Terry Cutrer served as pastor of Moffett Road Baptist Church in Mobile from 2000 to 2012 when, under Terry’s leadership, the church planted three congregations in Mobile: Sonrise Baptist Church, Forest Hill Baptist Church and Celebration Baptist Church.

I recently asked Terry how this effort blessed the church. His response was that he believes that every church needs to take a step of faith — not just people individually but churches also.

He said, “Our people got excited. We were seeing people get saved in more than one place. One year, Sonrise baptized more than Moffett Road. We never stopped trying to grow at the main campus but saw more happening as a whole. We doubled the attendance in eight years by starting new works. People were reached who would have never walked through the doors of Moffett Road.”

I asked him what it cost them. His response was that they put $125,000 into each congregation, totaling $375,000 over eight years.

“But what church would not be willing to give $375,000 to double their attendance?” Terry said.

When I asked him if it was worth it, he replied “By far!”

Information dispels anxiety. Many people believe that the idea of starting another church is totally out of reach for their church. In fact, many churches are so busy trying to survive that thriving is not even on their radar. It is a mistake to think that you must have all the resources, personnel and people to plant another church. You can team up with other churches who are like minded. We truly can do more together than we can do separately.

When I planted outside Savannah, Ga. (1996-2002), 10 churches supported us, and no church gave more than $10,000 per year. Would you like to know more about this idea?

Churches Planting Churches Training will be held at First Baptist Church of Foley, October 24-26. Terry Cutrer will be one of the facilitators for this training. There is no charge for Southern Baptist churches. Non-SBC churches are welcome but will be asked to contribute $100 per person to recover costs covered by the Cooperative Program for Southern Baptist congregations.

Lamar Duke
State Missionary and Lead Church Planting Strategist

Register online at: http://www.alsbom.org/churchesplantingchurches/