First Baptist Church, Pattonsburg, which completed construction on a new building and baptized 20 people over the past year, averages 75-80 for Sunday School and about 120 for worship. McFall Baptist Church, a smaller church, also has seen growth, with an addition of new Sunday School classrooms and five baptisms. The church averages about 35 people in Sunday School and 60 in worship. Though Ratliff has to work twice as hard, and he must drive 10 miles between the two churches each Sunday, he gives credit to both congregations for their help. It takes a whole spectrum of people to make something like this work.
Every church is different.
Ratliff has been active this year in Harrison Baptist Association as evangelism director. He helped plan the association meeting that drew the largest attendance in the past four years. He has led various Bible studies, seminars, conferences and revivals for adjoining associations. Ratliff also is active in Missouri Baptist life, serving as a preacher and a Bible study leader for bivocational ministries and conferences at Windermere Baptist Conference Center on Lake of the Ozarks. When Ratliff is not behind the pulpit, he's busy as a charter member of the Cowboy Poetry Association.