First Baptist Church Madisonville baptized 28 people over the past three months. – Submitted photos
MADISONVILLE — A mission trip to South Asia was a wake-up call for an East Tennessee pastor who led his congregation to refocus on the Great Commission.
The result was 28 baptisms and significant growth in the church over six months.
Chris Moore, pastor of First Baptist Church Madisonville, said the turning point came in May 2024 during a trip with the International Mission Board.
He met pastors and church planters while in South Asia who were winning souls with minimal resources and training. It challenged his assumptions about ministry needs.
“All of the pastors and church planters I met had little-to-no seminary training, they didn’t have big budgets or buildings or staff — most, if not all, were bivocational, and they were doing this in an area hostile to the gospel and Christianity,” Moore said.
“Their commitment to the Great Commission convicted me,” he said.
The contrast hit home hard. While FBC Madisonville averaged 345 weekly attendees, Moore realized the church was reaching primarily transfer members from other congregations rather than winning the spiritually lost.
“That means it took our church of roughly 820 members five years to win five unchurched lost people to Christ,” Moore said.
‘Course correction’
In February 2025, the church launched a six-month Great Commission initiative featuring a Sunday morning sermon series, Leadership Training Luncheons, and Sunday evening small group discussions.
Moore brought in guest speakers including Michael Cloer from Cape Fear Network of Baptist Churches, Jim Ball from Silverdale Baptist Church in Chattanooga, and Mike Shipman from the IMB. The church also studied J.D. Greear’s book “Gaining by Losing” and facilitated evangelism training sessions.
“During these six months our church prayed asking God for a ‘Great Commission Vision’ for our church,” Moore said. The congregation decided to prioritize outreach training and disciple-making.
The results followed quickly, and since completing the vision series in August, FBC Madisonville has seen 28 people baptized within the last three months and 21 new members join. The church also launched 12 discipleship groups with 72 people making nine-month commitments to weekly meetings and relational discipleship.
Moore encouraged other Baptist pastors to consider similar intensive Great Commission focus in their congregations, particularly those feeling discouraged by slow growth or transfer-dependent membership gains.
“I feel like that as a church in America, not just Southern Baptist, churches in every denomination are in decline. We are afraid to ask the hard questions and to make course corrections when they’re needed,” said Moore. “For my church, it was time to make a course correction.”
Implementing evangelism
“God gave us the Great Commission and that is His plan for our churches,” said Roc Collins, evangelism team leader at the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board. “I rejoice to hear how God is at work at FBC Madisonville. When we seek to follow God’s plan, He blesses it.”
Collins added that there are many evangelistic resources that can be employed for training and preparing Tennessee Baptists to be effective witnesses. Since fulfilling the Great Commission is central in churches, Collins said “we are on our way to creating an evangelistic culture that will enable us to win Tennessee for Jesus.”
“As we prepare, we are making evangelism central in our lives and churches, creating a culture that will reproduce as we are witnessing at FBC Madisonville,” said Collins.
Josh Franks, TBMB’s team leader for ministry development, explained churches can multiply gospel leaders in four habits: praying boldly, identifying leaders early, talking about it constantly, and creating opportunities.
“Multiplying gospel leaders never happens by accident. It happens by intention,” he said.
Other ways churches can implement a Great Commission-based initiative is through “Nine31 Leadership,” where churches engage a practical pathway to identify, equip, and empower trustworthy gospel leaders.
According to Franks, the Nine31 Campaign helps churches pray and preach their way into a culture of leader development, and the pathway provides simple next steps, from calling to commissioning. For more information, visit www.tnbaptist.org/nine31.
“My hope is that what God did in Madisonville becomes normal across Tennessee,” said Franks. “When a church aligns its heart with the Great Commission and commits to developing leaders, transformation doesn’t stay inside the building. It spills out into the community.”
Moore added that their church continues building on the momentum, with members now actively engaged in outreach and discipleship rather than relying primarily on attracting Christians from other congregations.
“This was a process for us that for me as a pastor took two years to get through, just the mental and emotional methodology shift,” he said. “So give yourself time in [the transition] and give your church time.” B&R
