Monthly Archives: May 2021

Crossroads Baptist Church Helping to Restart Nada Mission

Just off the Mountain Parkway, on the Wolfe-Morgan County line, sits Crossroads Baptist Church, a little white church in the quaint community of Helechawa, KY.  The building that once housed the community school was given to the church as a place of worship.  In 2007 Crossroads was started as a mission of Faith Baptist Church Cannel City with 6 members.  It soon grew to 17 or 18 members.

Mission teams from Pellville Baptist Church in Hawesville, White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Mt. Washington Baptist Church, Little Flock Baptist Church in Shepherdsville, Shively Baptist Church in Louisville, and perhaps others, came alongside Crossroads to fix up their building and help with outreach.  For several years Shively Baptist Church also came to lead Vacation Bible School.  I recall the day someone from the church called to ask for help in planning their own VBS.  Although they had made many good friends and appreciated the work of the mission teams, they were eager to conduct a VBS themselves, without depending on outside help.

During the November 2013 Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting, Crossroads moved from “mission” to “church” status.  Red River Baptist Association Mission Strategist George Drake shared that West Liberty Baptist Church had been the mother church of Faith Baptist Church in the early 1980s, Faith Baptist Church was the mother church of Grace Baptist Church in the mid-1990s and Crossroads Baptist Church in 2007, and Grace Baptist Church was the mother church of Wrigley Baptist in 2005.  In the Fall of 2013 I visited, and wrote a blog about, Crossroads Baptist Church.  The blog ended with, “Perhaps sometime in the future we will hear that Crossroads has also birthed a church.” 

While that has not actually happened, I recently learned from Red River Baptist Association Mission Strategist George Drake that Crossroads has moved their Sunday evening services to the Nada Baptist Mission, about 30 miles away.  Since hearing that the Nada Mission had closed and the church building given to the Red River Baptist Association, Crossroads Pastor Mark Risner has had such a burden for the church and the Nada community, and desires to see the Mission revived or replanted.

Crossroad’s members have painted and cleaned up around the Nada Mission, have gone door-to-door inviting the community to their services, and are planning a Vacation Bible School for the later part of June 2021.  Other churches in the area, as well as a mission team from Western Kentucky, have also come alongside to help with the Nada Mission.  Volunteers have helped with the physical labor, while others have donated funds to help pay bills. 

Before COVID Crossroads was averaging 45-50 in attendance.  This little church, in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, is excited to be on-mission.  Please pray with them about the future of the Nada Mission, for the families in the community, and that God will send a pastor to this church.  I can’t wait to see how my blog will read in another 8 years.

Churches helping churches, churches planting churches, churches reopening churches with closed doors – this is the cooperative Kentucky Baptist Convention way…and, might I add, God’s way of spreading the Gospel, from person to person, community to community.

Timing proves critical to sharing gospel with refugees

A word from IMB workers and The Global Refugee Network:

Time is never a guarantee when Christians meet a refugee in Greece. They may have years, months, weeks or just hours to share the hope that is found in Jesus. This is why International Mission Board missionaries and ministry partners who serve in Athens, Greece, developed an eight-hour, eight-day and eight-week ministry strategy to share the gospel and disciple refugees based on the time available.

“You never know how long you are going to have with someone,” Derrick Pennon* said. Pennon and his family formerly served with the IMB in Athens, Greece, before accepting a position at a Baptist church in Kentucky.

“You might lead somebody to faith that morning, but they’re on a train that night, leaving for Macedonia, so drop everything you’re doing. You’ve got eight hours,” Pennon added. “What are you going to give him in eight hours, or a family who might be leaving in eight days? What can you give them in eight days so that they can reproduce it whenever they land?”

Pennon says eight weeks to eight months with new Christians is ideal. They’ve found this time frame gives them opportunity to more fully share biblical truths before the refugees are relocated.

Greece is a transition country—no refugee comes with the intent to stay, Pennon explained. The Greek unemployment rate is high, making it difficult for many Greek citizens to find work.

Refugees typically first arrive on a Greek island, many of them coming by boat from Turkey. On the islands, initial checks are performed and then refugees receive approval—the timing of this varies—to be ferried to Athens. Refugees are placed in camps in the Greek capital as the asylum process continues, and while they wait to hear what country will admit them. Once refugees move to their host countries, gaining residency and citizenship is often another long journey.

