This is the first in a two-part series dealing with coming foundational changes in the Southern and Georgia Baptist conventions. This installment focuses on the concerns of younger evangelicals in the denomination. The second installment, called "Stained Glass and Starbucks," will focus on new approaches to church planting and worship styles.

 

We're not in Kansas anymore, Toto.
And we're not in the Georgia that we grew up in, either.

 

Those are the sentiments of a new generation of pastors who are looking at Georgia through a set of eyes completely different from their predecessors.

This new breed of evangelical is setting up shop in Georgia and he's changing the landscape of how churches reach into their communities. He's unquestionably conservative, most likely a recent graduate of a Southern Baptist seminary, and is the offspring of the conservative resurgence which set the denomination on a more orthodox path.

But while his theology is not in question, his nontraditional approach to evangelism has some of the fathers of the resurgence scratching their heads and asking what they are to do with this new upstart generation.

• With a Bible in one hand and a computer mouse in the other, they network among themselves at lightening speeds at all times of day and night. They are dependent on the rapid sharing of information with new technology such as IM (instant messaging) and blogs that makes the telephone of their spiritual forefathers look like it came out of the horse and buggy days. Which, in fact, it did as an improvement over the telegraph in the 1870s.
• The Internet has supercharged their ministry in ways not imaginable to their mentors. Their churches have their own Web sites and they send church bulletins via email rather than snail mail; church staff regularly update scheduled church events as fast as they occur rather than relying on word of mouth to reach their audience.
• The younger evangelical doesn't quite understand the historical perspective of the conservative resurgence. That's because he was somewhere between five years of age and a mid-teen when it all began in 1979. All interviewed for this article expressed gratitude for the resurgence, but their points of reference were not on the Holy War that divided the denomination. Instead, their focus is on the current spiritual war that increasingly claims fewer believers in a post-modern world.
• The younger evangelical does not remember the golden years of the 1950s when the denomination grew at an explosive rate. Rather, he was raised in a secular society that has seen the steady erosion of spiritual and moral values. To him, Billy Graham is more of a historical figure than a contemporary icon. And this young Baptist leader lives in a nation that adds one million unchurched people to its population every year (Barna Research, March 28, 2005; www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=185).
• While the tried-and-proven method of starting cookie-cutter churches served the denomination well for the post-World War II generation, the younger evangelicals find that method is no longer effective. The concept of buying land and building a small sanctuary and then inviting the community to attend opening services has been replaced with a far more pragmatic approach. Churches are started on a shoestring in public school auditoriums, vacant storefronts, and warehouses - and many focus on reaching people groups like cowboys, bikers, and bohemians.

 

On a recent Sunday morning in Villa Rica an hour west of Atlanta, worship at Peachtree Community Church is well underway. People dress casual and the pastor, dressed in like manner, delivers his sermon on a bar stool on a stage. To some older pastors, those are already two marks against the growing church.

In a March 31 listening session at North Metro First Baptist Church, 125 younger leaders drove up to five hours each way to share their views and concerns. One concern is that it does not help when speakers at state meetings criticize their methods. They believe that some of the current generation of program personalities does not understand how the gospel presentation needs to be presented in a new cultural context while the message remains uncompromised.

Peachtree is representative of the new wave of churches being planted by younger evangelicals in Georgia and across the denomination. A typical scenario plays out this way: A young seminary graduate, a Georgia Baptist by heritage, returns home to begin his ministry. But rather than being content to accept a "county seat church" and step into a pulpit with a 50 or 100-year-old heritage, he sees his hometown as a vast mission field populated with people who have never set foot in any of the established churches.

His challenge is to find a way to bring the gospel to those individuals in a form they can understand without compromising the message. The method of delivery may change, he says, but the story remains as pure as the first time it was told - Jesus saves and is coming again.

But in this case, Peachtree was almost an independent church start until the pastor, David Reid, had a chance encounter with New Church Development Ministries of the state convention. After developing a relationship with Jim Millirons and others in the department, he began to see value in being affiliated with the GBC.

 

Not looking for denominational baggage

"I had no problem with Southern Baptist doctrine but I just didn't want the baggage that went along with the denomination," the Bowden native explains. "I didn't want to be required to have Sunday night services, a traditional Sunday School program instead of small groups, and I didn't want to have Baptist in the name. I wanted to remove all the barriers and preconceived notions which lost people had about church."

