2012 August/September fellowship! by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship

fellowship!

CBF

August/September 2012

Cooperative baptist fellowship | www.thefellowship.info

Serving Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission

Student.Go For more than a decade, college and graduate students have been serving among some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most neglected people through CBFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Student.Go program.

Lesley-Ann Hix photo

Learn more on pages 18-22.

Leaning into the future together By Patrick Anderson, CBF Interim Executive Coordinator The first 22 years of CBF have been inspirational as our celebration of Daniel Vestal’s leadership attests. The natural change in focus is toward the future, and for that we need courage. We must strike a balance between preservation and innovation, preserving the strong values Daniel led us to renew among Baptists worldwide while we transition organizationally or strategically. Every national trend is toward change. Do we think only CBF is exempt? We cannot do things the same way we have done them in the past. In a climate of change, the temptation is to assume a cramped and fearful posture, to draw inward toward the herd, to choose sanctuary and safety from contamination from the sights and sounds and smells of God’s world. CBF’s DNA will not permit us to be cut off from needed changes with our arms closed to preserve rather than open to embrace today’s opportunities. CBF does not live in a climate of fear. As CBF of South Carolina coordinator Marion Aldridge reminds us, “Fear not. Those words were spoken by the prophets, by the angels and by Jesus.” We will not be afraid. No. We live in and contend with our changing culture, a culture which has become more and more secular. We know that the church no longer owns the 11 o’clock hour on Sundays. We lament the decline of persons in our churches between the ages of 18 and 34. We have learned that the church does not have a monopoly on outreach to the poor and disadvantaged. Such outreach has become a civic virtue. Every student seeking admission to college and every graduating college senior knows the importance of community service. Banks and colleges send more volunteers to Habitat for Humanity than churches do. Doing good is no longer a proprietary, exclusive endeavor of the church. The Wall Street Journal reported recently that many people feel they are just fine being good people and good neighbors, participating in a kind of feel good, do right, therapeutic deism. The implications for all of us in CBF are daunting. Our challenge is to translate the gospel into this secular culture. The gospel is considered foolishness in many segments of society just as it was for Corinthians. Yet we find the gospel to be the power of God. And we know that embracing the status quo and living in the past will not release the power of the gospel. Our blueprint for change is found in the 2012 Task Force Report, the result of hard work by some of the best and brightest persons in CBF. I trust that report. I Vol. 22, No. 4 trust the people who created that report, and I trust CBF to embrace the future. Interim executive Coordinator • We know that we are all gifted and that the future belongs to God. As selfPatrick Anderson identified Baptists held together by our mutual connection through CBF, we are all Coordinator, Fellowship responsible for determining what and who we are to be in 2012 and beyond. With Advancement • Ben McDade soul competency and individual freedom, responsibility closely follows. We cannot Editor • Lance Wallace managing Editor • Patricia Heys pass our responsibility off to others. We all must share the load. Associate Editor • Carla Wynn Davis Twenty-two years ago as CBF was being born, Nancy Ammerman said to those Phone • (770) 220-1600 assembled, “I do not know what the future is, but I know that I would rather be Fax • (770) 220-1685 here with you than to be back in Egypt making bricks.” Our challenge now is to E-Mail • fellowship@thefellowship.info enter fully into the land of promise of 2012 and beyond. And I would rather be Web Site • www.thefellowship.info here, leaning into the future with CBFers wherever and whoever we are, than to be fellowship! is published 6 times a anyplace else or with anyone else on earth.

year in Feb./March, April/May, June/July, Aug./Sept., Oct./Nov., Dec./Jan. by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Inc., 2930 Flowers Road South Suite 133, Atlanta, GA 30341. Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA. USPS #015-625. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to fellowship! Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, 2930 Flowers Road South, Suite 133, Atlanta, GA 30341.

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Contents

Mollie Palmer, former Student.Go intern in Helena-West Helena, Ark., was so In Canada, CBF field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt are ministering impacted by her summer experiences among the immigrants and refugees living in the country’s largest cities. that she returned to community to continue serving full-time. Read more about Student.Go on pages 16-22.

Serve: Among refugees and immigrants

Church Spotlight: Heritage Baptist Church, Canton, Ga.

Partner Spotlight: Center for Family and Community Ministries at Baylor University Five Tips for hosting a missions event or guest speaker Training church leaders • Harts provide resources and training in Chile • Field personnel, seminary provide training for Burmese pastors • Cayards work to strengthen local churches in China

15 16-22

Affect: August Training church leaders Student.Go • Summer experience leads Humbert to full-time job • Missions experiences lead Georgia native to seminary • Ward commissioned to serve among refugees in Uganda • Smith serves with Together for Hope in Alabama

23 24-27 28-29 31

Affect: September Student.Go

News from the 2012 General Assembly

Meet new field personnel and church starters

CBF Photo

Meet Keith Herron, CBF moderator

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August/september 2012

When you give...

The ministry of the Aldapes in India is made possible by the generous gifts of Fellowship Baptists to the CBF Offering for Global Missions.

“There are literally hundreds of homeless children around the town. Once the orphanage is dedicated in August, it will have a tremendously positive effect on getting kids off the street and into a safe place to eat, sleep and get a good education.”

