Intelligent planning is, of course, the key. It is never wise to answer questions people are not asking nor to offer food for which they are not hungry. About 20 miles outside a bustling southern city was a small, rural, white frame church with a new pastor fresh out of seminary. He was enthusiastic, if not altogether realistic. In short order, dreaming loftily, he convinced his church members that the city 20 miles away was growing in their direction and they should aggressively meet it. He convinced them of the urgent need to evangelize America's business and corporate community (a point at which he is no doubt correct). In any event, this young pastor talked his members into sponsoring a "Saturday Morning CEO Breakfast." Letters were sent out to 100 leaders in the business community. The letters explained the breakfast program and invited the execs to become participants. The women's group prepared breakfast on Saturday morning for 100 hungry businessmen. Saturday came, but they didn't. Not a single one of them showed up. Why not? Because leading CEOs in a large city are not going to drive 20 miles out in the country to a little white frame church to eat pancakes and be preached to. The program was self-defeating from the very outset.

However, another small church down the road heard about the idea and developed a reasonable variation. They sent letters and made phone calls to all the farmers in the area (hog farmers, dairy farmers, horse breeders, whomever). They offered a 6:30 a.m. breakfast on Thursdays with a brief program prepared by a representative of the county's Agricultural Extension Department. On the inaugural Thursday, 14 men attended. Now they have in excess of 20 per week (several of whom have become members of their church). Small groups, intelligently planned, which address needs that people actually experience can become inexpressibly valuable tools not simply for offering authentic ministry to the community but also for building the spirit and size of a local congregation.