By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
Jeff Hardy knows a lot about building and rebuilding things. He’s worked for a long time in the hardware business, helping people figure out how to put their houses back together.
But a while back, God started laying a different kind of work on his heart — to come alongside a struggling church and help build it back up.
“Last summer, my wife and I had gone through some revitalization training with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, and we really felt the Lord was leading us in that direction,” he said.
Encouragement
And one day Hardy got a call from Mel Johnson, lead mission strategist for Autauga Baptist Association, whom he’d gotten to know from Johnson’s visits to the hardware store.
“He asked me if I would be interested in possibly a revitalization at Marbury Baptist Church, and I said, ‘Sure, I’ll come down and talk to them,’” Hardy said.
That was around the beginning of the year. Hardy filled the pulpit for a couple of weeks, then felt like God was moving him in that direction. The church, which at the time had six regular attenders, agreed. Together, they rolled up their sleeves and got to work, and by the time COVID-19 meeting restrictions started, they had more than 40 people showing up for services.
“We just encouraged our church to invite people, invite your neighbors, invite your friends and coworkers,” Hardy said.
And even though most of the growing congregation had only been there a few weeks when they had to stop meeting in person, they’ve stuck with Marbury Baptist’s services on Facebook and volunteered to come up on different days to help renovate the church building while meetings were canceled. They’ve cleaned up the rooms, remodeled a couple of bathrooms and worked to make the outside of the church look more presentable.
Excitement
“Our new members are excited about what’s happening here, and they’re ready to go to work,” Hardy said.
They’ve also actively reached out to the community and when they’ve found needs, they’ve helped pass them along to people who could help meet them.
Hardy said he’s seen God draw the growing group closer together through this time of re-building in the middle of social distancing restrictions.
“We grow the most when we’re out of our comfort zone, when we are struggling,” Hardy said. “God’s using this as a way to grow me and hopefully in the process others are growing as well.”
Joyful fellowship
Johnson said for him it’s just a joy to watch what God’s doing at the church.
“Jeff has got a heart and a call for church revitalization,” he said, noting that Hardy has persevered even when “there’s no training” for church revitalization during a global pandemic. “I’m thrilled to death to have him out there. He’s got a real passion for Christ, a real passion for the fellowship.”
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