Jack Wehmiller, CBF photo

One of CBF’s field personnel Dominican Republic

long the streets of Barahona, Dominican Republic, homeless children are everywhere. They live in the streets, begging for spare change and looking for provisions so they can sleep in the park under cardboard boxes. To reach these children and help give them a place to call home, Pedro Johnson, pastor of Iglesia Evangelica Dominica church is constructing an orphanage adjacent to the church building. On a small compound, Johnson has overseen the construction of a new church building, a parsonage, school and a three-story

give 4

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mission house for visiting mission teams that can sleep up to 17 people. CBF field personnel C.J. and Jack Wehmiller have coordinated the work of many of these mission teams in building the new orphanage, which opens in August, and was completed solely by visiting teams and local church members. Many of the children living on the streets are natives of the Dominican Republic. Their parents are often too poor to care for them, so they are left to find their own way. Other children are Haitian, refugees of the massive earthquake centered in Port-au-Prince in 2010. When the orphanage opens, it will have

the capacity to house 100 boys between the ages of 6 and 16 (the government requires separate orphanages for each gender). The boys will not only be provided with housing but will receive a basic education, Bible study and technical skill training to help them find employment and break the cycle of poverty. “This orphanage would not have been possible without the donations, work and support of churches from the United States,” Wehmiller said. “And without the continued involvement of individuals, Sunday School classes and congregations, the ongoing support of the children of the orphanage will not be possible.”

Your support of all the Fellowship’s mission and ministries makes possible countless stories of lives changed. To give, go online to www.thefellowship.info/give or use the envelope provided in this issue.

August/september 2012

Serve Opportunities to

Serve among internationals and refugees n Louisville,

Ky.

www.thefellowship.info/clarkellard Serve alongside CBF field personnel Steve Clark and Annette Ellard as they minister among the Karen and Chin refugee communities.

n St.

Louis, Mo.

n Asheville,

N.C.

www.thefellowship.info/graham CBF field personnel Fran and Mike Graham work to provide holistic ministries that empower Slavic immigrants. Groups and individuals are needed on an ongoing basis. Dental professionals are also needed to serve in periodic dental clinics.

n Fort

Worth, Texas

www.thefellowship.info/morrow Small teams are needed to serve alongside Karen Morrow, one of CBFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s field personnel. Morrow ministers among refugees, helping them to acclimate to life in the United States, learn English and find employment.

n Fremont,

Calif.

www.thefellowship.info/sample In the San Francisco Bay area, teams are needed to assist CBF field personnel

serve

In Canada, Kim and Marc Wyatt minister among refugees.

CBF photo

www.thefellowship.info/zivanov CBF field personnel Mira and Sasha Zivanov partner with Kirkwood Baptist Church to serve Bosnian refugees. Individuals and teams are needed to assist with food pantries and computer and English classes.

Lita and Rick Sample as they minister among and advocate for victims of human trafficking. Many of these victims are internationals. Ministries include holiday celebrations, carnivals for children and food and clothing distribution.

n Ottawa,

Canada

www.thefellowship.info/wyatt As refugees come through the doors of Matthew House, CBF field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt are there to welcome them. Work alongside the Wyatts to help refugees find the resources they need to start new lives.

n Roquetas,

Spain

www.thefellowship.info/whitley In southern Spain, CBF field personnel Joel and Tiffne Whitley minister among refugees through the Mi Casa ministry center. Individuals are needed to engage local residents in social and spiritual outreach ministries, lead Bible study and discipleship classes and teach sewing.

n Athens,

Greece

www.thefellowship.info/newell/greece CBF field personnel Bob and Janice Newell opened Porta, a spiritual and cultural center for Albanian immigrants in 2007. Individuals and teams are needed to serve through Porta, assisting with art shows, job training, worship services, language classes, feeding programs, parenting workshops, financial planning, computer classes and theology and leadership courses.

n Marseille,

France

www.thefellowship.info/brown In the beautiful coastal town of Marseille, CBF field personnel David and Julie Brown serve among thousands of refugees who have come to Europe in search of a better life. You can partner with the Brownsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; ministry by teaching English classes and leadership development classes, leading music, helping with construction projects or conducting Vacation Bible School.

To learn more about specific opportunities, contact CBF staff member Chris Boltin at engage@thefellowship.info or visit www.thefellowship.info/serve. fellowship!

August/september 2012

prayerspeople of the

Make a list

blessings, thanksgivings and askits and to reflect on these from time to time. She suggests this as By Bo Prosser, CBF Coordinator a means of seeing God’s faithfulof Missional Congregations ness to our prayers. Keeping a am not a list maker. list also allows us to be reminded In the time it takes to of those details that might otherwrite it all down, sevwise escape our minds. eral things on the list As you feel that God has reBo Prosser could have been acsponded to one of the items on complished. However, keeping a running your list, place a check mark by that item. prayer list is an important prayer practice. Over a period of time, you’ll have a visual reIn her book, Kingdom Family, Trevecca cord of how much you’ve prayed for and how Okholm encourages us to keep lists of much God has answered. You will be amazed

