Small-town church reaches community

By Isaac Olivarez (April 13, 2003)

There’s not much competition for attention in the small town of Sheldon, Wis., population 250. Highway 194, which bisects the township, doubles as the main street. People shop and visit at two small, privately owned grocery stores, a senior citizens facility and a bank. Two bars, a dance hall and a restaurant vie for patrons’ business.

The town’s limited attractions are one reason Barry Johnson, senior pastor of Sheldon Full Gospel Tabernacle, sees opportunities to share the gospel. What’s more, Johnson says a dedication to prayer and a renewed openness to the Holy Spirit have revolutionized the Assemblies of God church and are spilling over into the community. Attendance at SFGT has grown steadily from eight people in 1987 — when Johnson became pastor of the formerly independent full gospel church — to more than 150 today.

“It all comes back to servanthood,” Johnson, 41, says. “Jesus was a servant, and we want everyone in our church — Sunday school teachers, ushers and Communion servers — to love people even in their failures.”

That attitude has helped establish friendships between SFGT church members and others in the community, and has taken Johnson into virtually every nook and cranny of Sheldon, including the taverns, to preach the gospel.

When he visits, discussions turn spiritual, Johnson says, noting a day in 1994 when he was called to a saloon following a fight. “I noticed blood on the floor, and before long I was teaching about the atonement of Christ’s blood to 15 men.”

As a girl, Ruth Ann Cizek attended the church with her parents. But as she grew older, she turned away from God and bought a tavern in Ladysmith, 17 miles northwest of Sheldon.

When Cizek’s father, who attended SFGT for 58 years, died in 2000, Cizek received an unexpected challenge from Johnson, who spoke at the funeral.

“Pastor Johnson looked me in the eyes and told me, ‘I pray you follow your father’s footsteps,’ ” Cizek, 60, recalls. “It was gripping. It was like he was telling me I was supposed to be there.” A month later, Cizek and her husband shut down their bar.

The next year at SFGT’s building dedication, Cizek accepted Christ as Savior. “I went to the dedication for my father because I wanted to be part of it for him,” Cizek recalls. “That was my first trip to the altar, and I’ve been attending since.”

Others have been drawn to the church by the seeker-friendly environment.

Doug Groothousen, a self-proclaimed former bar hopper, began attending SFGT at the invitation of his sister, Donna. Groothousen says curiosity and conviction kept him coming back, until he committed his life to Christ four years ago. Today he is the drummer on the worship team.

“The Word was presented in a way that related to me,” says Groothousen, 30. “The amount I was drinking was unbelievable, and God just took the desire away.”

SFGT’s penchant for servanthood is exemplified by discipleship. The church facilitates growth by offering 13 Sunday school classes and a commitment to discipling newcomers. The youth group, Ground Zero (zero tolerance for sin), reaches out to area teens with youth rallies every other month. At the inaugural rally in 1999, 16 teenagers accepted Christ as Savior.

“There is an atmosphere here that’s been implemented by the Holy Spirit,” Johnson says. “It is important to our congregation that we have a Spirit-filled service, and it is drawing people to the altar.”