Romans 1 verse 16. All right. I want to bring to you a message titled, A Powerful Gospel in a Pivotal City. The elders have asked me to give an exposition from the scripture that then flows into the application of that exposition, which is the vision of church planting in 2012. Now I want you to know that I have lots of pages of notes here. And as I considered going through these notes and preaching them, I feel it is best right here off the top to just really just kind of discard the notes and preach from my heart. The Lord has given me a lot of excitement, a lot of passion, a lot of vision for this very thing. And so I'm trusting right now that the Holy Spirit would grant me the words, the insight into the scripture, and also the application as we go through our presentation this morning. But with that, I need to pray. So if you would bow your head with me in your heart, and let's ask the Lord's blessing. Lord, as Bob has told us, without a vision, we really have no purpose, we have no direction. This morning, Lord, we want to ask you to help us to understand your word and the clear applications of it. And Lord, as we have been praying, the leadership team has been praying, Church leaders have been praying. We ask, Lord, that the articulation of the vision that we see would come across very clearly, very powerfully, and even winsomely. We pray that you would fill every Christian in this building with the Holy Spirit, that you would give us insight and understanding, that you would give us patience, and that you would give us clarity, and that you would give us a passion that burns deep within our hearts to do something for your glory. and for the progression of the gospel in our community. God, we pray this in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. Amen. Now, I'm going to read the first paragraph, the first thesis, and then we'll look at the text. Without a vision from the Lord, Christian ministry is destined to fail. But when the church of Jesus Christ listens to God in his word, learns from God as we read his word, and leans on God in dependence upon him and him alone, vital gospel ministry can happen. The leaders of Anderson Bible Church strongly desire to be driven by God's priorities and by the real needs of people in our community. And these two dynamics are what drive our vision for 2012. In Romans 1, verse 16, we see the key to vibrant church vision, and that is the power of the gospel. The gospel is supremely powerful, and when proclaimed through the power of the Holy Spirit, it will completely transform lives, relationships, families, and even a community. Now as you look down at Romans chapter 1 we look at verses 16 and 17. Now if you think about writing a paper or writing a letter Paul is writing a letter to the Roman church, a church that he had never been to. Hey, maybe Paul had been to Rome at some point earlier in his life, but not since he had become a Christian, and not since the church at Rome had been created. And so he's writing a letter of introduction of himself. He's writing a letter of introduction of gospel doctrine, of deep Christian doctrine. And then toward the end of the letter, he's writing a letter about how to live the Christian life. But all of that is summed up in Romans 1 verses 16 and 17. And you can take Romans 1, 16 and 17 and kind of you see it play out through chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and all the way through chapter 16. So here's what he says in verse 16 and 17. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. And we're going to focus primarily on verse 16 right here. Verse 16. And the first two things that we want to establish right off the bat is what the gospel is. Because he says, I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it's the power of God. What is the gospel? The gospel is essentially the good news of salvation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of salvation in the person and work of Christ. If we flesh that out a little more, it is essentially the holy and just God, loved sinners so much that He sent His holy and perfect righteous Son to take on human flesh, to live a sinless life, to die a sacrificial and substitutionary death for sinners, and then raised Him from the dead to show His power over death and sin, and to show that He was pleased with that sacrifice, and then to offer the salvation that comes from believing that to everyone who would believe it. That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The second thing that we want to establish from this text is this issue of power, that it is the power of God. You see that it says it is the power of God to salvation. Because the gospel is powerful. And we've got to understand where this power comes from. This word power comes from the Greek word dunamis. Dunamis. It's where we get our English word dynamite. It's where we get our English word dynamic. All right? We derive it from this. And essentially, dunamis means something that has inherent power, inherent strength, so that it can accomplish what it is sent out to accomplish. It is used 119 times in the New Testament, dunamis. It is a very key concept. It is a very key word all the way from Matthew through Revelation. Listen, Paul says it is not some general power. It is not some neat power or cool power to look at. He