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The Rev. Vernon Brady of Gibsonville is on a mission to help stop the decline in baptisms and membership in Southern Baptist Convention churches.

The Rev. Bobby Welch, the outgoing president of the Southern Baptist Convention who spoke at the 2006 national convention in Greensboro, inspired Brady to try to come up with a plan that would help stop the downward spiral of church membership and baptisms.
 
Welch challenged Baptists to baptize one million people a year. “I remember that sermon like it was yesterday.

God pricked my heart that night. I e-mailed (Welch) the next morning and told him I wanted to do something to help our churches,” Brady said.

“Seeing churches growing and people coming to know Christ as savior is what I want to see,” he said. “We must stop the decline of our churches, and we can if we work together. Most Southern Baptists are unaware that 80 percent of our (Baptist) churches are in decline and that we had 64,237 fewer baptisms last year than in 1959.

“It seems simple,” Brady said. “We need to provide a proven strategy that is easy to follow and create a synergy among our churches to reach our nation for Jesus Christ. The strategy must be designed to work in all churches, even those with less than 100 in attendance with no support staff.”

He consulted with his longtime mentor Elmer Towns, co-founder of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. They agreed to work together to create a tool and strategy to help the local pastor mobilize his congregation for outreach. Together they wrote “My Friendship Connection,” a current, updated rewrite of the original “Friend Day.”

“My Friendship Connection” is a series of sermons, Sunday school lessons and devotions that are dovetailed together to lead the church to have a single focus of reaching someone they already know for Christ. This also includes detailed instruction on preparation,  implementation and follow- up. “If you liked ‘Friend Day’ you’ll love ‘My Friendship Connection,’--” Brady said.

The outreach emphasis has the support of many pastors, such as the Rev. Johnny Hunt, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of First Baptist Woodstock, Ga.; the immediate past president of the convention, the Rev. Frank Page of First Baptist, Taylors, S.C.; the Rev. Bobby Welch, another former convention president; the Rev. Mac Brunson of First Baptist, Jacksonville, Fla.; and the Rev. Jonathan Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist, Lynchburg, Va.

Brady is confident “My Friendship Connection” will work. It was tested in November with 42 North Carolina and Virginia churches.
 
“We tested all types and sizes,” he said. “Small churches and large churches. Young churches, old churches, small churches averaging 20, large churches with over 12,000, and everything in between.”

Contemporary worship and traditional worship were in the mix. “None of that mattered. What mattered was that they invited their unchurched friends. Their friends came. They preached Jesus and lives were changed.” he said.

The 42 churches represented 23,007 regular attendees. “From 21 churches that reported their results — they normally averaged 14,687 worshipers — there were 19,710 who attended on My Friendship Connection Day. That means there were 5,023 visitors,” Brady said.

There were many success stories. “I am excited about what happened in the big churches, but I am even more excited about the little churches to medium-sized churches.” One pastor said his church averages 175 in attendance and had 294 attending on My Friendship Connection Day.
 
“We had 11 additions to the church. It was incredible.” he wrote.

Brady, 53, a former assistant pastor who has a master’s degree in religious education, said that at Green Street Baptist in High Point, his home church, “You could literally feel the excitement in the air. The whole church was focused and as a corporate body we had a purpose and it was all coming together. More than 20 people received Christ as their savior.”

Brady said the desire of his heart is to see a single Sunday when churches across North America would come together with a single focus of reaching their community for Christ. Brady points out the  results experienced got people to do other things together, such as filling 11.3 million shoeboxes with personal items for people abroad or meeting  financial goals or helping  people during disasters.
 
“Can you imagine the results of all of (the convention) coming together on one day with one purpose?” he said.

“There would be a great day of outreach because we invited our lost family and friends to hear a gospel message.”

There are 16.3 million Southern Baptists, and “if only 4 million actively invite one person we could baptize a million people a year,” he said. Brady is quick to point out it is God who does the work and changes lives, but it is up to us to invite and compel them to come.

“This year over 100 churches across the United States have committed to use ‘My Friendship Connection’ on Nov. 2. Many of the 42 churches that used it in 2007 are repeating the outreach effort because of the excitement, momentum and Kingdom results.” he said.

“I’m praying for a few key leaders that will catch the vision and help bring this material to groups of churches that they are responsible for.”

Contact Bob Burchette at bburchette@triad.rr.com