Church’s 125 baptisms in one day reflect focus on evangelism
 |
| Phil Neighbors, co-pastor of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, Calif., baptized Tyson Brewer during a service in which 125 followed the Lord in believer’s baptism. Photo courtesy of Valley Baptist Church |
“Here in Bakersfield, [Calif.,] our goal is to tell everybody who lives here that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins and He rose again and that they can have a relationship with God through Christ.
“As churches, we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to reach the people who live across the street and the people who live in our communities and neighborhoods,” Spradlin said, voicing appreciation that the Southern Baptist Convention has given focus to “the importance of the Gospel and its ability to change people’s lives.”
66 teens at Super Bowl party emerge with new life in Christ
 |
Middle school student Sarah Owens readies for baptism during a Super Bowl party at First Baptist Church in Colleyville. The church’s campus minister, Zach Schroeder, performed the baptism.Photo by Mary Margaret Collingsworth |
“Before ... I wasn’t doing very good,” the 15-year-old freshman said. “I was skipping out on school and wasn’t doing the things I was supposed to do.... Then I just changed.”
Upchurch is one of 66 teens who found a new life through accepting Christ as their Savior at a Super Bowl party Feb. 5 sponsored by First Baptist Church in Colleyville, Texas.
 |
Kiley Johnson comes up after being baptized during a Super Bowl party for teens at the Dallas/Fort Worth-area First Baptist Church in Colleyville. The church’s campus minister, Zach Schroeder, performed the baptism. Photo by Mary Margaret Collingsworth |
Upchurch, of nearby Grapevine, was one of 10 people who was baptized during the third quarter after an evangelistic talk at halftime by Keith Harmon, student pastor at the Dallas/Fort Worth-area church.
“I started crying and just felt I was a new person and got lifted on the inside,” Upchurch described his rebirth. He followed almost immediately in baptism, “Being baptized, everything felt right. I wasn’t nervous or anything.”
Harmon said only 24 of the 66 new Christians attended a church prior to the event, which saw more than double the number of conversions as last year, when the party was held for the first time. More than 400 students attended the party, which was publicized by members of First Baptist’s youth group distributing free tickets at their respective schools.
Evangelism focus leads Arkansas churches to record baptisms
MARION, Ark. (BP)--A steady stream of baptisms at First Baptist Church in Marion, Ark., makes it, like others throughout the Southern Baptist Convention, vital to the “Everyone Can” challenge to witness to, win and baptize 1 million people throughout the SBC during the coming year.
And, aware that it couldn’t adequately meet the spiritual needs of the community through its main campus alone, First Baptist sponsored a church restart in a nearby trailer park community, and that restart in turn planted a Spanish-speaking congregation.
When the Everyone Can evangelism campaign officially began last fall after several months of SBC President Bobby Welch setting forth the vision across the country, the Arkansas Baptist State Convention launched a correlating emphasis called “Your Life Matters,” which encourages renewed outreach and simultaneous revivals to kick-start church growth.
With evangelism part of ‘culture,’ church sees record baptisms
ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (BP)--When Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch called for a baptism emphasis in churches across the nation to be held Nov. 27, the event happened to coincide with a milestone at a North Carolina church where evangelism has become second nature to most members.
Baptisms on the rise as church experiences revival
 |
| Adding to the number Brent Williams, pastor of Grace Southern Baptist Church in Virden, Ill., baptizes a new believer -– one of more than 60 to accept Christ during the past two years as revival has broken out in the church. Photo courtesy of Grace Southern Baptist Church |
Grace Southern Baptist Church in Virden, Ill., a town of 3,500 people about 20 miles south of Springfield, was striving to have 100 people for a Sunday service two years ago, but now they easily surpass 200 each week.
“It’s amazing over the last two years what God has done,” Brent Williams, pastor of Grace, told Baptist Press. “I’m originally from Arkansas and grew up in church in the Bible Belt, and what I’ve found out over the last two years of being here is that people are so receptive to the Gospel, that their ears and their minds are open to hear about the Good News of Jesus Christ.”
