John's Coordinator Chat
August 28, 2008
This was the third year for Kentucky Baptist Fellowship to be involved in Extreme Build. This year’s experience was filled with moments of frustration, excitement, success, and deep emotion.
Here are some images that linger in my mind, long after the week.
• From the first day to the last, Bessie kept interacting with people, thanking them. Each time she was flooded with tears of joy.
• Bessie’s sisters, one who came from Ohio, working daily on the job site.
• Steve Holm, our house leader, arriving at the job site early and staying late.
• Volunteers, some skilled and some not so skilled, sweating together for the common goal of building a house. One-hundred fifty volunteers from Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, Illinois, most giving up a week’s vacation in order to be involved.
Bessie’s tears reflected her deep emotion regarding the house. All week, she tried to convey in her words her deep gratitude. The first day of the build, I was involved in hanging the banner that listed various partners. Bessie approached me and said, “I’d like to get the name of every person and every organization involved in this because I want to send them a thank you note.”
One image that lingers in my mind happened at the dedication. Bessie was given the key to her house. With tears streaming down, she held the key high into the air. A few minutes later, after speeches and the dedication prayer, there was a gap of silence (the kind of brief silence that occurs at the end of a worship service and just before people begin greeting one another). Bessie yelled, “Hey everybody! I’m a homeowner!”
Discarding her written words prepared for the dedication, Bessie spoke from her heart when she said, “I thought I was getting a house this week but I didn’t know I was getting 150 new friends.” Indeed all who were involved in Extreme Build have made new friends. The lives of volunteers intersected with each other and with the lives of Bessie and her family. And while we rejoice that a house was built, perhaps the more long-lasting effect of Extreme Build is the relationships it engenders.
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June 17, 2008
Words are interesting animals. It’s interesting how some words are in vogue during certain seasons. Networking was a word used frequently in the early days of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. More progressive Baptists felt their voices silenced and so we paid attention to networking with those of similar bent. In the early days of Kentucky Baptist Fellowship, a person was employed on a part-time basis, his title: “Network Coordinator.”
Networking continues to be important to our lives. We are strengthened on an individual basis as we reach out to others. Examples of networking continue to abound in The Fellowship. Peer Learning Groups formed in recent years to help ministers give and receive support and also to provide a place for mutual growth and learning. Current combines several networks, most of them represented in the phrase, “young leaders.” Passport Camps provide youth and their leaders with a place to grow and a place to serve. In a few weeks, over 100 people and several organizations will cooperate to build a house in a week; we call it Extreme Build.
Words were important to Wayne Oates. He was a prolific writer, having written over 50 books. In one of those books, The Christian Pastor, he uses a phrase that describes a major aspect of a pastor’s work: “minister of introduction.” This phrase goes hand-in-hand with networking. It describes a major component of my work as coordinator.
A few weeks ago I received a call from Henrietta Sheffel. Henrietta is a founding member of Emmanuel Fellowship, a church near Jackson, Kentucky, located in the eastern part of the state. Emmanuel Fellowship is unique in that area of the state in that it affirms the role of women in the church. Mark and Mary Driskill serve as co-ministers of this congregation. Henrietta called to say several key supporters of the church had moved away from the community or retired.
Emmanuel Fellowship, Henrietta reported, was facing some financial challenges. A specific need was resources for children. She wondered if I knew of churches that might like to share some left over materials. After hanging up, I sent several strategic emails to leaders in churches with strong children’s ministries.
In a few weeks, the floodgates were opened. Becky Caswell-Speight (wife of our new Associate Coordinator of Missions) had just been hired as Children’s Minister at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville. Not many days after she began her job, she was told of this need and opportunity. It seems an abundance of material was available. It was my joy this past Saturday to make my way to Jackson, Kentucky. My car was packed with useful material—trunk and back seat were overflowing.
I fulfilled my role as “Minister of Introduction” as I introduced a church with material to a church in need of resources. In a few weeks Henrietta and others at Emmanuel Fellowship will begin Kids Club again. More than a dozen kids—some from their church and others from the community—will gather each Wednesday evening for a meal, Bible study and activities. The quality of Kids Club will be enhanced because a church in Louisville shared resources with a church in Jackson.
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March 8, 2008
The dream Keith Stillwell and others have had for several years finally came true. Keith is chair of the Mountain Hope Task Force of Kentucky Baptist Fellowship. Paula Settle shared the dream. Paula is Affiliate Field Personnel with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Her funding is provided by First Baptist Church, Frankfort, Providence Baptist Church, Charlotte, Third Baptist Church, Owensboro and Central Baptist Church Bearden, Knoxville, Tennessee.
Keith and Paula wanted to have a meeting of local leaders in the counties targeted by Mountain Hope in order to provide training and to provide a time to coordinate efforts for the summer. The idea was to “get people on the same page” regarding our philosophy and to plan a summer’s worth of ministries.
