Baptist Church group supports several causes

The Augusta Association of Baptist Churches works behind the scenes for the Broad Street Ministry Center. In the background, it supports the student unions at Augusta State University and the Medical College of Georgia.

It's also the group that backs World Changers, students who devote a week of their summer to repairing homes for low- and moderate-income people.

They're just a few of the local ministries that bear the stamp of the organization. This week, the Augusta Association of Baptist Churches celebrated 60 years in ministry.

Members met Thursday at Southside Baptist Church for an address from the Rev. Frank Page, a former president of the Southern Baptist Convention and a former pastor of Warren Baptist Church.

The gathering included a short business meeting, but the focus was worship and community, said the Rev. Don Wheless, the association's director.

"In metropolitan areas its hard to get everyone together," he said. "This is about going back to that old tradition of fellowshipping together."

The organization has a rich local history, said the Rev. Albert Stroup, a retired Baptist minister who joined the association in 1961. The association got its start Nov. 8, 1949, when a call went out to leaders of Southern Baptist churches in the Augusta area. That Nov. 28, 585 messengers from 28 churches met at Curtis Baptist Church to form the Augusta Baptist Association.

The group now has 63 member churches and five mission churches representing more than 38,000 people.

"A lot of good things are going on, but of course the main thing is that within the association, there is a joining together of our resources and talents," the Rev. Stroup said.

The Rev. Wheless said the network allows the churches to have a greater impact.

"We're able to do things bigger than we imagined," he said. For instance, 40 churches helped with a crusade in 2005 that drew 45,000 people over four days.

THE CENTER ALSO PROVIDES Sunday school, stewardship and budgeting classes, and conflict resolution to pastors and staffers, the Rev. Wheless said.

"Some people call us the pastors to the pastors," he said. "The emphasis is local, and that's attractive in these economic times. There's training and resources right here in the community."

Southern Baptist membership and baptisms are falling. LifeWay Research predicts that Southern Baptist membership could fall nearly 50 percent by 2050.

In recent years, the Augusta Association of Baptist Churches has expanded to include non-Baptists who meet doctrinal requirements. Two years ago, it welcomed Journey Community Church in Evans, which is tied to networks such as Willow Creek Association and the Association of Related Churches.

"There are a lot of pluses," said the Rev. Bobby Smith, who founded Journey in 2003. "It's helped me network and meet other pastors. It's not every day that you cross denomination affiliations."

The future of the association also will be influenced by its next director.

The Rev. Wheless, who has served for 12 years at the association, said he has no plans to retire but that when he does he hopes the next leader will be community-minded and mission-focused.

"With 63 churches, the ministry we have and the history we have is so varied," the Rev. Wheless said. "It's still all for the same goal that we're coming together.

"What we do is about furthering the kingdom of God."

Contact Kelly Jasper at (706) 823-3552 or kelly.jasper@augustachronicle.com.