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Hopewell Baptist gives hours, dollars to missions
Melissa Lilley, BSC Communications
June 22, 2011
4 MIN READ TIME

Hopewell Baptist gives hours, dollars to missions

Hopewell Baptist gives hours, dollars to missions
Melissa Lilley, BSC Communications
June 22, 2011

Lee Pigg is often asked how it happened, or what he did to

make it happen, and he never really knows exactly how to answer.

In the past six years Hopewell Baptist Church in Monroe,

where Pigg is pastor, has gone from 165 in Sunday morning worship attendance to

nearly 1,000. He went from being the only staff member to now leading a staff

of 11. “I remember telling my wife, ‘I think we’ll have 400 people at Hopewell

one day.’ Never did I think we’d be where we are today,” Pigg said.

The population in Monroe hasn’t really increased in recent

years. Situated about 20 minutes from Charlotte and Concord, Pigg said Hopewell

is in the middle of nowhere, between cotton fields and cornfields. When Pigg

came to Hopewell in 2002 his goal was two-fold: preach God’s Word and love the

people.

“I believe that is what started to become contagious,” he

said. “They started to take that as their mission.”

As people get excited about the ministry of their local

church they start inviting others and bringing others with them, and that has

made all the difference.

“They have seen others get excited, and that’s exciting. The

leadership is excited and that has just spilled over. We see people wanting to

be part of something bigger than themselves,” Pigg said.

This mentality of wanting to do something “big” has perhaps

never been so apparent as in recent months, when a three-month focus on

worship, discipleship and ministry resulted in 65 baptisms, 6,000 hours of

ministry service and a $40,000 missions offering. About one third of the 65

baptisms represent new believers in Jesus Christ.

Hopewell Baptist Church used Ecclesiastes 4:12 to tie in different strands — worship, discipleship and ministry — to make a stronger cord for part of Find It Here emphasis.

Earlier this year, when trying to decide how the church

would participate in the Find it Here Easter evangelism emphasis, Pigg decided

to do more than just the Easter focus. In March he began leading the

congregation through a focus on worship. In April the focus was discipleship

and in May the focus was missions.

Each of the three focuses come from Hopewell’s mission

statement, based on Ecclesiastes 4:12. When it came time for the May missions

focus Pigg challenged every family in the church and every discipleship group

to be involved in a missions outreach that month. The goal was 5,000 hours of

outreach from the church in one month.

They got more than 6,000. One group hosted a neighborhood

carnival. The group was able to share the gospel that day and five people

prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.

On the last Sunday in May, Hopewell received a special

offering just for missions.

The $40,000 was distributed among international and local

ministries, including N.C. Baptist Men disaster relief. Also benefiting was

N.C. Baptist Hospital, Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute and Caraway Conference

Center and Camp.

Pigg said the focus this year has helped the congregation be

more intentional in thinking about how to reach out to the community. One

church member asked to pray for the waitress at a local restaurant, then

invited her to church. Before long, she had prayed to receive Jesus Christ and

was baptized.

Hopewell is Pigg’s first pastorate. He worked 10 years in

the business world and was successful, but God was calling him to something

different.

A popular quote goes something like this: “Attempt something

so big for God that if He doesn’t show up, you’ll look like a fool.” It’s one

that Pigg takes seriously.

“We need to do something bigger than us so that there’s no way we can

take credit for it. Don’t be afraid to challenge your people,” he said. “I

honestly believe they are waiting on us to challenge them. I believe that’s the

kind of challenge God honors.”