October 1, 2026
AMERICUS, Ga. — Pastors, ministry leaders, and laypeople from churches across southwest Georgia gathered at Central Baptist Church in Americus for the fourth SPARK church-strengthening conference of 2026.
Scott Sullivan, discipleship catalyst for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said Central Baptist did “an outstanding job” hosting SPARK, praising the church’s “next-level hospitality” and the spirit of cooperation among churches throughout the region.
Bryan Myers, senior pastor of Central Baptist, said hosting SPARK provided more than an opportunity for his own congregation.
“It was a win for us,” Myers said. “Not only for my church, but for our association. It created a moment where our pastors and our churches could come together under one roof. And we don’t always do that and do that well.”
Sullivan said the gathering offered a picture of what regional cooperation can accomplish. “What an incredible picture of what can happen when churches and associations across a region work together for the sake of the gospel,” Sullivan said of the event.
Myers said he hoped the event would encourage church members throughout the region to recognize their own responsibility in carrying out the Great Commission. Many pastors in the region are bivocational, Myers said, making the involvement of laypeople particularly important.
“I hope what it does is energize the laypeople to partner with the pastor,” he said. “This is our church. This is our mission. It’s not just his.”
About 100 Central Baptist volunteers helped host the conference, and hosting SPARK caused many to look at their own church through the eyes of visitors, he said. The experience prompted volunteers to think differently about everything from greeting people in the hallways to helping guests find classrooms and restrooms.
A day later, Myers said the church staff was still reflecting on the opportunity. “One of the greatest blessings was watching our church volunteers display godly hospitality from the parking lot to the pew,” he said. “We are continuing to pray that the local churches who attended go back home and intentionally embrace their mission field.”
That emphasis on the local mission field ran throughout the conference.
Thomas Hammond, executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, reminded attendees that Georgia itself is a mission field, citing the estimated 7 million people in the state who do not have a relationship with Christ.
“We have the opportunity to share the love of Christ with a state that so desperately needs to hear that message,” Hammond said. “In fact, oftentimes I believe that the state of Georgia is sometimes more eager to hear our message than we are to share it.”
Hammond said the goal is to help every Georgia Baptist church identify a defined mission field around it and develop a strategy for reaching the people who live there. With approximately 3,500 Georgia Baptist churches scattered across the state, he said, local congregations are strategically positioned to carry the gospel into virtually every community.
Hammond highlighted Mission Georgia and the State Missions Offering, which provide churches with resources to reach their communities. Hammond said the offering is a way for Georgia Baptists to work together to reach the state with the gospel.
Myers echoed that emphasis as he prayed over the gathering. “We may not be able to reach all of Georgia, but we’ll do our very best to reach our part of Georgia,” he said.
Several attendees said they came looking for practical help they could take back to their churches.
Jessica Redding of Cuthbert First Baptist Church serves on the church’s children’s committee and teaches children on Sunday and Wednesday nights. She said she came looking for ideas to strengthen the church’s children’s ministry.
An early session affirmed much of what the church is already doing, she said, while also showing her “a couple of things we could do a little better.”
Tim and Donna Kirksey attended from Butler Community Church, a new church plant where their son serves as pastor. Tim Kirksey said they came hoping to learn more about church planting and how to reach people in their community.
The figure of more than 7 million lost people in Georgia particularly caught his attention.
“When they showed that graphic about 7 million lost people in the state of Georgia, that’s pretty substantial,” Kirksey said.
Alex Pineda, pastor of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva in Vienna, said he wants his church to develop the kind of culture that can impact its community, maintaining its “love for the lost, and remembering that we have to reach them for Christ.”
Breakout sessions addressed a broad range of church ministries, including church planting and revitalization, evangelism and discipleship, missions, children’s and student ministry, collegiate ministry, pastor wellness, disaster relief, worship, counseling, men’s and women’s ministry, church administration, special needs ministry, and Spanish-language ministry. The sessions focused on practical tools church leaders and volunteers could take back to their own congregations.
Ken Whitten, national director of pastoral leadership at the North American Mission Board, delivered the keynote message from 2 Samuel 7, encouraging pastors and church leaders discouraged by unmet expectations, difficult seasons, or ministries that have not developed as they once hoped. He previously served as pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla.
Whitten pointed to David’s desire to build the temple, a dream God did not allow him to fulfill, and offered three lessons from David’s experience: God sees where His servants came from, He sees their hearts rather than merely their accomplishments, and He sees what lies ahead even when they cannot.
“You see where you are, God sees where you came from,” Whitten said. “You see your today, but God sees your tomorrow.”
He urged pastors not to allow comparisons with larger churches or disappointment over unrealized dreams to cause them to lose sight of their calling, reminding them that ministry faithfulness cannot be measured simply by attendance, numbers, or visible accomplishments.
Whitten told attendees there are no small churches in God’s kingdom. “I’m not a fan of the term megachurch. I just like the term God’s church.”
“You may be shepherding hundreds and not thousands,” he added, “but God Almighty has taken you from the pasture to the pulpit.”
Whitten closed by reminding pastors, ministry spouses, deacons, and church members that their service matters. He prayed they would leave Americus encouraged and ready to return to the work God has given them.
“This is His church,” he said. “He never asked you to build Him a church. He said He’d build His own.”
Sullivan said the gathering illustrated a principle Hammond frequently emphasizes about the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s relationship with local churches. “Thomas Hammond often reminds us that the headquarters of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board is not in Alpharetta; it’s in the local church. Tonight, we saw the strength of dozens of local churches in multiple associations come together for the sake of the gospel,” he said.
Sullivan reported 662 registrations, including 73 walk-ups, for the Americus event. That brought total registrations through the first four SPARK conferences of 2026 to 2,652, with two events left. The record-setting 2025 SPARK season drew 4,111 participants.
Sullivan said SPARK’s real impact would not be measured by the number of people who gathered, but by what happened after they returned home. “Our prayer,” he said, “is that every person leaves equipped to invest in someone else — disciples making disciples, leaders developing leaders, and churches multiplying their impact throughout this region and beyond.”
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