September 16, 2024
McDONOUGH, Ga. — With four of this year’s six regional SPARK church-strengthening conferences in the books, the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s discipleship team is shattering attendance numbers. So far in 2024, more than 2200 participants from over 130 churches have taken advantage of the gatherings to learn strategies and ideas for improving all aspects of their church’s ministry.
That success, in large part, can be attributed to the hosting churches, says Scott Sullivan, the board’s discipleship catalyst. “The church pastors and their associational mission strategists are going out and getting people to come,” he explains. “They are inviting other pastors and leaders out to coffee or to lunch and encouraging them to attend and bring their church members.”
In addition, Sullivan says, the efforts of the mission board team in getting the word out via marketing and social media have been instrumental. “I can’t say enough about how the internal support systems at the mission board elevated our ability to do SPARK trainings in six locations and promote well to 1.5 million Georgia Baptists,” Sullivan adds. “Lana Melton, Greg Teffertiller, Scott Smith, Kelsie Good and the entire marketing team make us better in serving our 3400+ Georgia Baptist churches. Together with our church strengthening strategist, Mark Marshall, whose leadership and wise counsel are a critical part of SPARK success!”
More than 400 people registered for the two latest SPARK conferences at Abilene Baptist Church in Martinez, Ga., hosted by Pastor Brad Whitt and his team. Ken Whitten, the North American Mission Board’s National Director of Pastoral Leadership, was the keynote speaker. Participants had a choice of more than 30 breakout sessions to attend, on topics such as discipleship, evangelism, next gen and children’s ministry, pastor wellness and more.
W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, points out that “SPARK provides not just inspiration but information on how to strengthen every aspect of your church’s ministry.”
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President Al Mohler was the featured speaker at Glen Haven Baptist Church in McDonough, and Sullivan says that the “938 registrations are the most we’ve had at any of our regional trainings. That is a testament to the cooperative work between the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, the local church leaders like Pastor Brady Howard and Pastor of Discipleship and Missions Jarrett Fletcher, and a fully engaged AMS like Art Fulks of Southside Baptist Network. We really are better together.”
Sullivan also credits the strategic selection of the six locations across every region of Georgia. The goal, he said, is for everyone who wants to attend to have a conference location convenient to them.
Successfully putting on a SPARK conference requires a total team effort, Sullivan says, much of which is behind the scenes. “I can’t say enough about how the internal support systems at the mission board elevated our ability to do SPARK trainings in 6 locations and promote well to 1.5 million Georgia Baptists,” he says.
It’s not too late to plan to attend one of the final two sessions of 2024. “We have two incredible SPARK training locations left, in Brunswick with keynote speaker Mac Brunson and West Rome with Thom Rainer,” says Sullivan. “These two locations have worked nearly every week for over nine months preparing for this half-day training.”
“I hope every church in the northwest and southeast regions takes advantage of this opportunity,” says Hammond.
You can register for the last two conferences at the sites linked below:
Southeast Region
First Baptist Church in Brunswick on Sept. 8.
Speaker: Mac Brunson
Northwest Region
West Rome Baptist Church in Rome on Sept. 22.
Speaker: Thom Rainer
After the conference, attendees will be able to access video of every session and breakout from the past 3 years in the SPARK Vault, an online portal where the recorded sessions are archived. Participants have free access to the vault, but anyone can purchase on-demand access.
