FARMINGTON, N.M. — Emmanuel Baptist Church boils its evangelism down to the single digits: Who’s Your One?

That North American Mission Board (NAMB) initiative and a new pastor led to an annual increase in the church’s baptisms, from two in the COVID-19 year of 2020 — Pastor David Brittain arrived in April 2021 — to 23 in 2024 and 20 as of Aug. 21 this year.

“I believe it’s overwhelming for people to hear the big numbers,” Brittain told Baptist Press. “Tens of thousands of lost people in our town, millions across the nation and billions around the globe? I believe that’s overwhelming. 

“But God is bigger than that big number, and He’s going to use us to reach people one at a time. We’re here to make disciples, and it starts with leading people to Christ.”

Evangelism and discipleship go hand in hand, Brittain said. He tells the congregation approaching 300 on Sunday mornings, “Focus on building the relationships you already have. Make talking with others about your relationship with the Lord natural; this is who you are.

“We are seeing people come to Christ and seeing baptisms from that, and it’s a wonderful thing,” the pastor said.

Emmanuel Farmington’s one focus is disciple-making.

“We want to give training, but the most lasting decisions are those from people who have come through the relational connection,” Brittain said. “I want it to be natural in terms of evangelism and growing in your relationship with Christ. 

“The Great Commission is birthed out of the Great Commandment: If you love someone, it’s natural to talk about them. If you care about someone, do you not tell them the truth they need to hear?”

Most of the ministries at Emmanuel Farmington have been started by members who saw an opportunity to share the truth of Jesus through ministering to others, such as Grief Share, Celebrate Recovery and several others.

“There’s freedom in Christ,” Brittain said. “It can be wonderful to help someone in their grief, but if we stop short of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we’re not doing what we need to be.”

Brittain leads Emmanuel Farmington with a focus on eight core values. Biblical faithfulness tops the list. The others share equal billing: priority of prayer; lifestyle of worship; on-mission mentality; generational discipleship; servant leadership; every-member ministry; and generous community.

The church starts with a long-standing commitment to missions through the Cooperative Program (CP), the way Southern Baptists work together to spread the gospel at home and globally. Emmanuel Farmington allocates 11% of its undesignated gifts for CP missions.

“We want to be generous,” Brittain said. “Well before my time this church has been very passionate about missions. We have several families linked with the International Mission Board, and as a group we have a solid understanding we need to be on mission.

“I started attending a Southern Baptist church before I was born,” the pastor continued. “I have learned the No. 1 most brilliant thing Southern Baptists have done is the Cooperative Program. …

“To be able to link arms and link resources with likeminded and other biblically solid churches allows us to offer training, provide expertise and enable our missionaries to do what God has called them to do without having to take time to look for financing for it.”

Emmanuel Farmington also allocates 4.5% of undesignated offerings to San Juan Baptist Association.

“We want to partner with other churches to carry out the Great Commission in San Juan County, to encourage and resource other churches,” Brittain said. 

Vacation Bible School drew 171 youngsters and 90 volunteers to Emmanuel Farmington this June. Materials, supplies and decorations then went to an additional four churches in the association, part of which is on a Navajo reservation, which leads to additional ministries for members, including the Four Corners Home for Children.

Local mission partnerships, financially supporting church plants in Taos and elsewhere, and hosting regional training events also are part of Emmanuel Farmington’s service to its association. 

“We exist to make disciples,” Brittain said. “Everybody we meet either needs to come to know the Lord for the first time or to know Him better. 

“Like it says in Colossians and Ephesians, Jesus is the head, and the Holy Spirit puts us together. As the pastor, I need to pay attention to whom God is putting in this body. That’s why evangelism and discipleship are inseparable. We want our people to want the people they know to know Jesus more and more.”

At Emmanuel Farmington — one of five Southern Baptist churches in New Mexico named Emmanuel — members are told to “find a place to serve because, if you’re not serving, you’re not growing.”

As a result, the pastor said, ministries start because of life experiences. “They start from the burdens of those who need them. Farmington is a wonderful place, but there’s a lot of addiction.”

The main hallway of the church is in process of becoming a Great Commission display, using Acts 1:8 to showcase ministries and places where members can plug in, as well as partnerships ranging from in-town to the International Mission Board (IMB).

“It will allow people to see a lot of the picture of our missions involvement, a visual representation of what are we doing through IMB, NAMB, CP, in New Mexico and locally,” Brittain said. “At this point there is a big wooden world map. Each entity will have its own display, with QR codes for people to learn how to engage and what to pray for, for our missionaries. 

“There’s going to be a bit of a museum corner too, to remember our members who’ve gone on mission all the way from local to the ends of the earth.”

Education, learning, is important to Brittain, a third-generation New Mexico pastor with degrees from Southern Baptists’ seminaries in New Orleans and Fort Worth, Texas.

“Apologetics is a passion of mine,” Brittain said. “I think it’s important because it can help people be strengthened in their faith and encourage believers that we have answers and reasons for what we believe.”

The pastor senses that in this his 30^th year of ministry, he is perhaps in the most productive decade in living out God’s call on his life.

“As Southern Baptists, we get to partner with thousands, and we get to be involved in places we don’t even know about,” Brittain said. “Locally, we face the challenge of culturally engaging with the people we’re trying to share the gospel with. 

“I’m also part of trying to strengthen the association as we move into the future. My heart is to disciple as many people as God provides. Bottom line, we get the opportunity to be part of the greatest, most important endeavor in history of the world.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)