Today’s exciting guest post comes to us from Robin Cornetet for Baptist Press News.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (BP) — Kentucky pastor Steve Ayers has reached a milestone that has Christians across the state taking notice: 10,000 baptisms since he arrived at Hillvue Heights Church.

Since becoming pastor of the Bowling Green congregation in 1991, Ayers has seen the church grow from 30 people into a megachurch where 5,000 people regularly attend Sunday morning services.

“The evangelistic success of Hillvue is nothing short of miraculous,” Kentucky Baptist Convention Executive Director Paul Chitwood said. “We celebrate every soul saved and pray God gives a harvest of 10,000 more.”

Chitwood said Ayers has kept his church laser focused on reaching the lost.

“The entire staff at Hillvue Heights sets individual goals for reaching the lost with the Gospel and leading them to follow Christ in baptism,” Gray said. “The Lord is honored by this intentional effort led by Pastor Steve and the staff. We stand by cheering them on as they continue to set the pace for our state in intentional gospel outreach.”

Throughout his ministry, Ayers has focused on evangelism. But after surviving a fiery explosion that nearly killed him two years ago, he has redoubled his efforts to reach the lost. He says he now has a fuller understanding that “truly, at your last breath, nothing else matters.”

“I’ll be talking about Jesus until my last breath,” Ayers said. “We have one message that Jesus Christ died on the cross to save sinners, that He’s risen from the grave to give us new life. We don’t have a system at Hillvue; we have attitudes. The first attitude is we believe God created every human being and every human being is worthy of grace. The second attitude is we meet people where they are to invite them to come where Jesus will take them. We can’t save people, but we can share the cross and resurrection with them so that they might know Jesus will save them.”

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About Nelson Searcy

Nelson Searcy is an experienced church growth strategist, pastor, church planter and coach, consulting with churches around the world. As founder of Church Leader Insights and the Renegade Pastors Network, he has personally trained more than 3,500 church leaders in over 45 denominations through live events, seminars and monthly coaching. Nelson is also the Founding and Lead Pastor of The Journey Church, with locations across New York City and in Boca Raton, FL. Nelson and his church routinely appear on lists such as “The 50 Most Influential Churches” and “The 25 Most Innovative Leaders.” He is the author of over 100 church growth resources and 18+ books, including The Renegade Pastor: Abandoning Average in Your Life, Ministry and The Difference Maker: Using Your Everyday Life for Eternal Impact, and At the Cross with the People Who Were There. He and his wife, Kelley, have one son, Alexander.