It’s time for Alabama Baptists to get serious, Sammy Gilbreath said. And if that means the State Evangelism Conference no longer looks like a preach-off, then so be it.
“Some people may not like that,” said Gilbreath, director of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “But if we are going to win Alabama for Christ, then we are going to have to be serious about it.”
What that meant at this year’s conference, held Feb. 22–23 at Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery, was intensive, specific training on how to grow an evangelistic church. The lion’s share of the teaching was done by Ed Young Sr., senior pastor of Second Baptist Church, Houston, and seven more members of his church staff.
The staff taught all the breakout sessions Tuesday, hitting on topics ranging from evangelism in small groups to restructuring a church. Conference attendees had the option of attending breakout sessions or the main evangelism conference preaching session in the worship center.
“The response has been overwhelmingly positive,” Gilbreath said, noting that the breakout sessions were well-attended. “It’s been exciting to talk with people and get e-mails from folks saying, ‘For the first time in my life, I got specific help for specific needs in my church.’”
The topics also drew in a “younger crowd than ever before,” he said. “We made a deliberate effort to have something on the program to draw younger pastors, and many young pastors came specifically for these breakout sessions.”
Another change was that the Tuesday night rally veered from the normal challenge for personal evangelism as Young closed out the conference with a practical message about building a more evangelistic church.
He said he and his staff came to “try to share with Alabama Baptists how to build a church for those who are not there yet. That is the genius of evangelism and one of the most difficult things to do. Most churches are structured in such a way that I don’t believe a church would radically grow in reaching the lost for Jesus Christ.”
Alabama Baptists shouldn’t forget that they are in a battle but apparently they have, Young said, noting that though the state continues to grow, churches continue to decline.
In his message, Young gave 10 factors that hinder church growth:
• A poor location
“Sometimes you can help that, sometimes you can’t. But if your church is hard to get to or parking is difficult, that’s a problem,” he said.
• A committee-led church
Young told the 800 or so present that committees bog down church growth and challenged them to “sit down with the legitimizers of the church and convince them” to go a different route with leadership.
• Already the “right” size
No vision for growth stunts outreach, Young said.
• Negative preaching
“If you continually preach negative messages, you will build a church of the maddest, meanest people you’ve ever seen,” he said.
• A fear of debt
The Bible doesn’t say a church shouldn’t go in debt; it says make sure you don’t have too much saddle for the horse, Young said.
• A staff that does not function
“Get somebody far better than average (in a staff position), or you’re better off without them,” he explained. “God has given to every body of believers the gifts that are needed to do what you need.”
• A team without a leader
“Don’t pass the buck,” Young said, challenging pastors to take responsibility for what happens in their church. “If something didn’t happen, it didn’t happen because I didn’t lead properly.”
• A threatening atmosphere to non-Christians
When “everybody calls everybody brother and sister, you have turned off hardcore lost people already,” he said. “We’ve got a religious lingo that people who come in from the outside, they don’t get it. We’ve got to communicate with a person who doesn’t know Genesis from the maps.”
• Evangelistic counting
Don’t inflate numbers, he said. “You’re fooling yourself; you’ve got to know a true picture of where you are.”
• Shabby buildings
“There is no reason we can’t paint, we can’t keep things clean,” he said. “We can show pride in our churches.”
There are also 10 things churches can have to promote church growth, Young said:
1. Leadership
2. Surplus parking
3. Visibility
4. Prioritized ministry
“You have to decide what the most important thing is. For instance, what is the No. 1 hurting element in Alabama? Single parents,” Young said.
5. Prayer
6. Shared vision
7. Quality
“Don’t do anything if you don’t do it with quality,” Young said, noting that for instance, churches should put effort into planning their worship services. “People will come where there’s a reality of the almighty God.”
8. Constant change
“If you don’t like something at my church, don’t worry — we’ll be doing something new next week,” he joked.
9. Teach and preach the Bible
10. Discernment
“You can preach heaven down, know Bible from stem to stern, but if you don’t have discernment, you’re going to get killed sooner or later,” he said.
(Jennifer Davis Rash contributed)
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