Dewayne Rembert said over the past few years, he’s gotten the same phone call several times.
“They would say, ‘We really need a Flatline Church in our area,’” he said. “And I would ask, ‘Have you spoken to your pastors about what it would look like to support this type of church in your association?’”
Flatline Church at Chisholm, which Rembert planted in 2018, serves an urban area and relies on the support of other local churches to do its ministry.
“If it were not for Montgomery Baptist Association churches, we wouldn’t make it,” he said. “There’s no way we could be in an impoverished community like we are, serving our neighbors and feeding the basketball team at the high school every week. The pastors have got to buy in to what you’re doing.”
But Rembert said the fourth time he got the phone call, he felt God convicting him and telling him this — “Stop telling them they’re not ready and help them get ready.”
Training
The result is a seven-month cohort called MAWL, which stands for Model, Assist, Watch and Leave. The training helps pastors view urban culture through a different lens and uses the Bible as its guide, Rembert said.
“You’ve got to learn the culture so you can effectively engage,” he said.
He led the first MAWL training at West Central Baptist Association, meeting one Thursday a month for lunch.
“It was a powerful seven months,” he said. “It’s been revival breaking out in Selma.”
Lee Tate, associational mission strategist for West Central Baptist Association, said he and the pastors in his association all agree that it was just what they needed.
‘Perfect timing’
“It was perfect timing from the Lord and just hand in glove with what our vision is here,” Tate said, noting that the Selma area has a predominantly African-American population. “The training is a heart challenger and changer, and it gives you a much bigger picture of the Great Commission even than you have now.”
He said it’s changed the way he looks at his community, “like putting on a new pair of glasses.”
Rob Jackson, director of the office of evangelism and church health for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, said he’s excited about the possibility of more churches in the state getting equipped to serve cross-culturally.
“As I look at what happened in Selma and talk to the people involved in that, it was a watershed moment in their life,” he said.
The SBOM is partnering with Rembert to help offset the cost of travel as he offers these trainings to more Baptist associations across the state. MAWL cohorts are starting soon in Madison, Birmingham Metro and Montgomery Baptist associations, and Jackson and Rembert both hope for more in the future.
“I think the partnership is going to bring great fruit in Alabama,” Jackson said. “Across the state as a whole, we’re seeing college students saved, baptisms up, and I think this is just going to continue what the spirit is doing in Alabama.”
He said he sees a spirit of revival and cooperation starting to happen among churches.
“They’re asking how can we work synergistically together,” Jackson said. “What we’re seeing with Dewayne is a microcosm of the unity God is starting to build all over our state.”
For more information, call Rembert at 334-544-0374.
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