From its overseas missions trips to the 1,500 persons who worship in its church plants each Sunday, Eastwood Baptist Church in Haughton adamantly is committed to obeying Acts 1:8.
By Brian Blackwell
LBM Newswriter
From its overseas missions trips to the 1,500
persons who worship in its church plants each Sunday, Eastwood Baptist
Church in Haughton adamantly is committed to obeying Acts 1:8.
“Because of what Eastwood does about birthing
churches, we may have 500 people on our campus each Sunday but impact
2,000 people on Sundays with all of the mission churches,” says Scott
Teutsch, pastor at Eastwood Baptist Church.
“That’s unbelievable.”
Since the early 1990s, the northwestern Louisiana
congregation has sponsored six mission-type churches, one of which is
now a self-supporting church.
This has created a domino effect, as some of those missions have helped sponsor other missions.
“Our philosophy is God intends for his kingdom to
grow by multiplications,” Teutsch says. “Eastwood can’t reach everyone
because not everyone can drive to Eastwood. If they can’t get here,
Eastwood may start a church there.”
Ken Goodman agrees.
“We are following a missions-minded pastor who
answered the call in Acts 1:8 to plant churches in communities around
us and the world,” says Goodman, minister of missions at Eastwood
Baptist Church.
The church’s oldest mission is Ban Suk Korean
Baptist Mission in Bossier City. The Korean mission has been involved
in planting churches in New Guinea, China, Africa, South Korea,
Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana.
In 1994, Eastwood members allowed the South Korean
congregation to use their church building for worship services. Within
two years, the group outgrew its space and moved to its present
location.
“The reason for growth there is the Koreans are
networking closely,” Teutsch explains. “They go to great lengths to
connect, and when they learn of others in their area, they connect with
them.”
Another mission of Eastwood Baptist Church is Mission Bautista International, formed in Sept. 2003.
Two of the church’s missions – Faith Baptist Mission
and South Bossier Baptist Church (which was at one time a mission of
the church) – joined Eastwood in the effort to plant the Hispanic
mission.
“Eastwood called the two churches and asked if they
wanted to plant the church,” Goodman says. “Since they were planted
themselves by Eastwood, it’s in their spiritual DNA to want to plant
other churches.”
Though no services have been held yet, Mission
Bautista International’s pastor holds three Bible studies each week.
But the pastor is able to work only one to two days a week, as he
ministers to other areas in north Louisiana as well.
Teutsch says a new pastor from Guatemala is
scheduled to arrive in April to lead the Bible study participants.
Until then, the current church planter will attempt to keep the
Hispanics together.
Meanwhile, Faith Baptist Fellowship is home to an
African-American congregation which meets inside an elementary school.
The mission was begun in 1996 as a result of a Bible study in a
neighborhood.
Seeing a need to reach the African-American
community, a leadership team held block parties and Vacation Bible
Schools. Afterwards, they followed through with their
contacts of individuals who attended the outreach events.
Now, 20 persons and a pastor meet for worship and Bible study each Sunday.
“They use the strategy of block parties and
neighborhood events to introduce themselves to the community,” says
Teutsch, who notes the church has baptized six persons within the last
two months. “It’s a way they have led people to Christ.”
Prayerwalking has been a key method to reach
prospects at Family Baptist Fellowship, another mission of Eastwood
Baptist Church.
Family Baptist Fellowship began in 1999 as a church plant in a “rough neighborhood” near the Red River.
Despite the church’s efforts, Family Baptist
Fellowship was among the many organizations unable to secure a permit
due to Bossier City’s need for land in the area for a downtown
revitalization project.
So, Eastwood Baptist Church bused Family Baptist
Fellowship’s members – half of which are African-American – to its own
facilities.
The latest mission is Life Journey Church, which
still is forming its core group. Every Sunday night, individuals meet
in a home as they near their first worship service this fall. They hope
to have 65 in attendance that first Sunday, Teustch says.
The church’s Web site at Thelifejourneychurch.com
notes that the target demographic for the group includes a
college-educated, 35-year-old husband and wife who are married with two
children and earn $75,000 annually.
“By gearing our outreach to that specific type of
family, we will actually be reaching a much larger people group from
age 25 to about 44 and their children,” the site notes.
Teutsch stresses that lack of financial resources
and finding a place to worship can be a problem for a fledgling
mission. He says that the solution is a mission incubator, which
provides a place to worship until the congregation is stable enough
financially to move into its own building.
“Churches can’t always afford a mortgage, so this is
a way for missions to survive without the pressure of paying
utilities,” Goodman explains.
“If you can put three or four (missions) under one
roof, they can grow, become healthy churches and grow to the point
where they can support themselves.”
Eastwood Baptist Church hopes to purchase a church
building in the Meadowview community of Bossier City for just that
purpose when it raises enough funds. The Meadowview Missions Incubator
will house Family Baptist Fellowship, Faith Baptist Fellowship and
Mission Bautista International.
Teutsch says he hopes other mission churches
in Northwest Louisiana Association will use the facility as well.
“My introduction to (the missions incubator) was at
a (Southern Baptist) North American Mission Board conference two years
ago which explained how churches were housing other churches within
itself,” Teutsch says.
“I thought, ‘Why couldn’t we buy property to house different missions?’”
While starting mission churches has been rewarding,
Teutsch admits it has been hard work. However, it is worth it in the
end, he emphasizes.
“We believe the Great Commission is to go into all
the world and preach the gospel,” Teutsch says. “Southern Baptists have
a clear understanding that we have do that. We want to do our part in
the world.”
Eastwood Baptist Church is focused on operating by
the Acts 1:8 principle by ministering in other cities in Louisiana,
North America and overseas.
The church has sent one or more of its members on
mission to such locations as New York City, Mexico, Ecuador, Argentina,
New Orleans, Arkansas and Africa. A team also has ministered in China
four out of the past five years. “Hopefully, we’re covering all the
bases,” Goodman says.
Whatever the future holds, Teutsch points to the reason for each mission church’s survival.
“This has come about because of nothing we have
achieved, but it’s a group of people who need Christ,” he says. “We’ll
do whatever we can to reach them.
“We’re an instrument God uses.”