says it is divine power. It is the power of God. Now, the Scriptures talk about the power of God. The Scriptures say about God's power that God's power is glorious. The Scriptures say that God's power is infinite. The Scriptures say that His power is unsurpassing, that it is unsearchable, and Romans 9 says it is sovereign power. Now, if you think about God's great power and you attach it to a description of the gospel, what we can find is that nothing is more powerful than the gospel of God, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more powerful than the gospel. But we want to ask very specifically, how powerful is it? How powerful? Paul, please, tell us, how powerful is the gospel of Jesus Christ? Well, number one, he tells us that it saves. Look at it. It says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation. Soterion. It is the power of God to salvation. Listen, this word Soterion has one key essence, and that is deliverance. Deliverance. If you're taking notes, you'd write the word down. Deliverance. So terion means deliverance. But here in this context, he's talking about a very specific deliverance. He is talking about spiritual deliverance. He is talking about eternal deliverance. And I want to tell you a little bit about this salvation. This is very key for us to understand our vision for 2012. First of all, salvation is a deliverance from and a deliverance to. It is a deliverance from and a deliverance to. First of all, it is a deliverance from the power of sin, the power of sin. You ever felt overwhelmed by the power of sin in your life? Was there ever a point where you thought, I can't do anything but sin? Even when I try to do things right, I can't do right. Well, listen, this was the power of sin in your life, and salvation is a deliverance from that. Second, it is a deliverance from the pollution of sin. You and I have probably all felt the fact that we just feel like dirty rotten scoundrels, right? Even as much as we try to do good, as much as we try to help people, as much as we try to think good thoughts, there have been times in our life where we just felt completely tainted, completely tarnished. We felt like trash. Listen, sin does that, but salvation delivers us from it. And then third, It delivers us from the penalty of sin. Listen, we were destined for wrath, we were destined for hell, we were destined for punishment, and yet salvation delivers us out of that. And so we're looking at the power of sin, the pollution of sin, and the penalty of sin, and it delivers us out of that, and it delivers to the power of Christ. Listen, I've said this before from the pulpit, but the same power that raised Jesus from the dead on the third day is the same power that you and I have as believers. All right? We have supernatural, divine power because we have salvation. Not only does it give us the power of Christ, but it gives us the purity of righteousness. Christ's righteousness. You see, all our sin was laid on Christ, and all of Christ's righteousness has been given unto us. Christ owns our guilt, and we own His holiness, and we now have purity. We don't have to live in that pollution. We don't have to live under the power of sin. We now can live under the purity and power of Christ's righteousness, because that's what salvation delivers us to. And then it delivers us to promise of eternal life. Life with Christ. We have this promise. And it's not just for the hereafter. And it's not just for when we actually came to Christ. It's for right now. And we'll get to that. But this is the thing. The Gospel is the power of our deliverance from sin and our deliverance to the very righteousness and power of Jesus Christ. Now listen. I am burdened. And I'm convinced that this powerful gospel, this gospel that saves, is not being preached and it is not being lived throughout our community. I'm convinced of that. Listen, I say all the time on Wednesday nights, I talk to this person, I talk to this group, I met these people. And you know, I'm polling people all the time, asking them questions. And I am so burdened that when I ask the question, are you a Christian? And people say, yes, I'm a Christian. And then I say, well, how has you becoming a Christian saved your life or changed your life? Or could you please articulate to me this gospel that you have believed that has caused you to be born again, to be a Christian? Listen, I'm very discouraged and burdened by the answers that I get. Listen, I am convinced that there is not a coherent, saving, powerful gospel being proclaimed throughout this community. There are over 431 churches in our community, in our county. Why is it, why is it that so many people are confused? Why is it that so many people's lives have not changed? Why is it when you ask the question, well, how has the gospel changed your life? People don't have an answer. It's because the powerful gospel is not being proclaimed. The gospel that saves, the gospel that transforms you, the one that delivers you from darkness and death and sin and over to life with God and joy and happiness and pleasure in serving and loving Him. I'm burdened about this. Because the real gospel, the gospel that he lays out in Romans is a gospel that changes. It doesn't just reform. It doesn't just make you a little happier. It doesn't just give you something to