NATIONAL OFFICE SBC Executive Committee 901 Commerce R750 Nashville. Tennessee 37203 (615) 244-2355 Herb Hollinger, Vice President Fax (615) 742-8910 CornpuServe ID# 70420,17 BUREAUS ATLANTA Martin King, Chief, 1350 Spring St,, N.W., Atlanta, Ga. 30367, Telephone (404)898-7522, Cornpusenre 70420,250 DALLAS Thomas J. Brannon, Chief, 333 N. Washington. Dallas, Texas 75246-1798, Telephone (214) 828-5232, CornpuSewe 70420,115 NASHVILLE Linda Lawson, Chief, 127 Ninth Av~.,N., Nashville, Tenn, 37234, Telephone (615) 251-2300, CompuServe 70420,57 RICHMOND Robert 1. Stanley. Chief, 3606 Monument Ave.. Richmond, Va. 23230, Telephone (804) 353-0151, CompuSewe 70420,72 WASHINGTON Tom Strode. Chief, 400 North Capitol St., #594, Washingfon, D.C.20001. Telephone (202) 638-3223, CornpuServe 71 173.316 March 28, 1995 ATLANTA--HMB study: Baptists losing ground in South; report. ILLINOIS--Revival experience extends to state evangelism conference. KENYA--Rwanda-likedeath, destruction building in neighboring Burundi. ATIANTA--CharlesStanley's wife re-files for divorce. FLORIDA--Missionaryjournalist chosen as Fla. Baptist Witness editor. ZAMBIA--Noprogress in Zambia on Baptist work permits. TENNESSEE--BSSBannounces new quarterly release dates. TEXAS--B.H. Carroll award recipients honored at Southwestern Seminary; HMB study: Baptists Baptist Press losing ground in South By David Winfrey 3/28/95 ATUNTA (BP)--Southern Baptists are losing the metropolitan South. That's one conclusion from a report by Charles Chaney, Home Mission Board vice president of extension, or church starting, who urged greater church planting efforts in Southern cities and suburbs. .- "There is a massive unfinished task in the South, and it is getting more unfinished every year," wrote Chaney, who compared the number of Southern Baptist churches and their membership with the populations in 1970 and 1993, the latest available figures . The study found the denomination grew faster than the population outside the South, but Southern Baptists lost strength in their own backyard. And, Chaney wrote, those gains made outside the South are still minimal. According to the report, the U.S. population grew 27 percent during the years studied, but the number of Southern Baptist churches increased only 13 percent. In the South, the population grew 42 percent while SBC churches increased only 9 percent. "This represents a serious loss of market share," Chaney wrote. The Southern population to church ratio grew from 2,196 people for every SBC church to 2,876 people. "We must not get to the place where we think we've got it made, because we are losing strength in the areas where we think we're strongest," Chaney told Baptist Press. The South still holds the lion's share of both SBC constituted churches (80.4 percent) and resident members (85.5 percent). As a result, the gains made in new work areas often appear more dramatic. Outside the South, population grew 20 percent and SBC churches grew 32 percent. The ratio of population to Southern Baptist churches decreased 9.3 percent, but there are still 22,196 people for every Southern Baptist church -- a ratio Chaney termed unacceptable. "The job is unfinished outside the South by whatever standard you want to say." Reducing the ratio outsid the South to one church for every 5,000 people (nearly double the Southern ratio) would requir 26,000 more churches, he said. "We did not have 26,000 churches until 1945 -- 100 y ars after the Southern Baptist Convention was organized." - -more-- ). 1 Page 2 Baptist Press Southern Baptists currently average 1,119 church starts a year, he noted. Even if all those occurred outside the South, it would take 24 years to reach that ratio of one church per 5,000 people. Southern states needed 9,632 more churches at the end of 1993 for the number of people for each SBC church to equal the 1970 level. "We have to get far more serious about evangelism and church planting." One encouraging sign from Chaney's report is a 4 percent reduction in the nationwide ratio of SBC members to population -- from one out of every 25 U.S. residents to one out of every 24. But in the South the ratio grew 10 percent. Southern Baptists started 1,297 congregations last year, but Chaney wrote the convention's average 1,119 new congregations each year "provides no grounds for boasting." "Overall our intention is to try to pick up the pace," Chaney said. "What we have been doing may be steady, but it has been slow. The unfinished task is immense." Chaney recommended a detailed study of communities to identify the best response in each case. Such a study would include current churches' strengths and the presence of other denominations, he said. Many communities lost ground because they changed ethnically or socio-economically,Chaney said. "The churches that were there are in decline because there are no more people like them to reach and they can't make the transition. " Chaney recommended state conventions begin intervention programs to identify churches and help them refocus on reaching their changing communities. Such work, however, will be slow, he said. "The truth is that very few churches will accept intervention until they're absolutely on their last leg, and that's tragic." - --30-.