CBF Ministries Prayer Calendar CH = Chaplain FP = Field Personnel FPC = Child of Field Personnel GMP = Global Missions Partner PC = Pastoral Counselor PLT = Church Planter

14 Maurice Graham, Richmond, VA (PC); Roy Moritz, Elizabeth City, NC (CH) 15 Daniel Shadix, Prattville, AL (CH) 16 Don McNeely, Emeritus (FP)

August

17 Joe Moffitt, Wetmore, CO (CH); Susan Rogers, Jacksonville, FL (PLT); Anna Sample, 2001, San Francisco, CA (FPC)

1 Steven Safreed, Fayetteville, GA (CH); Stephen Saunders, Live Oak, TX (CH)

18 Ben Craver, Albuquerque, NM (CH); Fran Stevenson, Fremont, CA (FP)

2 Mike Beach, Knoxville, TN (CH)

19 Kaela Ruble, 1998, Southeast Asia (FPC)

3 Mina Podgaiskaya, Ukraine (FP); Scott Uzzel, Marietta, GA (CH); Mary Ellen Yates, Louisville, KY (PC)

20 Joyce Cleary, Emeritus (FP); Reid Doster, Madisonville, LA (PLT); Jim Ivey, New Albany, IN (CH); Barbara Marshall, Petersburg, VA (CH)

4 Hannah, 1999, Thailand (FPC); Michial Lewis, Hoover, AL (PLT); Mark Pruitt, Martinsburg, WV (CH); Diane Stamey, Candler, NC (PC); Matthew Wysocki, Cibolo, TX (CH)

21 Alice Tremaine, Corbin, KY (CH); Inetta TaylorShuetz, Lubbock, TX (CH)

5 Mary, Thailand (FP); Susan Allen, Midway, KY (CH); John Henson, Shreveport, LA (PLT); Ronald Howard, Tuscaloosa, AL (CH); Donald Lederer, Indian Trail, NC (CH); John Oliver, Durham, NC (CH) 7 Merrie Harding, Orlando, FL (FP); Vernon Westenbroek, Columbia, MO (CH) 8 Janée Angel, Belgium (FP); Ellen Holmes, 1992, Europe (FPC); Robin Robinson, Spring, TX (CH); Jon Wyatt, 1995, Canada (FPC) 9 Elizabeth Sample, 1998, San Francisco, CA (FPC) 10 Dawn Hood-Patterson, Pensacola, FL (CH); Elliot Sample, 2004, San Francisco, CA (FPC); Nicholas Wright, Waco, TX (CH) 11 Robbie Byrd, Fayetteville, NC (PC); Justin Murphy, Leesburg, FL (CH); John Norman, Four Oaks, NC (FP); Karen Rector, Kaneohe Bay, HI (CH); Robert Townsend, Nathalie, VA (CH) 13 Clyde Angel, Indianapolis, IN (CH); Rodney

Bolejack, Denton, TX (CH); Thomas Dougherty, Mechanicsville, VA (PC); Cathy Hollon, Union Springs, AL (CH); Wayne Maberry, Alturas, FL (CH); Johnny Taylor, Plano, TX (CH)

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22 Doug Brown, Franklin, IN (CH); Daniel Hix, Maryville, TN (CH); Ana Podgaiskaya, 2001, Ukraine (FPC) 23 Mike Bumgarner, Norman, OK (CH); Keith Little, New Bern, NC (CH); Allen Williams, Cross Cut, TX (FP); Richard Woodall, Memphis, TN (CH); Marc Wyatt, Canada (FP) 24 Craig Klempnauer, Hewitt, TX (CH); Timothy Boschen, Waynesboro, VA (CH) 25 Arville Earl, Macedonia (FP); Robert McMillan, Oklahoma City, OK (CH); Hyang Shon, Southeast Asia (GMP)

at the consistent praises and petitions you’ve placed before God. You’ll be encouraged by the consistent evidence of God responding to your prayers. Prayer will become an even stronger discipline in your spiritual life. Be sure to write down two or three names from the prayer list. Pray for these each day this month. Perhaps contact them and ask for specific ways you might pray for them. And, pay attention to what God is doing in your prayers, through mystery, intimacy, power and healing. You’ll be affirmed in the blessings of God. I’ve started my list, how about you?

29 Pam Foster, Haslet, TX (CH) 30 __, son, North Africa (FPC); Christiana Liem, Houston, TX (CH); Karen Sherin, Columbia, MO (FP) 31 Karr La Dickens, Garland, TX (FP); Michael Pimpo, Grayslake, IL (PLT); Cecelia Walker, Montgomery, AL (CH) September 1 Terry Eddinger, Winston-Salem, NC (CH); Milton Snyder, Milledgeville, GA (CH); Dan Stallard, Woodbridge, VA (CH); Ralph Stocks, Romania (FP) 2 Bob Coons, Owensboro, KY (PLT); Ruth Cuellar, Newnan, GA (PLT); Dennis McDuffie, Atoka, TN (CH); Sara Moran, Greer, SC (CH) 3 Jenny Jenkins, Haiti (FP); Ann Owen, Viera, FL (CH) 4 Monique Criddell, Waco, TX (CH); Vicki Lumpkin, Greensboro, NC (CH); Shirley Massey, Chapel Hill, NC (CH) 5 Eddie Aldape, India (FP); Kelly Belcher, Spartanburg, SC (CH); Becky Brannon, Gainesville, GA (CH); David Brown, France (FP); David D’Amico, Emeritus (FP); David Julian, Dublin, GA (CH)

