September 20, 2024
The Friendship Baptist Association in rural southwest Georgia, like many other rural associations, is confronting a crisis. It is experiencing a shortage of pastors, youth and children's workers, and musicians. The association, spread over nine counties, has 47 churches and missions. Currently, eight of those churches are without a pastor, in an association where 65 percent of the churches are served by bi-vocational pastors.
Eight of the counties have declining populations. Many jobs have vanished because of the loss of industries and affiliated businesses, Director of Missions Charles Stoops stated, “Young people are leaving and not coming back.” Stoops said one pastor described his pastoral ministry as having lost two congregations. “First we lost all the children and youth and now I’m burying all their parents.”
Buck Kinney, the pastor of Plains Baptist Church in Americus, noted, “The whole church is experiencing difficulty filling pastoral positions, but the situation in the rural church is unique and critical. Our goal is to be intentional about calling out God's men within our area, and finding methodologies for training, equipping, and supporting them to address our unique challenges.”
The need has been on Charles Stoops’ heart for many years. In 2020 the association began focusing on the need for raising up new leadership, not realizing at the time its efforts would dovetail with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board effort which began in 2023 of “Calling Out the Called.” That year, the association began a process that led to the creation of a Leadership Development Council based on Ephesians 4: 12. After several years of prayerful preparation, the association adopted last fall the recommendation of a 3-year focus on “Calling Out the Called.”
The outline of this process includes six phases:
The association leadership realized that if God called people to ministry, they were not prepared to help equip them, especially since many of them are not in the position to leave secular employment to attend college or seminary. Furthermore, Stoops was burdened with the fact “that pastors were not even preaching messages asking people to serve... as Jesus did, asking people to follow the Him... specifically to serve in a special calling.”
The association has begun to shift and refocus its resources under this new emphasis. Stoops explained one of those transitions is to a ministry established 14 years earlier, called AIM (Advancing in Missions). “AIM was strictly camp-based summer missions and those missionaries who participated were high school and college students, including Send Me Now. As God blessed that leadership development program, we began to catch a vision of something greater that He was doing in our midst... AIM made the transition to “Advancing in Ministry” and began to look at the leadership needs within our local churches.”
The association has partnered with Brewton-Parker University’s “Georgia Baptist Bible Institute” as one of the avenues for training. A class was offered in the fall of 2023 and spring of 2024 with Kinney as the instructor. The fall class had six enrolled and the second semester had ten, with more expected to participate in the 2024 fall term.
A unique feature of this ministry is the development of a “Calling Out the Called Sunday.” Churches are encouraged to focus one Sunday on God’s call to service. The idea came after Stoops conducted an informal survey asking pastors if they extended an invitation to God’s call to service, to which they all responded negatively. He then asked about their call and most said, “I was in a service when a preacher extended an invitation.”
To date, three churches have had a “Calling Out the Called Sunday.” Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church in Butler is one of those churches. Pastor Fitz Brown said, “I strongly believe the local church is ground zero for God calling out those He calls to serve in ministry. All future leaders and ministers of the church should come from a local church setting... Our association is focused on raising up leaders from within our own community of churches so when a need arises within one of our churches God can meet that need from within our own community.”
The association has adapted resources from a neighboring convention, including a prayer guide, promotional materials, and resources for sermon helps. All of these are available on the association’s website.
So far, five people have responded to God’s call to ministry through those three worship services. This alone is an amazing number considering the size and number of churches that have held those events. This is in an association whose total average Sunday School attendance is less than 1,800 per week. In addition, two more have responded to the call to ministry through the high school and college focus of the AIM ministry.
In less than a year, God has rewarded the prayerfulness, faithfulness, and work of those in the Friendship Association with seven people who have responded to a call to ministry service. They realizing that this is something bigger than themselves, it is a work of God.
Nor does the association see this as simply a way to deal with their own problems. Last fall’s recommendation to the association to establish this ministry reflected the fact that the same problems are plaguing churches in surrounding associations as well. From its inception, this ministry has been designed to strengthen churches across the region and is providing a working model for other associations to follow.
Cedar Valley Baptist Church in Montezuma, pastored by Damon Fountain, also hosted a "Calling Out the Called Sunday." The following Sunday, one young man followed through and shared with the church his call to ministry. Fountain describes what it is happening through the lens of one of his favorite verses: Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Fountain continued, “God is calling men today, just as I know He will continue to do so!”
Stoops and other associational leadership have reflected that if God can do this in an association with limited resources, He can do it anywhere!
