| Copyright 2005-2008 Dr. Jad Khalaf, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved |
| EVANGELISM PLAN FOR FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH McCOMB, MISSISSIPPI BY DR. JAD JAMAL KHALAF INTRODUCTION This student chose First Baptist Church (FBC) of McComb, Mississippi (MS), as his church in order to develop a comprehensive evangelism plan. Located at 1700 Delaware Avenue in McComb, FBC is located right off of Interstate 55 and right in the heart of the action that goes on in this city. In this paper, this student will conduct a demographic study of FBC’s community within a one to five mile radius, provide a historical understanding of FBC, provide a study of FBC’s evangelistic obstacles and programs, and will develop a methodology program for evangelism that can be used a FBC. FBC McComb is the student's home church. DEMOGRAPHIC STUDY OF COMMUNITY WITHIN ONE TO FIVE MILE RADIUS This section will deal with FBC’s surrounding community within a one to five mile radius. To start off, there are between 3500 and 22,000+ people who live within one to five miles of FBC’s location. Within five miles, there are approximately 49.7% white people and 49% black people who live in this area. As one can tell, the whites and blacks are almost equal in percentages. This means that there are only 0.7% of other races. So, definitely the whites and blacks have no other competition from other races in this area of the town of McComb. Now breaking down the age groups and the genders will come next. Majority of the people within this range are between the ages of 25 years old to 54 years old. Looking at these age groups percentage wise then there are 12% of the people who are between the ages of 25-34, 13.6% are between 35-44, and 13.2% fall in the category of being between 45-54 years of age. Definitely these people have families. In dealing with families many of them have children who are teenagers as well as young kids. In dealing with the males and females who are located near or in the range of FBC, females take the lead. Nearly 54% of the population are females while males make up around 45%. The highest percentage of females fall within the age bracket of 25-54 years old. 12.1% of the women make up the age group 25-34, 13.7% make up ages 35-54, and 45-54 year olds make up 13.4% of the population. Many of the females live in their own family household. Of these females, 23.8% of the female’ s household consist kids but with no husband. Only 7.7% of the female’s households have no husband and no kids. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are females who live in a non- family household. 56.2% of the females live by themselves in a non-family household. In looking at the labor force of females who are 16+ years of age, 42.2% of the females are in the labor force. It is quite interesting to note that 0% of the females are involved in any type of the Armed Forces. 49.8% of the females are employed while only 5.7% are unemployed. Moving along to the males, basically from birth to age 54 the percentages are equal among the age brackets. 10.8% fall between 0-6 years old, 6-11 year olds make up 10.1%, 12-17 years of age make up 9.8%, 18-24 year olds make up 10.3%, 25-34 years of age make up 12%, 35-44 year old make up 13.6%, and 45-54 years of age make up 13% of the population around the location of FBC. From looking at these statistics, there is definitely a difference between the males and females in the age brackets. In looking at the male’s family households, only 3% of the males live with kids but without a wife. 2.5% of the male’s family households consist of no wife and no kids. Shifting the attention over to the male’s non-family households, 35% consist of one male person. 0.8% make up two person male household with kids while 3.9% of the males make up two plus person male household with no kids. 33.8% of the males, who are at least 16+ years of age, work in the labor force. Only 0.2% are in any type of the armed forces. Of the ones who are in the labor force, 60.3% are employed while 6.2% are unemployed. This means that 33.4% of the males are not in the labor force at all. Let us now shift our attention to the income level of the community in which FBC surrounds. There are approximately 8,878 total households around the five mile radius of FBC. To begin with the statistics will be given on the households by income level. Later on in this section of the paper, statistics will be given dealing with households by disposable income level. Households by income level. 18.4% of the people make $10,000 or less. 11.2% make within $10,000-$14,999 while 10.3% make between $15,000-$19,999. Basically, these are the top three percentages in this area of income. The two lowest areas, which make up 0.1%, are between $200,000-$249,999 and $250,000+. Households by disposable income level. 20.3% of the population make $10,000 or less. 11.5% make between $15,000-$19,999, 10.7% make between $20,000-$24,999, and 10.5% make between $10,000-$14,999. In looking at the demographics of this area, most of the people have only one or two vehicles in their families. 42.7% of the households have one vehicle while 32.6% have two vehicles. There are 9.1% of the households who do not have any type of vehicle what so ever. HISTORICAL UNDERSTANDING OF FBC McCOMB FBC McComb began in 1876 with a small group of Christians who were dedicated to reaching McComb and Pike County for Jesus Christ. In fact, twenty Christian believers were committed to McComb City Baptist Church which was later changed to First Baptist Church. Today FBC has over 1200 members on roll with around 550-600 attending during Sunday morning worship. Charlotte Lee was a charter member as well as the first person to be baptized at the newly formed church. FBC has worshiped at three different buildings with the present location/building being the third place. In 1969, the present location was begun and the new sanctuary was finished on May 23, 1975. In 1988, FBC began a deaf ministry, hospital visitation ministry, and a meal ministry to the sick and shut-ins. The present sanctuary and fellowship hall went under renovation in 1993. 