MOULTRIE -- Beth Tilson, secretary of Temple Baptist Church eight miles south of Moultrie, describes the church's pastor as "a wild child" when he was growing up. Terry Webb, who will soon celebrate his 15th anniversary as the Temple pastor, readily admits to being a rebellious teenager.

Webb states, "I grew up in church. I joined the church when I was 12 years old and was baptized soon thereafter, but I got in with the wrong crowd and didn't live for the Lord. For years I would go to the altar in every revival meeting and rededicate my life to Christ, but continued to struggle and even became suicidal in my desperation."

 

True salvation

The Temple pastor began to weep for joy as he recalled his conversion experience. "One night in my bedroom at 21 years of age I had a genuine experience with Christ. I surrendered my life to Him and He set me free."

Webb's life parallels the lives of many church members who try to live the Christian life without ever really being saved. Church membership and water baptism is a poor substitute for being born again by the power of God's Spirit.

Four years after his conversion experience the Hartsfield native responded to God's call to the ministry and began to serve as a bivocational youth minister. In September of 1990 Temple Baptist Church, a family-dominated church with about 35 in attendance, called Webb to be their pastor. For nine years he served the church in a part-time role until the church finally saw the benefits of having a fulltime pastor.

The church has had exceptional growth under Webb's leadership and recently had more than 300 present for a Sunday morning worship service in a facility that will accommodate only about 170. Tilson, who has served four different churches as secretary, commends her pastor, saying, "His leadership style is remarkable. He has been blessed with a gift of wisdom and discernment that surpasses what I've seen in many, many pastors."

Tilson added, "The main reason we're growing, however, is Brother Terry's heart and passion for the lost. He is one of the most evangelistic pastors I've known, and a lot of that has to do with where he came from. The other is my husband (Robert Tilson), who is the associate pastor here. Between the two of them, the lost will not be able to escape without hearing the Gospel. The pastor has members in the church that used to go to bars with him. Now they are saved. It's amazing to see how God has used his perseverance and dedication to make an impact."

Temple Baptist Church is not afraid to embrace the lost, the tired, the homeless, and the outcasts, Tilson points out. "We have ex-cons, ex-addicts, ex-everythings. We know the power the enemy has over people, and we will do everything we can to win them and help them become who they should become in Christ."

Because of the church's need for additional facilities, Temple applied to the Georgia Baptist Convention for building assistance from Carpenters for Christ. The church's commitment to evangelism and extreme willingness to reach out to others won the favor of the those responsible for making the decision and the church was awarded the privilege of having Carpenters for Christ come and assist them in their building project, which consisted of a worship center seating 400 and eight rooms for Christian education.

On June 9 the first wave of what ultimately amounted to nearly 150 persons with Carpenters for Christ descended on the Temple property to begin the construction process. The skies were growing darker as the work teams began to build the church. Tropical Storm Arlene was cutting a wide swath through the Gulf of Mexico and headed for Moultrie. The deluge came on Saturday, June 14, and work had to be suspended for the day. Some of the trusses were warped in the soaking rain and for the first time in 28 years Carpenters for Christ were not able to get a building "dried-in" during the time allotted for their work.

Webb declared, "They didn't get to finish what they had hoped to build, but we believe we will be in our new building in 90 days and for half the cost of what it would take to build such a facility in a conventional way."

Tilson stated, "The community response to our accelerated building program has been incredible. The daily change in the construction of the building was so obvious that it became a topic of con-versation throughout the community. Our members were constantly being stopped and asked questions about the church. We've had unbelievable support from the community. Food has been provided for the builders and even a fire truck came and provided water for the work crew. In addition, a sheriff's car was donated to park out front each night for extra security."

Tilson expressed relief that Temple is no longer a "family owned and operated" church, but a church that is in her legacy years, building for the future and building so the whole county of 40,000 can hear about Jesus.