Fifty people attended this meeting in Nada on the weekend of February 29, 2008.
We were from diverse theological persuasions and varied geographical places. Places included: Kentucky, Florida, Texas, Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia. We were Baptist, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, and other. Representatives from partners in targeted counties (Powell, McCreary, Owsley) were present. Most in attendance were from partnering congregations. These people represented a host of people who will come back to one of these counties this summer to provide ministries.
Jeremy Lewis provided the training component. He is Together for Hope Manager for Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions. He helped us understand Asset Based Community Development by helping us develop asset maps. It’s so easy to look at the poverty and think about needs. To say we target the twenty poorest counties, for example, points to the deficiencies of these counties. Together for Hope (Mountain Hope is the Kentucky piece of this initiative) seeks to look at the community assets, helping local leaders and groups become aware of and mobilize their resources.
Time was spent planning mission activities and projects for Summer 2008. Church leaders (many who came from a great distance) met with local partners. Potential work sites were toured and chosen.
After a shared meal, John Owen welcomed us to the Nada Mission. He is pastor of First Baptist Church, Winchester as well as pastor of the Nada Mission. He pointed out how the Nada Mission has changed over the years. It began as a place of worship and Bible Study. And while it continues to serve this function, the Nada Mission has become a place of partnerships. Nada is a small community adjacent to the Red River Gorge. On Sunday afternoons, the mission is a place of worship and bible study. During the week it is a hub for the people of Nada, a kind of community center.
Perhaps it was fitting that the first “big” meeting of Mountain Hope partners be held at the Nada Mission. The fifty people present at this meeting point to the importance of partnerships for the Nada Mission and also for the success of Mountain Hope. The needs in the three target counties are tremendous. Partners from a distance come along side local partners, identifying assets to make a difference in the name of Jesus Christ.
Click here for pictures of the meeting.
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February 21, 2008
In my last chat I talked about how our stories intersect with the stories of people in Morocco. Today, I’m talking about how our stories intersect with the stories of people of the 19th century. Adoniram Judson, credited as being the father of Baptist foreign missions, went to Burma (now Myanmar) in 1812. When he arrived, there was not one known Christian in that land of millions. It was to be six long, heart-breaking years before the date of the first decision for Christ. Except for a few months (when he returned to America after thirty-four years in Burma), Judson spent 38 years in Burma.
So now, almost two centuries since Judson sailed for Burma, thousands of Karen people (pronounced ka RIN) are coming to America. The Karen were originally from Burma and have been refugees (many of them for years) in Thailand. A large percentage of the Karen people are Christians (by some counts, 40%). Most of the Christians are Baptists. The “Jesus seeds” were originally planted in Burma by Adoniram Judson.
I learned in January of 2007 that many Karen were being resettled in America and that some (perhaps 200 to 300 per year) were to be resettled in Louisville.
Two Baptist churches in Louisville are having “hands on” ministry to and with the Karen–Highland Baptist Church and Crescent Hill Baptist Church. Highland has sponsored a Karen family and several Karen attend that church. Other churches are joining these efforts as a result of a lunch meeting sponsored this week by Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville. Harry Rowland and Bo Prosser of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Atlanta, joined about a dozen local leaders to help coordinate the responses of churches in Louisville to the arrival of these Karen brothers and sisters in Christ.
One year ago this weekend, twenty Karen people came to Louisville, and because of a previous connection, began attending Crescent Hill Baptist Church. On any given Sunday now, 60 to 90 Karen adults worship at Crescent Hill. Perhaps that many children are also present in the nursery and children’s programs. Their presence has changed the “texture” of this church. Each Sunday, one of the scripture passages for the day is read in Karen (and printed in English). The other passages are read in English and printed in Karen. At least one Sunday a month, the Karen choir sings in the worship service.
Highland Baptist Church, Crescent Hill Baptist Church and many other churches and individuals in Louisville are making a difference as these people make America their home. More significantly though, it seems to me the Karen people are making a difference in these churches. More than just a “mission project of the church,” these new friends are becoming part of the church.
At Crescent Hill, Steve Clark, CBF Affiliate Missionary, says the Karen people are giving back to the church. He points out that they are giving to the church in many ways. They have joined in work groups, help in the nursery and share of themselves in worship.
The sons and daughters of people who were reached for Christ in Burma by American missionaries are now making a difference in more than one American church! Adoniram Judson never saw the results of the “Jesus-seeds” he planted.
So now the Karen are planting “Jesus-seeds” in America. Greg Pope, pastor of Crescent Hill Baptist Church says: “We don’t need to evangelize them. They are making Christians out of us. They are helping us be church.”
For more information on the Karen people go to http://www.karenkonnection.org/
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