A 102-year-old church in Elmore Association has embarked on new church work by sponsoring the Journey Church in a fast-growing area of Elmore County.
When the sponsor church, Shoal Creek Baptist Church, Deatsville, canvassed 700 homes in the Deatsville-Millbrook area last summer for its Vacation Bible School, it met with disappointing results. This caused the church to realize the close-to-home area was “too far” for it to reach.
What the church had to offer the people didn’t seem to want, according to Jim Jackson, director of missions for Elmore Association. “It just seemed impossible for them to reach this new area,” he said.
“But instead of shaking the dust from their feet and walking away, Shoal Creek tried a different approach,” Jackson said.
They began to pray and seek God’s guidance about sponsoring a new church that would have the components the people there wanted.
The idea lulled until after a few members of the church embarked on Shoal Creek’s first international missions trip, according to Shoal Creek Pastor Chris Baker. They traveled to Thailand last fall to witness to Buddhist teenagers.
“Not long after returning from Thailand we began to pray as a church for the Lord to open some doors,” Baker said. “It was then that the idea of sponsoring a new church near Millbrook resurfaced.
“It doesn’t matter how large or small the church is, what matters is obeying the Great Commission,” he said. “When you do that, God will open doors at home and abroad.”
“They are off to a wonderful start,” said Gary Swafford, who works with church planting efforts through the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
Journey Church initially had about 40 area residents interested in being part of the church. Core groups are currently meeting and the first public services are planned for Aug. 15, according to Swafford.
He said the target area is growing quickly with 400 homes in one new subdivision and more subdivisions nearby. More than 5,000 homes are in the target area for the new church, Swafford said.
New Baptist churches in Alabama come through a study of various factors in a community.
Interested people in the community work with a sponsor church, the local Baptist association and the SBOM to establish, fund and grow the church.
“The sponsor is the closest to the action and is where supervision and accountability take place,” Swafford said.
Before Shoal Creek decided to sponsor Journey Church, Baker felt that 20 families from Shoal Creek must commit to supporting the new work. Forty-five Shoal Creek families pledged their help.
While Shoal Creek’s members committed to pledge and pray for the new work, Mike Mozingo, associate pastor of Heritage Baptist Church in Cantonment, Fla., was being led to establish a new church in the same area.
Mozingo and Baker, unbeknownst to each other, called Jackson on the same day, Jackson said.
Mozingo is a church planter who has served on the staff of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, and First Baptist Church, Brewton.
“The timing was remarkable to me. It was a real God thing,” Jackson said. “So many things have happened since then to confirm this is how God would have us work.”
Jackson said the area is not void of Baptist churches, but the community is growing faster than the existing Baptist churches can keep up with, necessitating the new church. Many Baptists in the area have been praying for the possibility of a new church to reach the area.
Swafford said pastors in the association are delighted to see the new church coming. They express a oneness and cooperative spirit to do what they can to support it.
Meanwhile Shoal Creek remains strong and evangelistic in its scope and is even planning a return trip to Thailand in November.
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