Nelson Searcy, president of The Epic Group, believes the answer is incarnational - meaning today’s followers of Jesus living out the servant lifestyle that characterized Jesus’ ministry. Based out of Charlotte, NC, The Epic Group is applying this concept to a world of opportunities. Searcy says that one of their goals is “to develop new ways to do mission trips by involving students and adults in life-changing servanthood evangelism adventures - while planting churches in some of America’s largest cities.”

Last summer EpicAdventures, a division of The Epic Group, led mission adventures in New York City and Philadelphia, performing acts of service, sacrifice, and kindness as a mean to share the love and message of Jesus. These adventures are called Summer Blockbusters, and for a good reason. The response was overwhelming from both participants and native Philadelphians and New Yorkers because adventure participants literally took the message of Jesus to the city blocks, in practical and meaningful ways. Teams of students and adults trained for two days, learning how to do servanthood evangelism, and then hit the sidewalks. Block by block, they carried out projects like park clean-up, passing out free water, windshield washing, taking pictures for tourists, and distributing candy. Teams carried out every project with the direct intention of sharing the gospel. And all projects were done in conjunction with local church planters, thereby funneling new converts into the new churches. In Philadelphia, the projects led up to a block party, which reached over 400 people.
Summer Blockbusters 2000 was a tremendous success. The lives of people in the cities were changed and new churches were planted. But just as importantly, the lives of the participants were changed because they saw how they could make the world different on a daily basis in their own communities. As one adult participant said, “All of the projects we did in New York City can be done in our small town back home. And now our group has the heart and know-how for making an impact each day. The trip will not end when we get home.”

And that’s the point. Searcy says, “EpicAdventures is not concerned with just taking people on trips, instead we are committed to creating lifestyle servant evangelists and leaders. We want to change the way people see ‘the church.’ The church is not just where we meet - it’s who we are. We want to create a culture of Jesus-modeling that is lived out 24/7.” One of the most successful ways The Epic Group is doing this is through a free, online resource called Evangelism Online. As the tag line says, the resource is “an information filter of the best, up-to-date evangelism articles available online. The purpose of Evangelism Online is to equip today's church leaders with the knowledge and resources to share the Gospel effectively with a postmodern world.” (You can subscribe on-line by visiting www.EpicNow.org)

2001 promises to be busy year for Searcy and The Epic Group. With a calendar that includes six Adventure weeks lined up in six of the nation’s largest cities, monthly national publications, and a host of other evangelism and spiritual renewal conferences (including one at the Super Bowl), The Epic Group hopes to see their greatest impact. But more importantly, they hope to spark a movement among Christians that would infect believers with the desire and ability to live out daily the values and lifestyle of the greatest Servant of all. And who knows…maybe it really isn’t that hard to make our world different after all!