With that said, Peachtree Community Church is solidly Georgia and Southern Baptist. It supports the Cooperative Program and all of the special missions offerings. But the congregation does not see its identity tied solely to the denomination. Instead, it uses a cafeteria approach in partnering with a variety of like-minded evangelical groups.

In spite of those peculiarities and variations from the historical norm, in May the congregation - which now averages 220 in Sunday morning attendance - was recognized by the GBC for having the most baptisms per capita members in Carrolton Baptist Association.

Associational Missionary Dan Dockery is grateful for Reid's presence in the association and for his new approach to reaching the unchurched.

"Peachtree is the first church to be started in our association in about 20 years. It was a joint venture between the association, Midway Macedonia Baptist Church, and the GBC and we're glad to have it.

"Associations don't start churches ... churches start churches ... but we served in a matchmaking role to bring David and Todd Wright, pastor at the sponsoring church, together to explore the idea. Midway Macedonia put David on the church staff to help him get started, and they have played a valuable role in the birth of the congregation."

The way that Reid approached Dockery further underscores the biblical worldview that characterizes the younger evangelical: He sees the mission field as subgroups of unchurched people with a variety of common traits. From the first meeting with Dockery at a nearby Ryan's Steakhouse he came armed with demographic studies of the community and a complete breakdown by income and socio-economic standing.

"The association had been considering a church plant in the Mirror Lake community and David was thinking about reaching a specific people group - 20 to 40-year-olds who dropped out of church after high school. We had not thought in those exact terms."

 

A new way of reaching the unchurched

"That was his target and he did a great job of hitting it. A common testimony of his members is that they had not been in church since they were 15 years old; about 75 percent were unchurched before they visited for the first service at Peachtree," Dockery adds.

A second characteristic of younger evangelicals is that they see the mission field as being geographically wide open for new church starts. Peachtree was launched just three miles from First Baptist Church of Villa Rica, which would have been a big 'no-no' among pastors 20 years ago. Churches were not supposed to overlap territory and fears of competition for the same members were common.

To the younger evangelical, unchurched are unchurched regardless of where they live. If an existing church is not reaching those in a community, another church should be given an opportunity with a different approach.

"I have a great relationship with Richard Holcombe, pastor at First Villa Rica, and he is not threatened at all by our being located so close to his church. We may be geographically close but we're fishing out of a different pond. They are more traditional so we do not overlap in our style of worship at all. If you like their approach you probably would not be attracted to ours," Reid, 34, says.

A changing society demands a changing denomination, younger evangelicals agree. No one knows that better than Richard Mark Lee at First Baptist Church of Sugar Hill.

Lee was just 30 years old when he accepted the pastorate of the church four years ago. Since 1886 the congregation had followed a traditional style of worship and in its relationship to the denomination. Not much changed because society was pretty stable; but then explosive growth came to Atlanta and the church relocated less than a mile away in a more visible location.

Rather than continue its traditional format, Lee and the church agreed to explore more creative ways of reaching the younger families moving into the area. A traditional service worked great for 150 years, he said, but visitors rarely returned.

As the approach was updated, the crowds slowly began to appear.

 

Changing with the times

"I'd say that today we are a cross between a traditional church and a more contemporary church. Many of our older members would probably prefer to hold onto the traditional way of doing things but they realized we needed to leave that comfort zone for the sake of our lost neighbors - who, demographics tell us, are couples who average 33 years of age and have two children. This is a town that is increasingly growing younger, not older, as new residents move in from around the nation.

"Today, three out of four of our members - who we add at the rate of about 250 a year - do not know the history or heritage of our church. But since we changed our approach, we have grown from 300 in attendance just three years ago to 1,100 today.

"The testimony to those older members is that we never had a worship war in our church. They realized that a traditional service served us well for 150 years but that approach would not work any longer. I also want to say that I am not against that style but there are fewer and fewer of those who embrace that format in Sugar Hill.

"We now have three morning services that are celebrative in style and we have visitors every Sunday who decide to return to learn more about us and about Christ."

