September 19, 2024
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — Pastor Tim Akin’s vision for First Baptist Church Douglasville is of a “multicultural, multigenerational, multiplying” church. That's why, in November 2022, the church invited Pastor Javier López to begin holding worship services in Spanish.
That diversity, and its rewards, were evident Sunday as 12 believers of varying ages and ethnicities were baptized during a bilingual worship service in English and Spanish. On Sunday, testimonies were read and worship music was sung in both languages. Akin preached the message, while López translated. Akin said that more than 30 nationalities were represented among the congregation Sunday.
The two groups normally hold separate services, but they combine on the fifth Sunday of a month for a celebration that includes baptisms, communion, and the welcoming of new members. More than 50 believers were introduced to the congregation on Sunday as new members.
López said God is at work in the church, with more than 40 professions of faith and 20 baptisms among the Hispanic congregation since November.
Georgia Baptist leaders began seeing localized revivals popping up all over the state last year, pushing up baptism numbers to 15,029 in 2022, an increase of nearly 2,700 from the previous year. And the revivals have continued into this year.
Since January, 119 college and university students have made salvation decisions, said Beverly Skinner, collegiate ministry catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.
Northside Baptist Church in Valdosta had seen 43 baptisms as of March and 67 since Christmas.
Others have seen big numbers of salvation decisions in single-day events or at multi-day events, including Pleasant Valley South Baptist Church in Silver Creek where 21 people made salvation decisions at sportsmen’s banquet, at Dudley Baptist Church where 42 people made salvation decisions, and a Hopeful Baptist Church in Camillia where 30 people made salvation decisions.
In February, 41 people surrendered to Christ at a wild game dinner in the fellowship hall at Bethel Baptist Church in Omega where some 400 men had gathered.
In January, First Baptist Church in Blackshear reported 19 professions of faith at a venison supper. Another 28 people recommitted their lives to Christ at that event.