1994 was an interesting year because FBC started a children’s church and hired their first full-time Minister to Senior Adults. In 1995, FBC started the WEE Center for children and from infants up to 4 year olds. The church body, in 1997, voted to build a new Family Life Center and on September 19, 1999, the building officially opened. Upward Basketball, which began for the first time at FBC, began in September 2000 for the first time. Today, FBC is in the midst of a town that is growing and bringing in new people. Recently, FBC voted to call a new pastor by the name of W. Mack Amis, D. Min. The following is a list of all the pastors who served at FBC and in parenthesis is the time that they served as pastor of FBC: Rev. George Hayden (1876), Rev. S. S. Relyea (1876-1877), Rev. J. R. Farish (1877), Rev. L. S. Piker (1879-1880), Rev. W. H. Tucker (1881), Rev. John F. Purser (1882), Dr. J. T. Zealey (1883), Rev. Peter Turner (1884), Rev. Robert N. Hall (mid 1880s), Rev. Robert Winfield Merrill (mid 1880s), Rev. Joel Hansford Lane (1888), Rev. J. C. Gadd (1890-1894), Rev. S. W. Sibley (1895-?), Rev. Allison Perry Pugh (1902-1903), Dr. Edward Davis Solomon (1905-1907), Dr. James Berry Leavell, Sr. (1907-1908), Rev. J. E. Wills (1908), Rev. H. R. Holcomb (1909), Dr. Theodore Whitfield (1910- 1921), Dr. John W. Mayfield (1922-1938), Dr. Wyatt R. Hunter (1938-1968), Dr. John Lee Taylor (1968- 1973), Dr. J. B. Fowler (1974-1980), Dr. Alan Day (1981-1985), Dr. Garry Berry (1986-1989), Dr. Jimmy D. Porter (1990-2000), and Dr. W. Mack Amis (2002-2007). FBC’S EVANGELISTIC OBSTACLES AND PROGRAMS This section of the paper will take a look at a variety of evangelistic obstacles and programs for FBC. In looking at attendance, the average Sunday morning attendance in the year 2001 was 575 people. Between 1996 and 200, attendance usually averaged between 600-650 people. In 1995, attendance was at 550 people. First of all, there was definitely a rise in attendance between the years 1995 and 2000. There were many interesting things going on at FBC. However, in 2001 FBC was without a pastor so attendance sunk back down to 550. The same was so with baptisms. In 1995, baptisms totaled 27 people. 1996 equaled 34, 1997 equaled 24, 1998 equaled 38, 1999 equaled 17, 2000 equaled 14, and 2001 equaled 12 baptisms. So, definitely there is a need for evangelism at FBC because the community is growing but FBC is not. To begin with, one obstacle for FBC is whether or not to allow blacks to come and worship with them. Basically, the white and black population is equal with one another. Just like white people are lost, black people are also lost. Now whites and blacks worship differently, which is one reason why the churches are segregated. Now if the whites and blacks want to worship separately, then the whites at FBC will need to cross other obstacles. Another obstacle is the idea that the community has about FBC. Many in the five mile radius of FBC have the mind concept that FBC members are stuck up, snobby, rich people who have a certain way of life in which they live. If one does not live life in this way, remember this is the mind of majority of the people in this area, then they are not welcomed to come and join their fellowship. Since most of the people do not make more than $20,000, FBC will need to let the community know that anyone is welcome to come and worship with them. If this gap is not closed in a loving way, then this could very well be an evangelistic obstacle because people will feel like FBC members will turn their nose up at them if they come visit and they do not look a certain way. Being single could be an obstacle for FBC. Since there are many single people in the area, FBC will need to develop a ministry that reaches out to college and career people as well as those who are single in their 30s and 40s. The reason being is that when a single person comes to a church, then they want to hang around those who are very similar to them. FBC already has a college and career class, but most of these members go to college in other cities. This means that there are hardly any members in the class on Sunday mornings. There needs to be a bigger push to establish Sunday School classes that will cater to the needs of the single people in the area. The problem of transportation could be an obstacle. Since many of the households only have one, two at the most, vehicle then there needs to be a van ministry that goes around to the different neighborhoods to pick up people. For the most part, many parents do not go to church. If FBC could get a Sunday morning van ministry on the move, then those who need rides could have the opportunity to go to church. By doing so, the parents would have the opportunity to hear from their kids the excitement going on at FBC. If the parents see and hear the enthusiasm of the their kids, then the parents would want to come and see what is going on. Not having children could bear the burden of having an obstacle if FBC does not handle the situation. Many of the households do not have children. There needs to be an emphasis on couples. Couples do not necessary want to hang around couples who have children. For the most part, the two different groups do not have much in common. Young couples go through many things in their young marriages. If there was an emphasis on young couples ministry, then these couples could rely on one another. In so doing, evangelism could be done by the couples. Of course, there are other ways in which programs can help over come obstacles. The demographics help FBC look at the surrounding area and to come up with programs and other ways to minister to the needs of the people in the area. With all of this said, then there needs to be a way to let the community know what FBC has to offer. This comes up in the next section. METHODOLOGY FOR EVANGELISM With all of the programs and areas of ministering to the people ready, then there needs to be a Revival. To begin with, there will be a planning revival committee that would get together eight months before the revival would