Montgomery’s Vaughn Forest fastest-growing FAITH church

Before Vaughn Forest Baptist Church in Montgomery ever conducted its first worship service, it had already implemented a process for training its people in evangelism.
   
That may help explain why, almost 10 years later, the church averages 950 in Sunday School and has a reputation at LifeWay Christian Resources as the fastest growing FAITH church in the Southern Baptist Convention. FAITH — which stands for a gospel presentation around the words Forgiveness, Available, Impossible, Turn, Heaven — is an ongoing evangelism and ministry strategy that functions through a church’s Sunday School.
   
When it began, a group of six people formed the nucleus of Vaughn Forest’s process for discipling people in evangelism. Two leaders trained four others in evangelism explosion.
   
A few years later the church became one of 28 originator churches for the FAITH process. With only about 275 in its Sunday School at that time, it was the smallest church but one of the most experienced because founding pastor Lawrence Phipps had already followed the lead of First Baptist Church, Daytona Beach, Fla., in tying evangelism to Sunday School.
   
Vaughn Forest is now preparing for its 12th semester of FAITH, has hosted seven clinics to train other churches and regularly sends 70–80 teams out on visitation, accounting for some 210–240 people. Phipps not only teaches at the FAITH clinic at Vaughn Forest but a couple of other FAITH clinics yearly.
   
And last year he wrote the book “Praying in FAITH,” a training guide to use in the program. Although the church doesn’t track the numbers who come to them through the FAITH process, along the way hundreds have been baptized at Vaughn Forest. So far this year, 165 have joined by baptism.
   
Vaughn Forest hosted its latest FAITH clinic in July with 47 participants, resulting in 33 professions of faith. It was the smallest group in attendance to date because some 8,000 churches have already been trained, but those who are just now enlisting in the FAITH process seem to have a heightened level of interest, according to Phipps.
   
Moreover, because FAITH has fine-tuned the connection to Sunday School, those churches that are getting involved seem to be staying with the program.
   
“I believe it is important to have some kind of process to disciple your people to reach other people,” said Phipps, who deliberately uses the term process instead of program. He credited FAITH as one of the major factors contributing to Vaughn Forest’s growth.
   
Phipps puts faith in a process like FAITH because merely telling his congregation to witness would be “like sending sheep among the wolves.” Just as Jesus walked with His disciples, he believes pastors need to go with their people, who can watch and emulate their ways of evangelism.
   
Not only is Phipps actively involved in FAITH at Vaughn Forest, every other pastor on staff is also.  “Our entire staff wants to be involved in FAITH because as a staff we don’t want to create any area where people can run to get away from doing evangelism.”
   
The church offers FAITH on Sunday afternoons and Mondays. During FAITH training a team of learners goes out with a leader to do ministry and share the gospel with church prospects, utilizing an outline learned during the 16-week training course. Although some people show up at Vaughn Forest immediately after contact from a team, Phipps noted that it usually takes an average of 13 “touches,” so a church must be prepared to do the follow-up.
   
Phipps said if FAITH hasn’t proven as effective at another church, it is due to one of three reasons — lack of pastor involvement, not following the 16-week plan or lack of prayer support.
   
His concern and desire for prayer support eventually evolved into “Praying in FAITH,” a resource and emphasis absent in original FAITH material. 
   
Forerunner of that was a book Phipps wrote with Daniel E. Edmonds, Sunday School director at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, called “Growing Sunday School TEAMS,” which they self-published. Now in its third printing, the book addresses the need for prayer support.
   
Prayer partners are critical, said Phipps, because you not only garner spiritual support but by enlisting others to pray for FAITH, you also cultivate them as learners.
   
Phipps used this analogy in the book to explain the significance of prayer: “The heart of FAITH is the gospel presentation. The brains of FAITH is its connection to the Sunday School. And the breath of FAITH is the Holy Spirit.” If you take out any portion, it doesn’t work.
   
Meanwhile, Vaughn Forest remains committed to a process that results in evangelism but which Phipps characterized as discipleship. “Jesus called us to make disciples, not decisions. You have to start with a decision for Christ, but you can’t stop there or you haven’t fulfilled the Great Commission.”