October 18, 2024
CUMMING, Ga. – More than 1,500 Georgia Baptists showed up for evangelism training over the past three weeks, a signal that the state’s largest religious group is ready to get back to the kind of soul-winning it has historically been known for.
“This is the largest turnout we’ve seen in years,” said JJ Washington, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s evangelism catalyst who organized the multi-site and multi-day conference. “We’re seeing renewed excitement in both the pulpits and the pews to win our state for Christ.”
People who attended the conference, which was held in Cumming, Tifton and Macon over the past three weeks, were challenged to ramp up their efforts to share the gospel.
“Every day, we should be looking for opportunities to tell others about Jesus,” Washington told the crowds. “Wouldn’t it be something if it could be said one day in Heaven that all who dwelt in Georgia heard the Word of our Lord Jesus because Georgia Baptists got serious about the Great Commission?”
Georgia is home to some 1.8 million Southern Baptists, according to the U.S. Religion Census, a survey done every decade by Glenmary Home Missioners. Nearly 1.4 million of those Southern Baptists are in churches affiliated with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. While the Georgia Baptist Convention is the largest religious group in Georgia, the organization has seen a downward trend in membership and baptisms in recent decades. It’s that trend that the state Mission Board is trying to reverse with the ramped-up evangelism training.
Levi Skipper, who leads the church strengthen team at the state Mission Board, said Washington, along with evangelism consultants Steve Foster, Brad Marchman and Tim Williams, are working side-by-side with congregations to help them reach their communities.
“God is using these men to ignite a passion for soul winning in Georgia,” Skipper said.
Herb Reavis, senior pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla, urged Georgia church leaders to guard against allowing bickering within congregations to get in the way of soul winning.
“I’m telling you that what’s holding up revival is not outside the church, it’s inside the church,” Reavis said. “What’s killing evangelism is not outside the church, it’s inside the church. There will be no revival and there will be no spiritual awakening until we come to the end of self, and we exalt Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
H.B. Charles Jr., senior pastor of Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, said evangelism is the responsibility of every Christian.
Charles pointed out the first two letters in the word "gospel" are G-O.
"We are to be a going church for a coming Christ," he said.
