Saturday, February 06, 2010
First Free Will Baptist Church: Children could be church's future
First Free Will Baptist Church of Roanoke is working to nurture its children -- and ultimately its congregation -- with the King's Kids Club.
Sam Dean The Roanoke Times
2/3/2010--Araceli Pena, 8, Alydia Bevins,7, are members of the Free Will Baptist Church children's program, Kings Kids Club. Youth are the future of any church, so the church is trying to grow their youth programs.
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Northeast Roanoke's First Free Will Baptist Church believes it's blessed to have 11-year-old Rachel Bevins and her brother 10-year-old Jacob among its young members -- a segment important to the health of a church.
Their grandfather Roger Bevins, pastor of the church, warned them a few months ago that if they went to knock on neighbors' homes to talk about God, some people would shut their doors. And it happened at the first place they went: They knocked on a door, it creaked open, and slammed shut.
"That's exactly what papaw was talking about!" Jacob exclaimed with excitement. They skipped down the street and knocked on another door, their grandfather trailing behind.
Rachel, Jacob, their sisters Hannah, 13, and Alydia, 11, moved to Roanoke in September with their parents, Kevin and Christina Bevins, from a small town in central Virginia. And one reason the family moved is to boost First Free Will Baptist, which re-opened its doors at Gus W. Nicks Boulevard near Orange Avenue in September 2008 after a yearlong hiatus.
"It's not a growing church unless you have youth because that's the next generation," said Christina Bevins, 33. "The Bible even speaks to those elements. It talks about the people with gray hair who have the wisdom and grounding, it talks about people like my husband and I, and it talks about the young people. You need all those elements to have a growing church."
Members of First Free Will Baptist had been meeting since 1972. In November 2007, the pastor moved to Alabama, leaving the 10 people who were meeting regularly without a leader.
A year later, Virginia Free Will Baptist Ministries sent Roger Bevins, a pastor from the central Virginia town of Louisa, to reopen the Roanoke church's doors. Over 26 years, his former congregation has grown from 13 members to about 85.
"We felt God was leading us here," Christina Bevins said. "We felt our kids would be a draw because they range in age. We thought their presence would encourage other children to come."
So far, that's been the case. The King's Kids Club, which meets Wednesdays and is headed by Christina Bevins, has grown to eight or so children every week. They've gone bowling, and are having a verse-memorizing contest. The group plans to go skating when they reach 1,000 points.
The church has grown from the 21 former members Roger Bevins invited to a dinner in July 2008, just from placing phone calls to people in an old church directory. Average attendance is 45 people on Sundays, he said.
On Wednesday, Kevin Bevins and other members crowded a hallway after the service.
"I'd like to see the church filled up like anyone, and people learning about Jesus as their savior. Them having a personal relationship with him is our ultimate goal," he said. "It seems like everything's going along good. Ultimately it's he who's going to do the work. It's all him."
