April 28, 2024
TIFTON, Ga. — Final arrangements are underway for the latest in a series of Called to Witness evangelism conferences that begins Sunday evening at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend the event that will provide inspiration to go tell others about Christ and information on the most effective ways to do it.
“The conference is a great time of encouragement and equipping with great preaching and worshipping and 10 breakout sessions that weaves evangelism through the ministries of the church,” said Steve Foster, an evangelism consultant with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, which organized the conferences.
The latest event begins at 5 p.m. on Sunday and resumes at 8:30 a.m. on Monday.
Keynote speakers include Herb Reavis, senior pastor at North Jacksonville Baptist Church in Florida; W. Thomas Hammond, executive director of the state Mission Board; Matt Queen, evangelism professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and H.B. Charles, pastor at Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.
More than 400 Georgia Baptist pastors and other church leaders attended the first of the evangelism conferences, held two weeks ago in Conyers. Foster said he expects a similar number at Tifton.
Foster said providing evangelism training is crucial to helping churches in Georgia reach an estimated 7 million residents don’t go to church.
The state's Southern Baptist churches have seen huge gains in evangelism, as evidenced in the more 20,000 baptisms reported in the past year. Foster said that represents a more than 30% increase in baptisms in 2023 and a more than 90% increase since 2020.
Signs of spiritual revival have been popping up in communities across Georgia with huge numbers of people making commitments to Christ in evangelistic outreaches. One of the largest instances was in October when some 1,600 people responded to the gospel during a four-day crusade in the south Georgia town of Baxley. But the Index has documented a year-long series of mass salvations, some measured in dozens, others in hundreds.