Baptisms at midnight and in Atlantic Ocean kick off effort to baptize 1 million in year
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (BP)--Twenty-two people from 12 churches in Florida took the baptismal plunge in the Atlantic Ocean Oct. 1, marking some of the first baptisms in what Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch hopes will be 1 million converts and baptisms within the next 12 months.
Pastor: Baptisms flow from soul-winning rooted in Scripture
 |
| Baptismal witness With a readiness to witness to her faith via baptism, Karen Baker listens as pastor Jeff LaBorg of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tenn., notes the biblical importance of baptism. Photo by Kent Harville |
When people have “experienced the power of the Gospel personally ... they want to share that with others,” said Jeff LaBorg of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tenn.
New believers, he noted, are the fruit of soul-winning by church members who “love the Word of God and have been taught by exposition and example from their leaders that soul-winning is a requirement and not an elective.”
 |
| Baptismal obedience Blair Ceplo, 12, was one of 29 people pastor Jeff LaBorg of College Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tenn., baptized in late August. Photo by Kent Harville |
College Heights members “love everybody that comes through the door, regardless of appearance, affluence, or economic status,” the pastor said. “On Sunday, they flood the altar with tears and intercession, and then they go out and pursue the very ones they have been praying for. They are bold about sharing their own testimonies of how Christ changed their lives.”
For example, church members recently discovered a family who had moved to the area to work in the booming construction industry, but heavy rains had delayed the work. They had spent all their resources and were living in a tent in a local campground. The church family ministered to their needs and shared the Good News of God’s love, LaBorg said.
‘Only God can get the glory for’ growth at Biltmore church
 |
| Comments at celebration James Walker, pastor of Biltmore Baptist Church near Asheville, N.C., addresses an estimated 1,000-plus people at celebration service in which 142 people were baptized in Biltmore Lake Aug. 15. Photo by Bob Carey |
“We were thinking real big. We thought we’d like to have one that would seat a thousand people,” Tommy Koontz, who served as chairman of the building committee, laughed in a self-deprecating acknowledgement of how small man’s vision is -– compared to what God has in mind.
Church’s outdoor baptism services: More than 400 have stirred the waters since ’03
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (BP)--When Robert Sulaski invited Biltmore Baptist Church Pastor James Walker to hold an outdoor baptism in 2003 at a lake his company owned, they expected four or five people would want to participate.
Instead, 96 people went through believer’s baptism in Biltmore Lake in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains as family members and friends gathered around to watch.
In 2004, they were surprised again, when 164 people were baptized together in the picturesque 62-acre lake. On Aug. 15 of this year, another 142 were baptized in what has become a much-anticipated annual celebration for this growing church.
 |
| 2 of the 142 Pastor James Walker raises up one of the 142 people baptized by Biltmore Baptist Church Aug. 15 in Biltmore Lake near Asheville, N.C., while an associate pastor prepares to baptize a young woman in the background. Photo by Bob Carey |
“We just brought back what used to be,” said Sulaski, a deacon at Biltmore Baptist Church and vice president for residential development for Biltmore Farms, recalling a time when people were baptized outdoors all the time.
His daughter, Rachel, 6, was baptized this year in the lake, with Sulaski emotionally recalling the day, Dec. 14, 2000, he purchased the 1,300 acres for the planned Biltmore Lake subdivision.
“I knelt next to a tree and said, ‘Father, this is your property,’” Sulaski said of his hope that it would give glory only to God.
Students leave summer camp wanting to GO TELL others
 |
| Decisions for Christ Students who have made decision for Christ bow in prayer at the conclusion of a service at a GO TELL Camp in Toccoa, Ga., in June. Photo by Robin Nelson |
At one stop, a gas station cashier asked Christ into her life right there on the spot.
“Our students would not leave until we had hooked her up with a good, Bible-believing church,” youth pastor Jeff Tulasosopo said.
