John's Coordinator Chat
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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February 17, 2008
Our story often intersects with the stories of people on the other side of the world. Consider the positive difference many people in Kentucky are making in the lives of refugees in Morocco. A couple of years ago, Kentucky Baptist Fellowship began a partnership with the Eglise Evangelique au Maroc (EEAM). The EEAM is made up of legally recognized Protestant churches in the Muslim nation of Morocco. Six of our Kentucky churches partner with six Morocco churches.
Thousands of students from across Africa are studying in Morocco. Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees from across Africa are flooding into North Africa. The churches of Kentucky Baptist Fellowship have a unique opportunity to partner with Morocco churches and their ministries to students, migrants and refugees.
I recently received the following note from David, a friend and leader in the Morocco church…
Hello John,
I hope that all is well with you and your family. We are good here.
I wanted to thank you and Kentucky Baptist Fellowship again for all of your support of the refugee/migrant ministry here. You guys are such a blessing. Last week we spent 3 days on the eastern border (an area where folks from across the continent come out of the desert) ministering to folks.
One of the things we did was to deliver basic meds that had been given
by Kentucky folks who have come over, bringing items from the care packs. They were so much appreciated. We just want to say thank you again. Your giving goes a long way.
Blessings and peace,
David
For more information on the Kentucky/Morocco partnership click:
Morocco Partnership
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January 25, 2008
Not long ago I spilled coffee in my wife’s new car while she was out of town. Quick to find a solution to my carelessness, I went to the local home store to purchase carpet cleaning supplies. After finding the needed supplies, I rushed up to the check out counter. As I looked up, the clerk smiled, as if to say, “What’s going on here?” I replied to her non-verbal question by saying, “Everybody has a story, do you want to hear mine?” She did and we both got a laugh about my predicament.
The fact is everybody has at least three stories. The first relates to our past. The second relates to our current situation. The third relates to our future. In the book, Hope in Pastoral Care and Counseling, Andrew Lester points out the importance of a person’s future story. We tend to live “toward” our future story whether that story is negative or positive, hopeful or despairing.
For example, a pastor of an inner city church tells about a young lady who was graduating from high school. Even though she was accepted as a college student, she was unable to attend. She simply could not imagine herself away from her home surroundings and as a college student.
The gospel message is a message of hope. Jesus heard people’s stories and helped them create new stories toward which they could live. In recent days we, in the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship, have been discerning God’s vision for our future. We have been constructing a future story.
Through Mountain Hope, the combined effort of many people seek to help individuals and communities construct a hopeful and positive future story. While we are interested in their past and their current situation, we are more interested in helping engender a hopeful future story. We do this by seeking to be positive reflections of Christ, bringing a spirit of hope, grace, and opportunity.
In this “Coordinator Chat” area of the website, I hope to share stories. Some will be stories of our past. Others will be stories of our present and future and how, together, we are helping construct positive future stories.
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