Talk to church planter Doug Ballew about Grace Fellowship Baptist Church in Hiwassee and you will get an enthusiastic earful. But he hasn’t always been that excited about the future of the church he started in December 2006.
After 18 months, with only a handful of people attending, he seriously considered closing the doors. “I was ready to throw in the towel and say this was a mistake.” He had his speech already prepared. He would simply tell the congregation that he had misunderstood the direction of the Lord when he and his wife started the church.
Pastor Doug Ballew (right) has just baptized Hiwassee resident Danny Henley in Max Creek.
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That was the Sunday an unchurched family attended for the first time. Not having the heart to announce his intention to close the church with them sitting there, he postponed his announcement.
“At the time we were meeting in the union hall in Fairlawn and were down to only about 10 adults coming. We experienced some growth and then it would decline. We had one adversity after another, and we were all discouraged,” he remembers.
With the encouragement provided by the new family, however, they decided not just to stay open but to courageously embrace what they believed to be a God-sized dream. “We didn’t know what we were supposed to do, but we believe God was telling us to do this. We believed we needed to be obedient,” Ballew affirms.
“A church building came open in Hiwassee. A church had built a new building and wanted to sell their old one. It was valued at $400,000, but there isn’t any way we could pay that. They needed to sell and were willing to take a lot less and owner finance. It was amazing,” Ballew recalls with the pride of a new father.
Still, he says, they just looked at each other and thought, “We must be crazy. Originally it was Mack’s Creek Baptist Church and was a BGAV church, but it went independent at one point. I think it’s kind of ironic that the building has come full circle — back to the BGAV.” The $220,000 purchasing price was beyond Grace Fellowship’s ability, but a $20,000 loan from the BGAV made possible a down payment.
In October of last year Grace Fellowship Baptist Church, numbering 20 people including children, moved into the building they had purchased by faith. On Oct. 18, the night before their first service, the family whose unexpected visit a few months earlier had prompted Ballew to postpone closing the church accepted Christ.
Today, more than a hundred persons attend Grace Fellowship weekly, and 15 people have been baptized during the first year. “Twenty people came to join one Sunday,” shared the pastor excitedly. “People were crying — both the old timers and the new comers.” During a three-month period last winter, 70 new members joined the church.
Ballew continued, “One family that came into the church, the parents were in their 30s and had two little boys. The husband said, ‘I haven’t been in church in 20 years. I know it’s no excuse, but I didn’t come because nobody invited me.’ A member of the evangelism team called him the next Tuesday and led him to the Lord.”
According to Ballew’s wife, Sherry, who teaches an adult Sunday school class, “There’s a genuine love for one another and it shows.” One consistent comment from visitors and new members continues to be, “You just love us.” The church also demonstrates vitality through giving. “We have money in the bank!” Ballew exclaims. “We are getting ready to redo our missions budget to give more money to missions. We are just appreciative of what Virginia Baptists have done for us.”
On a recent Sunday members gave $40,000 in a special offering to help retire the debt. The pastor notes that in addition to the special offering, that reduced the indebtedness to $160,000, “the regular offering was up.”
This little church that could is beginning to enjoy thinking outside the ordinary. Recently, with the full permission of the management, they set up a table outside the local Walmart. The brainchild of evangelism team leader, Jamie Wampler, “We just asked folks if we could pray for them. We were there all day. People said “Pray for my grandmother; pray for my son in Iraq.” We kept it real low key. Occasionally we said ‘Hey, if you don’t go to church, we’d love to have you come.’ We are going to go to a grocery store next,” says Ballew.
Revealing part of the reason for their recent growth, Ballew lowers his voice and becomes more serious. “We are committed to going to every house in Hiwassee. This is our Jerusalem. Our evangelism team is taking this seriously. They have a heart for the Lord. When visitors come here the first thing they say is ‘I felt loved.’ Jesus said the way others will know that you belong to me is that you love each other.”
The people of Grace Fellowship Baptist agree!