Auburn church gives pastor and more to missions

More than a year ago, Brent Reeves left a growing church in Auburn to work in the missions field. But that field isn’t some remote jungle outpost or third world nation halfway around the globe. The people Reeves seeks to reach are college-educated Generation Xers — not Masai warriors.
   
Working in partnership with Parkway Baptist Church,  Auburn, a Washington (state) Baptist Association and the North American Mission Board (NAMB), Reeves is a church planter and pastor. He serves Riverchase Community Church, Orting, Wash.
   
He, his wife, Melodye, and their four children moved to Orting — a Seattle suburb — in the summer of 2001 to work with the Puget Sound Baptist Association in establishing a church.
   
“One of the reasons we felt directly led by the Lord to come to Orting is the potential growth in this community,” Reeves said. “It’s estimated that about 8,000 new homes will be built around here in the next 15 years. Many new residents will be unchurched people in the 25–35 age range who have no religious heritage and don’t know Christ.”
   
Leaving Alabama wasn’t an easy move for Reeves, a native of Langdale and graduate of Samford University and Beeson Divinity School.
   
Reeves had served as pastor at Parkway Baptist Church, Auburn, for seven years. At Parkway, attendance was averaging about 600 in two morning services. “We loved Auburn and the people, and the church was doing well,” Reeves said.
   
But the call of missions was strong, for both Reeves and his wife. “Melodye and I had a six-hour interview [with NAMB]. NAMB officials know that if the wife isn’t committed, the mission won’t last,” Reeves stated.
   
The Reeveses left Auburn with the blessings and support of Parkway Baptist Church. “NAMB encourages church planters to find churches as partners,” Reeves explained. “Our church at Auburn is our biggest supporter. In fact, Parkway gives us more than NAMB does. My father-in-law, Mike Dawson, formerly at Central Baptist Church, Decatur, is now the pastor at First Baptist Church, Columbia, Tenn. I speak once a year at a service there and they give us a love offering, too.”
   
The Reeveses also receive support from individuals in Auburn, as well as members at Rockford Baptist Church, where Reeves previously served as pastor.
   
Such backing is essential to keep the Reeves family going. NAMB and the Puget Sound Baptist Association paid Reeves $1,500 monthly the first year.  That amount is reduced to $1,000 monthly in year two and $500 monthly in year three. By year four, NAMB expects the new church to be self-supporting.
   
In addition to monetary contributions, friends and family have invested their own lives in the Reeveses’ missions work.
   
Reeves explained that two families moved from Auburn to Washington to assist them in their missions adventure. “One couple, David and Farah Isbell, are still here. David is  our youth leader and attends an extension center of Golden Gate Seminary. Another couple, Mike and Suellen Good, had to return to Alabama,” Reeves said. “Mike is a Delta Airlines pilot. He had planned to commute to Los Angeles and fly out of there, but additional restrictions imposed after the terrorist attacks prevented him from doing that.” 
   
Melodye Reeves’s sister and brother-in-law, Carol and Grant Wooten, plan to move from North Carolina to Washington as well.
   
Other friends, David and Tonya Tiger, plan to move from Florida. “It’s exciting to see how God is bringing more and more people to help out,” Reeves observed.
   
Perhaps Reeves’ most versatile assistant is his wife, who teaches children, recruits other teachers, sings on the praise team and leads group seminars. Their children, Amanda, Lauren, Natalie and Joshua, also provide valuable links to parents and the community in general. “We have a child in every single school in town, and we meet many people through their classes and activities,” Reeves stated.
   
With the help of Puget Sound Association officials, Reeves started Riverchase Church from scratch. “I did door-to-door listening surveys, asking people about their values, their experiences related to church and what they would look for in a church,” he said.
   
“My first question was to identify those already attending churches. We were looking for those who don’t attend,” he added.
   
Those responding positively were looking for worship experiences with excellent children’s programs and evangelical teaching and preaching. About 40 percent asked that additional information be mailed.
   
From interested respondents emerged a core group of 60–80 people. They meet for Bible study in rented space at the local intermediate school. About half of those who attend have become professing Christians.
   
“We probably won’t build a (church) building for some time,” the enthusiastic pastor said, adding by way of explanation, “Property is scarce and very expensive.”
   
Reeves said his biggest challenge — and greatest joy — is to communicate the message of Christ to those who haven’t heard it before.
   
“A lot of our [Baptist] literature is written for those who are believers or who have been around believers,” he said. “I’ve had to unlearn ‘Christianese.’”
   
The process for becoming a member of Riverchase Community Church is more rigorous than membership requirements for many Southern Baptist Churches. “I heard several years ago that a church should be easy to attend but hard to join,” Reeves said. “We set the bar high, to make sure new members are serious about serving God, following Christ and preserving the witness of our church.”
   
After attending membership seminars, new members are asked to sign membership covenants confirming their beliefs and promising to help preserve the unity of the church. Then they attend maturity seminars covering stewardship, prayer and daily quiet time. They also attend seminars on ministry, missions and evangelism. “We don’t ask people to walk down an aisle and then become spectators,” Reeves said. “We expect them to become participants, whether it involves passing out bulletins or holding babies.”