OCF House Party

Benefit the Growing and Building Campaign and Expanding Ministry at Our Conference Centers

> Download PDF Version

So what's a house party? You've probably been to a number of them and not even known it!

An OCF house party is simply:

• Christian hospitality shown to a small gathering of people
• Sharing an "experience" that is engaging and authentic
• An opportunity to learn about the OCF vision and connect to it

A house party is not:

• Glitzy or expensive to hold
• Necessarily held in a home
• Overly scripted or set in stone

Why are we doing this?

We need your help. OCF has been blessed with 1,500 donors to our "Growing and Building" campaign to expand ministry at our retreat facilities. These centers are vital to building leaders, families, and fellowships -- the heartbeat of OCF. Now we want to see God move on the hearts of more of our members to become partners in this work.

We need you who are already invested in this effort to reach out to other members through a simple house party. If only 1,000 members donated $30 per month for three years, we would have enough to complete the new Heritage House at White Sulphur Springs.

Above all we want to see members grow to be more generous toward God, not necessarily OCF. The format of small group contact, like a Bible study, is the most effective. In fact, you may want to use this event to start a new study.

We are not asking you to do an elaborate event; just contact some OCF members, using a list we provide, and invite them to hear about OCF's vision. You do not have to ask for money. Just present the materials we give you and ask people to go home, pray, and respond as the Lord leads. The rest is up to Him.

This document gives you the details, and our staff will answer your questions. Thank you so much for agreeing to help build Christian leaders, families, and fellowships. OCF Director of Resource Development

Why should I do this?

OCF has 15,000 members and they are involved in a wide range of ways:

• Some simply receive OCF publications
• Some give of their time, talent, and/or resources
• Others are "owners" who not only care about the ministry but are willing to take the lead in ministering to others

Since you have already bought into this effort, we know you are connected to OCF. We want you to hold a house party for two reasons:

• To encourage members to be more generous toward God
• To spread the message of how God uses OCF to build Christian leaders, families, and fellowships

Big idea: This is NOT about money!

While we hope God moves people to further the plan to expand OCF's retreat centers, that is not the starting or ending point of this effort. The real starting point is: Connecting people to the cause of building Christian leaders, families, and fellowships and to OCF The real ending point is: Allowing God to do the rest

How will I know if I've done something worthwhile?

Actually, that's not as hard as it seems. Let's look at Luke 5:27-29. Here's where Levi comes in: "After this [healing the paralyzed man], Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. 'Follow me,' Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him. Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house [a house party!], and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them."

Remember that story? One way to judge how your party went is "did your guests see OCF the way Jesus does?" Was the OCF message shared? Do you think others might take the same kind of step you have taken in helping to fund this expanded OCF vision?

Here's a quote to consider: "A successful house party is when all people take steps closer to what Jesus calls our lives to be all about." (Ali Eastburn)

Where do I begin?

Here's a short checklist of things to do:

• Decide if you want to do this yourself or recruit a co-host
• Set a date and time for your party; probably 2 hours total is plenty
• Invite OCFers on your OCF list and any others you want
• Be sure to let people know you will not be asking for money that night
• Develop your own program of activities (see the following for ideas)
• Decide whether or not you will serve food, beverages, etc.

So what's this "experience" thing?

An "experience" is any activity that later reminds people why you got together, in this case to remember the thousands of hurting military families who need the ministry that OCF offers.

You can use a theme for your event like "Keep Up the Fire," OCF's prayer initiative for the military. That video is available on OCF's Facebook page. It will make a great start to your evening.

Then it's time for that activity. Here are suggestions or you can come up with an idea of your own. Your activity can be both fun and meaningful like the first suggestion:

• Communication between deployed husbands and wives--what a challenge! Make up a game like "Married - Apart." Men go to one room and women to another. Ask each to write down answers to questions you ask, just like in "The Dating Game." The questions can be simple like "The washing machine is broken. What should I do?" Compare answers when you get back together. Then imagine the questions that can come up during a twelve-month deployment.
• Make a list of prayer concerns for our troops and break into small groups to pray about them.
• Gather names and duty addresses of deployed military personnel from your area (the OCF office can help) and have guests write notes of encouragement.
• Invite the spouse of a deployed service member to speak about what deployment is like today.
• Invite an active duty person to speak.

How much planning does this take?

Not much really. Here's a possible timeline, but it probably won't take you this long:

1 to 3 months out:

• Prepare your guest list and mail/e-mail/telephone invitations
• Be sure invitees have a clear way to respond to you
• Begin planning the details of the evening
• Receive responses and call those who have not responded

1 week out:

• Make whatever reminder calls are necessary
• Make final preparations like buying food (if needed), getting the video ready, arranging the "experience," etc.
• Do some praying before you start this process
• If you don't plan, it won't happen, so do a little planning!
• Make sure you have some fun with this; Levi certainly enjoyed his party!
• Don't give your guests lots of statistics that they don't need
• Be flexible with your evening's timeline; good things happen!
• Remember you want to help your guests grow in their generosity toward God

How should the evening flow?

That's up to you, but here's a sample of how it could happen:

7:00 PM	Guests arrive; light food/dessert/etc. and mingling:
7:15 PM	Introduce yourself and give the purpose of the evening Show the video:
7:25 PM	Do the "experience" activity (Take some pictures to send to OCF!)
8:00 PM	Have guests share their feelings about the "experience" Share the OCF vision of an expanded ministry Share why you got involved Tell guests you are not asking for money; ask them to go home, pray about how God would have them respond to this God-given vision, and then respond as God leads; if that is with a gift, great; if not, that is OK too:
8:30 PM	Close the evening in prayer (maybe a guest can do this)

So what happens next?

You have only two things left to do: follow up and call OCF. If you have a co-host, you can split this up, but be sure to do it because it is essential.

After about a week, call each guest and ask if they have had time to pray and think about the evening. (Again, no asking for money.) Let them know you are interested in how God has worked in them since you met. Ask them if they need more information, and if they do, call either Coreen Wells or Dave Rowland in the home office for help (1-800-424-1984).

After you've made these important calls, call Coreen Wells or Dave Rowland (1-800-424-1984) to let them know how things went. Then you're done! That's it!

Thank you so much for all of your help! It means a great deal to all of those who will use the new facilities at White Sulphur Springs and Spring Canyon.