the Great Commission Cook Exchange. The church, which resides in downtown Augusta, has a heart for its neighborhood and a heart for the nations. The church has active ministries designed to reach the lost and hurting in its neighborhood, and it challenges its members to take the gospel wherever they go.

In 2019, Pastor Mark Sterling pondered the upcoming Christmas season and wanted to come up with a ministry that would bring families together and encourage them to be a part of the Great Commission as they celebrated Christmas. An idea was birthed during those days called the Great Commission Cookie Exchange (GCCE).

The Great Commission Cookie Exchange supports the idea that strong families make a strong church.

“I wanted a ministry where families and friends could come together, spend time together, and do ministry together as they celebrate Christmas,” Sterling said.

The GCCE brings together multiple aspects of ministry. Participating in the GCCE means a member would experience fellowship, prayer, outreach, and missions, and have a great time doing so. Sterling said the simple nature of the GCCE and the involvement in multiple aspects of ministry makes the GCCE a great ministry opportunity for every church.

Sterling explained that there are three steps to the Great Commission Cookie Exchange.

• First, a family or a group of friends get together and bake cookies. One dozen of the cookies are enjoyed by the group as they bake.
• Secondly, the group prays about a friend, neighbor, co-worker, or relative they can take the second dozen cookies to. Once they decide who the cookies should go to, they take them along with a marked New Testament and a small Christmas themed card that goes with the testament. A few groups even mailed their cookies and New Testament to people God put on their heart who lived far away.
• The third step involves the group coming to the church for a fellowship and bringing two dozen cookies, one to share with the crowd and one dozen to auction off for the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

There is also an opportunity to enter one of the cookies into a contest to see who made the best cookies. The prizes for first through third places are donations to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in the name of the winners. Each team registers and comes up with a team name to add to the fun.

JanJee Hitt, Administrative Assistant to Sterling, said the GCCE was a huge success. Her favorite part was seeing families come together.

“Christmas is the busiest time of the year and hearing of all the families spending time together and doing meaningful ministry was such a blessing,” Hitt said.

Sterling said the church loved participating and many live were touched.

“Families came together with purpose, prayed for lost people, and took action,” Sterling commented. “It stirred people to see others evangelistically and realize the gospel is the greatest gift we can give.”

In addition to the great family interactions and reaching out to lost friends, the auction raised over $3,000 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Every church can participate in this wonderful Christmas ministry. If you would like your church to have a Great Commission Cookie Exchange next year reach out to JanJee Hitt at Curtis Baptist and she would be happy to answer any questions to make the event a success.