Youth Baptisms falls from 140,000 to 75,000

I read this report on my brothers blog, Brian Mills, and thought I would share it with you.

Check this out:

1971 Southern Baptist Church Youth Ministries baptized around 125,000 students.  

The next year, 1972, that jumped up to almost 140,000 students.

Watch this –

1973 - 120,000 – pretty big drop from that 140,000 the year before.

Each year it has gone down.

1980 (7 years latter) – 109,000

1985 – 88,000

1990 – 90,000

1995 – 93,000

2000 - ??????

2001 – 83000

2005 – 83,000

2008 – 75,000

It's sad to see that we are reaching fewer and fewer teenagers every year with the message of Jesus.

When I came to Beech Street the end of 2007, I came with a passion to see the Baptism numbers here changed.  It broke my heart that no teenagers had be baptized that year.  For the past two years God has used our efforts and drawn many in to a personal relationship with Jesus.  Each teenagers that follows through in baptism represents a life changed by Jesus.  Here's a look at the last 10 years in the life of Beech Streets Youth Baptisms:

2000 - 8

2001 - 5

2002 - ? (no record)

2003 - 6

2004 - 12

2005 - 6

2006 - 3

2007 - 0

2008 - 17

2009 - 18

Praise the Lord for what God has done here over the past 2 years.  I pray God will continue to allow us to reach teenagers for Christ. 

Source: Annual Church Profile, Lifeway Christian Resource Center, Nashville Tenn. Compiled by the center for Missional Research of the North American Mission Board, Alpharetta, GA