16 Dick Allison, Hattiesburg, MS (CH); Christopher Harrell, 1993, Kenya (FPC); Karen Heistand, Charlottesville, VA (CH); Byron Johnson, Twenty-nine Palms, CA (CH); Charles Leggett, Lawton, OK (CH) 17 Angela Clark, Matthews, NC (CH); Jean Craddock, Lexington, KY (PC); George Rossi, Columbia, SC (CH) 18 Susan Barnett, Green Valley, AZ (CH) 19 __ , daughter, North Africa (FPC); Wanda Ashworth Valencia, Homestead, FL (FP); Larry Baker, Commerce City, CO (CH); Josiah Maas, 2007, Belize (FPC) 20 David Bluford, Lenoir City, TN (CH); Renée Owen, Marietta, GA (CH); Tanya Parks, Slovakia (FP); Kenneth Walker, Frankfort, KY (PC) 21 Laura Bridges, 1992, San Antonio, TX (FPC); Mark Flores, Lynchburg, VA (CH); Phil Owens, Marietta, GA (CH) 22 Kim Chafee, Virginia Beach, VA (CH); Josh Reglin, Tahoka, TX (CH); John Robbins, Maiden, NC (CH); Becky Shoaf, Atlanta, GA (CH)

6 Carla Cherry, Dublin, OH (CH)

23 Donna Seay, Bryson City, NC (CH)

7 Martha Harper, Madison, MS (CH); Lee Hendricks, Greenville, NC (CH); Lita Sample, San Francisco, CA (FP)

24 William Stewart, Yukosuka Naval Base, Japan (CH)

8 Kirk Hall, Pineville, KY (CH); Trey Lyon, Atlanta, GA (FP) 9 Jutta Cowie, Haiti (FP)

26 Cindy Ruble, Southeast Asia (FP); Mi H. Shon, Vietnam (GMP)

10 Timothy Brown, Dublin, GA (CH); Nancy Campbell, Hickory, NC (CH); Keegan, 2009, Los Angeles, CA (FPC)

27 Carson Cole, 2001, Spain (FPC); Verr Dean Williams, Cross Cut, TX (FP); Jim Kirkendall, Pineville, LA (CH); Randall Walton, Lynchburg, VA (CH)

12 Bryan Lake, Cumming, GA (CH) 13 Andrew Gee, Marietta, GA (PC); Alan Redditt, Georgetown, KY (CH); Richard Morris, Lebanon, PA (CH); Scot McCosh, Hope Mills, NC (CH)

28 Hattie Jackson-Harris, Montevallo, AL (PLT); Jin Jae Lee, Vietnam (GMP); Inez Register, Lexington, SC (CH)

14 Bart Grooms, Birmingham, AL (PC); Priscilla Howick, Jacksonville, FL (CH); Stephanie Moore, Maryville, TN (CH)

August/september 2012

15 Rebecca Holmes, 1992, Europe (FPC); Brandy Mullins, Manvel, TX (CH)

25 Gabe Orea, China (FP); Angel Pittman, Miami, FL (FP) 26 Randy Brookshire, Greenville, SC (CH); Sunny Mitchell, Milwaukee, WI (CH); Keith Parker, Brevard, NC (PC); Beth Sexton, Lincolnton, KY (CH); Lynwood Walters, Gainesville, FL (CH); Gloria White, Pearland, TX (PC) 27 Cathy Anderson, Kennesaw, GA (CH); Currian Cole, 2002, Spain (FPC); Peggy Johnson, Hurst, TX (CH) 28 Renate Kruklis, Braselton, GA (CH) 29 John Harris, Pelham, AL (PC) 30 Paul Douglas, Ft. Belvoir, VA (CH); Rebecca Wyatt, 1992, Canada (FPC)

church spotlight

Heritage Baptist Fellowship

Heritage Baptist Fellowship Location: Canton, Ga. Founded: 1994 Pastor: Jake Hall Congregation size: 165 active members

Ministry spotlight: Faith and science

Mission statement: “Around Heritage, we like to say that we love God with our heads, hearts and hands,” said pastor Jake Hall.

Trying to find common ground between the areas of faith and science is a challenge welcomed by Heritage. Heritage and nearby Faith Presbyterian Church are two of 36 congregations who were recently chosen for the Scientists in Congregations program, funded by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, which encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers and theologians and between such experts and the public. “As a congregation, Heritage has the courage to face hard questions without the need for easy answers,” said Nathan Brandon, a member of Heritage. “We are comfortable with both our convictions and questions.” In May, Heritage and Faith Presbyterian hosted a community lecture series titled “Faith and Science Cherokee.” The weekly forums featured a primary science lecturer with discussion following on its impact and integration in a life of faith covering topics such as Genesis and the big bang theory; evolution and the Bible; and life, death and the hereafter. “I believe that a forum like this provides an opportunity for us to love God with our minds,” said Heritage pastor Jake Hall. “People long to reconcile their intellectual questions with the life of faith. People have honest questions and they want a safe forum in which to wrestle with these questions of faith.”

