Each month, the SCBaptist staff gather to pray, worship, and celebrate the work happening across South Carolina and beyond.

This month’s Advance Rally focused on evangelism, unveiling a 14-day prayer challenge, and celebrating the generous giving of SCBaptists.

Janie Chapman State Missions Offering Totals

In 2023, SCBaptists raised their highest-ever amount for the Janie Chapman State Missions Offering, with a total of $1,259,119.68 in donations.

The Janie Chapman State Missions Offering of the South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union (SCWMU) provides pivotal funding for in-state missions and ministries, including church plants and revitalization, associational development, collegiate missions, and more. This annual offering brings together churches across South Carolina to support missions and share Christ’s love.

Jess Archer, SCWMU Executive Director-Treasurer, presented the check to Tony Wolfe, SCBaptist Executive Director-Treasurer, at the Advance Rally.

Evangelical Trends in South Carolina

Lee Clamp, Assistant Executive Director-Treasurer informed staff about evangelical trends in South Carolina. The upward trends included a rise in distrust of clergy, an increase in diversity in South Carolina, an increase in those claiming no religion, and an increase in social isolation since COVID-19.

Clamp also shared several downward trends, including a decline in church attendance, a decline in diversity represented in SCBaptist churches, a decline in relationships with lost people, and a decline in downtime.

In addition, Clamp shared that “an outsider’s likelihood of listening to someone about the Gospel increased if a Christian acted like Jesus,” according to a 2016 study conducted by LifeWay Research.

The study listed that the top two traits contributing to an individual’s likelihood of listening to the Gospel were that the sharer cared for the individual’s needs and treated others well. “The most effective evangelism in a post-Christian culture will be up close and personal,” Clamp said.

Prayer Challenge

In addition, this month’s rally included challenging each staff member to choose three individuals to share the Gospel with before Baptism Sunday on April 7.

This challenge kicked off with staff but will extend to all SCBaptists with a 14-day call to prayer for the lost in South Carolina from March 25 through April 7. These prayer prompts will be posted to SCBaptist social accounts, or those interested in participating can text “PrayforSC” to 22999 to opt-in to daily prayer prompts for those 14 days.

Wolfe emphasized the importance of praying with expectation. “If we want to see a harvest of souls in South Carolina, our staff will need to pray for the favor and the power of God and will need to gather with the expectation that he will actually answer that prayer favorably,” Wolfe said.

Further, Chad Stillwell, Share Team Leader, walked the staff through a method to share the Gospel called “3 Circles.” Wolfe encouraged staff by saying that, “For the Gospel sharer, faithfulness is the only measure of success. That’s it. Just be faithful to share.”