Small Rural Church Growth: a Case Study

Adairsville Case Study 2020

​The following is a summary of the digital evangelism and social media marketing efforts of the Adairsville Seventh-day Adventist Church located in a rural area of Northwest Georgia. The period covered below is an 8-month period. 

“We went all in on using social media to get the beautiful message we have out into all the world as Covid began in March. In the last 8 months we have seen over 1 million individuals view and or listen to our content, almost 500,000 of which engaged in some way with us i.e. like, share, comment, email or joining a bible study. We continue to retarget these individuals on a monthly basis in hopes to continue to build a relationship with them. 

​We hired two bible workers as it all got going and have a team of volunteers that spend 10-20/hrs per week engaging with incoming questions and bible study interests.

​As soon as we were meeting again in person, I began to share some of the testimonies below that have been a real encouragement to our local congregation. This has been an amazing experiment in how to bring about revival to a little church and I've been thrilled to be a small piece.

​Collectively through the investment in our online evangelism series Love & War we spent about $100,000 into something we believe will be a blessing for at least 24-36 months as it lives online. We have invested $45,000 into our bible workers and 'spiritual ambassadors' as we are calling them. We are generating close to 100 new bible studies each week with a nice conversion rate around 5% that progress into 1 on 1 bible studies with one of our bible workers.

​I'm proud to say that we aren't doing anything really novel other than the point that each message given by myself or a guest speaker is being created with the intent on reaching someone who may be hearing Adventist teaching for the very first time. Our efforts have resulted in much higher sharing among our church members to their friends and family.

​The reason I share all of this is that we believe this is a strong seed sowing moment. God has blessed our local church with an increase in tithe YTD of nearly 50% (up $100,000+ so far), we have the highest tithe per member ratio in the conference and our local giving is up significantly (60%) as well. We know that this is a direct result of the lives of individuals we are reaching. Lastly our attendance pre-Covid was around 75 each week. Now it is 120 and growing. The average age of our attendance pre-Covid was 58. With young families now attending and students driving up to an hour to join us, I would say that is now around 40 y/o and getting younger all the time.”

​Jared

​P.S. Here are a few testimonies below:

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​Hi Pastor Jared, 

I wanted to share something with you...

Back story*

I am an SDA member since a very young age and married an amazing man but he is not SDA. We dated for 6 years and now 2 years into our marriage. 

For years I would share small messages with my husband, and he would attend church by my side but always had a million questions, and was always a sceptic because he came to Christ from a Sunday believing church years ago. I would always have difficulty explaining to him everything I knew and understood. It was a constant struggle but we continued to pray together for God to guide us through this. 

One day, on my Facebook feed I saw a message you posted about segregation during the time of riots on our nation. 

I shared your message with my mom and moved on with life. 

Fast forward to yesterday (Sabbath day) 

My husband and I visited my parents for lunch and my mom went on to share how they began to listen to your seminars and was excited to show us your new series Love and War. We started at a random episode (since my parents had already began a few days ago) and almost instantaneously both my husband and I were glued and watching. 

We drove home that night and stopped at a grocery store to shop; and my husband asked if I wanted to finish the series because he was so very interested. 

I held it together but went into the next aisle and cried. 

You see, exactly one week ago I prayed that God would use me to bring light to my husband. I so badly wanted to share everything I believed in, but could never find the words to express the entire bible and the true belief about the end times. I cried and I prayed, because I knew God had brought us together in marriage for me to share this beautiful message with my soul mate...

So when I cried in that aisle at the store, I KNEW God had answered my prayer. 

We came home and started the series, one after the other we couldn’t stop. 

We both cried and hugged at the end. 

Every word you said and the way you explained- THAT was the answer to the prayer i prayed one week ago. 

For the first time, my husband has no questions, he was excited, relieved, content, and inspired to share with anyone he knew. 

He ended up sharing this with his closest friends and family. 

He told me he was no longer worried about the outcome

of the election or what the future held on this perishing planet. He told me he was so happy we watched this together, because he couldn’t imagine me going on without him in the last days, knowing what I know and not being able to share it with him.

So from the absolute bottom of my heart, I hope you know how truly thankful I will forever be to you and the series you created. 

It was the very answer I needed- and the most perfect timing in God’s plan.

God Bless you and thank you so much.

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 Name: Mary 

Subject: Visitor

Message: I am intrigued and curious about the 7 day adventist doctrine and lifestyle and would be interested in visiting your worship community.

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​Just wanted to let you know I really enjoy your podcast. I found it by accident last week. I’m a over the road truck driver from Roanoke Va. so I have plenty of windshield time. Your messages are vary encouraging and practical. If I’m ever in the area I will visit your Church so far my favorite has been The 7 Deadly Sins and Welcome to the Future. I am a Christian. My wife Kim and I have 4 children and 7 grandchildren we attend Calvary Chapel in Roanoke Va. Keep following God’s lead. Thanks again and God bless