“North Port Church puts muscle in its message.” That’s the title of an article that appeared September 24, 2005 in the Sarasota Herald Tribune. It is an article on the (in)famous Power Team’s show being performed at the South Biscayne Baptist Church in North Port, Florida–about an hour up I-75 from me. The Power Team performers claim that their performance “converts two nonbelievers for every congregation member who attends.”

The church’s pastor, John Cross, is quoted as giving this gem of wisdom about effective church ministry and worship: “It’s all about the weekend, about making the service ‘hum’ … It should not be presented in a stale, boring way.”

The article goes on, “Between the theatrics, members of the group lead the audience in prayer and talk about how religion changed their lives and got them out of trouble.” “The show at South Biscayne ends with the Power Team inviting people who want to accept Jesus into their lives to come to the front of the stage” and then be immediately “submerged in the church’s portable baptism tub.”

All of this for only $50,000. If we could get the Power Team to break into teamlets and then put on a show in every SBC church over the next year, why, with a conversion-to-member-attendance ratio of 2 to 1, we could probably see 8-10 million people baptized in 12 months.

(HT to Mark Fuss)