What if every Christian had one person they committed to pray for and share the gospel with? That’s the question that inspired a church in Henderson, Texas, to take a new approach to evangelism.
Pastor David Higgs of First Baptist Church Henderson says that in the midst of the pandemic, it was hard to do a lot of ministry, but he knew he wanted his church to reach people. After attending a “Who’s Your One?” event put on by the North American Mission Board, he knew he’d found the right tool. He tailored it for his congregation, then asked everyone to pray for one person. More than 300 people signed up and were organized in teams of four that met every Sunday morning to “encourage each other and hold each other accountable,” Higgs says.
The church conducted evangelism training for the participants. As a visible reminder to pray, they were encouraged to put the name of their “one” on a large wooden cross at the front of the sanctuary. In addition, the church conducted 20-minute outdoor prayer meetings. Church members were responsible for inviting their “one” to church where a banquet was held and an invitation to join the church family was given. More than 40 people joined.
Higgs says that in addition to getting on track after the pandemic, the campaign helped people realize what’s possible when they work together. It also resulted in congregants realizing how many unchurched people they knew.
“I had people tell me ‘I don’t know anybody that’s unchurched,’ yet when they began to think about it, they realized they knew a lot,” he says.
“It doesn’t cost a lot of money,” Higgs says of the campaign’s benefits. “It’s something everyone can do. Quite a few [of the ‘ones’] had been unchurched for 20 years or more. Some of them had never been churched.”
By encouraging individual believers to focus on sharing faith with just one person, First Baptist Church Henderson has seen its ministry multiply in ways they never initially imagined.