Additional ministries The Heritage congregation shares a commitment to meeting the needs of children in Cherokee County through three initiatives: • MUST Ministries Summer Lunch Program: Heritage members, along with other partners, deliver 500 sack lunches a day from the church’s fellowship hall. These lunches provide for children who qualify for free and reduced lunches during the school year but otherwise might go without during the summer. • Give a Kid a Chance: Heritage participates in a county wide effort to give children what they need for the school year: a full backpack, haircut, clothes and a variety of services from dentists to doctors. Heritage holds an annual back-pack-athon and provides a few hundred backpacks filled with school supplies. • Ralph Bunch Partnership: Heritage partners with a local school and holds events each

Partnership Since its inception more than 17 years ago, Heritage has partnered with CBF. In the Fellowship, Heritage found a community of Baptists with similar convictions: a theological vision for worship, a clear commitment to the calling of God upon all people, a reading of the text that allows for an honest difference of interpretation, a way to partner in missions for a greater impact, a leadership model that is congregational ... wedding the role of clergy and laity in community. Members from Heritage have served on the Coordinating Councils of both CBF of Georgia and national CBF. Heritage was a founding congregation of Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, a CBF partner school. Heritage also has participated in the Fellowship’s Collegiate Congregational Internship program.

year to provide simple hospitality to the faculty, as well as supplies for the students. fellowship!

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Partner spotlight

Center for Family and Community Ministries As part of the School of Social Work at Baylor University, Waco, Texas, the Center seeks to equip Christian leaders for strengthening families and their communities.

“The Center for Family and Community Ministries has been a wonderful partner in the past 10 years. The staff are on the front end of research in

Partnership

The CFCM

The Center first partnered with CBF in 2002. Since then, the

Founded: 1998

Center has provided resources for CBF churches, such as

Location: Waco, Texas

congregational assessments using the Church Census for

family, children and faith matters.

leadership planning, workshops on family and community

They translate their findings into

ministry and the journal Family and Community Ministry.

useful data and resources that

The Center has also developed internship opportunities

inform and enrich congregational

for Fellowship Baptists who are social workers, preparing them to serve in congregational leadership

ministries. We are blessed by

and as mission leaders.

their continued friendship.”

Bo Prosser, CBF Coordinator for Missional Congregations

“The CFCM serves

Website: www.baylor.edu/cfcm The Center pursues its mission through research, education and publication. Later this year, the Center’s journal will transition to an online, free journal, providing content related to healthy congregations,

In the past, CBF has provided scholarships to assist

marriage, grief and mourning,

churches with the cost of the Church Census. They have also

multicultural congregations, practicing

provided churches utilizing social work interns with funding

faith, young children, mental health

to pay the intern and the opportunity to receive grant money

and congregations, global missions

to further develop ministries that the interns initiated.

and community development.

congregations by leveraging the strengths of its location within a university, supported by the partnership of the seminary and the social work school, and engaging Christian scholars across diverse disciplines. Our most basic reason for existing is to help the church be effective in its mission of loving God and loving neighbor. All our research, writing and teaching have this ultimate aim. Our partnership us grounded in why we do what we do.”

Diana Garland, dean of the Baylor School of Social Work and director of the Center for Family and Community Ministries

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Photo courtesy of Baylor University

with CBF congregations keeps

August/september 2012

Social Work student interns often lead workshops at schools or community organizations talking to kids about topics such as communication, selfesteem and setting boundaries.

5tips

for hosting a missions event or guest speaker By Candice Young, CBF Marketing Assistant Manager

ome of my fondest church memories, both as a child and as an adult, involve a missions experience. Participating in hands-on activities and listening to

guest speakers helped me better understand the Great Commission. They were wonderful times of fellowship and storytelling, and those memories have shaped who I am. If you are looking to engage your congregation in a memorable experience and support the ministries of CBF field personnel, consider hosting a missions event or guest speaker. Committee meetings, small and large group gatherings, worship services and luncheons are just a few of the events through which churches can connect to Here are five tips to cultivating a successful experience for everyone:

CBF Photo

CBF in this way and share the ministry of hospitality.

Karen Morrow, right, talks with church members at Parkway Baptist Church in Duluth, Ga.

Have a goal in mind Consider what you hope to accomplish with your event. Are you raising money for a mission project? Do you want to learn more about an organization or group? Or are you looking to participate in a hands-on mission engagement? Once you understand the goals of your event, logistics will flow more smoothly, such as identifying an ideal date, time, theme, location and other considerations. Try to plan your event far enough in advance to handle unexpected changes.

Involve children and youth There are a variety of ways to get young people involved in your event. Have the children’s and/or youth choir perform, act as ushers, write notes/cards or decorate the event space. Challenge them to invite a friend or raise money for a ministry. Becky Lynch of Boulevard Baptist Church in Anderson, S.C., says that participating in missions events is not just character building for children; it is also fun. “This event gave the children an opportunity to be responsible, to work as a team, to serve others and to be a part of Boulevard’s continuing stories of ministry,” Lynch said. “The children were included in the interviews and, of course, everyone loves to hear the children. Having children as a part of the program helps them to feel that they are an important part of the work of the church. And, they loved being in the spotlight.” Be mindful to not discount the impact that being involved in a missions experience can have on a young person.

