Alabama Church 'in the Middle of Nowhere' Shares Secret To How It Set Record of 900 Baptisms in 6 Years
Nine hundred people baptized in the past six years—that's a record as far as this church "in the middle of nowhere" in rural Alabama is concerned.
And now, Pastor Joey Hanner of Union No. 3 Baptist Church near Gasden has shared how the church was able to accomplish that milestone.
Speaking to the Baptist Press, Hanner said it all began when he discovered something missing during a church event on discipleship.
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He said when he asked the participants if they had been discipled "one-on-one" before, only two people said "yes."
Hanner said this sparked a movement in the church towards discipleship.
Now, about 50 Baptist church members go out every Sunday and Thursday to visit people in the community, followed by one-on-one discipleship.
"Since we started discipling, our church has matured. We've caught the vision of what a true Acts 1:8 church should look like," Hanner said.
"It's been humbling and phenomenal to see what God has done," he added.
Acts 1:8 states, "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
As explained by the Got Questions ministry, Christian discipleship is the process by which "disciples grow in the Lord Jesus Christ and are equipped by the Holy Spirit, who resides in our hearts, to overcome the pressures and trials of this present life and become more and more Christlike."
In this process, Christians respond to the Holy Spirit's prompting by examining their thoughts, words and actions and compare them with the Word of God.
Dan Garland, director of pastoral ministries and church consulting for LifeWay Christian Resources, said he was impressed by the number of young men who are being discipled at Union No. 3 Baptist Church.
"We're talking about a church in the middle of nowhere ... and some people drive more than a half hour to be a part. It's a great church and God is doing amazing things there," he said.
The Union No. 3 Baptist Church's evangelistic model will be featured in a video at the 2017 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting set June 13-14 in Phoenix, Arizona.
