greying city church no longer matched the 21st century inner city where it resided. Slowly, attendance dropped. With around 100 filling the pews on


Sundays, the 1,000-seat sanctuary looked empty. Bills mounted. After a concerted attempt to sell the property valued at $2 million, the church made a generous of- fer to veteran pastor Scott Farmer to help realize his long-held desire to reach out to the Evansville inner city—you can have the building free of charge. On Easter Sunday 2010 a new church was born. Meeting in the building that housed Calvary, the Center of Hope reaches out to the lower income, multi- racial, inner-city Evansville community that surrounds their meeting location. The kingdom vision to look beyond present circumstances that fueled Center


Once thriving Calvary Baptist Church, now the Center of Hope reaches inner-city Evansville, Ind., with a vari- ety of compassion ministries. The church revitalization has lead to almost 100 baptisms since Center of Hope launched in 2010 in Calvary's former home.


of Hope is at the heart of the North American Mission Board’s church growth and revitalization strategy. According to NAMB research, some 70 percent of Southern Baptist churches have plateaued or are declining in membership. Citing that staggering percentage,


Kevin Ezell says the need for church revitalization is great. Ezell, NAMB presi- dent, desires to lead Southern Baptists to significantly lower that number. “We want to point churches to


partners and resources that help them penetrate lostness in their neighbor- hoods,” says Ezell. “We need their help to increase the birth rate of new churches


Church Growth and Revitalization Highlights


• Send North America Church Growth and Revitalization Conferences, hosted with state convention partners, for healthy churches.


• Legacy church transition, through Legacy plants or property acquisition.


• Network of healthy church pastors men- toring and coaching Legacy churches.


• Legacy Church Planting Centers.


ON MISSION • Winter 2013 10


PHOTOS BY DAVID BOWMAN


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