Sonrise Baptist Church, Mobile, opened for the Lord’s business this spring and after just two months it has a membership of 34 adults, nine children and 17 more children who attend with their families.
The first Sunday morning service was March 2 with 96 people, 21 of those being Baptist leaders and members from its sponsor church, Moffett Road Baptist Church, Mobile. Sunday worship attendance is averaging 80.
Several volunteers from Moffett Road and some from the new church community worked quickly on March 1, the day that the 12,000-square-foot office building could be released to them, to make it ready for its first service.
“That first Sunday when I was standing out in the parking lot, wondering if anybody would come, I looked up and saw cars start coming. I got so excited that I had to come back inside to pray because I was humbled, excited and scared,” said Sonrise Pastor Ric Camp.
Camp earned his bachelor of arts in religion from Samford University in 1984 and his master’s in religious education in 1987 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He is currently working on his doctorate in educational ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
Set along Blackburn Drive just outside the city limits of Mobile, the church is poised to serve the needs of people in the proliferation of new and existing single-family homes and apartment homes that dot the landscape.
“It’s an area that the young, middle class have sought to move into since it is less congested, but this area is becoming congested,” Camp said. “It’s just outside the parameter of where the majority of new growth is taking place.”
The median age of area residents is 34. Adults from their 20s through their 70s, and children and youth have attended services at the church.
Moffett Road pastor Terry Cutrer said he hopes Sonrise will be basically self-sufficient within a year.
“They should be able to show substantial growth from their outreach and begin the process of looking at property for a permanent place,” he said.
Cutrer has high aspirations for the church’s long-range growth.
“I’d love to see average attendance in the next five years at 400 plus,” he said.
“I’m enthusiastic about the possibilities. The area has a lot of folks and is projected to grow even more. I just see a lot of potential out there,” said Cutrer.
“Our mission statement is ARISE, an acronym for Adore the Lord, Relinquish control of our lives, Introduce others to Christ, Serve the community and Establish meaningful relationships,” Camp said. The service design of the new church is to have its Sunday morning and Wednesday night services as its main services, with no services on Sunday night, opting for visiting people in the neighborhoods.
The church has Pause for Power on Wednesday nights. This is an abbreviated prayer service, with full Wednesday night services set to
begin in September.
The church has Sunday morning services at 10:30, and they began a new members’ orientation class.
Not competing
“We’re not in competition with any church to see how big we can get, and how small we can make them. We’re not about that. We are about getting people to church, and our format is probably different from most churches in this area; therefore, the people we will be drawing will be different types,” Camp said.
“Our goal is to reach those people who will not attend church anywhere else and minister to that post-modern generation,” Camp said.
“The post-modern generation is a group of people who are very spiritually minded, but that doesn’t mean they’re Christian-minded. They’re very relationship-oriented and are looking for something that gives meaning in life but not just quick answers. Before they sell out to it totally, they’ll check it out thoroughly. They are highly influenced by the media and movies. If you want to hold their interest, you’re going to have to be a good storyteller.”
“They’re coming not just to be entertained, but to find depth. But they’re not looking for church as it used to be or often is. To meet their needs, we’re going to have to be creative in our methodology, without compromising the message of Christ at all.”
According to Gary Swafford in the office of association and cooperative ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, 2 million of Alabama’s 4.5 million people are unchurched. He also said 90 percent of those living in multihousing units are unchurched.
“This group tends to shy away from traditional church settings,” Swafford said,
“When I surrendered to the ministry 22 years ago, I felt a call to something different,” Camp said. “I had no clue what it would be. … It wasn’t until I surrendered to the ministry — this ministry, here, that God really impressed on me, that this is it.”
Camp moved to Mobile to become the pastor of the new church with his wife, Lisa, their 8-year-old daughter, Reagan, and 3-year-old son, Noah. (Jill Puckett contributed)
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