go to when you're struggling or when your marriage is on the rocks and it makes you feel a little better and calm your emotions. Listen, the Gospel changes marriages. The Gospel changes relationships. The Gospel changes your attitude at work. The Gospel changes your mindset. You look to the cross and you look at what Jesus did and you draw strength from that and power from that and you're able to do all sorts of things with great power because the Gospel transforms. How powerful is this Gospel? The Gospel saves. Second of all, it sanctifies. Now look down at the verse again, verse 16. He says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Now this word for, this is interesting. It is a conjunction, it attaches, it draws on what he has just said in verse 15. Look up at verse 15 if you've got your Bibles open. He says to the church at Rome, As much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. Now, tell me, what is the church composed of? What kind of people is the church composed of? Christians, right? Christians. And look up at verse 8. It's just seemingly a little confusing. In verse 8, he says, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. And what? Seven verses later, he says, listen, I can't wait to get to Rome so that I can preach the gospel to you. Look, your average Christian person would ask the question, why does he want to preach the gospel to a group of people who have so believed the gospel that they have an incredible testimony throughout the whole world about believing the gospel? You understand the confusion a little bit, the way you think? Well, listen, this is what Paul is saying. Christians need the gospel as much as non-Christians need the gospel. Christians need the gospel as much as non-Christians need the gospel. Listen, there is a thought in today's churches and in today's evangelicalism that we actually make a decision for Christ right here at some point of our life. We hear this gospel, oh, I believe that, that'll rescue me from my plight in life and it'll rescue me heaven in eternity, I'll believe that gospel. And then they walk through that door and then they go live their life by their own power, by their own street, pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and saying, by golly, I'm going to lick this Christian life and I'm going to go after it. And that is completely not what the gospel teaches. The Gospel teaches that you must rely on the Gospel to live the life. Let me give you a little illustration. The Gospel is not the key that opens up the door to get into the Christian life. And the Gospel is not even the door that you walk into to get into the Christian home. The Gospel is actually the front porch, the key, the door, the foundation, the rafters, and all the beams that are everywhere in the house. We live and breathe by the power of the Gospel. And yet, we oftentimes, even in our minds, take on a, I've got to do this by my own power, by my strength. I'll trust God to try to help me do it, but by golly, we're going to do it. But listen, he says right here, I want to preach the gospel to you because the gospel is the power of God. Not only is it powerful to save, but it's power to sanctify. I've got to continue here. Third, it abolishes barriers. The gospel abolishes barriers. Look at what he says there at the end of verse 16. He says, it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes for the Jew first. and also for the Greek. Now he is not saying that the Jews are more important or that everyone must go to the Jews first and if they reject it then we'll go to the Gentiles. That's not what he's intending to say right here. He's saying historically and traditionally the Jews have been the recipients of the message of salvation. They were the first converts and ones instituted into the church in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost. But he's very clear in saying that it is for everyone who If you think about the testimony of a number of believers who were converted by the gospel, you think of Paul, a self-righteous, religious, legalistic man is saved by the power of the gospel. You think about Peter, an uneducated man who is self-confident and always wanting to be out in front and always wanting to promote himself, the gospel saves him. But then you think of the Samaritan woman at the well, who is immoral, who is unethical, who is a Samaritan and not even a Jew, and yet the power of the gospel saves her. And you think of Zacchaeus who is a man who is greedy and materialistic and deceptive toward all of the people, even his friends, and yet the gospel saves him. And the Ethiopian eunuch who comes up from North Africa completely confused and disturbed by what goes on in Jerusalem and he's on his way back home and is destined for a life of loneliness and confusion and yet the gospel comes to him in Isaiah 53 and completely transforms his life. And look, you can go on and on, Cornelius and many others in the Bible who come from all different walks of life, all different social classes and ethnicities and cultures and countries and provinces. And yet Paul says right here that it destroys all those barriers because it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Now listen, the fourth thing that we want to see about the power of God is that it produces courage. It produces