Fort Valley Assembly of God grows while serving others

A year ago in June, Wayne Lenderman stepped into the pulpit at Fort Valley Assembly of God for the first time as pastor.

A couple of months before, some church members said they had been worried a planned visit from Assemblies of God Georgia District Superintendent Rick Collins might herald the closing of the pastor-less congregation. Numbers attending had dwindled to a dozen or two. But instead, Collins told them Lenderman was coming to lead the flock.

“God has done some wonderful things this year,” Lenderman said. “He’s allowed us to grow and we’ve seen people be saved and baptized. What could be better? We’ve gotten to do a number of things we’re pretty happy about but mostly we’re all happy to see God doing what we can’t — and letting us be part of it. Nobody here, especially me, can take credit. By his grace we’ve just been able to love him and reach out to people in our community.”

Lenderman said average attendance has gone from between one or two dozen this time last year to 115. “It’s all God, plain and simple,” he said. “And as we’ve seen him working, our original members have opened their arms and welcomed people and kept the church a friendly place. Bottom line is, I think there’s been a move of God here that people have been praying for long before I got here.”

Lenderman said the church has undertaken a number of different and at times unusual projects to reach out with God’s love. He called one a “blessing of the bikes” which drew 87 motorcycles and their riders to the church campus.

“I guess 12 to 15 people who came decided to make this their church home” he said. “We’re baptizing people who’ve rededicated their lives to the Lord and others who never made a commitment. We’re reaching out in appreciation and to be a blessing to others as well, like taking first responders food and treats and sort of adopting Hunt Elementary School.”

As part of serving the school, the church provided lunch for teachers and staff the first day they returned for the new 2017-18 year. Lenderman said last year and going into this year, the congregation has donated items like school supplies, clothes and backpacks and looked for other ways to help.

“I guess as good as anything to us is that the principal said what we’re doing is helping morale at the school,” he said. “We can’t do everything we want to or everything they want us to — we’re still a small church — but they know they can ask us and that we really do care about them. And it’s not a matter of trying to get anything back. We’re just trying to sow love and kindness like God does. The people around us matter to God and they matter to us.”

Lenderman said other things the church has been involved in include working with Fort Valley’s non-denominational community service center and food pantry, Grace House, to pay for five and install eight air condoners in people’s homes.

“The thing I’m really happy to see is we’re not just growing in size but people are growing as servants of Christ within and outside the church,” he said. “People are stepping up to serve and that’s important because with all the growth, I certainly can’t do everything. Like with the motorcycle thing, I didn’t plan it or put it together. There were guys here who took the lead and others who helped. I just showed up. And though we don’t exactly have a motorcycle ministry, a number of our people ride and when they hear of an accident and somebody’s been hurt, they visit and take a meal. They offer to pray with them and let them know if they need anything we’re here to do what we can. And at Hunt Elementary, I didn’t do that, others took it on. I’m just pleased to see how God is using people.”

Lenderman said successes doesn’t mean the church is trouble free. He said growth causes problems though he called them good ones. One example is cars now outnumber the church’s paved parking lot.

“But God even used that,” he said. “A friend of mine, David Semones, suggested if we had to park off the parking lot we should do it on the side of the church visible to the Ga. 96 bypass, not the side you can’t see over where the lot is. We’ll, a lady visited one Sunday and said she decided to come when she saw all the cars. So you never know, do you?”

Lenderman said service to others is about more than just doing things or trying to grow.

“One of the elderly gents we put an air conditioner in for was really glad to get it — don’t doubt that, it was 105 degrees in his house — but you know his eyes really lit up when our guys stopped work and asked him to tell them his story. Then they gave him their time and really listened. He’d been going through prostate cancer. He had a lot to say but no one to around to hear him. I’m glad we could be there and listen.”

Listening is something Lenderman said was important when he came to the church. He said he wanted to spend time listening to God to let him direct the church, and he wanted to spend time listening to people.

He said, “You know, Jesus wasn’t always preaching. There’s a time for sharing the word, but Jesus spent a lot of time just listening to people, hearing their story. Their heart. We want to be willing to listen.”

Lenderman, who is originally from Macon, said he and his wife, Wanda, have lived in Houston County for 27 years. She works for the Houston County Board of Education and he said he has worked in construction and installing flooring. When he first began at Fort Valley First Assembly he served bi-vocationally but is full time now.

Linderman said he was involved in church and youth ministry in his early years but success led to pride and pride led to conflicts, hurts and to walking away from God for more than a dozen years.

“That was an issue in my mid-20s,” he said. “It was one of those situations where I thought I knew everything but I didn’t have a clue. Now I know it’s about God; it’s not about me or what I think I can do, it’s about him.”

And because of that, Lenderman said he now eagerly seeks the advice and help of others.

“I’m always calling and meeting with people asking things,” he said. “I don’t know it all and am happy to humble myself and ask for all the advice I can get. When I first returned to the Lord, Andy Cook was instrumental. I’m excited he’ll be in our church this Sunday, Aug. 6, to present a program to help people understand Israel and the Bible through multimedia. After being in pastoral ministry for so many years — and before that being a sports writer for The Telegraph — he leads Experience Israel Now (www.experienceisraelnow.com).

These days I meet with other pastors like Andy King of Christ Chapel Warner Robins who has been a great mentor and friend to me. I’ve become a licensed minister through the Assembly of God’s Georgia School of Ministry program that lets students attend classes locally while staying in their career. I’m working toward ordination now. And all of us here are just waiting to see all God is going to do.”

This story was originally published August 4, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Fort Valley Assembly of God grows while serving others."