By Kelli Cottrell

A dying church two and a half years ago was rebirthed using the five purposes set forth during the 40 Days of Purpose campaign.

Celebration Church of Wilkesboro, N.C. is now referred to as the “lighthouse” for other churches in the state, according to Bud Wrenn, who pastors a former health award winning church.

With 25 people as the base, the church was introduced to The Purpose Driven Church by Pastor Tom Bartlett who immediately put five male leaders in charge of the five purposes.

As his leaders caught on to loving each other and building unity, Bartlett said they developed the five purposes naturally.

“All the plans I had for implementing the five purposes surpassed our goals,” he said. “It was amazing.”

Celebration Church has adopted new names for the five purposes. They are honor for worship, serve for ministry, connect for fellowship, thrive for discipleship, and reach for evangelism.

The church completed the 40 Days of Purpose campaign in Bartlett’s first year when they broke the 100-person attendance barrier.

“We started small groups at that time but didn’t keep those going because we weren’t ready,” Bartlett said. “At the beginning of this year, we re-introduced small groups and formed 10 to start with.”

While the church held the 40 Days of Community campaign, the small group attendance doubled with 200 people involved.

Currently, the church is hovering around 300 in attendance.

“We are expecting those small groups to stay together, retain their members, and grow monthly,” said Bartlett, who took four of his leaders to the Purpose Driven Church conference in Lake Forest, Calif., and he plans to take 15 lay leaders this year. “40 Days of Community really strengthened our small groups.”

The bylaws, structure, and strategy of the church is developed around the five purposes, Bartlett said.

The church has established all the core classes with Bartlett teaching 101.

The worship style is contemporary with some updated hymns occasionally thrown in.

“We have a relaxed atmosphere,” Bartlett said. “The entrance way to the building is a café with TV monitors for those who may not be comfortable with a service. We serve coffee, soft drinks, and snacks. This has been an incredible tool as people are able to come and observe. It allows us to build relationships with them at the same time.”

In the small town of 6,000 people, Celebration Church has been able to lead more than 400 people to salvation through strategic outreaches such as plays held at the local college and crusades.

“Most have occurred through strategic events,” said Bartlett, who is a member of the Innovative Church Community of North Carolina. “We had 190 decisions made for Christ at the most recent crusade.”

The church has baptized close to 100 during the last two years, he said.

With a population of 60,000, the region holds two popular events that Celebration Church has participated in.

“During one celebration in October, we planned ahead and gave away free firewood while everyone else was selling it for $20,” Bartlett said. “Then we invited them to a church service at the baseball field near their campground.”

At another festival in May, Celebration Church passed out close to 5,000 water bottles.

Other avenues the church uses to reach out to the community is through their building – an old elementary school.

“We allow the community to use it as much as we can,” Bartlett said.

During the week, a Christian wrestling team meets, homeschoolers enjoy the gym and classrooms, and meetings for families of soldiers in Iraq are held there.

Bartlett has already led his rural church through change but doesn’t intend to stop there.

He is opening Foothill Bible College this year to train Christian leaders and plans to revolutionize his whole region for the glory of Christ.

Each quarter, his church will close down and encourage its 300-plus members to go to another part of the city to worship together.

“We are a progressive church and we want to capture many communities that are not being reached for Christ,” said Bartlett, 42, who became pastor of the church two and half years ago. “We don’t expect people to come to us, we will go to them.”

He plans to have 10 venues across the county by 2010.

“It’s a turnaround job,” Bud Wrenn said, a friend and mentor of Bartlett’s. “He’s stuck closely to the Purpose Driven principles and has been successful. He’s very innovative and I know his church will be an up-and-coming lighthouse for North Carolina.”

All 2006 Church Health Award winner information is correct as of Jan. 1, 2006.