- EDITORS' NOTE: The eight-page report was mailed to state Baptist newspapers by the Atlanta bureau of Baptist press. A copy of the report with 62-page appendix is available from the bureau by calling (404) 898-7518. Revival experience extends Baptist Press to state evangelism conference By Bill Webb 3/28/95 O'FALLON, 111. (BP)--An extended service of public confession and repentance climax d the annual Illinois Evangelism Conference at First Baptist Church, O'Fallon, March 13-14. What happened was akin to reports of revival coming out of Brownwood, Texas, and the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. The preaching program for the final evening session of the conference was scrapped at midday, clearing the way for Brownwood pastor John Avant to tell the story of spiritual awakening that began at his church -- Coggin Avenue Baptist -- and others, spread to Howard Payne University and then to the seminary and beyond. State evangelism services director Max Samples set the stage for what might happen when he said at the beginning of the five-hour session: "Folks, we need a touch from God that cannot be explained other than his movement. What we really need to sense is God moving through this place, that we'll not just be stirred but that Gad will change us forever." Well over an hour after Avant began the story, the Texas pastor concluded his accounts of brokenness, confession, repentance and resulting revival: "As I've said everywhere I've gone, 'Do whatever God tells you to do.' James 5:16 is a hard verse. It says, 'Confess your sins one to another that you may be healed.' "The microphone is open," he said as he stepped away from the pulpit. "It may be that th key in your life to revival is putting away the pride. Do what God wants you to do. The altar is open." - -more-- Page 3 Baptist Press Immediately, people began we pihg; many kneeled at the altar to pray. Others made their way to the platform to confess sin, ask forgiveness and request prayer. Still others clustered in small prayer groups in other parts of the auditorium. Adults and teens confessed to specific sins of adultery, premarital sexual activity, homosexual behavior and addiction to pornography. Others sought forgiveness for bitterness in personal relationships -- in families and in churches. A director of missions apologized for criticizing members of the Illinois Baptist State Association staff. A pastor confessed that in more than 20 years of marriage, he had failed to be the spiritual leader of his home. Another committed himself to try to salvage a troubled marriage. All asked for prayer. The pastor of a church that started nearly 25 years ago when members split from another church said God had convicted him that the two churches needed reconciliation to erase longstanding bitterness. Members of the other church joined him at the microphone and prayed with him. Two teens from East St. Louis, who came to the conference with church planter James Redmond, told of the hopelessness of life in the impoverished and violent community. One said 15 people he knew personally were killed in the city during 1994 alone. A death contract: had been issued on his own life, he said, but it had later been rescinded. The young man told of making a profession of faith in a youth camp years earlier and facing overwhelming peer opposition to his new faith when he returned to East St. Louis. He had not been in a church service in years, he said. His friend echoed his testimony of hopelessness in the inner city. Like his friend, he anticipates joining the armed services to escape the pressures of life in East St. Louis. Many people in the overwhelmingly white audience wept as they listed to the firsthand account of despair from the two young African Americans. As each person finished at the microphone, Avant asked others to come forward and pray with them in small groups. While individuals were speaking, groups continued to pray. Nearly five hours into the session, Avant invited the audience -- many standing around the altar -- to briefly voice matters of confession from the floor. After several did so, a benediction closed the service. Samples said securing Avant for the conference was a miracle itself. He began trying to contact the pastor just two weeks before the meeting, but Avant already was in great demand to tell the Brownwood story.