Across Georgia in 2010

Evangelism Ministries of the Georgia Baptist Convention is asking these questions: “What if every Georgia Baptist church prayed and partnered together to saturate Georgia’s communities with the seed of the Gospel using their unique gifts and resources? What if the sowing occurred simultaneously to maximize the possibility that every member of their communities would hear the Gospel?”

These questions introduce us to an exciting year of evangelism throughout our Georgia Baptist churches. The theme of this strategy is, “Across Georgia 2010.” It is all about every church caring, every believer sharing, and every Georgian hearing the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Remember that Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the labors are few; Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matt. 9:37b-38 NKJV).

With the beginning of a new decade wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if every Georgia Baptist church would make the commitment to reach its community for the Lord Jesus Christ? By this I mean that there would be no residences in any community surrounding the church that did not in some way receive the Gospel.

We are suggesting that there are a number of ways to do that. We believe there is only one way to be saved and that is through the grace of God expressed in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and trusting in Christ alone for salvation. At the same time, we believe there are many different ways to sow down the Gospel throughout our state so that people will be confronted with the message of Christ and have every an opportunity to receive Him as Lord.

Evangelism Ministries is challenging every Georgia Baptist church to engage their congregation in one or more of the following intentional evangelistic initiatives in 2010:

1. Prepare and host an evangelistic revival.

2. Implement a servant or community evangelism project.

3. Take the Scripture to every home in its community.

4. Train every member to share the Gospel through their Sunday School or small group gatherings.

OR

5. Implement a personalized local evangelistic effort that you have found to be effective.

Why is this so important, and why now? Georgia’s population is approximately 9.7 million people. Of that total population, there are approximately 6.8 million who do not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. That means there are almost 2,000 lost people for every Georgia Baptist church. As Jesus said, “The harvest truly is plentiful.”

This evangelism strategy for 2010 is Georgia’s response to NAMB’s strategy for 2010 called “God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS).”

Brandon Stanley, pastor of CrossRoads Baptist Church in Social Circle, gave the following testimony of how their church got involved in a NAMB pilot project for the GPS strategy.

“I wanted you to know that this past Sunday we baptized eight people. Additionally, four people in the first service and 12 others in the second service made decisions to follow Christ.

“We are giving out 3,000 bags with evangelistic outreach materials to our congregation this coming Sunday. Our families will distribute them to their friends, relatives, and neighbors. I am so fired up about the ‘Find it Here’ brochure. I started a sermon series four weeks ago titled, ‘The Purpose of the Cross.’ It will culminate on Easter with the acrostic of the CROSS – Christ, Reason, Outcome, Substitute, Salvation.

“I had no idea things would line up so beautifully. Thank you for your leadership in the GPS. Keep pressing on.”

You may want to help your church distribute bags for the evangelistic outreach materials or have a different plan for taking the Gospel to your community. However you do it, my prayer is that every Georgia Baptist church will get engaged in reaching every resident in Georgia in 2010 with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the summer of 2010, we would ask you to also consider involving your congregation in a Judean Mission Project. I would encourage you to join other Georgia Baptist churches in coming to Atlanta this summer to help us reach the 800,000 people living inside of I-285. We are looking forward to sharing the Gospel, planting churches, and strengthening existing churches as we reach one of the greatest metropolitan centers in all of America.

To express an interest in this evangelism thrust, I would encourage you to call Evangelism Ministries at (770) 936-5236 or Mission Volunteers at (770) 936-5346. Our staff will be anxious to assist you with information and to sign you up for a great mission venture in the summer of 2010.

Please join us in this new year, at the beginning of this new decade, as we sow down Georgia with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.