Great Soul-Winning Churches - Elmer Towns

then they would pay interest the next five years, with a balloon payment at the end. The owner
signed the proposal, and on several occasions has tried to buy back the property. Pastor Ware
went to the Citizens National Bank in Orlando and told the vice president he was a Baptist
preacher and wanted to borrow $10,000 on an unsecured note. The vice president told him, “I am
a born-again Nazarene, but banks simply do not make that kind of loan.” After a lengthy
conversation, however, the bank official was convinced of the stability of the new church and put
$10,000 in the church’s bank account, to be paid off in three years. The note was paid off in 5
months.
The congregation grew rapidly, Sunday school averaging over 200 when they moved into
their facilities in September, 1967. The first auditorium seated 250 people, and a year later they
moved into their second auditorium, which accommodated 900. The following year 12 Sunday
school rooms were added, the year after that six rooms, and last year another 12 rooms were
added.
The church had rapid growth because people were getting saved. There has never been a
Sunday in the past five and one-half years that some person has not come to know Jesus Christ.
The church has the reputation throughout Orlando as a soul-saving center.
During the first month of the church, Pastor Ware told John R. Rice he was starting a
church. Dr. Rice asked him to set a goal to baptize 200 his first year. The pastor felt that was
unattainable, but he took it as a goal and baptized exactly 200 in his first year of operation. There
has never been a year in which the church has not baptized 200, and this year he has already
baptized 300.
Tabernacle Baptist Church baptizes every Sunday morning. The pastor states, “I made up
my mind to do everything as close to the New Testament as possible.” His natural inclination
was to wait for baptism, until a person had proved himself, but he couldn’t find scriptural proof.
At first the church went to swimming pools in members’ homes for baptism, and during the
winter, they went to the lakes. In the first building, they built a wooden framed box, filled it with
a $10.00 plastic swimming pool liner and kept it full, baptizing every week. The church baptizes
children only after they have parental permission.
The church has approximately 40 Spanish children and a number of black children in the
Sunday School. When asked why he integrated his church down South, the pastor commented, “I
try to do it like Jesus would; I couldn’t send them away.”
One of Ware’s favorite mottoes is “What would Jesus do?” This guides him in many of
his decisions. He often says, “I preach what Jesus would preach,” and he says to his song leader,
“Sing what Jesus would have sung.”
From the beginning, Pastor Ware went on the radio every morning at 7:30 a.m. He
testifies, “There are many great radio preachers, so I spend most of my time telling of the great
work God is doing here at Tabernacle Baptist Church.” Some days he just chats with the
audience, telling them the things that a pastor does during the day. The main goal of his radio
broadcast is to get people excited about the ministry at Tabernacle Baptist Church.