Donna Wright said years ago someone invited her to a self-defense class at a martial arts studio, and she went — and learned more than just how to defend herself.

She also learned the art of putting out an invitation that’s hard to turn down.

“I hardly knew the friend who invited me, but I was interested in knowing more about how to defend myself,” said Donna Wright, who serves as education minister at West Mobile Baptist Church.

So recently when her church was brainstorming ideas for Making a Difference Mobile, a countywide outreach effort held throughout the month of March, she suggested they think the same way — to come up with events that people were already interested in.

And she started with the same invitation she’d accepted — she suggested they hold a self-defense class of their own.

“I was trying to think of something our women could do that would be an outreach but that would be easy to invite ladies to,” Donna Wright said. “We wanted to get people into our building and get them to meet some ladies from our church.”

It worked. On March 14, when West Mobile Baptist held a women’s self-defense class, 15 guests joined 35 church members to learn pressure points, escape moves and the most important things to keep in mind during an unwanted encounter with someone.

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This article was originally published at TheAlabamaBaptist.org.