- When I came and I looked at a church, and I knew like,
hey, it's healthy enough as far as the world standards,
or like I said, the church standards.
But it needs to grow. There are areas where we're weak.
We may have been getting by,
and we just happened to be getting by
better than other people.
But deep in my heart and deep in everybody here's heart,
they knew that there were people out there
that needed to be reached. (gentle music)
Revitalization looks different at different churches.
It's not always the same.
And it's not just about the number.
It's about what it is that God wants you to do,
and where He wants your church to be at.
Rob, through the help of the Myers-Mallory missions offering
and some of those things, encouraged me,
and helped me figure out what would look best at our church.
- Embrace is we do that generally once a month.
And instead of discipleship training class,
we go for an hour out to visit.
We have some that stay back here
and pray over the ones we're visiting,
and then we have some that stay and write letters and notes
and hope that that will encourage them in some way.
- And so we came back and we would share with one another.
Man, we would encourage one another with the story.
So everybody in here, everybody that came,
whether they stayed here and prayed,
or whether they went out and knocked on doors,
they all got to hear the results.
If they were paying attention, they would see those results
in following weeks as they came up to be baptized,
they would come and join the church
as our attendance started picking back up.
And so that's where, so really it was a process.
Rob and his office and the Myers-Mallory,
and all of those things,
they worked together to help equip me,
and to help prepare me so that I could then help the church
and get the church involved in going out.
And it was, man, it was really effective.
- I mean, I think as believers, Christ, I mean,
we're called to reach out.
God's word tells us that we need to be intentional.
We need to be very, very overt about our faith,
because Christ calls us to that.
- Now, man, when people come in,
I've heard people say over the last couple of months,
man, there's just such a spirit of revival
that I just know something big's about to happen.
And it's so good to just be able to see that on their faces,
see that in their smiles.
Hey, look, even though everything isn't smiles
through the whole revitalization process,
the end result is up to God, and we want to trust Him,
and it's worth it.
- I think that's one of the really wonderful things
about being a part of Southern Baptist.
I can be a part in my small church.
I can be a part of something big
and wonderful that God uses to do things on a multiplier
that my little church probably couldn't do on its own,
but I'm a part of what God's doing in a much bigger picture.
You can really see God moving through obedient churches,
and obedient church members,
and accomplishing really great things for His kingdom.