Nonprofit aims to bring church community together
By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — There are plenty of things Baptists, Methodists, Catholics and people of other religious denominations disagree on.
Of that, Dean Dixon has no doubt. The entire concept of a six-month-old nonprofit called Communities United Outreach, however, wants to focus on the consensus — that, for example, Jesus Christ is savior. Everything else is in the details.
Submitted photo
Texas-based Phillips, Craig and Dean comes to Cole Auditorium on Dec. 11 in Hamlet, the first Richmond County event organized by Communities United Outreach.
“We’re trying to play off the things we have in common,” Dixon said Monday of the nonprofit, which aims to help churches stage and promote successful outreach events in and around Richmond County. “I’m passionate about that. Our goal is to bring pastors together so that we can bring large events to our county that ordinarily we couldn’t do without teaming up.”
The goal is to raise funds for special needs, such as soup kitchens and the homeless, that most every Christian agrees needs support.
Dixon and the CUO board of directors is about five weeks away from the group’s first event in Richmond County. The well-known, Texas-based Phillips, Craig and Dean come to Cole Auditorium on Dec. 11 in Hamlet. The group trio of pastors — Randy Phillips, Shawn Craig and Dan Dean — and their music is quite popular.
The venue is limited to 1,000 tickets, and Dixon has encouraged fans of the Facebook page to purchase theirs before they’re grabbed up by others.
“There’s probably not a church in the United States that doesn’t use their music,” Dixon said.
Dixon, an ordained minister, longtime youth pastor and a member of the Church of God of Prophecy in Hamlet, said the nonprofit helps to lift the burden of staging such events for churches large and small. Instead of worrying about logistics and promotion, key organizers can instead focus on service and substance.
Dixon is unapologetically devout in his Christianity, as are the services and organizations he aims to assist. This is the second attempt at a promotional services organization. Prior to Communities United Outreach, there was Community Concert Services. That entity eventually fell under the umbrella of a single church. In being an independent organization, Dixon said there’s more flexibility to provide services to any church, no matter the denomination.
“It makes it easier to work with everybody,” he said.
Dixon said he believes Richmond County can draw an audience from within 80 miles of of its borders. He and his all-volunteer board members are able to sustain the effort by the contributions of area businesses and individuals. There are no paid staff, Dixon said, at least for now.
