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"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise."
Proverbs 11:30
We believe in the old fashion way of evangelism going door to door. Biblically we believe that this is the most accurate and best way of soul winning. We do this each Tuesday and Thursday night, and Saturday afternoon. At the same time we also believe in using modern technology when we can to try and reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. For example we use our website, nice professional brochures that describe our church and its ministries, mass mailings, new move-in mailers, advertisements; The White Page Ministry, etc. are all ways of spreading the Gospel with new "modern" thinking and technology. It is ashamed for Christians to not be as wise as the world when it comes to using what God has given us. Luke 16:8 "And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light." I'm not talking about having "Christian Rock Concerts" to reach the teenagers. I'm not talking about joining up with the Methodist to reach people. Neither am I talking about getting rid of our visitation program, or our soul winning programs. I'm just saying that we need to use any and all means possible to get the Gospel of Jesus Christ out as long as it does not violate Scripture.
We also believe that salvation is by God's grace, through simple child like faith, not of works to get saved, or to stay saved. It is based on the finished work of Christ at Calvary. If you wish to see our full doctrinal statement or what we believe concerning salvation please visit these tabs, "What We Believe," and "Salvation." At the same time, we believe that a person who is truly saved will be a new creature and that there will be a change in his life. We do not agree with what some call "Easy Prayerism." Most of the time this is associated with Jack Hyles, but the fact is Bob Jones Sr., Lee Roberson, Maze Jackson, Lester Roloff, and the rest of those "old timers" did the same thing as Jack Hyles. I will say that I personally have met many converts of Jack Hyles that was won to Christ using this so-called "Easy Prayerism" that have been saved and serving Christ for twenty, thirty or forty years. This is proof that what they received is not "Easy Prayerism." So what we view as one thing may be the real thing. We do not know a person's heart. But after years of service and living for God this is evidence that they are saved not lost. We do not believe that any prayer saves a person, but it is with the heart. As soon as a person in his heart says yes to Jesus, he is saved.
We believe in reaching out to all races of people. We believe that God's grace is for every race. We don't care what color the skin is, how educated a person is, how much money they have, what they look like, how they smell, if they are homeless or helpless, drunkards, harlots, homosexuals, liars, thieves, dope heads, or politicians, we aim to reach them all for Christ. That is why we have a Homeless Ministry, a Food & Clothing Ministry, a Youth Ministry, a Senior Saints Ministry, a Marriage Ministry, a Children’s Ministry, a Spanish Ministry, a Care Home Ministry, etc because we love people who have souls.
Our main objective here at Amazing Grace Baptist Church is to reach the lost. I as the pastor am to set the example first in this area. Next, we require EVERY person who serves in any position to go soul winning. It is not an option. This means every teacher, deacon, associate pastor, nursery worker, grounds keeper, song leader, choir member, piano player, janitor, etc to be at one of our three soul winning visitations every week. We take this very seriously. This is God's business and it's the most important business in the entire world. If a piano player doesn't go soul winning than we don't need them to play the piano. You may say, "What if you don't have another piano player?" Fine! We'll pray that God will send us a Godly piano player or we want have one. If the janitor can't go soul winning than we don't need him to clean the church. It's that simple.
Jack Hyles said it best when he gave this illustration. Jack Hyles said years ago that we are all firefighters. Then he proceeded to tell each man on the platform their duties. One of you will have to make sure there is gas in the trucks. Another one of you will have to make sure there are hoses on the trucks. Another to have our boots and uniforms ready. Another to make sure the ladders are ready. Another to make sure the truck is in good working order. Then Brother Hyles went back to the first man on the stage and said, "Brother Hooker, what is your job?" Brother Hooker said, "To make sure there is gas in the trucks." Brother Hyles said, "NO! Your job is to put out fires." Then he went all the way down the line to each one of the men and said, "What is your job?" Each of the men responded, "To put out fires." This is our job as a church to be putting out fires. Not to clean toilets, but to put out fires. Not to cut grass, but to put out fires. Not to sing in the choir, but to put out fires. We are firefighters for Jesus. Lets go put out some fires.
"Soul winning is not a method; it is a command. We are supposed to go soul winning and do soul winning if our churches grow or if our churches decrease in attendance." Jack Hyles
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