Lee is typical of many of today's younger Baptist leaders who feel like they are living in two worlds. They grew up in churches with traditional worship styles but are members of Generation X with its sharply different approach to life. In fact, Lee wrote his doctrinal dissertation on how to reach Generation X - an ill-defined term loosely referring to those born between the years 1961-81.

"I'm a member of that generation and I struggle with locating the best methods to reach my peers. I'm a paradox to some; I'm not a conformist by denominational standards because I've only been to one SBC annual meeting but I am completely in line with the denomination theologically.

"The crux is that I'm not in the denomination for political or career gain because I'm too busy reaching my community. My focus is not on who is running the convention or how much time I can divert to get a presidential candidate elected but on asking myself 'Who are these people who drive by my church each day without Christ, and how can we reach them?'"

 

A need for mentors

"Many of those in my generation would say there is no need for the denomination, but that does not mean they are against it. What they need are mentors to help them grow. The problem is that so few [mentors] have stepped forward because they don't understand our approaches. Actually, we're all on the same team.

"I have been very fortunate in having some great men who have taken me aside to lend me their ear to help me grow spiritually. Men like Ike Reighard, Johnny Hunt, Larry Wynn, Frank Cox, and Bill Purvis have mega churches but they have reached out to me on a regular basis. They have said, in effect, that they value my ministry and they want to help me succeed in reaching my community for Christ.

"I'm 15 years younger than those guys and there is so much for me to learn. They sought me out and I am deeply in their debt for the love and grace they have shown to me.

"That is what I feel is going to save our denomination. It all boils down to one-on-one relationships. Personally, I get nothing out of going to a national meeting and sitting down in a room with 4,000 strangers in a distant city. It's sitting down with Bill or Johnny or Frank over a cup of coffee that creates a bond for today and tomorrow."

Tyrone Barnette, 40, has also grown a church with nontraditional methods that are bringing greater numbers of African Americans to Christ. And in so doing, the Decatur congregation has started two other churches, Harvest House Baptist Church in Covington and Trinity Baptist Church in Ellenwood.

Barnette, whose Peace Baptist Church is also affiliated with the Willow Creek Association, said he had grown up in traditional congregations that were having little success in transforming society. He eventually felt led to start a church from scratch to try some new approaches.

 

Six months of incubation

"Everything we do today came out of our first six months of incubation as we formed our core group. We put everything on the table. We asked ourselves if we started a church, what would it look like? What kind of church would Jesus start in our community? How would He see our neighborhoods, our town, and what ministries would He create to meet those pressing needs of society?

As a result, the suburban Atlanta church has a variety of ministries that have helped it build significant inroads into the community. For example, its substance abuse program has a 70 percent rate of recovery. Nearly 40 individuals are now enrolled in the RAW program - Recovery @ Work.

In addition, 38 certified DeKalb County teachers serve on a volunteer basis through its tutoring outreach ministry. Word of mouth has been its greatest asset in spreading the news of the ministry. When the county Board of Education recently learned that the grades of children who participated in the tutoring sessions had improved dramatically, it gave the congregation an $18,000 grant to enlarge the program.

The church also has a mentoring program to teach laity how to start a church, and then helps sponsor them. But it doesn't have traditional SBC programming and has never had a Sunday evening worship service.

A desire to color outside the lines is common among younger evangelicals. They pick and choose from among a variety of approaches and are not tied to following one particular ideology. To them, the Southern Baptist Convention is not the only game in town. But they are sticklers for having a conservative theology and a biblical worldview.

In Albany, pastor Bruce Pittman, 43, understands that approach.

His New Generations Baptist Church, now approaching its third year, meets in a storefront behind Albany Mall. It offers a more contemporary worship experience from that of nearby Byne Memorial, which is located less than a mile away.

"Perhaps 90 percent of Georgia and Southern Baptist churches are pretty traditional and I understand the need to cater to those but I don't see our future in that direction. If the convention wants to be more involved with the new breed of churches it needs to offer more training for those churches.

"Other para-church groups are doing a good job with that, why can't the denomination? Churches that decide to have small groups rather than traditional Sunday School are growing in numbers; it's a very valid form of ministry that needs more validation."