Spread the word Advertise your event in church publications and make sure that Sunday school teachers, small group leaders and the church staff have the information. Not only will advertising increase attendance, but you can pool together the collective resources of the church which can help lower the cost and workload of hosting the event. Incorporate technology There are CBF field personnel all over the world, but that does not mean they can’t speak at your missions event. Consider collaborating with area churches to participate in a webinar or connecting with field personnel via Skype. These interactive technologies allow you to see and speak to field personnel in the United States and abroad using a laptop, a projector and an Internet connection. For more information on using a webinar or Skype, contact CBF staff member Lance Wallace at lwallace@thefellowship.info.

Let CBF help Contact CBF’s face2face speaker’s bureau to schedule your speaker and help plan your event. We want to partner with you to help meet your goals and have a successful experience. Visit face2face online at www.thefellowship.info/face2face and discover how CBF resources can help you.

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‘A firm foundation’ Harts provide resources and training for church leaders in Chile At one Baptist church in Arica, Chile, the congregation learned a lesson the hard way. The pastor was well-meaning, allowing anyone to come forward and speak during the church service. Some of the faithful would often share moving personal testimonies, but during one service, people began speaking about divisive topics related to clothing and religious customs. Shortly thereafter, many of the church members left. “They were focused so much on mission evangelism that they neglected other parts of their ministry, such as faith formation and Bible study,” said Blake Hart, one of CBF’s field personnel working in Arica. The split in the church occurred just before Blake and his wife, Bekah, moved to the region. Other churches heard the story and sought resources for their leaders and members. The Harts, both CBF field personnel, are working to serve these churches, ministering in one of the most neglected regions of the country. Arica, also known as the 15th region, is located in the remote northern area of Chile, near the borders of Bolivia and Peru. It’s nearly five hours to the nearest big city of Iquique and a three- to four-day car trip to Santiago, the capital. While the Chilean government supports local entities, such as the children’s home where Bekah serves, 10

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money and resources are scarce. There are seven churches in the region, but while some are established, others are struggling as many newly-formed churches do. Blake’s ministry is focused on ministerial counseling, training and mentoring — all is sorely needed in this region of Chile. “When we were commissioned, there were only three ordained ministers in the region,” Blake said. “Now each of the seven Baptist churches have ministers, which is a great development.” Marcelo Santibañez has been pastor of First Baptist Church Arica for two years. A recent graduate of seminary in Santiago, the new pastor found many challenges early on. “Arica is a place where paganism abounds, thanks to influences from the world views of local indigenous people,” he said. “There are many myths and customs

that exist among Christians in the church. This and the extreme lack of Bible knowledge among believers compounds issues in the church.” Santibañez met with the Harts in December, shared his passion for Bible teaching and told them of his dream to start a Christian education program in the church, open to laity and other believers who desire deepening their Biblical knowledge and faith. “The church does not have teachers, leaders and others who promote studying the Bible,” Santibañez said. “This lack of leadership causes us to lose people who otherwise could come to the feet of the Lord. Also, I decided that before we begin any sort of mission work, we ought to train those who would be going to do the work.” Blake has worked with Santibañez to develop curriculum for the new Center for Biblical Formation.

CBF Photos

“His desire is to try to offer formal Bible study and formation training,” Blake said. “His curriculum is going to include bitesized steps to studying the Old Testament, the New Testament and basic church administration. It will include seminarylike lessons and will be open to lay leadership and anyone who is interested. We hope and pray it will help establish a firm foundation for believers here.” Blake’s ministry includes identifying needs and finding appropriate resources, such as Sunday School curriculum, Bible commentaries or books online. Hart says he also serves as a minister for local pastors, offering a listening ear

serve

for them to share their struggles and concerns in their pastorates. “Culturally in the area, there isn’t a great spirit of cooperation,” he said. “At times, pastors are more competitive with each other than affirming. Therefore, to share your struggles with another pastor is to give them ammunition to use against you.” The Harts are looking for Fellowship Baptists to come serve alongside their ministry in Chile. Specifically, pastors and lay leaders can be resources for church leaders. And, at the children’s home where Bekah serves, there are opportunities for short-term mission teams to tackle construction projects and demonstrate

(Opposite) Blake Hart, right, has helped to resource the ministry of Marcelo Santibañez, left, who has served as pastor of First Baptist Church Arica for two years. (Above) The Harts serve churches, some established and some newly formed, in the region of Arica.

Christ’s love among the 40 children, ages newborn to 4 years old, who live there. “It’s not hard to get involved, and there is so much to do,” Bekah said. “It gives church members an opportunity to serve — to do something tangible and share their faith. It doesn’t require a whole lot of training and they are grateful for the help.” By contributing writer Bob Perkins

Are you interested in serving alongside the Harts in Chile? Contact CBF staff member Chris Boltin to learn how you can serve. Go to www.thefellowship.info/hart to learn more about the Harts. fellowship!

