Eight preaching sites. One hundred baptisms. More than 100 additional decisions for Christ. And a church mobilized for mission.
That’s what a group of Arkansas-Louisiana Conference pastors and leaders encountered this summer in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The experience offered us a firsthand glimpse of what can happen when pastors and members work together to reach their communities.
Across eight preaching sites throughout Salvador, eight participants from the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference served as evangelists, joining local pastors, lay leaders, small groups, young people, and church members in proclaiming the Gospel and inviting people to make decisions for Christ. What unfolded during the week became much more than an evangelistic campaign. It became a living demonstration of what is possible when the Church embraces mission as its shared responsibility.
From the beginning, one of the most striking aspects of the Bahia Conference was the extraordinary involvement of its lay members. Throughout the territory, more than 1,500 small groups are actively functioning as centers of fellowship, discipleship, Bible study, and evangelism. Rather than viewing evangelism primarily as the responsibility of pastors or visiting evangelists, members have embraced the conviction that every believer has a role in advancing the Gospel.
That missionary culture can be seen throughout the life of the church. Small groups work alongside local congregations. Children, teenagers, young adults, parents, and older adults participate in reaching their communities. Pathfinder and Adventurer ministries are not isolated programs but part of a larger culture that intentionally connects successive generations with the mission of the Church.
Everywhere we went, we saw evidence of a Church focused on one central purpose: reaching people for Jesus.
Mission Beyond the Pulpit
Beginning around midday and continuing until shortly before the evening preaching services, our evangelists joined local pastors and church members in visiting homes. We prayed with families, listened to their stories, encouraged individuals who were studying the Bible, and personally invited people to surrender their lives to Christ. Those visits became some of the most meaningful moments of the entire experience.
We met individuals who had been connected with the Church for months—and in some cases for years—but had struggled to make a final decision. Behind every name was a story. Behind every decision were often months or years of prayer, friendship, Bible study, and faithful ministry by local church members. Then, during this week of evangelism, many of those individuals finally decided that the time had come.
Night after night, we watched people respond to appeals to follow Jesus. Baptisms took place throughout the week, and by the conclusion of the evangelistic effort, 100 people had publicly surrendered their lives to Christ through baptism
Yet the harvest did not end there. More than 100 additional individuals made decisions for Christ and are now preparing for baptism. Many are expected to be baptized in September during a major Pathfinder gathering. What we witnessed, therefore, was not simply the conclusion of an evangelistic campaign, it was one stage of an evangelistic process that continues long after the visiting evangelists have returned home.
Perhaps that is one of the most important lessons we brought back with us: effective evangelism is not an event; it’s a culture.
A Conference Expecting a Harvest
The scale of the missionary movement in Bahia is remarkable. Across the conference, nearly 5,000 individuals are currently studying the Bible. Pastors and churches have accepted an ambitious challenge of working toward 2,900 baptisms this year. That’s a significant goal, but what impressed us most was not simply the number. It was the intentional system of ministry supporting that vision.
There is an expectation that churches will grow, an expectation that members will give Bible studies, an expectation that small groups will reach their neighborhoods,an expectation that young people will participate in mission, and an expectation that pastors will equip and mobilize their members rather than attempt to carry the work alone.
The results we witnessed were not produced by one week of preaching. The public meetings were the visible harvest of months of prayer, preparation, relationships, Bible studies, small-group ministry, visitation, and personal evangelism.
Our eight team members were privileged to step into that process and help bring people to a point of decision. But behind every baptism stood local pastors and, especially, committed lay members who had faithfully prepared the way. For the Arkansas-Louisiana leaders who participated, that realization was transformative.
Returning Home Inspired
We did not travel to Brazil believing that every method practiced there could simply be copied and transferred unchanged to our territory. Arkansas and Louisiana have their own cultures, communities, opportunities, and challenges. But biblical principles of mission cross every cultural boundary.
What we witnessed in Bahia reminded us that the local church becomes extraordinarily powerful when its members understand that mission belongs to everyone.
We saw the potential of small groups that exist not only for fellowship but also for evangelism. We saw pastors intentionally empowering members for ministry. We saw young people integrated into the missionary life of the church. We saw systematic visitation and personal appeals working alongside public evangelism. And we saw churches setting bold goals because they genuinely believe God is still in the business of transforming lives.
The members of the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference Evangelism Committee and Executive Committee who participated in this experience returned home with more than memories and photographs. They returned with a renewed determination to strengthen the missionary culture of our own local churches.
Our desire is not simply to reproduce a Brazilian model. Our desire is to take the principles we witnessed—mobilization, intentional discipleship, small-group ministry, personal visitation, youth involvement, lay leadership, and a relentless focus on mission—and prayerfully apply them within the unique context of Arkansas and Louisiana.
We believe our churches can become even stronger centers of evangelism and discipleship. We believe more members can discover the joy of personally leading someone to Christ. We believe our young people can become a powerful missionary force. We believe small groups can reach communities that may never initially walk through the doors of a church. And we believe pastors and members working together can reach people who might otherwise remain untouched by traditional approaches alone. Most importantly, we were reminded that the same God who is working powerfully in Bahia is also working in Arkansas and Louisiana.
The 100 baptisms we celebrated in Salvador represent 100 individual stories of grace. More than 100 additional decisions represent another harvest already being prepared. The nearly 5,000 people currently studying the Bible throughout Bahia represent thousands of stories still being written.
And now, a new chapter begins at home. We return to the Arkansas-Louisiana Conference grateful for the privilege of having participated in what God is doing in Brazil, but also challenged by what we witnessed. We come home asking a simple question: What could God do in our territory if every pastor, every leader, every young person, and every church member embraced the mission of reaching one more person for Jesus?
Bahia gave us a glimpse of the possibilities. Now we return home inspired for mission—ready to pray, equip, mobilize, and work together, trusting God for an abundant harvest in Arkansas and Louisiana.
