In Ozark, you can find My Church and Pastor Jim Bartok. A big part of their church’s identity is being present in the community. This allows for easy conversations and connections to their time in God’s Word.

Prosper The City

One of the ways My Church does this is through their “Prosper The City” project. This is held twice a year, in the spring the whole church has one big project, and in the fall each of the church’s small groups serves. Their church’s small groups choose an organization in their community that serves others. Some of the projects included helping with a clothing drive and adopting a family for Christmas. One of these projects included their kid’s small group making games for the local assisted living center. They spent time together designing, building, and testing the games. Then they took the games to the center and taught the residents how to play.

Ministry Impacts Can Arise at Any Time

One set of siblings had been repeatedly invited by family friends to come to church. One time, these siblings decided to try My Church’s teen group. While the group was reading from the Bible, it was realized that one of these siblings had some trouble reading due to poorer eyesight. A couple of weeks after this first meeting, the group leader presented the youth with a new Bible with text large enough for her to read. The youth was the first to volunteer to read from her new Bible! Now these siblings have invited their older sister and are going to start confirmation in the coming months. Never underestimate the impact that an invitation can have (even if it’s repeated).

Ministry Can Happen at Any Place

Pete was riding along in a park, when he noticed a large group of people with a sign reading “Welcome to My Church”. He stopped by and asked someone what was going on. That someone was Pastor Bartok, and what was happening was the church’s meeting at a park. Pastor Bartok and Pete talked over coffee for about an hour. Pete came to church the following week and has been going to My Church ever since. While he grew up in a heavily emotionally based Christian church, Pete said he always wondered if he was forgiven. After several weeks of wrestling with scripture, he found Jesus’s true peace and assurance of salvation. And at age 72, he received communion for the first time; true body, true blood, true Jesus, and total forgiveness. He’s now a communion assistant. It all started from a meeting at a park.