6. I preach a sermon series about evangelism once a year, usually a month or two before Easter (which is a prime evangelistic season for us). I find that does more for me than anyone else.
7. Usually in the fall we organize a “Decision Day” when as a staff we’ll email and call every person in our database and let them know we are having a special Sunday where we’re asking people to make a decision to make Jesus the leader and forgiver of their life. Our staff will set up appointments, pray, fast, etc. Usually on that Sunday we’ll see a large number get baptized. That’s important for more than just numbers; it’s about congregational focus.
8. We plaster all over our facilities and communication vehicles a stamp that looks like this (see image left). What that means is we as a congregation pray every day at 2 p.m. for God to bring 2,000 people in our area back to him. So far we’ve baptized 1,845 people, and we adjust that number each time we baptize another. There’s nothing special about the number “2,000.” There’s no time frame we’re trying to accomplish it by. It’s just a goal we’ve put before ourselves as a congregation that will help keep evangelism a priority.
9. Make sure you do an excellent job of following up and discipling every person who becomes a Christian. We do that by offering a five-week group experience called “Foundations” where everyone is taught the five aspects of what it means to be a fully-devoted follower of Jesus. Hopefully that new group will continue on, so that a newly baptized person will have a ready-made network of comrades in the faith. With new converts, strike fast with regards to getting them plugged in and connected.
10. We’ve taken a picture of every single person that has been baptized at our church and placed them into a collage that’s on our office wall. I did that mainly for me, as a reminder of God’s amazing grace, but also to pray for those who are now under our care as a church. It’s humbling in more ways than one.
Well, I hope this encourages you.
The high number of baptisms we have at CCV comes not from having a skilled pastor or staff, but from prayer, teaching, planning, execution and a ton of hard work. With a special group like the people we have at CCV, this is easy to pull off. They often push me more to stay focused on evangelism than I do them.
Press on,
Brian
