Wesleyan Drive Baptist strives for ‘warm, welcoming presence’

A week ago, Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church members were out on a gloomy, rain-threatening Saturday morning for a regular trash-pickup along Wesleyan Drive. With the bottom about to fall out, they hoped to get the southern end done, if not the whole road, in light of the upcoming Cherry Blossom Festival.

They got a lot done, hauling off almost 20 bags of garbage.

On the Saturday before, a group manned their usual spot at Wesleyan College’s Wesleyan Market, greeting shoppers with smiles, bottled water and a story-time presentation for kids and parents.

As one at the market put it, they were just trying to be a “warm, welcoming presence in the community.”

Whether being a community friend or a place of sanctuary offering the Gospel, Wesleyan Drive Baptist Church and its members stand by a desire to effectively be that “warm, welcoming presence.”

Kind of like Jesus, they said.

“At the market, we just want to have a front-porch sort of place where kids can hear a story and people come visit — even get to know each other a little,” said Amy Elton, the storyteller at the booth. “There’s no beating people over the head with the Bible, no hard sell. We’re just there with God’s love letting people know we care.”

Mike Gibbs has been pastor at the church for only four years. Taking the role, he said he knew he was being asked to lead the church through a season of change and to help revive a declining congregation.

But, he said, it was a congregation genuinely seeking new life, growth and another chance at serving their neighbors.

“Wesleyan Drive Baptist was started by Ingleside Baptist in 1963,” Gibbs said. “It started in the best way: to meet needs in response to growth in north Macon. It didn’t begin as a church split. Its heyday was in the 1980s, but there’s been slow decline in recent years.”

Fortunately, Gibbs said, the shrinking congregation was aware of a need to allow change and move forward rather than being oblivious to it.

“The church has a history of long-term pastors — some really solid ones,” Gibbs said. “That helps create stability. Like any church, it’s had ups and downs but what struck me was the solid group of mature people. There was unity and they weren’t saying ‘we want you to lead until you try to get us to do something we don’t like — then we have a problem.’ It’s an older, traditional congregation with a hunger to serve God and people around them now and not try to hang on to past glories.”

Gibbs said there has been radical change — and not.

“They were looking for someone who, first of all, would teach the scriptures faithfully,” he said. “That’s a constant. Second, they wanted leadership for the change they were praying for.”

Apparently, Gibbs fit the bill. Elton said she was part of the search team and Gibbs was recommended to them by a mutual friend, who also recommended to Gibbs that he look at the church. Elton dramatically said they looked at “thousands, millions of candidates.” Gibbs was the choice.

“He almost ended up falling through the cracks through a mistake, but didn’t,” she said. “He is intelligent, humble, has a great sense of humor, is a genuine man and a genuine follower of Christ and he was someone we believed could help take us back to our roots of serving and loving God and our community. He’s very open to people and their ideas and has all the qualities of a good leader.”

Changes at the church have come structurally and in outlook, Gibbs said, even in how facilities are used. He said he hopes others will see what’s happening at the church and join them in bringing about something new.

“We’re working together — on the foundation of scripture — and seeing what it teaches us about this and what God says to us about that,” Gibbs said. “Some of the change has included rewriting bylaws and shifting from a committee to an elder-led congregation. God has blessed us with elders and deacons solid in their faith who desire to lead biblically. Now, we’re getting deacons and ministry teams operating. I don’t micromanage. When God leads us to a ministry, he provides someone to lead it and I’m like, ‘Great, this is your ministry — run with it. Go get like-minded people and run with it.’ ”

A good example of change is a structure to the rear of church’s 10-plus acres. Gibbs said it was once an early-childhood learning center but since closing became a 6,000-square-foot storage facility for “who knows what.”

“We cleared it out, cleaned it up and turned it into what we now call the Ministry Center,” he said.

Youth meet there, AWANA meets there, other church and community groups use it and — as quite a change — the church uses it to host visiting groups of up to 70 people who come both to work and to minister in Macon on a variety of charitable projects.

“So it’s getting used a lot and we couldn’t be happier,” Gibbs said. “God blessed us with these facilities and it would be a shame not to use them.”

Change has even touched the church’s budget, allowing more support to go to other area ministries Wesleyan Drive Baptist partners with.

“If somebody else is doing something great, why reinvent the wheel? Why not roll with them if we can?” he asked.

It was partnering with Rebuild Macon that got showers built in the Ministry Center allowing teams from across the U.S. to stay and work for Macon’s good.

“Some groups are Christian and some aren’t,” Gibbs said. “Some who aren’t are, frankly, a little wary of being here, but after a few days they usually let down their guard because we’re just here to love them and help take care of them. Sponsoring groups usually feed them but on Wednesdays we do a meal and it’s not just hot dogs — it’s a big spread, a good Southern meal, and we take time to love on them. We don’t force the Gospel, we take them where they are. If someone’s interested, well, we’re here to talk.”

A pamphlet at the church outlines “how you can be the hands and feet of Jesus” with service opportunities. Among possibilities are the church’s booth at Wesleyan Market, the Wesleyan Drive clean-up, Bible studies and small groups, missions and outreaches, hospitality, music ministry and the church’s partnerships with other area ministries like Caring Solutions Pregnancy Center, Covenant Care Adoptions, the Mid-State Baptist Association’s Storehouse food ministry and its Women’s Missionary Union’s sewing ministry.

Another aspect of the church Gibbs highlights is its welcoming atmosphere to those hurt in church life, something he said even he has experienced. In fact, he said along with considering coming to Wesleyan Drive Baptist he also was considering leaving ministry.

“I know how you can be hurt by church and we welcome people who’ve given up on church,” he said. “We’ll do everything we can to see people don’t get hurt. I’m confident of that because I know people here don’t have selfish agendas and are fiercely against gossip and backstabbing.”

Before he answered the call to ministry, Gibbs spent 14 years in retail working at the Walmart and Sam’s Club home office in Birmingham, Alabama.

“I knew the Lord had called me to ministry in college but it was the last thing I wanted,” he said. “I pursued retail and the Lord really blessed it, but he had other plans. I’ve been in ministry now since 2001.”

Gibbs, 52, and his wife, Sonya, have four children. He has a bachelor of arts degree in business management from Valdosta State College and a master of divinity degree from Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

“I love ministry at (Wesleyan Drive Baptist) and have gotten a lot of healing myself from people here,” he said. “I’m just seeing a joyful picture and looking forward to all God does.”

This story was originally published March 24, 2017 at 6:47 AM with the headline "Wesleyan Drive Baptist strives for ‘warm, welcoming presence’."