HAZLEHURST, Ga. – When Michael Creamer arrived at Eureka Baptist Church in 2018, only three people were attending. Eight years later, the church is averaging around 65 in worship, has welcomed new believers and new members, and is seeing renewed energy through worship, children’s ministry, missions and evangelism.
“We definitely have been blessed with new folks, and some new believers as well,” said Creamer, pastor of Eureka Baptist. “We’re so grateful for that.”
This spring, the church recently welcomed 18 new members. Attendance reached 78 on May 3 and 75 on May 10.
“It was really depressing,” church member Lillian Creamer (Michael’s mom) said of the time before 2018. Longtime member Frances Kersey, 80, agreed that the atmosphere had become sad.
Much of Eureka’s growth has come through a simple pattern: people inviting people.
One couple recently joined and quickly started inviting people they knew who were no longer in church.
“Some of the new members had said they didn’t know if they would ever go to another church again,” Creamer said.
Some of those who’ve joined recently are musicians.
“When I first came to the church in 2018, we didn’t have even a piano player,” Creamer said. “The Lord has provided since then.”
The church has added a worship leader and a praise team that includes three guitarists, a pianist, a keyboard player, and a drummer.
“That’s really helped us,” Creamer said. “These people just have a heart of serving.”
Lillian Creamer is grateful for the increase.
“I think the Lord has really been good to us,” she said. “He’s blessed us so much, and we just prayed for that.”
The church atmosphere is positive, Pastor Creamer said. “It’s a breath of fresh air to have people with servant hearts coming and willing to serve.”
The church had no worship or youth pastor when Creamer arrived. Now helping Creamer, who is bivocational, are worship leader Samuel Newman and the pastor’s son Bradley Creamer serving as youth pastor. Michael Creamer said the Lord supplied the funds, and people have been faithful to continue giving.
People from within a mile radius of the church are coming because of neighborhood visitation, personal invitations and invitation cards.
About a year ago, the congregation acquired a van. The result is a vibrant Wednesday night children’s ministry. On May 13, the church hosted 27 children and youth.
The congregation has embraced the diversity of the community, and Sunday worship is a mixture of contemporary songs and hymns.
“I like the music,” Kersey said. “It’s not all the tunes we’ve been singing. It’s new songs all the time.”
Missions is now at the church’s core.
“Even though there were only three people, and that grew over time, I wanted to make sure that we had a compatible vision for missions, and I am thankful that we did,” Creamer said.
The church supports missionaries in Kentucky, Peru, Mexico, Romania and Uganda.
In March, the church began training its members with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s No Sweat Evangelism program to help members learn to share their faith more effectively. The study teaches participants to intentionally talk to people in a natural way instead of only looking for scheduled opportunities.
“We were trying to help build their confidence in sharing and emphasize the simplicity of sharing,” Creamer said.
One of those impacted was a retired nuclear engineer who came to the study with his wife and was saved. A basket sits in the church sanctuary with the names of lost people for members to intentionally pray for. Creamer said the man’s name was in the basket.
The man now jokes about how many times his name was in that basket and how he was going to go through it and get his name out.
Creamer encourages churches seeking growth to be faithful, keep inviting people, trust God, and not give up.
“Seek the Lord, be persistent, be patient, and realize that things don’t happen overnight,” he said. “Recognize that we should be on mission every day.”
Creamer is often reminded of Ephesians 3:20, which points to God’s ability to do exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that believers can ask or think. He said God has done that time and time again at Eureka.
“There’s just a joy,” Creamer said. “This past Sunday, during our worship time, I was reminiscing about how far we had come and how far the Lord had brought us. Trust in the Lord even when we can’t see he’s working. God is always at work around us. He orders our steps.”
Eureka did not begin by pursuing growth for growth’s sake, Creamer said.
Eureka’s story is not about quick growth, but about a congregation learning again to pray, invite, serve and trust God with the results.
“We just continued to be faithful, continued to preach the Word, taught the Word, continued to give, and continued to support missions,” he said.
This article originally appeared in the Christian Index.
