Men’s ministry emphasis leads to church growth in Maysville

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Imagine for a moment that every Georgia Baptist church was reaching more than 40% of its community in Sunday School. Would that be a game changer?

In a northeast Georgia community with no red light or caution light, the game began changing about eight years ago when two young men – Josh Shoemaker and Jeremy Sharpton – from Maysville Baptist Church had a heart to reach other men in the community. The men they wanted to reach were mostly hunters, fishermen, and farmers, so they started an Outdoorsman’s Ministry.

“We recognized that as men we knew how to communicate with men,” Shoemaker said.

That ministry has grown through the years until this past February, Maysville hosted 2,950 people – mostly men – at a wild game supper at a local warehouse where 204 attendees professed faith in Christ.

“We believe that as the man goes so the family goes,” said David Sharpton, Maysville Baptists’ pastor of evangelism and education. “Our desire is to reach men and therefore to reach the whole family to make disciples.”

Though designed to connect with men’s outdoor interests, the ministry began indoors when their former pastor approved a Wednesday night men’s Bible study. Twenty-seven attended the first night, and one man made a profession of faith. The study outgrew the church’s facilities and met for a while in a restaurant that could hold 90. Soon, that facility was full, too.

By then, Maysville Baptist realized they had found a formula for church growth. To facilitate the growing men’s Bible study and other ministries, the church built a $700,000 building and paid cash, Sharpton said.

In eight years, Sharpton estimates 1,100 different men have attended the Bible study. More than 250 have professed faith in Christ and been baptized.

All of this is happening in a community of about 1,500 people.

Simple format

Sharpton said that the Maysville Baptist men’s ministry uses a “tipping technique” on Wednesday nights, offering help on topics that men like. Those topics can range from changing your oil, to siting your rifle, to catching striped bass.

Following fellowship, prayer, a tipping technique presentation, and worship, Sharpton teaches up to 30 minutes, drawing on his strength as an expository preacher. He estimates that between 80 and 100 men attend on Wednesdays.

With disciple-making as its foundation, the Maysville Baptist men’s ministry hosts two major events each year. After the February wild game dinner, they have a bow shoot in August.

Evangelism is the primary objective of their major events. The church has an immediate follow-up plan of trained men visiting each person who indicates a decision for Christ. Of those attendees with no church affiliation, Sharpton estimates that 27% eventually “get plugged into the church.”

Sharpton said that the Maysville Baptist men’s ministry uses a “tipping technique” on Wednesday nights, offering help on topics that men like. Those topics can range from changing your oil, to siting your rifle, to catching striped bass.

Not every piece of their strategy is high profile. The men are also committed to community missions by repairing roofs, building ramps, underpinning houses, and other services to those in need.

“It’s for one purpose, the opportunity to present the Gospel,” Sharpton said.

The game has changed

Six men at Maysville Baptist have indicated a calling into full-time vocational ministry, which Sharpton sees as a major outcome of their men’s ministry. He has also seen marriages restored, divorced people being saved and remarried, and people overcoming addictions. And more men are volunteering for roles in the church and for mission projects.

“When we go to look for laborers to serve, we go to the men’s ministry,” Sharpton said.

As their men’s ministry has grown, so has the knowledge of the church’s 7.5% commitment to the Cooperative Program (CP) from its undesignated gifts.

“They understand CP and understand what it goes for,” Sharpton said.

Maysville, men's ministry, missions, outdoors