Vidalia men’s gathering leads to professions of faith, new discipleship efforts By HENRY DURAND, The Christian Index Monday, October 12, 2026 VIDALIA, Ga. — Eight men indicated they had trusted Christ as Savior in connection with a men’s gathering at Tabernacle Baptist Church on Thursday, Oct. 8, while others committed to renewed discipleship and organizers began planning a follow-up revival. According to Keith Boggs of Real Momentum Ministries, two men came forward during the invitation, four indicated professions of faith on response cards, and organizers later learned that two more men had trusted Christ while driving home. Many younger men also came forward to renew their commitment to following Christ. Thirty men requested information about a 40-day discipleship initiative, and plans are being developed for a men’s revival in Vidalia. For Tabernacle pastor Bobby Thompson, the reason for hosting the “What’s at Stake?” event was straightforward. “This culture across the nation just needs good and godly men,” Thompson said. “And it needs men who believe that they can be better men.” Lasting change, he added, does not come simply from men trying harder. “For all that we can do and all the investment that we can make, the only real person that can change a life is Jesus Christ,” Thompson said. Men face pressure from work, family schedules, finances, and countless other demands, he said, but everyone still has the same 24 hours in a day. “So it’s really a question of, ‘What do I do with my time?’” Thompson said. “I am hopeful that this event will convince some people to say, ‘I need to invest some of God’s Word and God’s principles in my life. I need to make time and take time to work on me.’” Thompson said around 340 men registered for the event, including groups from other churches and men sponsored by local businesses. Before the meeting began, men from Tabernacle cooked and served more than 350 ribeye steak dinners with baked potatoes and other sides. Tabernacle’s role, Thompson explained, was simply to host and serve them.“This is not about Tabernacle Baptist Church,” he said. “This is about the church — Jesus’ church.” In his opening prayer, Thompson asked God to work in men who understood their own need. “We all know that we need some help to be the man that You desire for us to be,” he prayed. John Chandler came with three other men from Ridgeland Heights Baptist Church in Sandersville. He said the congregation had been rebuilding after a difficult period and the men wanted to learn how they could strengthen ministry among men. “We’re trying to see what we can do to build a brotherhood,” he explained. Madison Herrin, discipleship pastor at Tabernacle, said before the gathering that he hoped men would leave connected to local churches and to small groups of other men. “I hope, number one, they reconcile with Jesus first,” he added, “and then allow the Holy Spirit to drive them to reconcile with other relationships in their lives and get involved with ministry.” Boggs began the evening by leading the men through an anonymous survey that dealt with anxiety and depression, family leadership, sexual addiction, suicidal thoughts, isolation, other addictions, relationships, and their desire to become the men God was calling them to be. The completed surveys were collected and redistributed. Boggs went back through the questions and asked men to stand when the anonymous paper in their hands showed that another man in the room was struggling in that area. When a majority of men stood in response to the question about anxiety and depression, Boggs stopped. “That’s in this room,” he said. “That’s not in Atlanta. That’s not in Valdosta. … That’s tonight.” He continued, “Unless we get connected to God and other men, we’re going to struggle. Leading a family is difficult, isn’t it? Being a husband is hard, isn’t it? It’s a blessing, but it’s hard. Being a dad, man, it’s hard.” “I believe the greatest mission and opportunity in our day and time is to reach a man and lead a man to walk with God,” Boggs said. “His family will change, his church will change, and what he does outside of that context will come alive as God wants it to.” A four-man panel followed. Ashley Tyree, pastor of Lumber City Baptist Church, said men often give attention to their physical and mental health while neglecting the spiritual part of their lives. Tyree, who has worked in forestry for 40 years, compared Scripture to the compass baseline he establishes before entering the woods. “I believe the spiritual side of us should be our baseline,” he said. “It should be how we start our day off.” He encouraged men to make Bible reading part of their daily routine. “If you can ever get your men into loving God’s Word, and God’s Word speaks to them, the best thing you can do is get out of the way,” Tyree said. Tyree also leads a Real Momentum Monthly What’s At Stake Night in Lumber City Ronnie Smith, with Ronnie Smith Ministries, pointed to distraction as one of the biggest problems facing men, particularly younger men. He cited pornography, social media, entertainment, and the amount of time consumed by phones. Discipleship, he said, requires time and proximity. “Jesus discipled them, but He didn’t disciple them from a distance,” Smith said. “He discipled them up close.” He also spoke about losing a close friend to suicide when he was 18 and about a more recent suicide attempt by his younger brother. “If you’re hurt, talk to somebody,” Smith told the men. “No man’s an island. The devil isolates, and then he destroys you.” Smith said men also need to be grounded in Scripture. “I can’t change a life,” he said. “But the gospel can change a life.” Tommy Smith, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Pembroke, said churches have to intentionally move men from events