courage. He says, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Listen, I want to confess to you that growing up and on into my young adulthood, there were times when I was ashamed of the gospel. I was ashamed of Christ. I was ashamed to be a Christian. Not so much that if somebody asked me that I wouldn't say yes, but it was more of, I don't know that I really want to speak this out. I don't know if I want to share this with anybody. And listen, the reason I was ashamed was because I didn't understand its power. I didn't understand its transforming, saving, sanctifying power. And if I would have understood the gospel the way that Paul understood the gospel, I would not have been ashamed of the gospel. And you won't be ashamed of the gospel once you understand and embrace its sheer power, its divine sovereign power. Now listen, Paul, Paul had been smuggled out of one city, he had been kicked out of another city, he had been laughed out of another city, he had been imprisoned in another city, and he had been sneered at even among the religious elite in the main religious city. Listen, he's a guy who knows a little bit about shame here when it comes to the gospel. The gospel is shameful. 1 Corinthians tells us that the people in the world consider it foolishness. People in the world consider it nothing. You need to keep that message to yourself. But Paul is not going to keep it to himself, and neither should we, because we understand that it saves, it sanctifies, it abolishes all barriers, and it completely, within us, produces the kind of courage where we can tell another individual that you need the power of God and salvation, and you find it in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Now listen, that is a short exposition of the power of the gospel from Romans 1.16. Because of where we are in our service and the time, let's transition right here from this powerful gospel, the one that saves, sanctifies, removes barriers, and produces courage with us, and let's look at our very specific vision for 2012. What is the application? Church planting. The vision for our church in 2012 is to plant a church. It is to reach people with the gospel and to invigorate more Christians to serve in the body of Christ through starting another church. Now, if you notice up here, I actually put the gospel. Here, the gospel. I'm talking about the gospel that Paul is referring to in Romans 1.16, an unadulterated, Bible-open gospel where we share God's power through His Word. Now, we want to do this to reach people and to raise up leaders. Now, the ultimate vision here is to be a vibrant, disciple-making, reproducing church. Let me give you a little bit of insight. We're not looking to start some big kingdom with some big campus where everybody flocks to all the time and we're building buildings and we're doing all these things. That's not the goal here. The goal here is for churches like ours Anniston Bible Church, to reproduce itself down in Oxford, over in Heflin, up toward Alexandria. We have a sister church already in Grace Fellowship on the fort. So what we're actually doing, instead of having a small gospel influence like what we have right now, listen, I believe we have a good testimony in our community. I believe that our witness is good, but it is minimal. It is not wide and it is not deep. And what we want to do is have reproducing churches down targeted throughout, kind of splotted throughout Calhoun County and the surrounding area so that the gospel witness we have here is magnified, is multiplied so that we make a greater dent, a greater penetration into our cultural Christianity. Really, I would say one motive behind what we're doing here in reproducing other churches is saying we are not going to yield to cultural Christianity, but we are going to let the powerful gospel reign and we're going to do that by reproducing churches all over here so that we can let this powerful gospel put on display. Why plant a church? Number one, the overarching reason is the glory of God. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Underneath the glory of God, we want to be part of Christ building His church. I will build my church and the gates of Hades, the gates of hell, will not prevail against it. We want to be a part of that. We want to be a part of Christ building His church. And we believe that a reproducing local church is a way to do that. We want to fulfill the Great Commission. Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them in the way that they should go." Hey, listen, that is a ministry of the church. The church is to go out, alright? The church is to teach. The church is to baptize. There's no other organization that is ordained by God to baptize but the church. And so let's reproduce the church and let's win more people to Christ, baptize them, and then instruct them in the way of the gospel so they can live sanctified lives. So underneath all this we have the salvation of unbelievers and the sanctification of believers. I'm just going to give you also a little insight here. Who is our target? The community that we go in. Well, I just want to tell you, the way I have it in my mind, and I've organized it, is that we are looking for unsaved, unchurched people, primarily. Listen, from everything that I read, in all the books and articles I