Monthly Archives: March 2017

Meet Our New 2017 Kentucky Missionaries

Spring has officially arrived, which means it is time for our annual missionary orientation and commissioning of the new missionaries serving in Kentucky.  The orientation is a time for the missionaries to learn about the Kentucky Baptist Convention, the Cooperative Program, and many resources and support available to them.  This time of networking with each other is most valuable.

Eight men and women that have sensed God’s call to serve in ministries across our state will be commissioned at the Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union Missions Celebration on Saturday morning, April 1st, at Central Baptist Church in Corbin.

Those new missionaries are:

  • Damon & Yolonda Armstead, Executive Director and Director of Weekday Ministries at the Baptist Fellowship Center in Louisville.
  • Cory Bledsoe, Executive Director of Louisville Rescue Mission.
  • Joanna Mack, Executive Director of Grace & Mercy in Hopkinsville.
  • Renee Parsons, Director of Hope Central, a ministry of Central Baptist Church in Ashland.
  • Teresa Purichia, Interim Executive Director of Crossroads Life Center, a pregnancy care center in Glasgow.
  • Twyla Sheffield, KBC Northern Region Missions Mobilization Consultant.
  • Kendra Smallwood, Director of “A Chosen Sisterhood” women’s ministry of Rockhouse Baptist Church in Hyden.

This year’s WMU Celebration will also feature an Eastern Kentucky Missions Extravaganza that you will not want to miss.  During the Extravaganza participants will have an opportunity to visit and interact with many of the eastern Kentucky missionaries for a “hands-on” experience of the work they do.

By all means, we would like to extend a special invitation for you to join us for this year’s KY WMU Celebration and commissioning service, and pledge your support to these new missionaries.

The 2017 Kentucky Missionary of the Year will also be announced.

For more information on the Kentucky WMU Missions Celebration go to http://kywmu.org/annualmeeting.

Hope to see you there.

Mission Partnerships

In 1925, Southern Baptists began the Cooperative Program to unite our resources for the furthering of the gospel. Southern Baptist churches give a portion of their offerings to the Cooperative Program to fund both state and national convention work. Over the years, thousands of missionaries have been deployed all around the world for gospel advancement; and countless churches have been strengthened as well as planted in areas in need of the gospel.

We are a cooperating denomination. We work together for the advancement of Jesus’ fame. This cooperation is meant for not only our giving, but also our serving. We do not simply give so that missions will be done for us. We give to partner more strategically and effectively that missions might be done together. Regardless of the size of the church or location of the church, each church that gives through the Cooperative Program can truly say that they help to support nearly 10,000 missionaries around the world.

Yet, we do not give simply to support missions; we give to strengthen our partnership in missions. We can do more together than we can alone. Hence, we give our dollars, but we also want to give our lives. The Missions Mobilization Team of the Kentucky Baptist Convention desires to help churches reach Kentucky and the world for Christ. To this aim, we want to be a funnel for churches to partner in certain parts of Kentucky, North America, and the World.

We create relationships with missionaries in order to connect our churches to strategic opportunities for gospel partnerships. The partnership is ultimately with the local church, not the KBC. By partnership, the KBC desire’s simply to connect and allow each local church to develop partnerships for the Great Commission. While the KBC cannot connect churches everywhere, we are connecting churches to strategic places in North America and the nations.

Here are our current areas of emphases for KBC churches, both in North American and Internationally:

In partnership with NAMB, we are connecting churches to three SEND cities:

  • Cincinnati, OH: 1,639,443 people live in the metro Cincinnati area. There is one SBC church for every 10,857 metro Cincinnati residents.

  • Salt Lake City, UT: 2,743,111 people live in the Salt Lake City metro area. There is one SBC church for every 43,942 metro Salt Lake City residents.

  • Boston, MA: 5,900,000 people live in the Boston metro area. There is only one SBC church for every 39,257 people in the Boston area.

In partnership with IMB, we are connecting churches to several international areas:

  • São Paulo, Brazil: São Paulo is one of the largest metro areas in the world with a population of over 20 million people. It is estimated that between 18 and 19 million people are lost.

  • Sub-Saharan Africa: With over 40 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, the need for the gospel is great there. From disaster relief to theological training to evangelism to church planting, the opportunities for partnerships are numerous.

  • Europe: Nearly 800 million people live in Europe and it is estimated that 99% are lost without Christ. The region of the world that brought us the gospel needs us to go back there with the gospel. We are exploring a specific country in this region that will be revealed soon.

The KBC is here to assist churches in any of these areas for gospel partnerships. In fact, if your church is interested in other areas not mentioned in these emphases, we are more than willing to help you connect wherever the Lord may be leading you. Contact me at [email protected] for further details. I look forward to helping you reach the world for Christ.

A Deadly Temptation

“A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor’ (Proverbs 29:23).

