‘Old school’ evangelism rekindles dwindling church
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| Danny Friedrich is baptized at Central Baptist Church in Kansas City -– the first at the church in 20 years. Midwestern Seminary faculty member Thomas Johnston has led an initiative to rejuvenate the church which had dwindled to three members. |
“They were throwing the church records into the garbage” because they figured the tiny brick church’s 50-plus year history was at an end, said Georgia-based evangelist Keith Fordham.
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| Atlanta-area evangelist Keith Fordham preaches at the first outreach through the Low and No Baptism Project aimed at bolstering churches that haven’t baptized anyone in recent years. |
It may sound like hyperbole, but it really happened, said Thomas Johnston, associate professor of evangelism at nearby Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, who began preaching at the church July 4, 2004, as part of an urban evangelism initiative.
Besides dwindling numbers, another reason there hadn’t been a baptism there for so long was because the old baptistery leaked. With a donation from another church, work began to repair it, and that’s when the church’s old records were unearthed.
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