read on church planting, a church plant, a new church, can reach six to eight times more unbelievers than an existing church that's been in existence 10, 15, 20, 30 years. But we're reaching unsaved, unchurched. We're reaching unsaved, badly-churched people. I want you to know, as we start another church, when we start talking to people down at the mall or while we're at a restaurant or hanging out at Oxford Lake or wherever it may be, and we understand that they're at one of these churches who is more of a Christianity light version, or one that preaches a shallow gospel, or one that preaches a false gospel, or one that preaches an unsaving gospel, then I will feel no shame to talk to them about what they need to understand about the gospel, and they'll hear it from the church that we're actually going to be starting. If this was not a legitimate operation, trying to win people with a powerful gospel, then we wouldn't plan a church. All right? And then we're going to reach saved, unchurched people, people who are just just walk, they're either lonely, they're tired of visiting, or they're tired of going around, or they're just sitting at home, but they're saved. We're going to try to reach them. And there are saved people who are in very bad churches that are teaching false doctrine or weak doctrine that we're also, if we run into, we also will talk to them as well. And then for the development of leaders. We're going to take people from Anniston Bible Church and from Grace Fellowship. We're going to take people and we're going to start a church. We're going to raise up leaders there. And as they leave, there are going to be leaders who are raised up at Anniston Bible Church who will take the spot. I don't want to shoot all my bullets here, but let me just tell you, what we have found at Anniston Bible Church is that when families leave or when individuals leave, whether they move or just go to another community or to another church, people who sit on the sidelines at Anniston Bible Church are thrust into leadership at other churches. Why is that? Well, we do train people in the gospel here. We do teach them the Word of God. By God's grace and through His power, we're able to help people live Christian lives, and so then they're prepared for more leadership. And that's what is going to need to happen as we plant this church for the strengthening of our witness in the county. I've already talked about that. But if you think about it, if we are reproducing church, and we have a church in Oxford, in Golden Springs, and then we have a sister church on the Fort, and then one in Jacksonville, and over here in Alexandria, and over here in Heflin. What we have is we are surrounding this county, which has over 125,000 people, we're surrounding this county with the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. Not a minimal gospel, not a shallow gospel, not a false gospel, not a gospel that merely reforms, but a gospel that transforms. That's what we're going to be doing. And for the help of Anniston Bible Church, Bob actually alluded to this earlier, but you realize Look, we are healthy, we love each other, even right now as we're going through difficult times and we're trying to work with one another, look, we very much love and are concerned not only with God's glory but with each other. But the more we look inward, the more we focus on each other is also the less we're actually looking outward. And listen, God's design for the church is to love one another, to serve one another, to care for one another's needs, absolutely. And if we're not doing that, we're in disobedience. But his primary, his primary way for us to worship God is to reach people with the powerful gospel of God. Go ye therefore into all the nations. He says in Acts 1.8, you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Look, if God, primary purpose was merely to love one another, we would go straight to heaven once we're saved. And then for the increasing of our faith, listen, I believe this is a significant, this is significant to our church. What is Anniston Bible Church doing right now that if God doesn't come through, we don't got a shot? If God doesn't accomplish this, it will never get done. I don't know. I don't know. But I know if we plant a church, I know what the answer will be. You know what I'm saying? All right. So why plant a church? Those are some reasons. Who will plant this church? Anniston Bible Church and Grace Fellowship. Those are your primary two churches that have come together. Let me give you a little bit of history. All right. Grace Fellowship was planted eight years ago. Eight years ago, they said, we want to be a reproducing church planting church. It's been eight years. They haven't planted one. They had one person that they thought that would be able to do it. It didn't work out. And so they've been praying. Carlton Withers, their pastor, talked to me. And, you know, ABC has talked about church planting off and on. They were part of the church plant in Alexandria a number of years ago that ended up folding after I don't know how many years. We've talked about these things. I have been very much reading material about church planting and a desire to go somewhere to start a church where the powerful gospel can be put on display. I talked to Carlton. I prayed. Carlton