AUGUSTA, Maine (BP) — One of the traits that makes Maine and New England a fertile area for the gospel is the same one that leaves many an out-of-state missionary asking, “What did I do?”

“People can misinterpret ‘honest’ as ‘mean,’” said Mike Nerney, executive director for the Maine Baptist Association. “People here are extremely open, and they’ll tell you exactly how things are and what they’re thinking.”

It isn’t unusual for a typical New Englander response to offend someone from a different part of the country. The level of candor can shock, but it also reveals a desire to go to the heart of a matter, to dig through what is fake to what is real.

The most recent Annual Church Profile report brought a complicated picture for the Southern Baptist Convention. Baptisms have increased since the pandemic but remain historically low. Furthermore, church membership has declined everywhere in the country … except one.

Maine was one of several states in the Northeast that grew at least 10 percent from 2018-2023. That happened in an area of the country that routinely tests as the least religious.

How does that happen?

It begins with God moving, said Nerney. But there is also the undeniable distinction of the gospel in an area that simply doesn’t hear it preached a whole lot. It truly is comparable to light in the darkness. Or, using a metaphor he would prefer, a Red Sox fan in Yankee Stadium.

“There is a lot of religious tradition here, a lot of churches, but it’s very dark spiritually,” he said. “And like in so many other parts of the country, there are people here with no religious tradition at all.”

Southern Baptists’ growth in the area has caught the attention of local media. Church membership tripled in Maine from 2010 to 2020. Nerney, who spent 20 years as a pastor, arrived in his role in December 2021 to mobilize and resource approximately 27 churches scattered among the state’s 35,000 square miles.

The majority of churches are small, with about a third of pastors working full-time jobs in addition to church responsibilities. As a career accountant who didn’t enter the ministry until his 30s, Nerney still works two jobs.

Dan Coleman is one of the full-time pastors and leads Central Church in Augusta. He grew up on Cape Cod with plans to go into marketing. One summer during college, though, he helped at a friend’s church in Maine. Others took note of his ministry talents and encouraged him to pursue it as a calling.

Central Church has grown from about 70 when Coleman arrived as pastor 14 years ago to more than 1,500 weekly attenders. The church, which has recorded 100 baptisms this year, also has a satellite campus in the nearby town of China. Both locations stick out for the right reasons.

“In each town, there is a good chance you will be the only gospel-preaching church there, and people will take notice,” he said. “Toss a rock into the ocean and you won’t really see anything. Do the same thing with a pebble in a puddle, though, and there is a big difference.”

Sure, there is opposition. Maine was one of the states back in 2012 to give same-sex marriage its start. It has some of the most expansive pro-abortion laws in the country. This year, leaders voted to reject legislation restricting biological boys from competing in girls’ sports.

Yes, Southern Baptist churches stand apart.

“The No. 1 question I’ve received over the last couple of years is where to find biblical counseling,” said Nerney, whose background includes such training. “You can’t find it anywhere, and the requests only keep growing.”

Maine Baptist Association recently held a biblical counseling event for pastors and church members. The one-day gathering brought 148 people representing 38 churches. Incredibly, less than half (15) of the churches were from the association, and only 10% of the participants were pastors.

“We’re meeting a need, and those churches — all of them — want to do the same,” Nerney said. “We were just hosting it, and they were coming to us.”

Central Church worships in a building that was built in 1969 and was previously a Catholic church. Like Nerney, Coleman stressed persistence in ministry and building relationships.

“People are slow to trust, and even those who have needs also have a fierce independence they wear like a badge of honor,” he said. “You have to find a way to break through that barrier.”

Coleman is a former Send Network church planter who now serves through Baptist Churches of New England (BCNE) as a church-planting catalyst.

“All of us praise the Lord for the effective leadership of Mike at the Maine Baptist Association and Dan at Central Church and the Send Network in Maine. Together they are great partners for our overall Baptist work in Maine,” said BCNE Executive Director Terry Dorsett.

“I didn’t hear the gospel until I was 14 years old,” said Nerney, who grew up Catholic. “In an area like this, when you hear the gospel preached, it stands out as something dramatically different.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)