For South Carolina Baptist Convention evangelism director Lee Clamp, the math is simple: One person building one relationship a year – in order to share the gospel – could lead to all unchurched people in the state hearing the message of Christ in just 12 years.
David Gallamore (left), pastor of Rock Springs Baptist Church, Easley, takes a moment with Lee Clamp, evangelism director for the South Carolina Baptist Convention, during the State Evangelism Conference hosted by Rock Springs. Attendance at the conference reached 2,000.“If the statistics are right, we would have 300,000 South Carolina Baptists today in a church on a Sunday morning, building a relationship to share the gospel,” said Clamp. “In 12 years, we would have 3.6 million who have heard the gospel. That is the exact number – not inside the walls of any Christian church on any given Sunday in the state of South Carolina.”
“The Power of One,” emphasizing one person focusing on reaching one other person with the message of Jesus Christ, was the theme of this year’s State Evangelism Conference, held Feb. 19-21 at Rock Springs Baptist Church in Easley.
Bobby Welch, a former Southern Baptist Convention president who works with both the SBC Executive Committee and the Tennessee Baptist Convention, promoted his “1-5-1” principle, wherein people start some type of discipleship group or church with five people, and that group branches out to start another group.
“There are [few] laborers and a large amount of harvest,” Welch said. “The farmer plants because he is a harvester. He’s looking for the fruit. We cannot forget evangelism.”
Welch encouraged those attending the conference to go outside the walls of the church to reach the lost.
“We need to get people to go from the church,” he said. “You’ve got to get out of the building.”
Brandon Blair, minister of students at Langston Baptist Church, Conway, talked about the power of remembering in the process of getting motivated to share Christ with others. He told his story of being wounded as a soldier in Fallujah, Iraq, in 2006.
At the South Carolina Baptist Convention State Evangelism Conference, held Feb. 19-21 at Rock Springs Baptist Church, Easley, several Baptist ministers who have served for more than 50 years were honored with lifetime achievement awards. The men pictured above represent more than 1,500 years of combined ministry service. They include Lewis E. McCormick, Bobby R. Wallace, Jerry Scott, Luther Price, Robert Boone, Francis Taylor Alewine, Donald West, Boyce Whitman, Howard Hampton Brown, Delano McMinn, Lonnie Shull, Jackie Hinson, Harold Syfrett, Bob Deaton, Raymond Crow, Ruben Navarrete, Jack W. Hester, John Arthur, Bill Ellison, Wayne Lovett, Glenn Mosteller, James Bray, Tom Patterson, Mario Vargas, Stephen Gantt, Jerry Ford and Randall Jones.“There is power in one who remembers,” said Blair. “You don’t have to beg me to evangelize and tell people about Jesus. I’m a different person. I’m changed. I don’t have to be revived. All I have to do is remember where I was when I was lying on my back in Fallujah. There is nothing at all good about me except my God, and I will praise him. All we need to do is remember.”
Don Wilton, pastor of First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, told those at the conference they have an important role in reaching people with the gospel. Using a fishing analogy, Wilton called on them to get into the boat, engage the water, use the equipment, cast the net, feel the bite, draw the net and celebrate the catch.
“Only God can save,” said Wilton. “Only the Holy Spirit can convict, and only fruit can testify.”
Jerry Vines, who served as pastor of First Baptist Jacksonville, Fla., for nearly 25 years, closed the conference with a message about sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in the midst of a nation and world of “bad news.”
“We’re living in a land that is filled with bad news,” Vines said. “Before you can truly understand the good news, you have to understand the bad news. The bad news of the Bible is the bad news of the human race. The bad news of our world is the bad news of sin and death. Death is the bully on the block of life.”
David Gallamore, pastor of the host church, Rock Springs, said the theme “challenged us to go out and reach one.”
“The Power of One is very powerful,” said Gallamore. “I believe we have kind of put it on the back burner, and we’ve missed out. The hope for our country, our convention and our community is each one reaching one.”
Conference organizer Randall Jones said the challenge of every South Carolina Baptist reaching one person a year with the gospel has great potential.
“If we can succeed, we’re going to literally change the face of South Carolina with each one [reaching] one,” Jones said. “The power is within the individual who is empowered by the Holy Spirit who lives within us.”