This is a two-part post of an interview with Gary Baldus, pastor of New Walk Church in Zephyr Hills, Florida.

General Baptist Ministries asked Gary several questions about his walk with Christ, his calling to ministry and church planting, the personal and ministry connections with General Baptists, and the ongoing work of New Walk Church.

General Baptist Ministries (GBM):  How did you come to faith in Christ?  Who/what influenced your decision?

Gary Baldus (GB):  It was probably through the death of my wife’s mother. She had been inviting us to a local General Baptist Church all along in 2001 but I had grown up Christian Science.  Fortunately I didn’t pay too much attention to Sunday School at the Christian Science Church but I paid enough attention to know something about Jesus.  But they so focused on worship of one God and dismissed the Trinity so to them worshipping Jesus as God was a form of idolatry.  When I came into a General Baptist Church that centered on Jesus I was dismissive of it at first.  I remember sitting in the back of the church one day and as I reflected on the death of my mother-in-law and through the preaching of Pastor Bob Harber, I came to faith in Jesus when I was 29 years old.

The teaching of the word was where it happened to me. Then getting the revelation of the truth of the word and getting the whole truth rather than just the segments of Mary Baker Eddy Christian Science teaching, made such a difference for me.  Now, over the last few years I have been able to see several people in my family come to faith in Jesus.

 

GBM:  What are your earliest memories of the church?

GB:  My background was not conducive to where I am today. My faith journey has always been a sensitive issue in some family settings.  My earliest memories were my parents taking us to that Christian Science church, which was a two-minute walk we made every Sunday.

Some things I learned in that early church experience are a cross over into full-blown Christianity.  I got some foundation there but not the whole truth about who Jesus is and what Jesus does.”

GBM:  When did you sense the Lord leading you into vocational ministry?

GB:  Local people in the church pushed and encouraged me. They weren’t afraid to look me in the eye and say that they saw potential.  They saw what could be.  I was part of an older church so giving opportunity for a young person to do things was easy for them.  Pastor Bob Harber and Pastor Jon Leach both invested in and encouraged me.

I remember I was teaching youth but I was just myself getting revelation about the truth.  It was like I was only a few steps ahead of them.  But I loved teaching.  I never knew that I liked to teach before.

 

GBM:  When did you sense the Lord leading you into church planting?

GB:  They gathered a group of us for a meeting in I think 2005.  Dr. Ron Black (Executive Director of General Baptist Ministries) and Dr. Dean Jaggers (Florida Ministry Coordinator) painted the picture of a need for a church in our area, in our part of the county.  There were probably 20 people in the room but I just knew right then and there through the prompting of the Holy Spirit that I was going to be the guy to plant that church.  Then a few months later when Dean Jaggers spoke to me I could say to him it had already been on my heart.  So we started on the adventure. I saw so many people my age that had no idea what a relationship to Jesus could do and I saw it all around me so I wanted to do something about it.

 

GBM:  Has New Walk church developed as you anticipated?  Did you redefine your methods or model along the way?

GB:  When we launched in October 2006, we never thought we would grow the way we grew.  We are in a small community here in Zephyr Hills and we didn’t see planting this style of church.  We planned initially for a more traditional church.  I guess that’s what we knew.  Our hearts were open though to what would reach young people, young families so we changed to a contemporary style of worship.  Then when the Lord provided explosive growth right out of the gate it meant we had to adjust quickly.  We had to learn how to hire staff, how to lead staff and how to do ministry on a larger scale than we had imagined. Now our usual weekend attendance is 2,000 pretty regularly.  On our Main Campus in Zephyr Hills we see 1,500.  Then we have satellite campuses in Holiday and Dade City.  With the grand opening of our new facility we are hoping for a 2,000 person average at Zephyr Hills with a church-wide average of 3,000 weekly by year’s end.

 

GBM:  How did your partnership with General Baptists aid in the launch of New Walk Church?

GB:  Our partnership with Florida Home Missions, General Baptist National Missions and the Kingdom Expansion Campaign helped provide the startup funds we had to have.  Brand new churches don’t even have broken folding chairs so everything has to be purchased and planned for carefully. Women’s Ministries also helped by listing us as the recipient for the Asenath Brewster Christmas offering.  We would not be where we are today without all that early help. Now we can help others.  For example, there are only four churches in our association but we are investing several thousand dollars in the next Florida project, Turning Point Church, Bonita Springs.

To be continued next week….