Mount Dora church operates Billy Graham call center

MOUNT DORA (FBW)—”Are you calling to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?”

That’s usually the first question asked when a volunteer picks up the phone at the Billy Graham Telephone Call Center at First Baptist Church in Mount Dora.

The church operates one of 46 call centers across North America. It stands ready to respond to callers in need of salvation, encouragement, or prayer.

“One out of every three people who call us want to receive Christ,” said Howie Hooper, the pastor who spearheads the ministry at First Baptist. “Most of the other calls are people needing assurance of salvation or asking for prayer.”

“I led three people to the Lord the other night,” said church member, Debbie Dunn. “One was an eighty-two-year-old lady named Billie. She had been going to a church for years, but had never heard the Gospel. I shared the plan of salvation with her, and she was ready. Later, she told me she has two daughters who have been praying for her for years.”

The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) recruits churches to start call centers to assist them with the avalanche of calls it receives in response to its telecasts.

Several times each year, Billy Graham TV specials are broadcast on television stations across the United States and Canada. During these programs, a toll-free number appears on the screen for viewers who are eager to talk to someone about God. Four to ten thousand people typically respond.

First Baptist Mount Dora opened its call center in January 2008. According to Hooper, the decision to work with Billy Graham’s ministry was an easy one. “Most Americans and Canadians know who Billy Graham is ... they know he is an incredible man of God,” Hooper said.

According to church member Jim Dugger said the ministry also fulfills a unique challenge presented to the church by their senior pastor, Robert Jamieson, who fittingly was a BGEA crusade organizer before serving at Mount Dora,

“We were just getting this ministry started when our new pastor came to Mount Dora,” Dugger said. “He preached a sermon and challenged us that there is no reason First Baptist couldn’t reach people throughout our county, throughout Florida, and throughout the United States. We thought, ‘How are we going to do that?’ This ministry enables us to do that. It is exciting that we are fulfilling the Great Commission.”

Dunn said that Jamieson jokingly refers to the call center ministry as “lazy evangelism.” She agrees with this tongue-in-cheek comment, noting she is in the unique and privileged position of being a “harvester.”

“I had always heard someone plants the seed, someone waters, and someone harvests. It is a real blessing to be the harvester and get to lead these people to the Lord,” Dunn said. “I am one of those who had been fearful of evangelism, but the fear factor is just not there because you are on the phone. People call who are ready ... sometimes they have questions, but everything is so well-laid-out, I know how to respond.”

Volunteers are required to attend a two-hour training class that provides instruction in dealing with various topics. They use a counselor’s handbook supplied by the BGEA.

Though there are only ten phones at the FBC Mount Dora call center, operating the ministry is no small endeavor. There are over 80 volunteers serving on a variety of teams. The food team ensures that no one goes hungry. The technical team tracks every call that comes in, and ensures the call center is operating properly. The phone team responds to calls, and fills out call reports on each caller. The prayer team prays for the caller by name. The statistics team notes the nature of the call, and double-checks the call report to make sure it is complete. The computer team verifies caller addresses for future follow-up. At the end of the busy evening, everything is compiled and sent to the BGEA.

“Our goal, in all of this, is to get (the caller) involved in a local church where they live,” said Anne Harris, a BGEA trainer. BGEA sends each caller a personal letter, a free subscription to Decision Magazine, and an informational brochure on choosing a local church home.

“It’s really a wonderful ministry,” said church member, Betsy Woodward. It allows us, as a local church (in Florida), to reach out to the four corners of the United States.”

Hooper, a former IMB missionary, believes the impact goes beyond our own country to the world. ”We are literally able to touch the world through this ministry. There are so many people living in the United States from other countries. They are able to hear, and to take (the Gospel message) back to their countries,” Hooper said.