into ongoing discipleship. “I really believe that if you can get God’s people in God’s Word, God’s people will do God’s will,” he said. At First Baptist Pembroke, a men’s Bible study that began with only a handful of men has since produced new Sunday school teachers and deacons and led to other Bible study opportunities. “The church has to grow through God’s Word,” Smith said, “or we will never know how to do God’s will.” Efton Green, lead pastor of Calvary On Aimwell in  Vidalia, challenged churches to make reaching men a priority. “Men’s ministry is not discrimination,” he said. “It is a strategy.” He urged men who wanted to grow spiritually to spend the next month reading Scripture every morning, asking God to help them become the men He wanted them to be, putting what they learned into practice, and finding someone else into whose life they could invest. “God didn’t save you just to keep you out of hell,” Green said. “God saved you that you could pass what you’ve learned on to somebody else.” Boggs returned after the panel to John 9:4, challenging the men to make use of the time and opportunities God had given them. He asked whether Christ was receiving a return on the lives He had purchased. “Men’s ministry is missions,” Boggs said. “If you go after the man, you’re going to get a family.” Boggs presented the gospel and invited men who had never trusted in Christ to respond. He also called Christian men who needed renewed commitment and revival to take a public step. Boggs said many young men came forward, indicating that they were not where they needed to be spiritually. When men were asked to stand if they needed revival, most of those in the room stood. Thirty men also asked for information about Real Momentum’s ANVIL 40 Day Journey pilot, which calls men to pursue Christ, embrace discipline, build brotherhood, and grow spiritually, mentally, and physically. Herrin said several men from Brewton-Parker Christian University, where he serves as campus minister as well as head softball coach and bass fishing coach, approached him as the evening ended and asked about starting a group focused on biblical masculinity. Herrin said they are now setting up a weekly meeting using Real Momentum’s “Helping Men Win — 10 Lessons on Biblical Masculinity.” “This could make a tremendous impact on the men on our campus,” he said. Boggs said he and Herrin were talking afterward when one of the young men Herrin has been discipling approached them. The young man pointed to the survey responses, which had revealed significant struggles among men already in the room. “We’ve got to do something to help all of these men. I can’t imagine what the needs are in the community outside these doors,” the man said. “Can we do a men’s revival?” Organizers have now set aside Nov. 30-Dec. 5 for a men’s revival in Vidalia. Boggs said the dates and speakers were still being finalized. Lane Allen of Swainsboro brought 16 men from Reel Men Ministries to the gathering. Allen said Boggs’ ministry had helped inspire him to begin the group, and he reported one profession of faith among the men who came with him. Before the men left Tabernacle, Thompson called men willing to walk alongside others to the front of the room. He urged those carrying private struggles to find someone they could trust, exchange phone numbers, and begin talking. “I want somebody to speak into my life,” Thompson said. “I want somebody I can tell my life story.” Pastors and church leaders, he told them, are “just broken men like every other broken man.” “We’re just willing to walk with you,” Thompson said. He asked the men to pray for one another during the coming week, then closed by asking God to overcome the distractions competing for their attention. “Father, I thank You for these men,” Thompson prayed. “I just pray that in a world where there’s a million distractions, and many of them just look really good, that You would arrest our attention, direct us to Christ.” --- PHOTOS --- File: 20261012-152349-e76-Prayer 6.jpg Caption: Men pray during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152357-723-Wide view 2.jpg Caption: Men enjoy a steak dinner during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152402-066-Keith 9.jpg Caption: Keith Boggs of Real Momentum Ministries speaks during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152406-573-Bobby 6.jpg Caption: Bobby Thompson, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church, speaks during the What's at Stake? event in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152412-be0-Prayer 2a.jpg Caption: Men pray during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152417-743-Standing men.jpg Caption: Men stand in response to questions during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152422-d13-Steak 2.jpg Caption: Men enjoy a steak dinner during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152429-811-Keith 3.jpg Caption: Keith Boggs of Real Momentum Ministries speaks during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152433-624-Panel 16.jpg Caption: Ashley Tyree speaks during a panel discussion at the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. From left: Efton Green, Tyree, Ronnie Smith, and Tommy Smith. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152434-540-Panel 13.jpg Caption: Efton Green speaks during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152441-6fc-Listening 3.jpg Caption: Men listen during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand) File: 20261012-152444-1ad-Sunset chat 2.jpg Caption: Two students from Brewton Parker Christian University chat over a steak dinner during the What's at Stake? event at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Vidalia, Ga., Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Index/Henry Durand)