For the first time in Alabama Baptist State Evangelism Conference history, participants will not only learn about how to do evangelism but also will do evangelism together.
This year’s evangelism conference to be held at Gardendale First Baptist Church Feb. 28–March 1, will feature Will Graham, grandson of Evangelist Billy Graham, during its Tuesday evening session in what is being dubbed as a “harvest event.”
“We’re working real hard to encourage the DOMs (directors of missions) and pastors around the Birmingham and Gardendale areas to have unchurched people in that (service),” said Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), which sponsors the annual evangelism conference. “[The Tuesday evening session] will be organized like a one-night Billy Graham crusade with one speaker. While we’ve always had an evangelism conference, we’ve never made it into an evangelistic event.”
In preparation for the event, a training session was held in November 2010 for pastors and DOMs who plan to serve as counselors.
And for those who were not able to attend the training session but want to serve as counselors, a training session will be offered March 1, prior to the evening event.
With Gardendale First able to seat 2,500 in its sanctuary, Gilbreath hopes the place will be “packed out.” His office recently bought a billboard that says, “The Graham legacy continues,” located in Birmingham at the intersection of interstates 65 and 20/59 in order to get the word out to the community.
“I pray that at the closing harvest event people would come to know Christ,” Gilbreath said. And, he added, that these people will be plugged into a church. That’s why his office plans to send decision cards to the associations where the people live for follow-up.
Gilbreath said he hopes this event will be a model for churches and associations so that they can leave saying, “We can do this, too.”
Even though Graham is the headliner for the conference, many other exciting things will take place, Gilbreath said.
Like last year, the conference will offer two different tracks — the evangelism track featuring preachers and worship and Great Commission ministries tracks, which offer practical ways to do intentional evangelism through church ministries.
This year’s conference will feature 11 guest speakers, including three Alabama pastors (Reginald Calvert, pastor of New Jerusalem Baptist Church, Bessemer; Kevin Hamm, pastor of Gardendale First; and Jay Wolf, pastor of First Baptist Church, Montgomery); Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis; and James Merritt, senior pastor of Cross Pointe Church, Duluth, Ga.
Prior to the Monday afternoon sessions, there will be a question and answer (Q&A) session with Gaines and Merritt during a catered lunch. Seating is limited. In addition, Gaines and Merritt will be bringing members of their church staffs to help lead the Great Commission ministries tracks.
“Last year was the first year for a mega church pastor to bring his staff and it was a huge success,” Gilbreath said.
“There are all kinds of topics where pastors can get real help. … This conference is to give them what they need. We’re not bringing them in to say, ‘Do it this way,’ but to help.
“I would hope that our pastors, staff and lay people would go away motivated to reach people,” he added.
“All we want to do is to come alongside them in what they’re already doing.”
For more information, call 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 245. (TAB)
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