Ronald & The Colonel

I come here today in praise of fast food.

You already know how we partnered with McDonald's in Lima, Peru, to stage our pre-school and children's ministry in Mickey D's on Sunday when we could not do so in the cinema complex because of a film festival. The staff at McDonald's was friendly, helpful, and in all ways made the experience a happy one for the kids (and the Campus Pastor) of FRC-Lima.

We also have staged Extreme Week (some of you might call it Vacation Bible School) in Kentucky Fried Chicken. It also was a huge success. At KFC in Lima they say, "We do Extreme Week right!"

(BTW, Kentucky Fried Chicken is the most popular multinational fast food restaurant in Lima, beating out McDonald's, Burger King, Domino's, Pizza Hut, Papa John's, and others that entered Peru. Peruvians prefer chicken to beef or pizza, so KFC rules here.)

Why do we use McDonald's and KFC here in Lima, Peru, for ministry purposes? Because both of them feature bright, colorful, clean, safe, large, inviting, two-story restaurants with huge play areas. That in turn becomes a huge attraction for children. The kids invite their friends, they come to KFC or McDonald's together, and they play, learn, sing, dance, eat, and have a ball. The parents and other curious adults come to check it out, and the kids tell them what a blast they had. And then the kids and their parents become integrated into Flamingo Road Church in Lima.

Ronald & The Colonel have treated us well.

I've said before that one should embrace local culture as much as possible as a means of becoming successful in international ministry, but that doesn't mean that you have to exclude foreign culture in its totality. Peruvians know and love McDonald's and KFC here in Lima no different than in LA, Miami, NYC, or anywhere else in the world, and so here at FRC-Lima we have leveraged that internationality to reach others - in this case especially kids and their parents - with the good news of Jesus Christ.

Here at FRC-Lima, we're doing church in a cinema. And in McDonald's. And in KFC. And it works!