Arkansas
Seeking a creative way to engage with students at the start of the academic year, Mark Parsley, student pastor at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Cabot, conducted a “wipeout Wednesday” on the church’s 100-acre property, Arkansas Baptist News reported.
The event included bounce houses, obstacle courses, boxing rings with oversized gloves, jousting, a Velcro wall and more. About 180 students attended, resulting in 10 salvations.
In addition to the wipeout Wednesday event, the church hosts a weekly meal for the local high school football, dance and cheerleading teams. Already this year, seven football players have made professions of faith. The church provides meals for the high school men’s and women’s basketball teams in the spring, and end-of-the-year banquets for several other teams.
“It’s really just us trying to be effective ministers and do effective ministry for our community, and God is just really showing up and showing out,” Parsley said. Click here to read more of this story.
Florida
What do demographic data and psychographic data have to do with reaching people for Christ?
Demographic data includes information on income, language, racial diversity, types of jobs and needs. Psychographic data is the study of personality, values, opinions, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. Josh Dryer, pastor of Fifth Street Baptist Church in Key West, believes the two methods provide pastors with insights into their communities and helps them develop an effective strategy to reach those around them, the Florida Baptist Witness reported.
Dryer has helped more than 300 congregations analyze community data, which can often be surprising to pastors. Studying the data has led to churches being planted in areas of projected growth, churches adopting people groups who live in their ministry contexts, churches searching for a new pastor or churches starting childcare ministries for young families in their communities.
Georgia
In a spontaneous Sunday morning baptism service recently, 99 people were baptized at First Baptist Church Woodstock, the Christian Index reported. The baptisms coincided with the church’s kickoff of the Who’s Your One? evangelism initiative that was launched in 2019 by the North American Mission Board.
“Jesus talks about leaving the 99 and going after the one,” Pastor Jeremy Morton said. “I’m asking everyone at Woodstock to identify their one, to pray for their one and to come up with a plan to share the gospel with their one.”
Johnny Hunt, former pastor at the church who now serves as senior vice president of evangelism and leadership at NAMB, preached the Sunday morning sermon about the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8 who was baptized immediately after he understood the gospel and believed. The sermon triggered the 99 spontaneous baptisms. To read more, click here.
Kentucky
It’s been 35 years and he has served five other churches as pastor, but Dave Dauwe is now serving in the church where his Christian journey began — Ludlow First Baptist Church.
When Dauwe accepted the pastorate of his home church in February 2020, the church was averaging fewer than 30 on Sunday mornings. Even when the pandemic resulted in the church closing for 10 weeks, the church has grown, Kentucky Today reported.
Within six months, the congregation reached 120 in one service and is now averaging between 80 and 90 in Sunday services — triple the pre-pandemic average attendance.
Dauwe is leading the church to share the gospel with its lost community, using the Gospel in Every Home initiative launched by the Kentucky Baptist Convention. “We’re seeing God’s blessing,” Dauwe said. Click here to read more.
Tennessee
She is a police officer, church trumpet player, mother to six children, church security team member, and, most recently, volunteer fire department chaplain. In those many roles, Danielle Cook, a member of Enville Baptist Church, said her highest calling is to be a servant.
“We’re called to be servants, and in all of these jobs I get to serve the people in my community,” she said.
Cook was ordained recently by Enville Baptist as a chaplain to the volunteer fire department so she can serve women who are experiencing difficulties, the Tennessee Baptist and Reflector reported.
Pastor Ron Davidson affirmed Cook, saying, “She’s faithful to the church, she’s a good servant in the community and she helps a lot of people.” How does Cook do it all? “One task at a time.” Click here to read more of this story.
Virginia
After meeting in rented space for almost two decades, Northstar Church in Blacksburg now has a home of its own.
Northstar Church was launched in 2003 with most of its young congregation composed of college students from Virginia Tech. Several years ago, the church bought property close to the rented school it used as its home base for 18 years, the Proclaimer reported. At the time of purchasing the land, church leaders did not know development plans for the surrounding area.
In April 2021 the church completed its first-stage building, surrounded by two new neighborhoods, a welcome missions field for the church. Close to 1,000 homes are planned for construction in the next few years. With the new building right in the middle of a missions field, Pastor Jeff Noble has challenged the congregation with the mission — “Don’t go to church; be the church.” To read more, click here.
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