prayed. I talked to the elders. The elders at Anniston Bible Church prayed. I did more research. I thought. I prayed. I considered. I was pessimistic. I was optimistic. I was pessimistic. I was optimistic. I then presented to the elders of Anniston Bible Church a vision for church planting. And then we went all together to Grace Fellowship one morning And all the elders of both churches looked at this vision of church planting, committed to pray for a month. And after a month, every elder to a man said, let's do it. And so we met with the deacons and talked with the deacons about it and I've gone to multiple church planters and asked them for insight and vision and is this a good idea, where we are and what we're doing. Listen, this is not a fly-by-night vision. We have gone step-by-step and tried to seek the Lord in these areas and in prayer up to the point right now where we are on December the 18th and we're telling you, church, we need you to pray. We need you to see the same vision that we're seeing so that we can actually look outward and become a powerful gospel influence in our community. Now, how are we going to do this? First of all, identify a community. We've done it. I titled the message, A Powerful Gospel in a Pivotal City. The pivotal city is Oxford, just down the road. Look at some census information. Oxford had 14,500 people in 2000. In the census of 2010, it has 21,500 people, pretty significant growth. You have the Oxford Exchange. You have the mall. You have everything that's sprouting up around I-20. You have so many homes. I don't know if you read the huge article in the paper, I think, last Sunday about the growth of Oxford, et cetera. Listen, this is a pivotal city in our county. And we want to go there first. We want to plant it in that community. So we have identified a community. We've got to assemble a team. We're going to assemble a church planting team from Anniston Bible and from Grace Fellowship. All right? And this is the vision here. We're going to establish permanent and provisional membership. And what we're going to do is we're going to take about six families or six family units from ABC, and we're going to take about six family units from Epic Grace Fellowship, and we're going to start with a dozen family units to start a church down in Oxford. people who are committed to the vision, people who are gospelers, people who want to see the powerful gospel spread and deepen in our community. And we're going to get everybody on board and we're going to start meeting together. All right? We're going to secure qualified leaders from each church. Listen, I'm not going to do this alone. I can tell you this. I'm not going to go out and be the only one, you know, ringing the bell and so forth. We're going to have qualified people who want to come and lead and serve and go out in the community and put up chairs and take down chairs and pass out flyers and go to the park and we're going to have people who are excited about the powerful gospel and getting it out to the community. We're going to begin meeting in January. We're going to be looking at the different aspects of what we need to do to start this ministry. And we're developing a plan, both short-term and long-term. We have a plan in place. It's got to be tweaked a little bit. It's got to be developed a little bit. But we have both a short-term and long-term plan that both involves leadership, that involves finances, that involves strategy, that involves commitments, that involves doctrine. We're looking at all of these things. I would have to say ABC and Grace is going to share in the financial commitment of this church plant. And I also want you to know I'm actually meeting, I'm even meeting with someone tomorrow about gaining more financial commitment from other churches who will pray for us, who will support us, who will come and give us counsel in this vision. Because we realize we don't want to do it alone and we don't know if we can do it alone. We can only do it through the power of God and the power of the church of Jesus Christ. And we want to potentially have a start date of April the 1st, 2012. Listen, this is aggressive. This is soon. You're talking a little over three months. It may not happen by April 1st, but that's Palm Sunday. That is the Sunday before Easter. And if we have committed families, we have committed leaders, we have our doctrine in place, we really want to start this. Now finally, I want to address some questions and concerns that you may have. Listen, I also know, in case I don't say this at the very end, Some of you are going to be disturbed by this. Some of you are going to still be asking, why? Is this wise? Is this foolish? Et cetera. I just want to give this one bit of counsel. Go home, write your thought, write your question down, and pray about it. And ask God to reveal to you from his word what is wise, what is right, what is good. And then come to me. Come to the elders and talk to us. I want to welcome all questions. I want to welcome all concerns. I'm also afraid that we, I don't want us to jump to any hard and harsh conclusions before we each seek the Lord on this matter. First question I have here is, won't a church plant actually hurt the ministry of Anniston Bible Church? I'm laying all my cards out on the table. For three weeks, maybe