April 1, 2002
Robinwood Church blossoms with
emphasis on evangelism & ministry
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___SEAGOVILLE--During the first four Sundays in March, Robinwood Baptist Church in Seagoville saw 30 people make professions of faith in Christ, 70 rededicate their lives to Christ and 10 people join the church by letter.
___But those numbers only tell part of the story, according to Wes Brown, pastor of the church that averages 350 in Sunday School attendance.
___Rather than focusing on the numbers, Brown would rather highlight the individual lives that are being changed.
___Lives like that of Fonden Blackmon. A man in his mid-60s, Blackmon became a Christian the first week of March. He was baptized that night, but not before he told the congregation from the baptistry, "I'm so thankful you didn't give up on me, that you didn't quit praying for me."
___And lives like those of the young couple who recently professed faith in Christ in their home. Convicted that they are "living in sin," they have asked that Brown not baptize them until they are married. "We want our lives to be different; we want everything the way it's supposed to be before we're baptized," they told their pastor.
___"This is an exciting time for me," Brown said. "I've been in the ministry for 25 years, and I can honestly say this is the most exciting time of my ministry. God is doing marvelous things, and I can't think of a place that I'd rather be."
___The church has been on an upswing for some time now, Brown said, but March has been unlike any other month in his quarter of a century of ministry.
___Rather than have a typical spring revival, Robinwood opted for a month of special guests and services throughout the weeks leading up to Easter.
___The first Sunday was a one-day rally with evangelist Freddie Gage, marked by 20 professions of faith and 55 people rededicating their lives to Christ.
___The second week, Troy Drollinger portrayed Christ in a re-enactment of the Last Supper, with 12 of the church's men playing disciples and distributing the elements of the Lord's Supper in what Brown described as a "very moving time of worship."
___Brown led the couples of the congregation in a time of marriage renewal the third week.
___Christian evangelist Clifton Jansky spoke and performed a concert Palm Sunday. His concert Sunday evening packed the sanctuary not only with church members but with people from throughout the community.
___Undergirding all these ministries has been a successful FAITH evangelism program.
___"FAITH is a good program. It works. It's not necessarily the program, but people sharing their faith. It's the Holy Spirit that makes the difference, but FAITH is a great tool, and it works," Brown said.
___The church has grown from an average of 250 in Sunday School last year to about 350 now. "Every Sunday someone is being saved and baptized. God is moving in people's hearts," the pastor reported.
___This has transformed the congregation, said Minister of Music Bobby Warren, who has served the church 27 years.
___"There's just a spirit of anticipation and celebration that you feel here now," he said. "There was a time when it was rough, when some Sundays you just made yourself go, but it's not that way anymore. God has changed all that."
___At the same time, the church is becoming more visible in the community through ministry.
___"The church has been through some rough times, and we've had to rebuild our relationship to the community, but that is happening now," the pastor said.
___One of the church's longest-running ministries is a food pantry that feeds 150 families a month. "We keep giving it away and God keeps putting it back," Brown said.
___The community Robinwood ministers to is about to enlarge greatly. More than 1,000 homes are to be built within a mile of the church.
___It all reminds Brown of a sermon he heard from former Dallas Baptist College President Bill Thorn while he was a student there, Brown said.
___"He had this message about this guy who lived on a farm in Arkansas in the middle of a diamond field be he never knew it. I think about this church and I think we've discovered that were sitting smack dab in the middle of a diamond mine."
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