Conversion - Easy, breezy, lemon-squeezy
I, and many like me, had the great Providential privilege of growing up with a wonderful church family. My parents began attending a small mission church in my hometown of Rolla, Missouri that has now grown to be a large congregation with a lot of square footage on its campus. I had wonderful teachers and leaders whom I knew cared about me and led me as I grew to become more involved in ministry and leadership. As a member of the baby-boom generation, I was part of the tide of growth in evangelical Christianity spurred by population growth, post WW2 patriotism linked with Protestantism, and media reach of Billy Graham and others. It's tempting to make this a rail against the shortsightedness and self-righteousness of contemporary church growth experts who scoff at that model (and who are now replicating the suburban storefront praise band cookie cutter non-denom monosyllabic named church plants that were once so revolutionary and counter-Baptist-cultural). But I won't. What