The Lord continues to bless the efforts of Messiah Baptist Church to get the Gospel to Athens, Georgia.  Two messages in our audio section preached by Dr. David Gibbs have greatly impacted how we go about building a church.  These messages are "Overcoming the Visuals” and "Asking God for the Impossible."  I would greatly encourage anyone who desires to reach souls for Jesus to listen to these messages.

Asking God for the Impossible
     "Why would you want to waste your life doing great things for God?" So began the message by Dr. David Gibbs that greatly impacted our outlook on Christian service.   "Why would you want to just do great things when you can do the impossible?"
     For a little over a year our church consisted of just two families meeting in a small classroom on the campus of the University of Georgia.  While we just kept preaching, praying, and taking on missionaries,  God continued to abundantly reward the work and labor of love.  In January of 2008, we were able to completely pay in cash up front for a two year lease on a 3,000 sq ft building!  If you have priced commercial real estate in Athens, Georgia you'll find that that is a miracle in itself.  We were also able to buy a church van, baby grand piano, and all of the other items needed for the church.  God blessed us with all of the needed pews, pulpit, sound equipment, cabinets, etc.  Only the pews were donated, all other items were purchased.  We stand amazed at the supernatural working of God in our church.  We "asked God for the impossible" and He has done it. Not because of whom we are, for we are the most unworthy of servants, but because of who He is!
     Why settle for the mediocre Christian live when you can live in the realm of the supernatural?

Overcoming the Visuals
     Since God gave us His very best, we believe in doing everything first class for the Lord.  We want to "overcome the visuals."  We try our best to, whenever possible, only distribute the highest quality tracts, flyers, postcards, and booklets.  We strive to have everything professionally designed and printed in four color on glossy paper.   From the church decor to the website, we believe that everything should reflect the high calling of being a servant of Jesus Christ.   The Lord has allowed us to make many friends in the design and printing business to help us along the way.  As a result of this, many other independent Baptist churches have contacted us recently and asked us to help get their website, tracts, and flyers professionally designed.
     We realize that having professionally designed materials is useless without the touch of God.  Your church won't grow just because your website is nice and your flyers are attractive.   However, there is nothing spiritual about passing out cheap looking tracts and having a site that looks like it was designed in FrontPage ten years ago.  We currently have eight people visiting our church as a result of our website alone!  If you cannot afford top quality, then just use what you have for now, but pray and ask God to help you  make improvements on the quality of the literature you distribute.  It is not a sin to make things look nice.  I will be adding articles, as time allows, to help you put your best foot forward for the Glory of God.