CBF General Assembly

June 20-23, 2012

Ft. Worth, Texas 

Join us on Thursday, June 21 for our KBF state meeting at 4pm. 

Learn more and register at www.thefellowship.info/Assembly

Senator Mitch McConnell to Visit Crescent Hill Baptist, Discuss Burma

On January 13-18, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is going to Burma.  After he returns, he has requested that Crescent Hill Baptist Church of Louisville host a community meeting so that he can meet with folks from Burma and those in Louisville concerned about what is happening in Burma to hear his thoughts on what he saw in Burma and to get feedback, particularly from folks from Burma, about what changes they would like to see occur there.  The meeting will be held, Saturday, January 21, at 10:00am.  All are invited to attend.  This remains a fluid situation and if further information about this meeting unfolds, the latest news will be posted on Crescent Hill's website at www.chbcky.org.  

Since 2006, Steve Clark and Annette Ellard have been serving as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field personnel in Louisville in partnership with Crescent Hill.  Steve and Annette welcome the Karen and other refugees from Burma while encouraging churches in Louisville and across the country to build relationships with these refugees and develop ministries to meet their spiritual and physical needs.  Primarily a ministry of availability, Steve and Annette share the love of God through pastoral care, social work, crisis management, advocacy and consulting to refugees from Burma and those who seek to serve them.

September 2011 KBF Newsletter

September 2011 KBF Newsletter

SELAHvie - Students Pause, Refresh Life.

This week I drove with three college students from Kentucky to Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega, Alabama.  There we joined 180 other college students and CBF colleagues from across the nation for SELAHvie - Pause. Life.

All of these college student have been in ministry this summer.  This gathering of some of CBF's best served as Collegiate Congregational Interns, Student.go summer mission workers, or Passport summer staffers.  What a blessing these students have been and were to all of us at SELAHvie.

This time of reflection was a breath of fresh air not only for these students, but for me as well.  These young leaders love life, Jesus and his Church.  They have a passion for sharing their love with future generations.  Their excitement about worship, their concern for justice in the world, and their involvement in God's mission in the world is contagious.

Upon leaving Alabama to return to Louisville, I left with a renewed energy and passion not only for God, but for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.  Passport, Student.go, and Congregational Internships are investments not only in the future of CBF - they are endorsements of the good work CBF is accomplishing as a 20-year-old movement.  I am blessed to have been invited to share in community with these folks at SELAHvie.

Applications and interviews will soon be available for the summer of 2012.  See the links below for more information:
Passport Camps
Collegiate Congregational Internships
Student.Go 

KBF State Breakout In Tampa

Thursday, June 23, 4pm

Reasons to attend: renew friendships learn about events being planned in Kentucky learn more about Emotional Intelligence (EQ) and how EQ affects your leadership style Chris Gambill of the Center for Congregational Health will give us a taste of a longer workshop he will lead in Kentucky at our Spring Gathering in 2012. Effective leadership has often been associated with high intelligence, high competency in a field, or possession of special knowledge or expertise. Research indicates none of these factors are necessarily a good predictor for leadership excellence. An important, and often overlooked, factor is a leader's emotional intelligence. Why do spiritually committed, skilled, and caring congregational leaders sometimes function poorly as leaders? Clergy and lay leaders do not always think or act as if emotions play a significant role in important issues such as decision-making, consensus building, conflict management, or job performance. Attend the state breakout in Tampa and get a taste of how you can apply emotional intelligence in the context of church.

A Small Church With A Big Vision: The First Baptist Church of Middletown Goes Albanian

By Jim Cobban, Pastor of The First Baptist Church of Middletown, Kentucky

Doug and Kim Gaskins         In late Winter the search begins for a summer mission project for the adult construction team from the First Baptist Church of Middletown, Kentucky.  While searching through the CBF website looking for stateside mission requests, Jim Cobban, the church’s pastor, came across the names of Bob and Janice Newell, CBF field personnel in Athens, Greece.  They were searching for American Christians with specific skills:  a financial planner/debt counselor; a computer skills teacher; and a social worker.  All of these needs are for a one-week mission project at PORTA, the Albanian cultural center in Athens.   It was a “Eureka” moment!

           The following December, after a ten-day pilgrimage in the Holy Land, pastor Jim Cobban stopped in Athens for a few days.   At a meeting at PORTA, Jim and Bob discussed how the First Baptist Church could partner with the Newells in their outreach to the Albanian population in Greece.  Without a “missions budget,” funding would have to be creative but both men were trusting God to supply the needs of PORTA.   Returning home, Jim began to share with the church his dream of sending First Baptist members overseas to use their unique gifts in missions and ministry.

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KBF To Host Two Previews of CBF's New Children's Curriculm

KBF will host two preview events for CBF’s new children’s resource “Finding Hope: A Field Trip of Faith.”  One preview event will be held at Broadway Baptist Church in Louisville on February 17, 2011 at 11:00am (lunch provided) and the other event will be at Georgetown Baptist Church in Georgetown on February 17, 2011 at 3:00pm (light snacks provided).  Devita Parnell, Congregational Resources Specialist for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship will lead this preview event.  Preview events are free and open to anyone interested. (RSVP for either event by calling or emailing Josh Speight - 502-426-1931, josh@kybf.org)

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