Truckin' for Jesus

One of the out of the box ideas a couple of church planters in our network have used to help promote their churches is to purchase an ice cream truck and take it to community events and give out free ice cream and water. We loved the idea but felt we could do alot more with it. Our vision for this type of vehicle centers on four areas that are high values of our church: incarnational ministry, unity of Christ followers at large, being present where our community gathers and drawing in the young and getting them excited about following Christ.
This vehicle will serve as a rolling billboard, an ice-cream truck, a food/drink distribution center, a mobile movie theater and performance venue. It will be equipped with a freezer and fridge, a retractable awning, a mobile A/V system, an inflatable bounce house and movie screen. It will be wrapped with high impact graphics making it highly visible. It will have one reversible billboard identifying our church and Serve the city that can be swapped when in use by another organization.
In line with this vision, the vehicle will be a centerpiece for Serve the City (our incarnational service ministry which will focus on one week of service to the community each year, but point people to continuing service opportunities). We will make this vehicle available to other Churches and community service organizations for any community service event or outreach event in which two or more churches collaborate in order to encourage unity. We will take it to as many community events as possible distributing free water, popsicles or ice cream depending on the type of event. It will also be used by our youth ministry, childrens ministry and individual small groups for outreach events (block parties, movie nights, VBS alternatives, etc.).

While we were at family camp a couple weeks ago, a family there heard our vision for the truck and volunteered to buy the truck, the graphic wrap (see pic) and the freezer. All we need to round it out is a bounce house, a/v system, and video screen. We can't wait to start using this incredible ministry tool.

BTW the pic is just a mock up of what the vehicle could look like, we are now searching for the right truck.

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