take place. This revival committee would meet for about one month. During this time, they would organize the revival, the revival’s preacher and music man along with setting a date for the revival. Other items would also begin to be in the making for the evangelistic revival that would soon take place. From the get go, there would immediately be organized a prayer committee. This would be one of the most vital committees of the revival. For the entire eight months leading up to the revival, this committee would meet every single week. They would also be encouraged to pray for the revival every single day. This committee would be made up of seven people. The reason is that every day of the week, there would be at least one church member praying for the revival. This committee would then branch off and form other sub-prayer groups in which they would lead each one. These sub-prayer groups would consist of certain age groups. These sub- prayer groups would decide the different categories that the age groups would be divided into. While these groups are forming, the revival committee would begin to narrow down the revival preacher and the music minister. Prayerfully, this would only take a very short amount of time. When the preacher and minister of music have both been prayed about and decided, then the revival committee would then get into contact with each minister. The revival committee would ask for these two guys to get back to them as soon as possible. This would secure the two ministers who would lead the revival. These two men would be told that they are being prayed for every single day that is leading up to the revival. The pastor of FBC would over see, with the help of the revival committee, the evangelistic committee. The evangelistic committee would be the committee responsible for going out into the community to witness door to door, developing and printing up tracts to pass out, recruit their own teams for going out and inviting others to church and to the revival, and would work alongside the pastor in doing evangelism outreach. The evangelistic committee would meet weekly for meetings with the pastor. There would be seven members on this committee. Now this committee would go through intense evangelism training with the pastor. The pastor would teach this group how to witness, pray a sinner’s prayer, knock on doors and introduce themselves, go through the Bible and look at Jesus’ evangelism style, and pray with the pastor. This would be done in order for these seven members to go out and form their own groups of people to go out into the community. The following is an example of how the pastor would knock on a door and then dialogue with a person who does not let them in their home: The pastor would go to the door, knock, and then step back a few feet. When the person opened the door, the pastor would say who he is, who is with him, and tell where they are from. The pastor would say, “Hello, my name is Jad Khalaf. I have John Doe, Matthew Thomas, and Richard Fellow with me. We are from First Baptist Church McComb and we are out visiting people in the community. We would like to invite you and your family to our church that is located on Delaware Avenue.” The pastor would then pause and wait for the person to respond. According to how the person responds, the pastor and those with him would continue to dialogue with the individual and his family. Since the individual does not invite you in to his home, then ask him if you could leave with him some information about the church and make sure that you show him the plan of salvation tract and encourage him to read it. This is a wonderful time to share you testimony and the plan of salvation (which might be something that you want to go ahead and work on). Make sure that you show the person the tract so that he can read it later or with you at that time. This person who you are talking to will probably be encouraged by your visit. Make sure to tell him that if he has any questions to call and ask the church. Then ask him if there is anything that you can pray about. Finally, ask him if it is okay if you pray with him about this need. Close with something like this, “Thank you Mr. (Mrs.) ________ for your time. Have a Great Day in the Lord.” Now when you knock on someone’s door and they let you in to their home then the following will help guide you in what to say: (The following can be a guide to help you once the person has let you into their home). The church group will continue to dialogue with the family in whose home they are in. At an appropriate time you might want to say, “There are so many new things that are happening at our church and we want you and your family to come and get involved.” At this time you would want to go through and tell about the many different Sunday School classes, the discipleship classes, and other things that might benefit the family you are visiting. For example, if the family consist of a young couple with two kids (ages 7 and 2) you would want to say, “First Baptist Church has a wonderful couple’s class for you and your wife. The couples are around your ages and they do some wonderful things as a class. In fact, we even offer a couple’s discipleship class on Sunday nights. Your kids would have a wonderful time in the two year olds class and in the seven your olds class. During Sunday morning worship, there is a children’s church that is offered. On Sunday nights, the children will go to the same classes with the same group of kids.” Then allow the family to ask any questions that they might have about anything you said. You want to make sure that you ask the parents and the teenagers if they are Christians. Your dialogue could go as follows: “There is something that I would like to ask each of you. You seem to be a wonderful family with some very bright and smart kids. The question is ‘If you were to die tonight, would you go to Heaven or Hell?’ (If the people respond that they are Christians and are on their way to Heaven, then you can continue to talk with them about First Baptist Church McComb and anything else. If they respond that they are not sure that they would go to Heaven or if they say that they would go to Hell, you would want to continue the dialogue) God loves you and He sent His only sinless Son to take the sins of the whole world and to die. ‘(John 3:16) For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ The Bible goes on to say that you can know for sure that if you were to die then you would go to Heaven, ‘(Romans 10:9-10)That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.’ Now ask the person or the people if they would like to ask Jesus into their hearts. If they say Yes, then say a prayer similar to this and ask them to repeat after you: ‘Dear Lord, I admit to you that I am a sinner. I have done wrong. I ask you, Lord, to forgive me of my sins and to come in and save me. I ask you Jesus to be Lord and Saviour of my life. Thank you Lord for saving me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.’ If they repeat a prayer similar to this and they meant if with all of their heart, then they have just become a Christian. Leave with them some material that will start the new Christian on his walk with the Lord. You can continue to dialogue if you feel you should. When the appropriate time comes, thank the family for letting you come in and then leave.” There will need to be counselors available during the revival. In order to adequately train and prepare counselors, there will need to be a counseling committee formed that will counsel during the revival. Now this group will probably contain members from other groups, this is quite okay. The more available the better. The leader of this group, who will be picked by the pastor or one of his associates, will look for and buy some counseling material discipleship books that the group will go through together. Not only will this benefit the ones being counseled during the revival but this will also help strengthen the ones going through the material. One final committee will need to be formed. This committee will be called the meal committee. Yes, that is right. Baptist love to eat and every night during the revival there will be a free meal for those who will want to come and eat. This is a good way to get those invited to the revival to come to the revival. This way FBC can feed the people two ways: spiritually and physically. This committee can consist of seven members who will work together to get others in the church involved in donating food, cooking food, making salad, making desert, serving food, pouring people’s drinks, getting ice ready, and whatever needs to be taken care of in the kitchen. Make sure that the pastor, or one of his associates, stays in constant contact with the leaders of the different committees. This is a good way to make sure that everyone is staying on tract and moving ahead on the same page. One month from the revival, begin to promote the revival constantly. The promotion should have been taken place at least four months in advance but this constant promotion is the final leg in the revival. Four Sundays leading up to the revival, have available hundreds of pamphlets ready for the church members to pick up and pass out. On the pamphlets have the church’s name, the revival preacher’s picture and name, the minister of music’s picture and name, the dates along with the days, the church’s phone number, the different ministries that the church provides, the words “Free Meal Every Night Before Revival” printed in large letters, the plan of salvation, and any other material that might be appropriate. This is a good way for the congregation to participate in helping promote the church’s revival. Finally, one week before the revival make sure that you have a special night of the week set aside for all of those who helped put the revival together. People love to be recognized. Provide a free meal for all of those who helped, along with inviting their families. Invite the leaders from each committee to share something about what his group did and then to recognize all of the people in his group. Let these people stand up when there name is called and then let them set down after the group is finished. The pastor would want to personally thank everyone who helped. Make sure that at the end of the meal time together, that the entire body of believers present sing together some hymns and then have a prayer time together. When the revival begins, let continue to pray and let the Lord move in His on way. Stand in awe of how God moves in the midst of the revival. When all is said and done, make sure to give God all of the Glory, all of the Honor, and all of the Praise. CONCLUDING REMARKS The people are the ones who make up the Church. Whether it is a big building or a small building, the people of God should reach out to their community and let the community know that they are loved. Ms. Diann Greer is a secretary at FBC and has been for fourteen years. “If people see a big building then they may get intimidated ... but that could just be an excuse for them to not come and go to church. Do they go to a small church? Probably not,” says Greer. When dealing with the poor and the rich Greer says, “Friends do not, at least I don’t, look at your bank account. Friends are friends and should not let money get into the way. The community used to see First Baptist as a wealthy church but I do not think that that is the case anymore.” “... Blacks and whites worship differently, so I don’t think that this is an issue either at (FBC) anymore,” Greer goes on to say. This student thinks that Ms. Greer hit the nail on the head. These are basically the three top things that a big church faces in a smaller community, but the real issue at hand is the members of FBC reaching out and letting the community know that Jesus loves them and that they are welcomed at FBC anytime. When the members of FBC get back to the real issue at hand, which is the heart of worshiping God and Him alone, then FBC will grow in leaps and bounds for the Glory of Jesus Christ. I Corinthians 1:31, “That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” |
| "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15 |
| Dr. Jad Khalaf |