Brent Barker, associational missionary for Rowan Southern Baptist Association, has plenty of reasons to be excited about Reach Rowan, an outreach effort July 18-22 in Rowan County:

• 48 teams of teenagers going door-to-door.
• More than 7,500 contacts made.
• More than 1,700 surveys completed.
• More than 1,000 times the gospel was shared.
• 134 salvation decisions.
• Seven “Parties in the Park.”
• Two basketball camps.
• Three evangelistic rallies at the local civic center.
• 28 churches involved.
• 19 bus and van drivers driving more than 3,000 miles in three days.

But the number that gets Barker the most excited is 15. That’s the number of teenagers who led someone to the Lord for the first time.

“That blesses me,” he said.

Contributed photo Rowan Southern Baptist Association receives funds through the North Carolina Missions Offering to help with outreach projects like Reach Rowan. View photo gallery.

Barker said a 12-year-old boy led a 68-year-old man to Christ.

The excitement from the event is continuing, with young people continuing to visit homes.

“It’s neat to see these kids excited about sharing their faith,” Barker said. “It’s kind of contagious.”

The association is already planning for a similar event next year. This year’s event took more than a year to plan.

Barker said the association emphasized prayer last year.

“All these fruits of the events are a direct result of God’s people asking Him to do a special work,” he said.

Seventeen of the churches were from Rowan County; two from Forsyth; seven from Yadkin; one from Gaston; and one from Davie. Barker said Union Grove Baptist Church in Yadkinville, which has worked on similar efforts in previous years, helped with planning.

Kenny Gooden, pastor at Union Grove, said about 85 people from the church participated.

“It’s something our church does every year in a different location,” he said.

Union Grove members had some family connections in Rowan County that made it a good fit for this year’s effort, he said.

“It was really a great week,” he said. “They want to do the same thing in our community.”

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