it was a month, I held up on this church plant. after everyone else had said yes. The reason that I held up is because I in no way, shape, form or fashion want to discourage this body. That's the last thing I want. And so I was praying, God, is there any way that you can show me that this is the right thing to do and it won't discourage the people and the saints who are so precious here at ABC? And one thing that the Lord reminds me of, of His Word, is that if our church is gospel-minded, if we are full of the Holy Spirit, how can it hurt us if we seek to go out and do exactly what God has called us to do by making disciples, by baptizing, and by raising up a ministry that displays the power of the gospel? And so, statistics actually say that churches who plant other churches grow and flourish because they plant more than churches who don't plant, which is an interesting statistic. But the reason is, they say many churches are revitalized. They get vitality. They get excitement. Not only are they part of a huge mission, but also God is using them in ways. And so discouragement certainly may and will happen to some degree, but from what we can understand, it won't hurt ABC as long as ABC is trusting the Lord for these matters. Will a church plant cause a leadership drain at ABC? I think I addressed that already previously in the sense that folks will come out of ABC, new leaders will raise up within ABC. We'll train up leaders over there and men and even women will serve in capacities that they haven't ever served before and give themselves in capacities that they never have and the same will be true at Anniston Bible Church. Isn't Calhoun County over-churched already? Yes and no. Yes and no. You see, what we have in Cowden County is over 400 church buildings. But what we have is a lot of social clubs. We have a lot of country clubs. And we have a lot of good old boys clubs. But I'm not sure we have 400 churches. And listen, if this is not true, If this is not reality, we have no business planting a church. Because you go down to Oxford, you're going to see as many churches as you want to see per capita and per square mile of anywhere in the country. So the question is, is it over-churched? Well, it depends on what you could define as a church. Is a church one who displays and preaches and lives out the powerful gospel? Well, if it is, we don't have very many churches. Is there really a need for another church like ours? Yes, there's another need. I kind of, you know, with my kind of work in progress here from Oxford to Golden Springs up here, the Fort and everything else, the more reproducing churches that we have preaching the same powerful gospel, the more influential we will be with this powerful gospel and more people will come to Christ. And is this vision doomed to fail? Well, I can't answer unequivocally. I know that people who were part of the church plant in Alexandria a number of years ago tasted failure, I think. I know that people have probably, you or someone else has probably sought to plant a church somewhere else if you've lived somewhere else, et cetera. And it's true that a number of church plants don't work out. And there are reasons for that. But listen, all we can do at Anniston Bible Church is respond to what God has revealed to us in his word. We don't have any magical formula or special word from God that says, go plant a church. What we have is the Great Commission. What we have is the command of Jesus Christ for us to go and make disciples. What we have is to give testimony. And what we have is the powerful gospel that is not being displayed. And you look at what the command is, and you look at what the need is, and we want to say, we want to, by the power of God, trusting in Him, depending on Him and not ourselves, we want to go and fulfill the Great Commission in this particular way. Is it doomed to fail? I do not believe that it is. I believe it's destined for success. We all have to believe and trust in our powerful God, the powerful God who brings a powerful salvation that will transform not only a person, not only a family, not only a neighborhood, but an entire community. And we have a vision for that and we trust God for it. I believe that we can plant this church and that God will be glorified and Jesus Christ Church will be built. This is the vision. It's not set in stone. We're not shoving this down your throat. We have many needs. Families have to get behind this. More financing has to come. We have to have a unified vision. We have to have complete doctrinal agreement. And so what we're calling on you this morning is to pray. Seek the Lord. Ask questions. And consider how you can help. Listen. Listen. I am so excited to potentially launch out with a group of people who have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus and whose lives have experienced the deliverance from and the deliverance to. And we can go out to another community 5 miles, 10 miles, 15 miles south of us and say, we have experienced a powerful gospel. Would you want to hear from this gospel? Would you want to see how your life can be changed? And once it changed, you can become holy by the power of that same gospel. That's what we want to do. And we want to ask you to pray and join. what we want to do as elders of Anniston Bible Church. Thank you.