HAUGHTON – Gene Gibson said a fire that destroyed most of Beulah Land Baptist Church three years ago was the best thing that ever happened to his congregation.
By Brian Blackwell
Staff Writer
HAUGHTON – Gene Gibson said a fire that destroyed
most of Beulah Land Baptist Church three years ago was the best thing
that ever happened to his congregation.
“We lost our material possessions but gained
something else,” said the pastor of the Northwest Louisiana church.
Six months after the fire, the church building was rebuilt and the membership increased from 65 to 100.
“I’ve not been able to put the reason on why that
happened, except that it was all God,” Gibson said. “But the fire
sparked a desire to get God’s work done. This was done because of the
willingness of our members.”
Martha Potts, a member since 1995, had this to say:
“This church is my rock, just as Jesus is my rock. We’re like one big,
happy family because we have fun when we fellowship and worship.”
In a day when Southern Baptists last year baptized
the lowest number of new believers in their churches since 1993 (see related article, page eight), Beulah Land Baptist is bucking that trend.
Last year, the church baptized 46 new members. The
present membership stands at 120 and Gibson said they are waiting to
baptize 22 additional new believers.
Gibson baptizes each member at nearby churches,
since Beulah Land Baptist does not have baptistry of its own. However,
by the end of April, the church hopes to add a baptistry inside its
facilities.
“I’m proud of our record as far as baptisms go,”
Gibson said of his church, a mission of Bellaire Baptist Church in
Bossier City. “Our church doesn’t grow by swapping memberships, but by
leading people to Christ.
“Our calling in life is to grow the Kingdom of God,”
he added. “And the only way we can do that is to lead others to Christ.”
Gibson said Beulah Land Baptist has grown because of its focus on community outreach.
Each spring, the church sponsors a crawfish boil,
which brings new prospects inside the church. Church members also
minister in area nursing homes through music and room-to-room
visitation. Other community outreach include a food pantry and
repairing porches and handicap ramps in area homes.
“We have grown so rapidly because of the family-type
atmosphere we have,” said Potts. “Whenever someone comes to our church,
they’re made to feel welcome. No one is a stranger here.”
Their community involvement reinforces what Jesus would do, Gibson said.
“My motto is ‘Jesus never met a spiritual need until
he met a physical need of that person,” Gibson explained.
The church began in 2000, when Gibson and six others
met in a home. Within a year, the membership grew to 17 and the church
began looking for land to purchase so they could construct their own
building.
One year later, Gibson became pastor of the fledgling congregation.
“I felt the Lord calling me to preach many years
ago, but I never thought it would be starting a church from scratch,”
Gibson said. “When you step into an established
environment, you step into something already in motion. In this day and
time it’s hard to start something from nothing.”
As one of 971 Louisiana Baptist bivocational
pastors, Gibson admits juggling time between his secular job as the
owner of a calibrating instrumentation business, and his Christian
ministry as pastor of Beulah Land Baptist can be a daunting task at
times.
“It gets tough at times,” Gibson acknowledged. “My
business is such that people need something right now and my church is
the same. So I have to juggle both occupations.
“It’s hard,” he continued. “A person better be
called to be a bivocational pastor and able to manage his time. There
are times when I feel worn out, and that’s when I have to have both
eyes on the Lord.”
However, Gibson says the eternal rewards outweigh the earthly drawbacks.
“It’s definitely worth it,” Gibson explained. “A
bivocational pastor couldn’t do this without his life partner and other
family members. This is a sacrifice for everyone, but a great reward in
the end.”
Between Oct. 1,
2005 and Sept. 30, Southern Baptist Convention President Bobby Welch
has challenged Southern Baptist churches to baptize 1 million new
believers and has called on their associations to hold an associational
baptism rally. Information and resources about “The ‘Everyone Can’
Kingdom Challenge!” is available on the Internet at www.everyonecan.net.