The need to reach lost people in northeast Lincoln
Nearly 30,000 people live in the target area in northeast Lincoln, which covers roughly 1.5 square miles. Only about 4,800 of them attend an evangelical church, which means that as many as 25,000 may not know Jesus. Around 9,000 of them are completely unchurched. There are simply not enough evangelical churches to reach the lost in this area.

The number of lost people in Lincoln is growing. Some neighborhoods in northeast Lincoln are projected to grow as much as 10 to 30 percent in the next five years. The rapid growth is fueled by large sections of undeveloped farmland along the east border of the target area. New houses are going up, and many businesses are constructing new buildings and moving into the area for the first time. Plans are being made for the construction of a new retail center anchored by a grocery store, and a golf course is being cleared for a housing development. Northeast Lincoln provides convenient access to Interstate 80, the main corridor to Omaha, a feature that will stimulate continued growth as the metropolitan areas of Lincoln and Omaha continue to grow toward each other.

The need to reach lost people in Nebraska
The state of Nebraska has a tremendous need for new evangelical churches. Saline County is a good example of the need. Saline, which borders Lancaster County along its southwestern border, has nearly 14,000 people and only two evangelical churches. The remarkable thing is that Saline is not isolated. Its neighbor, Lancaster County, has nearly 275,000 people and is home to Lincoln, the state capital and second largest city in Nebraska. Nebraska, which is about the size of South Carolina and Virginia combined, has about 1.7 million people living in ninety-three counties. Twenty-one of the counties each have fewer than three evangelical churches, and several have none. Sixty-seven counties have no Southern Baptist churches. The entire state is served by only four Southern Baptist associations.

The state of Nebraska

-Ranks 38th in population with 1,711,263 people

-Is 89.6% Anglo, 5.5% Hispanic, 4.0% African American, 1.3% Asian American and 0.9% Native American

-Covers 76,872 square miles, making it the 15th largest state

The target area

-Contains a majority of households (52%) that are Middle American Families, with the largest minority being Young and Coming (26%)

-Population is 58% married, 27% single (never married) and 15% divorced

-Households with children comprise 77% married couples, 17% single mothers and 5% single fathers

-Population is highly educated

-About 36% have some college

-About 28% graduated high school

-About 19% are college graduates

-About 9% have post-graduate degrees

-Is 92% Anglo, 3% Asian, 2% Hispanic and 1% African American

-Population contains the following generational groups:

29% Survivors (24 to 44 years old)

27% Millenials (4 to 23 years old)

22% Boomers (45 to 62 years old)

13% Silents (63 to 80 years old)

5% Gen Z (0 to 3 years old)

4% Builders (81 and up)