Georgia Baptists are heading into a pair of evangelism conferences with a full head of steam, having seen a 30% increase in baptisms over the past year and more than 92% increase since 2020.
Baptism numbers are rising as more churches submit their Annual Church Profile, a yearly census of Southern Baptist congregations, and, the process, ratcheting up interest in the evangelism conferences to be held on Feb. 25–26 at First Baptist Church Conyers and March 10–11 at Northside Baptist Church in Tifton.
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Signs of spiritual revival have been popping up in communities across Georgia with huge numbers of people making commitments to Christ in evangelistic outreaches. One of the largest instances was in October when some 1,600 people responded to the gospel during a four-day crusade in the south Georgia town of Baxley. But the Index has documented a year-long series of mass salvations, some measured in dozens, others in hundreds.
The latest count of baptisms in Georgia stands at 19,738 for 2023, an increase of more than 4,600 over the previous year.
Inspiration and information
Steve Foster, an evangelism consultant for the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, said many of the state’s churches have made evangelism a renewed priority, and they see the evangelism conferences as the places to find workable strategies for reaching people who don’t attend church.
The conferences, Foster said, provide healthy doses of both inspiration and information to help congregations reach their communities.
The Mission Board has pulled together a strong lineup of preachers for the evangelism conferences.
Keynote speakers from Georgia and beyond will be on the main platforms while a litany of others will lead smaller breakout sessions on a broad range of evangelism strategies.
“I am excited about all the speakers that we will be hearing,” Foster said in January. “These men are not only spiritually gifted men of God, but they are committed to personal evangelism and sharing the gospel.”
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Roger Alford and originally published by the Christian Index.
