From Around Georgia
(July 2022)
Jim Perdue, Senior Pastor, Second Baptist Church, Warner Robins
“I’m so thankful for Brad Marchman and the GBMB’s emphasis on building a strategic plan for intentional and continuous evangelism. Through my years in ministry, I have encountered many programs, philosophies and pathways for evangelism. I have been trained in multiple ways of sharing the gospel and I deeply appreciate various approaches of promoting evangelism within the local church. But I love the simplicity of an approach like this one. Instead of another program to implement, series to preach or activity to promote, it incorporates evangelism into everything your church is currently doing. With simple steps you can take weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly, you will find that a heart for evangelism will begin to permeate everything your church does. As the culture of evangelism begins to grow, the temperature of evangelistic passion begins to increase. I encourage you to take advantage of these simple steps to make sure evangelism is at the core of all you do. You won’t be disappointed!”
Josh Sullins, Worship Pastor, First Baptist Church, Brunswick
“Rhon Carter and the Southeast regional coordinator came to our church to help facilitate a roundtable discussion for worship pastors in our region. The topic was how to plan worship in a digital age. The discussion was very well thought-out and executed. The worship pastors in attendance were able to visually walk through the Planning Center Online platform. We discussed using it for scheduling, communicating, and as a way for participants to access files to rehearse with at their personal convenience. It was easy to ask questions and walk through examples and scenarios using the digital platform. Having lunch provided was a great way for all of us to continue the conversation, form relationships and connect on how we walk our ministries through this ever-changing digital world.”
Chris Holdorf, Pastor, Morgan Baptist Church, Morgan
“Praise the Lord! I remember sitting in my office in December of 2019, and (Sam Ayala and I) talked about this step (Crossover 907 in Columbus). Sam has truly been a catalyst that helped us take a step forward. To my knowledge, today was the first time that our church has ever traveled for any kind of mission effort. This was a big first step for us!”
Leah Sowell, Children’s Minister, Briarwood Baptist Church, Watkinsville
“I took four ladies from our VBS Team to their first VBS Clinic hosted by the GBMB. Judging from the their comments, I would say this clinic was extremely successful in helping this team prepare for their own VBS. One of our volunteers said, ‘The leaders were well trained and their excitement for VBS was contagious!’ Another commented, ‘I loved the round table discussions and hearing ideas from other churches.’ Then, one said, ‘This clinic was just what I needed to motivate and train other VBS leaders in our church.’ Thank you to all who orchestrated, led and taught during this training. It reminded all of us to keep ‘first things first’ – reaching our families and communities with the message of Jesus!”
Eric Eggers, Minister of Discipleship, North Metro Baptist Church, Lawrenceville
“As a minister of Adult Education/Evangelism, I have been greatly blessed by the partnerships I have received from Georgia Baptist Discipleship Catalyst Scott Sullivan and Evangelism Catalyst JJ Washington. They and our Northern region consultants (PJ Dunn and Steve Foster) have been a valuable resource to help us think strategically in the area of discipleship and evangelism. They offer a variety of resources that outline tools and methods for being more intentional at reaching and discipling. My personal favorite has been understanding the six streams in the Watershed Principle. Utilizing the content of this resource has helped build toward a culture of world-impacting disciple makers. I would also recommend utilizing the seven dominoes in the Domino Effect, allowing these dominoes to challenge you to think strategically with a more focused intentionality toward evangelism.”
Dusty Stoey, Youth Pastor, Satilla Baptist Church, Wray
“What I love most about being a Georgia Baptist youth pastor is the community. Coming from a background of having to pick yourself up by your own bootstraps and stepping into a world of camaraderie has been such a blessing for me as a first-time youth pastor. God has blessed me with several men in my life who care about me and truly want to see me succeed. My pastor, Kenny Sexton, is first on that list, followed very closely by Next Gen Catalyst Chris Trent and Tim Kilgore, a Next Gen consultant. These men have set time aside to help me as I start this journey of discipleship, a word I never heard growing up, to train me and build me up. Not expecting me to figure it out on my own. I truly am blessed to be part of an awesome community here in southern Georgia.”
Published July 1, 2022