Huge crowd signs up for Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference; not too late to register

DULUTH, Ga. – One of the largest crowds in recent history has registered for this year’s multi-site Georgia Baptist Evangelism Conference set for late February and early March.

J.J. Washington, evangelism catalyst for the state mission board, said more than 700 people have already signed up, and he expects that number to increase significantly in coming days.

Because of declining attendance in recent years, Washington opted to hold the conference at three regional sites this year to make it easier for church leaders to attend.

He also called in some of the best-known preachers in the Southern Baptist Convention, including Bellevue Baptist Church Senior Pastor Steve Gaines who will be at all three regional sites.

The central region location will be Turning Point at Mable White in Macon on Feb. 27-28. The southern region location will be First Baptist Church in Tifton on March 6-7, and the northern region location will be First Baptist Church in Cumming on March 13-14.

“The evangelism conference is designed to encourage and equip churches in evangelism,” Washington said. “As a former pastor, I understood that it was my responsibility to share the gospel personally and lead my church to do likewise, so I did not need a conference to tell me what the Bible clearly commanded. However, I did need the encouragement that the preaching in an evangelism conference can provide, especially during seasons when I was planting and watering, yet seeing little to no fruit.”

Washington said, as a pastor, he also needed the equipping that the breakout sessions provide to make him more effective in sharing the gospel and in leading his church to be more evangelistic.

“This is exactly what the evangelism conference has been designed to achieve,” he said. “Therefore, if people leave encouraged to be more faithful in sharing Jesus and equipped to be more effective, then we as an evangelism team at the Georgia Baptist Mission Board have achieved our goal.”

Gaines will preach and lead “lunch and learn” breakouts at all three regional locations. Other speakers include:

•  Fred Luter, senior pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church in New Orleans, who will preach at the central region location only.
•  Herb Reavis, senior pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla, who will preach at the both the central and southern regions locations.
• H.B. Charles, Jr., senior pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., who will preach at all regional locations.
  
  
• Mark Clifton, senior director of replanting and rural strategy at the North American Mission Board, who will preach at the northern region location only.
• Joel Southerland, executive director of evangelism at the North American Mission Board and senior pastor of Peavine Baptist Church in Rossville, Ga., who will preach at the northern region location only.
  
  
• Brad Waters, senior pastor of First Baptist Church Hazlehurst in Hazlehurst, Ga., who will preach at the southern region location only.
• Washington, the evangelism catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, who will preach at all regional locations.

• JJ Weeks Band, which will perform at the central region location.
• Carolina Bank will be performing with Daniel Crews in the southern region location.
• The First Baptist Church of Cumming's music ministry, led by Rick Forbus, will join Daniel Crews in the northern region location.

General admission is free for the conference. The ‘lunch and learn” sessions with Gaines are $10 and includes a Chick-Fi-La box lunch and a Share Jesus booklet that will be discussed during the session.

To register, go to https://gbcevangelismconferences.com.