Thanksgiving 2024 - REPLAY: Rural GA preacher bucks baptist stereotype & welcomes all

Happy Thanksgiving! Today's show originally aired July 10, 2023.  In Hartwell, a rural Georgia lake community, pastor Grant Myerholtz convenes a growing "Baptist" congregation in an unusual way (for a baptist church, anyway): he chooses inclusivity. In an era where churches big and small are seeing declines in attendance, his Mt Hebron Baptist Church has grown from a dozen to more than a hundred.  Featured in ⁠⁠a Washington Post piece⁠⁠, Grant joined me last summer to let me learn more about him and his church. Were that there were more Rev. Grants and Mt. Hebron Baptist Churches.  UPDATE: Grant messaged me this past spring with a photo from Hartwell Pride and the following update: "Hey Ron just wanted to share a picture from this years pride in Hartwell…we had about 20-25 from the church to attend this year to support. We fully left the southern Baptist Convention..instead of open doors we just took them off..hope you are doing well and thanks again for having me on the show with you…hope you are doing well."