March 23, 2025
FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. — Harp’s Crossing Baptist Church saw a tremendous response to its 'Harvest Day' event on Sunday, March 2. Pastor Dennis Watson invites evangelist Keith Fordham to preach at the event each year, and this one was no different.
Last year, Fordham was recognized at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board's evangelism conference in Tifton for his “godly service” of 50 years as a vocational evangelist. In highlighting Fordham’s ministry, Steve Foster, one of the GBMB’s evangelism leaders recognized that Fordham had preached the gospel at more than 1500 revival meetings and evangelistic events. Fordham is still going strong and longs to see more churches planning revival meetings.
At the event at Harp's Crossing, Fordham noticed "a definite spirit of revival. The attendance was large, the choir and orchestra created a spiritually electric atmosphere conducive to the moving of God’s Spirit... People were coming to kneel at the altar during the special music.”
Fordham told his listeners that, firstly, they "are responsible to worship God regularly. Second, you are responsible to work together with other Christians. Third, you are responsible to witness to the world.”
Those gathered responded to the powerful message and the kind of invitation that only a God-called, Spirit-gifted evangelist can give. The altar was filled with people coming forward to accept Jesus as their Savior and rededicate their lives to the Lord.
Fordham said, “My grandson, Micaiah, who is a senior in high school and who has already responded to God’s call to preach the gospel, was present to hear my sermon. He was in the balcony with other students, 35 of whom accepted Christ at the church’s summer retreat in Alabama last year. He also had a hand in three others being saved and baptized on Harp’s Crossing Student Ministry’s ski retreat this winter.”
During the invitation, as Micaiah’s grandfather was pleading with people to respond to the gospel, the young man walked over to the other side of the balcony and spoke to another that he had witnessed to at the winter retreat.
Micaiah said, “Micah, you told me at the retreat that you accepted Christ and were going to be baptized. Have you been baptized?”
Micah said, “No.”
Micaiah said, “All right, let’s go to the altar.”
Keith Fordham testified, “They went straight to one of the counsellors at the altar, and Micah made his public profession of faith and requested baptism – he was another one that was saved.”
Fordham and Tom Johnston wrote a book entitled Worth and Work of the Evangelist. The book declares that the name “evangelist” represents a methodology – the primacy of heralding the gospel. Additionally, the name “evangelist represents a doctrinal position, for in the history of U.S. denominations, as long as the evangelist was held in high esteem, the Gospel radiated forth from those denominations. When their worth and work wanted, so did the doctrinal positions of those denominations.”
The GBMB, under the leadership of executive director W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., is placing an increased emphasis upon evangelism this year, and will host an evangelism conference as part of the Georgia Baptist Convention's annual meeting in November. Hammond and GBMB staff are currently conducting listening sessions with pastors across the state to discuss ways to reduce lostness in Georgia.
Click on this link to find a listening session taking place near you.