August/september 2012

Cayards work to strengthen local churches in China through a

or many people living in the Sichuan province of southcentral China, life has been delineated between life before the earthquake and life after. For Hu Xianhui, the quake ripped a physical and spiritual fault line. She was retired at the time, dancing and playing Mahjong to fill her time. When the magnitude 7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, killing approximately 70,000 people, she was spared. The brush with death caused her to think about what would happen after she died. “I didn’t know anything about Jesus at that time,” she wrote in her testimony. “I didn’t know what will happen after death. I heard that people will turn back into a chicken or cow. So scary!” After the quake, one of her friends told her about Jesus, and she became a Christian. “I’m not afraid of death anymore,” she wrote. Hu is now a participant in the Mianyang Lay Training Center, located in a small village perched on a riverside hill in the Sichuan province. Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel Bill and Michelle Cayard serve at the center, teaching classes several days a month and offering encouragement to the students. Gifts from Fellowship Baptists help provide tuition and living expenses for students. Like Hu, many of the students are retired and have recently become Christians. Other students are subsistence farmers, who work the terraces and fertile basins, and others are small-business owners.

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Some students come from the city, but most travel up to eight hours from countless small farming communities throughout the province. “This training center is a wonderful example of the Chinese Christians doing their best to provide leadership for the many churches that are growing all over their province,” Bill said. The overall goal of the Cayards’ ministry is to strengthen the local church. They support new churches, facilitate partnerships between CBF and Chinese churches and train church leaders. In their view, for any evangelism or discipleship efforts to be selfsustaining, those efforts must be rooted in the indigenous, local church. “We can think of no higher expression of this goal than helping prepare leaders for local Chinese churches,” Bill said. It’s a particular joy to learn each student’s individual story, he said, and to see them grow in knowledge and confidence. During a nine-month period, between 20 and 30 students attend classes at the center for three months, then go home for three months and later return for a final three-month semester. Students also pitch in to meet basic needs at the center. A chalkboard keeps track of their donations — one student brings a 100-pound bag of rice, another contributes $20. The students work the garden, clean and cook. Area churches also give generously to provide the majority of the center’s funding. Pastors from Mianyang each donate two days a month to teach at the center. The message of Christ is spreading rapidly in China — so quickly that the number

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lay training center

(Opposite) Some students at the center come from the city, but most travel up to eight hours from countless small farming communities throughout the province. (Above) Bill Cayard, right, teaches classes several days a month and offers encouragement to the students.

of new Christians outpaces the number of leaders able to shepherd these new Christ followers. The gospel’s growth in China is relatively recent. Almost all Christians in China didn’t grow up going to church, so there’s a great need for lay people who know the Bible and who can teach Sunday School classes and provide pastoral care. The students at the Mianyang Center are “folks that will never have the opportunity to go to seminary, and so they will never be ordained as Chinese ordained pastors,” Bill said. “But they lead the church, they

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lead Bible study and worship and preaching and discipleship.” Students such as Liu Huali, who grew up very poor and only went to primary school, first heard the gospel in 1988 and became a Christian 10 years later after the death of her Christian mother. “God is the dominant power in my life,” she said. “Without the strength and patience he gave me I can do nothing. Now I want to serve God with my entire mind. I am getting trained here. My faith is growing and getting stronger.” Through biblical study and training in

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preaching and leadership, students such as Liu leave the center ready to lead churches and assist seminary-trained pastors. Once they complete courses at the center, students are also legally recognized by the government to act as church leaders. The demand for these leaders is great. There might be only a handful of seminaryeducated pastors in an area, so graduates of the Mianyang center often lead small congregations in rural areas where trained pastors travel only occasionally. The gospel is showing no signs of slowing in China. In the congregation where

the Cayards serve, leaders perform baptism ceremonies three or four times a year with 20 to 30 people each time. This growth is echoed throughout the approximately 200 legally recognized churches in Sichuan and their corresponding offshoots. “People are becoming Christians so quickly it’s a race to provide enough leadership for them,” Michelle. “Their biggest need is to have trained leadership, ministerial staff as well as trained lay leaders that can help them.” By contributing writer John Foster

The Cayard’s ministry in China is made possible by the gifts of Fellowship Baptists to the CBF Offering for Global Missions. To give, use the envelope provided in this issue or go online to www.thefellowship.info/givenow. fellowship!

August/september 2012

‘Bridge the culture gap’

Field personnel, seminary partner to provide training for Burmese pastors

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ince 2006, tens of thousands of registered Burmese refugees have permanently resettled in the United States through the government’s refugee resettlement program. The Karen and Chin people have fled their homeland in large numbers due to decades of persecution by the military junta that rules Burma (now known as Myanmar). Thanks to Burma’s nearly two-centurylong history of Baptist work that began with pioneering U.S. missionary Adoniram Judson, many Karen and Chin refugees are Baptists. And as a result, scores of new Karen and Chin Baptist congregations have been started in the United States and many historically Anglo Baptist churches have seen a sudden influx of Karen and Chin members. CBF field personnel Duane and Marcia Binkley have served among the Karen and Chin people for more than three decades, including serving in Thailand. This year, the couple moved to Kansas to work in partnership with Central Baptist Theological Seminary, a CBF partner, and the Bethel Neighborhood Center in Kansas City, which serves immigrant communities. From their new home base, the Binkleys, who speak fluent Karen and Thai, are creating resources and a training program for leaders of Burmese Baptist refugee communities in the United States. As part of their ministry, they will be adapting Central’s Foundations curriculum to use with Burmese pastors serving in the United States. “While their training prepares them well to lead churches in the environment they have come from, it may not prepare them for what they encounter in the United

Duane Binkley spoke earlier this year at a meeting of the Karen Baptist Churches USA in Colorado.

