CORVALLIS, Ore. — Redemption Church started what Pastor Bryan Bernard calls a gospel initiative last September. Since then, 39 people have made professions of faith in Jesus and 17 have been baptized.

The gospel initiative thrust is to last two years. Its goals: 1,000 gospel conversations, 150 people sent on short-term mission trips, 100 new believers, and five people called into full time missions or ministry.

“We wanted to create a culture of evangelism, people sharing their faith outside the walls of the church,” Bernard told Baptist Press. “This is a very unreached community. At the time of the 2010 census, this was the least-churched county in the United States.”

In Bernard’s eighth year leading Redemption Church, it was healthy in their giving and in their ministry in the community, but too few routinely or even occasionally shared their faith in Jesus. After visiting Clovis Hills Church, in Clovis, Calif., Bernard was inspired to lead the church to reach the community of Corvallis. 

“Last October we had a Sunday night evangelism class,” Bernard said. “We had 70 people show up to learn how to share their faith. We spent time teaching people to tell their story of redemption and transformation.”

The intentionality of the gospel initiative shows in enlarged photographs scattered around Redemption’s building depicting baptisms, people on mission trips and others serving in the community. 

“Everything is about creating a culture of evangelism,” Bernard said. “Our attendance has grown as people take the proclamation of the gospel seriously. At the end of every service, we give people an opportunity to respond. We constructed a large sign on stage that says, ‘Made New’. Those who have made a decision to follow Christ have the chance to twist in a light bulb into the sign representing their decision to move from darkness to light. 

“It’s easy for a church to be complacent,” the pastor said. “I wanted people to go and make disciples. I wanted to do more than the classic ‘preach a four-week series.’ What if we really made a commitment with real goals and put a big sign on our small stage? It’s exciting to see people twist in a lightbulb and as it lights up everybody cheers.” 

Intentionality drives Redemption Church, where about 280 people gather for worship 35 to 40 weeks out of the year.

The other weeks, students at Oregon State University (OSU) are on break — several usually on mission trips — and attendance drops by perhaps 100. 

“We have five full time college ministry staff,” Bernard said. “Mosaic is the name of the college group; Jason Tai does a great job as the director. They all raise their own support, mostly from alumni of the college ministry group.”

Eight small groups on the OSU campus meet at various times throughout the week. They gather together on campus Thursday evenings for worship, prayer and a Bible-based message geared to college students.

The church sent 50 people — mostly students — on mission trips over spring break, to Chicago, Peru and Mexico. Ten mission trips are planned throughout the year, including Cambodia, India and Canada during the summer.

“The gospel initiative isn’t just about loving our city but reaching the world,” Bernard said. “There’s something very catalytic when you go on mission. We see people come back transformed and excited. We see people come back and be on mission in Corvallis.”

In addition to the Mosaic college ministry, Redemption Church and its members are involved locally in multiple endeavors.

“On Saturdays we distribute lunches and engage in relationships with the homeless,” the pastor said. “We partner with Love Inc. for emergency food boxes; we’re the only church in the city who does that. We do a lot of work in the school district. We serve at a local high school, College Hill, to bless the staff and students. We provided a huge barbecue the first week of school and staff appreciation lunches, and members volunteer at the school.

“We’ve built good relationships,” Bernard continued. “We partner with other schools in town; did 80 Thanksgiving food boxes for them last year.”

Redemption houses Corvallis Korean Church, where about 55 people meet for worship at 1 p.m. Sundays. It is one of six Korean Southern Baptist churches in Oregon.

The church financially supports church planting through Willamette Valley Baptist Association, and Bernard is in his second term as president of the Northwest Baptist Convention.

“Once I got involved in the convention I learned the value of cooperating across the Northwest,” Bernard said. “It’s really exciting to be a part and see what God is doing as we work together.”

Redemption Church is a generous supporter of missions through the Cooperative Program, the way Southern Baptists work together in missions, ministries and leadership training. The church allocates 7% of its undesignated offerings for the Cooperative Program (CP), plus 4% more to the International Mission Board (IMB). 

“Our church has always believed in partnering with Southern Baptist churches for missions and training pastors,” Bernard said. “We have a church full of people who care about seeing the gospel proclaimed around the world. We have IMB missionaries from our church serving in South Asia and South America and the Cooperative Program is how we support them.”

Redemption Church is a multigenerational and multicultural church, with people speaking many different languages and from a variety of backgrounds. Each of them has an open door to reach their family and friends. 

“I always think about 20 years from now,” Bernard said. “We’re only five to six months into this gospel initiative. Imagine what God can do over a long period of time when an entire church commits to reaching the lost. We want to be a church that isn’t focused on ‘come and see’ but rather ‘go and tell.’

“It’s an incredible opportunity: a college student who comes to faith has possibly another 60 years to share the gospel. We can reach international students who go back to their countries where a missionary might not be able to go.”

Bernard said God has been teaching him to be persistent and patient. He sees the value of “staying put” in one church.

“Ministry happens over a long time,” the pastor said. “I’m seeing fruit from people I met 12 years ago.”