The Georgia native says he was "raised Southern Baptist and will probably die Southern Baptist but I know a lot of young pastors who do not share that commitment. The new generation does not have the loyalty to organizations that characterized earlier generations. They want the denomination to be a two-way street. They want to support the Cooperative Program but in return they want good programming, more relevant training.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. I don't sense that the state and national conventions are willing to experiment with different ways of reaching the lost."

Two other south Georgia pastors share similar views through different approaches. They - and Pittman - were among those who drove nearly four hours to the listening session led by LifeWay President Jimmy Draper at North Metro First Church.

The future of the denomination concerns them both.

Marty McLain, 38, was only 12 years old when the conservative resurgence was launched - 26 years ago this week with the election of Adrian Rogers as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He expresses gratitude for that movement which gave him a conservative denomination, but that is not a part of his identity.

"There seems to be one kind of mentality that is needed to bring about a revolution but a different mentality that is needed to govern in the days that follow. I think the older leaders did a masterful job preserving our denomination but it's time to expand the leadership.

"I'm all for our denomination but I feel there is a real vacuum in how we relate through our structure. I've served on the state convention's nominating committee and the Healthy Kingdom Church committee but I know many others who would like to serve but are not being asked. I think some of that may be based on their lack of involvement in the resurgence, and some may be based on their having a different approach to how they do ministry."

McClain believes some of the problems with the younger evangelicals being accepted is their style of worship.

"We are a big denomination and we should be able to embrace the new along with the old. It should not be an either-or proposition. Contemporary worship is not just for young people - it's not something you should be expected to grow out of as you get older.

"Sometimes I feel like I am living in two worlds. It seems that as a teenager it was OK for me to enjoy contemporary Christian music but when I became an adult I was expected to like Southern gospel. It's just not realistic."

 

Shaped by different forces

McLain says younger pastors are shaped by different cultural forces than their predecessors so they respond to ministry differently.

"There are so many advantages to being involved in the GBC. There are good resources at our disposal. We just need to do a better job of how we communicate and how we are open to new ideas that remain biblically sound."

At Zoar Baptist Church in Baxley, Jeff Waters, 30, serves in a traditional church but would not be opposed to minister in a more contemporary style if the setting called for such a change. His congregation will celebrate its 110th anniversary in October and retains its traditional format in a very rural setting.

Waters, who grew up in First Baptist Church in Lilburn, acknowledges a changing of the guard is on the horizon and he is concerned over how that responsibility will be passed to a younger generation.

"I was only five years old when the resurgence began. I didn't even know there had been one until I heard about it in college years later. It's not a big part of who I am."

Tim Dowdy, 44, understands the frustration of younger evangelicals who have embraced a more contemporary form of ministry but whose methods are questioned by older pastors in the state.

His church, First Baptist Church of Eagles Landing, has grown from an average Sunday morning worship attendance of 40 to nearly 2,000 in the 16 years of his pastorate. It was a fairly new mission and he was the first fulltime pastor when he stepped into the pulpit.

Like other younger leaders, he is concerned where the Southern and Georgia Baptist conventions will be in 10 years at the current rate of change.

"Guys younger than me tell me they love the impact on worldwide missions and evangelism that comes from being a part of the denomination, but they don't believe the structure that has been appropriate in the past is going to pave the way for the future," Dowdy says.

"These guys were not around during the resurgence, though their ministries have been shaped with that conservative world view because they are a product of the restructured seminaries. That means they came out of those seminaries with a firm belief in the Bible.

"On the other hand, they are having a hard time finding a place of service" because they were not foot soldiers or lieutenants in that conflict.

Dowdy says it is difficult for the growing numbers of young evangelicals to attend a state or national convention meeting and listen to their methods being criticized. Many feel they just don't fit into the cooker-cutter way of doing ministry and evangelism.

"Our approach is very biblical and relevant to our culture. The question in the back of their minds is 'Are we really welcome here?'"

