Kentucky Baptists recently presented more than 500 households in the Bowling Green area with information and resources about Jesus Christ through the gospel to Every Home initiative.
The outreach events were part of Crossover, a pre-annual meeting evangelism blitz where Kentucky Baptists are invited to come alongside the host association and local churches in their ongoing efforts to reach their community with the gospel.
“We didn’t see any salvations, but we had some really good conversations,” said Jeff Crabtree, South Central Regional Consultant for the KBC. “I think we made a pretty good impact across the county.”
Training and launch
On Nov. 12, GTEH trained and launched about 50 volunteers into areas around First Baptist Church Bowling Green, Forest Park Baptist Church, Jennings Creek Community Church and Living Hope Baptist Church – all to help the South Central Baptist Association continue sharing Christ with homes adopted through the GTEH initiative and reach new households in the growing area.
Linda Cooper and two other ladies knocked on 38 doors, encountering two Muslim households.
“They were very, very receptive. They listened to everything we had to say. And then they they took our materials that we had,” said Cooper, who currently serves as the Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) president.
Two other homes were less welcoming. One gentleman shut the door and another woman shooed Cooper’s partners away — but Cooper said both would be receiving the plan of salvation in their mailboxes.
“That doesn’t deter me at all,” Cooper said. “Our calling is to share the gospel and that’s what we like to do. So we will continue on. We can’t get discouraged.”
Range of efforts
Eddie Torres, who serves the KBC as a multi language planting and development associate, helped organize the multi-language effort — a growing need in Warren County.
“Right now (there are) many, many different cultures living in Bowling Green,” Torres said. “They are very open (to hearing the gospel). It really surprised me. In my opinion, people (are) hungry to hear about Christ.”
Several people who weren’t Christians expressed appreciation for those who braved freezing temperatures, wind, and snow to share the gospel. One young man, a new Christian, even joined Torres and his team after they knocked on his door.
“For him, it’s a new experience to knock doors and try to share the gospel. And I’m very excited for that, to help this young guy to reach people for Christ for the first time,” Torres said.
Derek Logsdon said Saturday was an opportunity for his 9-week-old church plant to get out in the community and make themselves known. Jennings Creek Community Church, which meets in a local elementary school, already as a 70-person strong bilingual congregation.
“One guy, he didn’t make it (Sunday) morning, but he said he just moved in and he was looking for a church and said he would be willing to go to a church if somebody invited him. And I was just the only person that had invited him so far,” said Logsdon, who serves Jennings Creek as a pastoral candidate.
Looking to the future
Benny Stofer, local impact pastor at Living Hope Baptist Church, said that Warren County has a high percentage of unreached and unchurched people — an estimated 100,000 individuals.
“So now we really need to plant lots of churches. We need to help other churches be revived … and effective and we need to open our minds and our strategies to whatever will work to really get people into groups and congregations because we have a long way to go,” he added.
Churches like Living Hope, Jennings Creek, First Baptist and Forest Park will follow up with the neighborhoods reached during the event, continuing the work of evangelism in Bowling Green long after Crossover and the annual meeting.
To learn more about the Gospel to Every Home initiative, click here.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Tessa Redmond and originally published by Kentucky Today.
