September 7, 2024
ROCK SPRING, Ga. – With signs of revival sweeping across a post-COVID Georgia, Peavine Baptist Church in the northern region of the state recorded 111 professions of faith over the Easter weekend.
The Rock Spring congregation, with 3,771 people in attendance, also baptized 29 people.
“That’s our largest Easter ever on decisions,” said Peavine Pastor Joel Southerland, former executive director of evangelism at the North American Mission Board. “We’re seeing salvations, baptisms and decisions all getting back to where they should be.”
Churches across the state have been seeing increases in attendance and professions of faith as concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic subside and more people return to in-person worship services, said JJ Washington, evangelism catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
“We’re seeing our churches getting back to the main thing,” Washington said. “During the pandemic, a lot of guys were in survival mode, but, now that that’s behind us, I think people are moving from in-reach to outreach.”
More than 40 people made professions of faith in the small Georgia town of Millen last week.
“I’ve never seen a move of the Lord like this,” said Millen Baptist Church Pastor Brad Asbury, one of the preachers who led revival services in the town’s Pal Theater. “What we’re seeing is a real hunger for God’s word.”
Hundreds of Georgians from across the state have made professions of faith in recent weeks in what denominational leaders hope is the beginning of a widespread awakening.
The Millen revival came the same week as one at Pineland Baptist Church in Thomasville where 19 people made salvation decisions.
Two weeks ago in Mount Vernon, it was college students, 20 of them, who made salvation decisions in a chapel service at Brewton-Parker College.
Three days before that, 102 Columbus residents claimed Christ in an evangelistic outreach in one of Georgia’s toughest neighborhoods, one that had become known as Little Chicago because of its high crime rate.
Three weeks ago, more than 1,100 people turned out for a Roopville Road Baptist Church initiative in Carrollton that included a low-country boil, a get-together that centers around a delicious meal of boiled shrimp and other seafoods with sausage, corn, potatoes and other ingredients all combined in the same pot. Pastor Stephen Peeples said seven people made professions of faith at that event.
And in Sylvester, Ga., more than 100 people made professions of faith during an evangelistic outreach sponsored by a group of area churches.
Georgia churches began to see salvation decisions rise when they returned to pre-pandemic activities, including revival services, community outreaches, block parties and more.
In northeast Georgia, 17 salvation decisions were reported in March at two Christian learning centers where public school students go for Bible studies. Mike Blount, mission strategist in the Tugalo Baptist Association, said those professions of faith were among 30 made since August in the learning centers.
At Shorter University, 24 students made decisions for Christ during a chapel service in late February.
In Moultrie, Kingwood Baptist Church Pastor Matt Greene reported 30 salvation decisions during a four-day revival in early February. That’s in a church with average Sunday attendance of about 80 people.