It wasn’t always this way, but Pennon said refugees on the islands now might be there for years before they are ferried across to Athens. The islands are very overcrowded, and the conditions are poor. Pennon said the unfortunate reality is that many refugees stall in Greece due to a backlog of cases. The country has had difficulty managing the caseload of refugees coming through and COVID-19 exacerbated the situation.

Some of the refugees that Pennon has met have been there two years. Though many refugees have long stints in Greece, Pennon and other believers will often meet refugees interested in the gospel during the tail end of those two years. Sometimes they meet refugees who use smugglers to expedite their move to other countries. Timing can be frustrating and unpredictable, making preparedness key.

“God in His sovereignty—He knows when someone is going to come to faith,” Pennon said.

Pennon said they leave the timing up to the Lord and are committed to being prepared, no matter what.

“We’ve learned that the hard way during the height of the [refugee] crisis, because, literally, people would get off the boat in the morning in Athens, and then that night they’d be leaving for Macedonia. And so, you literally had eight hours—what are you going to do in that time that you have with someone?”

The height of the refugee crisis in 2015 led to the formation and galvanization of their eight-hour, eight-week and eight-day strategy. Though the crest of the crisis has passed, the strategy’s efficacy continued and IMB missionaries currently on the field are continuing the ministry.

Pennon said those ministering to refugees operate with a movement-minded strategy with church multiplication as the end goal. Their team includes multiple nationalities working together.

When possible, they pair refugees with a Christian from the same or similar background for evangelism and discipleship. One of the strengths of the diversity of their team is having same-culture or similar-culture Christians sharing the gospel.

In this way, God makes the most of their time together—however short that time might be.

A Word of Thanks

Dear Southern Baptists, 

As the facilitators of the IMB Global Refugee Network, we would like to express to you our sincere thanks for your ongoing concern, gifts and prayers for refugees and displaced peoples around the world and our workers among them. Your generosity and faithfulness help to spread God’s love and saving gospel to those who are often seen as, “the least of the least of these.” (Matthew 25:40).

Blessings, 

Barry and Sarah Holtman*

To discover how you and your church can get involved in reaching Forcibly Displaced Peoples both locally and globally, contact John Barnett, Missions Strategist, by email: [email protected] or phone: 502-654-3385. We are here to serve you today!

Link to this IMB article on the web:

Timing proves critical to sharing gospel with refugees

Are You Ready?

Ron Crow, Disaster Relief Director, Kentucky Baptist Convention

I remember driving through our community one sunny afternoon and drove past the local fire station. I noticed that the overhead doors were open, and I was assuming at first that it was because it was such a beautiful day.

But then something else caught my eye. The fire trucks were just inside and the doors of all the firetrucks were open. Hanging from each door was the fireman’s coat and on the floor below each door was his turnout gear. As I saw that picture, I immediately thought to myself, “They are ready to respond within 30 seconds the moment the alarm sounds. They were ready at a moment’s notice.”

With my heart and passion for the disaster relief ministry, it got me to thinking. So, I asked myself the question, “Are we ready to respond at a moment’s notice when disaster strikes?” Obviously, as volunteers there is no way we can respond as quickly as a fire department. But are we ready? Are you ready?

We have learned that there are four basic phases of a disaster response.

The first is READINESS. Are you ready when disaster strikes? Being ready starts now, not after a disaster happens. We need to be alert, available and able. Being ready means being trained, equipped and being ready when the need comes. It involves already knowing and have rehearsed the steps when the call comes.

The second phase is RESPONSE. Response involves mobilizing to meet urgent needs. Response involves search and rescue, immediate relief, feeding, sheltering, and meeting emergent needs.

The third phase is RECOVERY. The recovery phase can last a few days to several months. Recovery includes chainsaw, flood, fire, roofing and tarping, and debris clean-up. This is the phase where the work gets done and requires many volunteers, regardless of skill level.

The final phase is REBUILD. This phase is usually long term and requires assistance from both skilled labor and those willing to serve and learn. This often is the reconstruction phase after homes have been affected by disasters. One major advantage during this phase is the opportunity to build a deeper relationship with the survivors.

We all know disasters happen and they can even happen to any of us. Are you ready? Have you, or are you planning to take the steps to be ready to respond when there is a need?

Hurting people need helping hands. And helping hands come from caring hearts.

Are you ready?