ELKO, Ga. — Elko Baptist Church today is a different story from what it was in 2014 when Pastor Wayne Holcomb decided to bring it back to life.
He says he couldn't have done it without his congregation.
"When it starts getting rough, when it starts not making sense, that's when we cry out to him, that's when we come to him and in retrospect looking back, that's when we grew," Pastor Wayne Holcomb preaches to his congregation.
He delivers a message he once followed five years ago when he saw the Elko community in need of reviving the church off Oak Street.
"Since 2010 they were no longer having services, the former pastor had passed and most of the congregation had passed, and the church was just sitting here needing a congregation and a pastor," he said.
Holcomb was preaching for over a decade before reviving Elko Baptist Church. He says it was a calling that was answered by a supportive community.
"My father happened to meet the man that happened to be the pastor here, Wayne Holcomb, and we found out that we actually had something in common. We'd gone 'coon hunting together back when I was about 10-years-old," church member Bobby Walker said.
"I lead the music. There wasn't anybody else that could lead music and most of them couldn't read music," Music Leader Dee Wells said.
Five years later, their congregation has about 100 members. They're celebrating the milestone at the upcoming Macon Bacon Friday night baseball game.
"This is entitled 'Faith and Fellowship' night at the Macon Bacon game, and there will be churches from all over Middle Georgia and hoping that some of the world will get to see that Christians really do know how to have fun too," Holcomb said.
About 70 Elko Baptist Church members are going, but they won't just be watching the game.
"They also have a thing where you can actually do the national anthem, and that also stood for this church, something that we'd like to do, so it looks like we're going to be able to do that this Friday night," Walker said.
"This is an opportunity for us to go show our patriotism and how much we love liberty and the things that God has blessed us as a country," Wells said.
Twenty church members will perform the national anthem on Friday at the Macon Bacon game, which starts at 7 p.m.