Pride is a frequent topic within the Scriptures, and Proverbs 29:23 reminds us that pride will eventually lead one to fall.  Repeatedly, God warns us of the dangers of pride.  Pride breeds arrogance and self-glorification, and  blinds us to our shortcomings and sin.

Pride is deadly to spiritual leadership.  It is deadly because it deludes us into seeking after ourWest Liberty - 4 own kingdoms rather than seeking to build God’s Kingdom.  Our own little kingdoms built on charisma and our natural gifts will not last.  The Bible reminds us that God opposes the proud, but will give His grace to the humble.

As Spiritual leaders, may we learn from God’s wisdom by seeking to lead with humility as servant leaders.

Servant leaders are:

  1. Humble in Attitude..  Keep Christ first in all things.  A humble leader does not think of
    himself as lower than a worm’s belly, he just always recognizes that only Christ deserves the throne of people’s lives.  Keep the focus on Christ, not ourselves.  Seek after Christ’s way, not our own way.
  2. Humble in Actions.  We are called to serve.  Develop the Godly habit of serving others.  The best way to maintain a humble spirit is by putting others before yourself.  Be an example of Christlike service to others..
  3. Humble in Speech.  Seek to glorify God and not yourself when giving testimony.  Shift the focus to God and others when sharing.  Learn to listen to others.  Focus n praying for others rather than your own self interests.
  4. Humble in Vision.  Keeping our focus on the Great Commission and the Great Commandment of Christ keeps our focus on His Kingdom, rather than building our own little sand castles.  Our calling is to make His Name known among all the nations.  It will not matter if they remember our name, but it will matter if He knows our name as one of His faithful servants.

As C S Lewis once shared, “Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.”

 

 

 

Implementing Associational Change

In today’s rapidly changing context, associational directors of missions (DoMs) are being forced to choose between leading like a missionary or serving as a curator and preserver of what has been.  Effective DoMs who want to see results will choose to have a missionary mindset.  They stand upon the eternal truths of scripture, but are ready to dump methods and paradigms that no longer give value to the association.  DoMs who function as missionaries are open to change and adapt their ministry to the real need of member churches, not the churches of yesterday.  Like the apostle Paul, they become all things to all people so that they might save some (1 Cor. 9:22).

On the other hand, DoMs with a curator mindset will value the past and resist change.  They believe old methods and paradigms are worth protecting, even if they no longer work. They are afraid of innovation and slow to embrace needed change.

While change may be needed, it almost always leads to failure if there is no appreciation for the past. I’m not suggesting a preservation of the past at the expense of the future, but an acknowledgement of the past and it’s contribution to the association’s current reality is important when leading change.

Associations that are effective and provide benefit to member churches will exercise flexibility, a willingness to try new things and the desire to make needed changes quickly.  Associations today should regularly assess themselves and the need for change.  Not every needed change will work, but don’t be afraid of failure or innovation.

Here are four things to keep in mind as you lead your association through needed change.  Hopefully these suggestions will allow your association to enjoy the benefits of implementing change without losing credibility, if things don’t go exactly as planned.

  1. Use Experimentation Language – words are important, so consider useing “try” instead of “change” or “discussion” instead of “meeting”. Experiments provide you with wiggle room and people expect trial runs to need mid-course corrections. See compromise as a sign of wisdom, not a sign of weakness.
  2. Plan in Pencil – nothing ever goes exactly as planned. A planned change or innovation is only a theory until implemented, and then it becomes a failure or a success. Think flexibility rather than certainty.  Think in terms of this is what we’ll do for now, rather than, this what we will do forever.  They only thing certain is that the future will be different from what you expect. Keep as many options open as long as possible.
  3. Stay Away from Hype – a big splash leaves little room for retreat. If you want long term success, be cautious of using hype to sell it. If we hype and it succeeds, all is well.  But if we hype and it fails, there is a loss in future leadership.  “Buy in” is helpful, but more importantly, we need permission to try something different.  Permission is easier to get than “buy in”, and a lot easier to back away from if things don’t go well.
  4. Avoid Leadership ADHD – ADHD leadership is very similar to innovative leadership. They both try lots of stuff. But non-ADHD leadership tries it in an experimental mode.  Nothing is oversold.  Everything is judged by its impact on the mission. However, ADHD leaders never slow down to experiment.  Everything is always full speed ahead.  When ADHD leadership is in charge, there is a constant stream of new initiatives and failed projects that numb everyone about the importance of the mission at hand.

If an association is going to be effective and valued by churches today, change and innovation are necessary.  There must be the ability and permission to make changes as needed or the association will die.  While change is needed in most of our Baptist associations, change at any cost will kill the association and render her of no value to member churches.  As Larry Osborne has pointed out, “change is a lot like electricity.  Handled well, it brings great blessings. Handled carelessly or without understanding, it can burn the house down.”