Harbour Lake Baptist Church in Goose Creek is not large by the numbers, but when vision counts more than numbers, the Charleston Association congregation is as big as the world.
KirklandNot that numbers do not count; in the past five years, Sunday school attendance has climbed from 40 to an average of 150, worship attendance has jumped from 50 to approximately 175, baptisms have exceeded 200, and the congregation now includes more than 60 trained soul winners.
“Our folks genuinely care about seeing the lost come to Jesus,” said Jimmy Fuller, Harbour Lake’s pastor for five years. He grew up in Hollywood, S.C., and received his education at Criswell Bible College and the former Baptist College at Charleston. He is working on a master’s degree at Andersonville Seminary.
Fuller characterized his church members as “the most loving, caring and giving people on earth,” and they provided financial proof of that during the SBC-wide gathering of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
Harbour Lake, described by the pastor as “a blue-collar church,” contributed $5,845 to the work of the International Mission Board after Fuller’s challenge to give sacrificially over a 20-week period.
“Many of our members have been adversely affected by the economic downturn,” he pointed out. “Some have lost their jobs, and others have seen their hours cut back. All have felt the crunch, and we have no one in our fellowship whom I would call financially wealthy.”
Still, for that 20-week period, the Harbour Lake congregation gave over and above their tithes and offerings to more than double the amount given during any year in the past. “The most that Harbour Lake had ever given in a single calendar year to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was $2,400,” said Fuller, “and most years it was more in the range of $400 to $600.”
For the background on the record Lottie Moon Christmas Offering at Harbour Lake, it is necessary to go back to June and to Orlando, Fla., as Fuller and his wife, Cheryl, attended their first Southern Baptist Convention meeting.
It was at the June meeting that messengers approved the report of the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force, setting in motion an initiative for disciple-making that would depend upon SBC churches for their embrace and involvement.
“God’s spirit moved in those meetings,” said Fuller, “and we agreed that finding new ways to make the Great Commission our number one priority would be our marching orders for the local church.
“Sharing the gospel is why we exist,” Harbour Lake’s pastor continued. “We are to carry the good news of God’s love through Jesus to a lost world.”
But Fuller was disturbed by what he heard in Orlando. “Our hearts were broken as we listened to reports that, because giving was down across our convention, we might have to bring missionaries home and decrease the number of new missionaries we send out to international fields.”
He grieved over the “men and women ready to go, trained to go, called by our Lord to go — but for lack of financial support may not get the opportunity to go.”
Cheryl and Jimmy FullerTaking heart in the promise in Philippians 4:19 that God “will supply all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus,” Fuller and his wife returned to South Carolina, praying as they traveled. “We asked the Lord what we could do as a small church to help our foreign missionaries continue to work toward taking the gospel to the whole world,” he said. “As Christians should, we believe that every person and every generation deserves to hear the gospel and respond.”
As he thought of his own congregation at Harbour Lake, Fuller felt heartened. “I discovered years ago that when there is a kingdom need among God’s people,” he said, “they will always respond to meet that need — but they must first of all know the need. And when God’s people know, they will meet the need.”
On the couple’s first Sunday back at Harbour Lake after the SBC meeting, Fuller “spent some time sharing the news with our church about the financial challenges we face as a convention. I explained that with Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon giving down, it may mean that our missionaries will be negatively impacted as a result.”
And then came his challenge: a 20-week period of sacrificial giving. Pew racks were loaded with Lottie Moon offering envelopes encouraging church members to give weekly a few dollars to 20 or more “if the Lord provided.” Fuller and his wife pledged $20 per week above tithes and offerings.
Free videos from the IMB and from the SBC websites helped raise interest in the effort by viewing the work of missionaries on their fields of service. “Often,” the pastor said, “our people wept as they came to grips with how many people had never heard the gospel and as they saw firsthand the sacrifice our missionaries make to reach the world.”
Not surprisingly, Fuller said of the Harbour Lake members, “I am so proud of our people. We hope that what we have been able to do will encourage other churches who are struggling with budget challenges in these uncertain times to pray about how they could give even more to missions.”
He concluded, “We are praying that as we work together, there would be no gaps in the process of getting the gospel to the people groups around the world who have yet to hear the good news about Jesus. Isn’t that the spirit of the Cooperative Program that we support? We can do more together than we can do alone. As we focus on sharing Jesus with our Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, I pray that we will not forget about the uttermost parts of the world.”
Harbour Lake Baptist Church, like most in the South Carolina Baptist Convention, is not large. But its vision is as big as the world.