Joe Westbury/Index
Georgianna Lin’s hands are positioned by Chinese pastor Carpus Yip as she looks out over the nearly packed sanctuary. Six other Chinese were also baptized on April 27.
LILBURN — It’s a long way culturally from Valdosta to Lilburn, but Ken Hall is proving that he and First Baptist Church know who made the road map that brought them together.
Hall will celebrate five years with the Gwinnett County congregation in June. Since he accepted the pastorate the congregation has added seven ethnic congregations and is considering an eighth.
During a two-year transition from former pastor Mike Minnix’s ministry to when Hall was called as pastor, the congregation came to grips that its community’s ethnic diversity was changing rapidly. Minnix left the church to serve as evangelism vice president for the Georgia Baptist Convention before retiring in 2005.
The congregation considered several options, including relocating, but decided to remain and expand its outreach. That’s when it felt led to call Hall from his 10-year pastorate at Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta.
“We had some Hispanic work but nothing like the ethnic diversity that Gwinnett County is experiencing,” Hall said. Both he and the church were committed to doing whatever was necessary to reach Lilburn and the surrounding area for Christ.
Today, the Anglo congregation averages 650 in morning worship and as many as 400 in six ethnic congregations who meet throughout the day. A seventh congregation of Hispanics meets offsite at the former location of Crossview Baptist Church on Killian Hill Road.
On April 27 the church showcased their ethnic diversity with an international day that baptized 24 new believers.
Hall said the congregation is talking with an eighth ethnic group about starting a new church and can handle perhaps one additional congregation before exceeding its space requirements. But the congregation won’t stop expanding until it has a clear picture of when that day has arrived, he said.
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A total of 24 individuals – 21 from the ethnic congregations and three from the mother Anglo church – were baptized in an international worship service on April 27. First Baptist Church of Lilburn has added seven language congregations in the past five years and is considering two others. | ||
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Joe Westbury/Index
Hamilton Tran, left, and Vietnamese pastor Alan Nguyen, in white robe, visit with Elaine Brown, who oversees the church’s ethnic ministries. Nguyen was preparing to baptize seven new believers – the most of any of the ethnic congregations – as part of the worship service.
Joe Westbury/Index
Ken Hall, pastor of First Lilburn, preaches while the church’s seven ethnic pastors, who also serve on the church staff, sit behind him on the platform. The Gwinnett County church baptized 24 individuals in the special worship service; seven others were unable to attend.
Joe Westbury/Index
Henry Vo holds the Vietnamese flag prior to the procession of the Parade of Flags in the morning worship service. Sixty-four flags representing ethnic communities surrounding the church and countries where the congregation is involved in missions were represented in the ceremony.
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