Rural Baptist Church Sees 900 Baptisms in 6 years
In 1995, Joey Hanner was a trucker
who was about to give up on his
marriage -- and he was one Sunday
service away from giving up on
church too.
Alabama Baptist photo
"We were going to give church one
more try and then we were going to
end our marriage," he said.
They were so mad at each other they
hadn't even realized that day was their
12th wedding anniversary, Hanner
said.
And they had no idea it was about to
become an even more significant date.
Rodney Robinson (standing) helps facilitate an evangelism
class led by Phil Blair at Union No. 3 Baptist Church near
Gadsden, Ala.
During the altar call, Hanner and wife Connie both separately ran down the aisle, only to look up
from tearful, broken prayers and see the other one kneeling there too.
"We both got saved that day," Hanner said. "God healed me and He got me out of my truck and
into ministry."
And ever since then, he's had no problems telling anybody and everybody about the hope that
Jesus offers.
Something missing
But when Hanner became pastor of Union No. 3 Baptist
Church near Gadsden, Ala., six years ago, he knew he and
his church were missing something important.
Adam Thornton, associate pastor of
Union No. 3 Baptist Church,
baptizes a young church member
during worship.
He went to an event in North Carolina where discipleship
was emphasized, and with a burdened heart he came back
and asked a question to the congregation of about 130
people.
"I asked them to stand if they had been discipled one on one
before and only two people stood up," he said.
That lit a fire in Hanner and it kicked off a movement
toward discipleship in the rural church, which sits on 82 acres "15 minutes from everything," he
said.
They've seen 900 baptized in the past six years and grown from averaging 130 to 700 on a
Sunday morning. And they've moved from one service to two.
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