Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

planted grove of palmetto that says to the tourists, “This is Florida.” There is obvious room to
expand.
Inside, the halls are carpeted, and the rooms filled with plastic form-fitting educational
furniture, the educational environment competing with any public school in the nation. The
4,000-seat auditorium is yet to be built, in addition to a football field, cafeteria building, stadium
and permanent field house. Future plans also include a local television ministry, a children’s
home, and a home for “Senior Saints.”
Tabernacle Baptist Church,
Orlando, Florida Bob Ware, Pastor
Chapter Five
“A Church That Has Baptized 200 Every Year Since Its Founding”
“Lord, let me minister to a big town just once,” prayed Bob Ware in Edenton, North
Carolina (population 5,000), back in 1966. He had started a church and built it up to 200 in
attendance. Ware asked three pastors to pray with him that God would lead him to a big town. At
the same time, two families in Orlando, Florida, were praying, “Lord, give us the right leader to
begin an Independent Baptist work.” In God’s answer that fall, the two prayers coincided.
Ware got a phone call from an Orlando car salesman: “We feel God is leading us to start
an independent work. We have a tent that will seat 800 people and want to have meetings on
Orange Avenue, the main street in Orlando. Can you come and preach for us?” Pastor Ware
went-and preached to about 17 people each night. When the tiny congregation later extended a
call, he felt certain, after three days of prayer, that God was leading to Orlando. The first
congregation met alternately in the tent and a cafeteria of the auto auction. On December 18,
1966, Dr. Bob Gray, Trinity Baptist Church, Jacksonville, came and preached the organizational
sermon.
Ware, looking for a site to build on, recalled a recommendation given to him over lunch
in Portsmouth, Virginia, by Dr. John Rawlings. “When you start a church, get the best property
in town, and do not let cost be a factor,” Dr. Rawlings said. Five months after Ware arrived in
Orlando, he took an option on three acres of ground that cost $72,500. He had to raise $1,000 for
the down payment. He purchased the ground in May and began construction in June, moving
into the building by the end of summer.
Pastor Ware indicated that the purchase of the property is the biggest miracle the church
has experienced since coming to Orlando. When he saw the property and found that it cost
$72,500, the owner told Ware that the small church’s offerings couldn’t even pay the interest on
the loan. Ware gathered his small congregation in a member’s home for a week of prayer,
Monday through Saturday, evenings. He spoke approximately 10 minutes, and everyone present
prayed for the property. On Saturday, the small congregation gave themselves to prayer and
fasting-no food for the day. Ware phoned the owner at Blowing Rock, North Carolina. The
:owner indicated Ware should write up the proposal and he would sign it. The proposal secured
all of the property immediately, with payment to be made on half the property for five years;