Dear RENEW.org Network Leaders,
If you are a church leader or everyday Christian and you want to learn how to be more effective at leading people to Jesus through baptism, then we have free recordings that you will want to watch (see the link below). We believe that leaders learn best from likeminded leaders who are further along. We also try to help competent leaders learn from other effective RENEW.org church leaders to be more faithful and productive.
At RENEW.org Network we teach that baptism—as an expression of repentant faith in Jesus—is for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). It is one of our distinguishing doctrines. So naturally, we want to share the particularly effective practices of some churches associated with us regarding baptism. We believe that all biblical baptisms are important, including children, teens, and family members, but adult baptisms are especially important.
In North America, adult baptisms, or lack of them, are early indicators, harbingers, and alarm bells. They’re “canaries in the coal mine.” A good number of adult baptisms shows that a church is presenting the gospel clearly, that one’s eternal destiny is a fundamental concern in the church, and that major life change is being brought by the Holy Spirit in the church’s ministry. On the other hand, few or no adult baptisms are alarm red flags and warning signs. A lack of adult baptisms may indicate that the leadership is fuzzy on the gospel, fuzzy on the eternal stakes, not focused on the Great Commission, and/or they have substituted a focus on something secondary. The gospel of Jesus is the central focus of the New Testament (Mark 8:35-37); it determines everyone’s eternal destiny (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)—so surely our ministries must reflect this priority.
“A lack of adult baptisms may indicate that the leadership is fuzzy on the gospel, fuzzy on the eternal stakes, not focused on the Great Commission, and/or they have substituted a focus on something secondary.”
This is why RENEW.org Network partnered with Scott Sager at Lipscomb University Church Services and several other Nashville church leaders to host a seminar titled “Amazing Baptism Numbers.” We featured four churches whose baptism ratios are exemplary—Southwest Church of Christ in Jonesboro, Arkansas; Mount Gilead Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana; Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky (and with campuses in Indiana and Tennessee); and Christ’s Church of the Valley in Arizona (with many campuses). If a church had 10 baptisms for every 100 attendees in 2025, they are in the top 1% of churches in the country. Here are the baptism numbers and attendance ratios of these four churches:
- Southwest Church of Christ – 650-700 average attendance and 81 baptisms in 2025 (12%).
- Mount Gilead Christian Church – 1,773 average attendance and 308 baptisms in 2025 (17.27%).
- Southeast Christian Church – approximately 28,000 average attendance (multiple campuses) and 4,857 baptisms in 2025 (17.3%)
- Christ’s Church of the Valley – 55,765 average attendance (multiple campuses) and 9,109 baptisms in 2025 (16.34%)
You can listen to four church leaders from these churches explain what they do and how they do it. They are Adam Brewer, Jeff Faull, Eddie Johnson, and Reggie Rice. Please note the context—according to Jerry Harris of the Christian Standard, Independent Christian Churches have an average baptism ratio of 6%, with percentages in Churches of Christ typically not running as high (although we do not have an objective average percentage). For this reason, we focused the seminar on those with a Church of Christ background. In the recordings, you can also listen to one of our hosts interview these leaders about their churches (Carlus Gupton, John Magnuson, and Scott Sager). Jason Thompson and Harpeth Hills Church of Christ were excellent hosts.
“If a church had 10 baptisms for every 100 attendees in 2025, they are in the top 1% of churches in the country.”
I also taught a section on key learnings from decades of presenting the biblical teaching on baptism. We gave all attendees a free copy of my booklet on baptism, Baptism According to Scripture: A Clear, Short, and Concise Guide, which articulates these learnings (click here if you want to order a copy). All the presenters and hosts previously endorsed this booklet.
If you like the content of these free videos, please share them with the leaders at your church.
To access the recordings, click HERE.
We pray that God helps all our RENEW.org churches to be more effective as we seek to help as many people as possible experience biblical baptism.
For King Jesus,
Bobby Harrington and the RENEW.org Team
