It’s not every day you encounter a two-century-old church with a goal to plant 20 churches in 20 years. And yet, for Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, this sort of sending culture has become the heartbeat of the church.


In this episode, Executive Director-Treasurer Todd Unzicker sits down with Aaron Wallace, lead pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church, to discuss the church’s cultural transformation, the joys and challenges of church planting and revitalization, and how God can use churches of all kinds to bring people the hope of the gospel. 

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Podcast Highlights:

  • “. . . the biggest transition was we want to get healthy. That’s the key to any revitalization and for God to really use us. He will use a chipped cup. He will use a cup with a crack in it. But nobody wants to drink out of a filthy cup.” (5:05)
  • “Most people treat sending — treat missions — as an app on their phone, when really it should be the operating system . . . Missions and sending is not a department of the church. It is the heartbeat of the church.” (7:23)
  • “I want people to understand that God takes dead things and makes them alive again. And God takes things that look like they’re impossible and He makes them possible. And so don’t wait. Take a risk. Believe. Trust God. Change your priorities.” (28:25)
  • To learn more about N.C. Baptist church planting, visit sendnc.org.
  • To learn more about healthy church revitalization, visit revitalizenc.org.
  • Click here and here to read more stories about Hephzibah’s church planting and revitalization efforts. 

Your gift to the North Carolina Missions Offering supports the work of church planters across the state. To learn more about how you can give to missions, visit ncbaptist.org/ncmo.

by N.C. Baptist Communications