 

DAVID REID - 34 David Reid Church - Peachtree Community Church, Villa Rica Worship style - Contemporary, celebrative Do you have a Sunday night service? - No, we use that time for intergenerational Growth Groups which meet in homes for Bible study, prayer, and sometimes a meal. Church Web site - www.peachtreecc.org Favorite Web sites - www.hardquestionsforgod.com, www.bible.org, and several blogs of individual pastors such as www.sbcoutpost.blogspot.com. I also have my own blog at davidbreid.com. What's on your iPod? - Casting Crowns, Michael Card, any kind of worship music like Passion and Chris Tomlin, as well as some of the old stuff like Keith Green and New Song.	TYRONE BARNETTE - 40 Tyrone Barnett Church - Peace Baptist, Decatur Worship style - Three contemporary morning services. Do you have a Sunday night service? - No, we never had an evening service in our 12 years of existence. Church Web site - www.peacebaptistchurch.org Favorite Web sites - www.lifeway.com, www.willowcreek.com, www.pastors.com What's on your iPod? - Larnelle Harris, Yolanda Adams, Fred Hammond
TIM DOWDY - 44 Tim Dowdy Church - Eagle's Landing First Baptist, McDonough Worship style - Celebrative, in two Sunday morning worship services. Do you have a Sunday night service? - No, we use that time for other programming such as student and youth FAITH classes, Awana, adult discipleship classes, and adult choir. Church Web site - www.eagleslanding.org Favorite Web sites - www.bible.org, www.equip.org, www.gpn.org, www.lakepointe.org, www.brookhills.org What's on your iPod? - Casting Crowns (Mark Hall is our youth pastor), Mercy Me, Jeremy Camp, Third Day, Chris Tomlin, Steven Curtis Chapman, as well as audio material by prominent pastors that I use for sermon preparation.	MARTY MCLAIN - 38 Marty McLain Church - First Baptist, Cochran Worship style - One 8:30 a.m. contemporary/ celebrative service that attracts the most visitors and where most decisions occur, and one 11 a.m. traditional/contemplative service. Do you have a Sunday night service? - We have a traditional Sunday evening service that is well attended with a good mix of people from both morning services. Church Web site - www.fbccochran.org Favorite Web sites - www.theooze.com, www.bpnews.net, www.drudgereport.com, www.worldnetdaily.com. What's on your iPod? - Third Day, Jeremy Camp, Big Daddy Weave, Michael W. Smith and Casting Crowns
RICHARD MARK LEE - 34 Richard Mark Lee Church - First Baptist, Sugar Hill Worship style - Traditional for 115 years until we moved in 2001; we now have three contemporary/ celebrative morning services. Do you have a Sunday night service? - Not since the fall of 2002. We only meet two nights of the month; the first Sunday night is worship and the third is leadership training. The second Sunday night is to intentionally spend time with unchurched people and the fourth is family night. Church Web site - www.fbsh.org Favorite Web sites - www.frontline.to, www.creativepastors.com, www.fellowshipchurch.com, www.pastors.com as well as Fox, CNN, and Reuters news sites. What's on your iPod? - Third Day, Switchfoot, Delirious, Michael W. Smith worship songs; anything from the Passion worship series.	BRUCE PITTMAN - 43 Bruce Pittman Church - New Generations Baptist, Albany Worship style - Contemporary, 65 average attendance; church meets in storefront in Galleria Shopping Center Do you have a Sunday night service? - We are only two-and-a-half years old and have never had an evening service. Instead we have LIFE groups which are intergenerational (not age-graded) home Bible studies hosted by families in different homes. Church Web site - www.newgenerationschurch.net Favorite Web sites - www.pastors.com, www.emergingminister.com, www.msn.com What's on your iPod? - Steven Curtis Chapman, Caedmon's Call, 722 Band (from North Point Community Church in Alpharetta), Chris Tomlin.
JEFF WATERS - 30 Jeff Waters Church - Zoar Baptist, Baxley Worship style - Our church is located in a rural area and worship style is very traditional. However, I would not be opposed to a more contemporary style in a different cultural context. Do you have a Sunday night service? - Yes, we have a traditional 7 p.m. worship service. Church Web site - None Favorite Web sites - www.scripturetruth.com, www.desiringgod.org, www.bible.org, www.carm.org What's on your iPod? - Third Day, Newsboys, Casting Crowns, Audio Audrenaline, and Mercy Me. Actually I don't own an iPod. I'd like to have one but in a small rural church, funds are limited to essentials.