North Texas church approaching evangelism ‘one’ life at a time

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared here at The Southern Baptist Texan.

JOSHUA, Texas – Last July, Lane Prairie Baptist Church joined thousands of other churches participating in the North American Mission Board’s “Who’s Your One” campaign.

The nationwide effort, launched in 2019, challenges Christians to pray for lost people they know with the intent of inviting them into a relationship with Jesus. NAMB recently announced that participating churches have now combined to pray and share the gospel with more than 50,000 “ones.”

At LPBC, members use a clear display filled with colored plastic balls to keep track of their progress with their “ones” who are being prayed for, have heard a gospel presentation, been saved, and been baptized. Each time one of those acts happen, members drop a different colored ball into the display, and each week the church celebrates what God is doing through their efforts.

“We celebrate the gospel whether somebody makes a profession of faith or not,” said Ricky Fuchs, who has served as lead pastor at LPBC since last March.

God has given LPBC much to celebrate. As of this writing, members of LPBC have shared the gospel with their “ones” 836 times, with 156 of those making a profession of faith. Twelve have been baptized. These numbers don’t account for the 57 people who came to faith from March 2021 to July 2021 when a group of about 50 members at the church decided to start using their Wednesday night gathering to pray for the lost prior to beginning “Who’s Your One.”

There’s an evangelistic sprawl happening through all this, as Fuchs said LPBC members are not only sharing the gospel with their “ones” locally, but with anybody they come into contact with. Some have started taking phone calls through a billboard ministry that offers a phone number people can call when they want to find out what true hope is; others are using Zoom to share the good news with family members as far away as Africa. 

Giving through the church has been impacted, as well. Fuchs said the church this past year took up the largest Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering in the church’s 150-year history.

“It’s really changed the environment in the church,” Fuchs said. “I think there’s more unity. There’s more people in service—really all aspects of the church, not just evangelism.”