States,” Duane said. “The culture, the laws, the needs of the congregation, their own personal situation, church organization and administration is all different than what they were trained for.” The program will begin in August, and the first classes will be held in Fort Wayne, Ind. — home to a large community of refugees and also located within reasonable driving distance of other refugee communities in Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. “Most of the people we envision taking these classes will have already had theological training of various levels,” Duane said. “What will make these classes different though, is that they will aim to bridge the cultural gap.” The Binkleys anticipate about 25 students per session for the first classes. “If we can get enough instructors that

can teach in Karen and Burmese, we’ll set up classes in various places around the United States,” Duane said. “I’m hopeful that we’ll eventually have a couple hundred or so go through the program.” Classes will meet for one weekend a month for the period of a year, and students who complete all 11 courses will receive a certificate. They will be taught by Karen- and Burmese-speaking church leaders in the United States who already have high levels of theological training. “Many of these people have expressed an interest in helping their Karen brothers and sisters that are leading congregations around the country,” Duane said. “We are serving as organizers to help connect these potential instructors with potential students around the country.” By contributing writer Rob Marus

Opportunities to

Missions Education Resource How to use this page

August 2012

The suggestions below will be helpful for using the stories on pages 10-16 of this issue in the life of your church. Small Group interaction, Study Group or Reading Group options are given, as well as suggestions for other congregational or family settings. Go online to www.thefellowship.info/affectonline for more suggestions.

Training church leaders

In Small Groups:

The following is an outline for adult mission groups, Bible study classes or other small groups. Share copies of fellowship! with group members prior to the meeting and have some extra copies available. These suggestions are for a 45-minute time frame. 1. In this session, you will focus on the work of CBF field personnel Bekah and Blake Hart as they train pastors in Arica, Chile. Ensure that each member of your group has a copy of CBF’s fellowship! magazine and request that they read the Hart’s story on page 10-11 prior to the gathering. 2. Allow the group to recap by asking the following questions: What were some of the difficulties that the first congregation faced? The church members needed training in faith formation so they could effectively fulfill their mission in the community. What does it mean to be trained in faith formation? How has your faith been formed? 3. Introduce your group to John Ortberg’s two different approaches to spiritual formation, trying and training: “Trying hard can accomplish only so much. If you are serious … you will have to enter into a life of training.” Ask the group to respond: What is the difference between training and trying hard? When have you found yourself trying hard without having completed the necessary training? 4. Prompt the group to think about the spiritual disciplines they were taught at home or church. Ask the following questions: Which seem most important to you? Do any seem less important? What does a life of training to follow Christ look like? Training is sometimes compared to being an apprentice. Do you know anyone who has served

as an apprentice? How does an apprentice learn? How do we usually learn about spiritual matters?

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5. Read aloud another quote by Ortberg: “… the true indicator of spiritual well-being is growth in the ability to love God and people.” Does the group agree with his assessment? Ask them to think about the difficulties the church in Arica experienced as they consider their answer.

Serving Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission

Student.Go for more than a decade, college and graduate students have been serving among some of the world’s most neglected people through Cbf’s Student.Go program.

Learn more on pages 18-22.

6. Close by allowing each group member to reflect and respond aloud to the following questions: Which person in your life has most effectively modeled how to follow Christ? How has their influence changed you? What training do you still need? In what way do you best show others what it means to follow Christ? 7. End by praying for Bekah and Blake Hart and the churches they work alongside in Chile. Pray also for each person in your discussion group, that all would re-commit to lives of training. Finally, pray for those mentioned in the Prayer Calendar on page 6.

At Prayer Meeting 1. Prior to the meeting, prepare a white board, markers, projector, screen and a laptop with Internet access. 2. Begin by showing the following YouTube video to learn more about the work of CBF field personnel Duane and Marcia Binkley: www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEHHjjkm5N0 3. Designate three group members to voice a prayer for the following: (1) The Karen people, that they would experience healing and justice in the midst of hardship and oppression (2) The Binkleys’ ministry as they help Karen people adjust to life in the United States and provide Karen Christian leaders with the theological and leadership training they need to minister effectively in a new cultural setting (3) American Christians will cross cultures to welcome their new Karen neighbors and other immigrants seeking refuge. 4. Show the following YouTube video about Sudanese refugees: www.youtube.com/ watch?v=BT0kzF4A-WQ 5. As a group, brainstorm some of the needs refugees face when they come to the United States and record them on the white board. Where could/do refugees go for help in your community? Are local churches involved? How?

6. God has called some followers to serve in Thailand, Myanmar, Sudan and many other places. And now people from all of those countries are arriving in the United States as our neighbors. What training might help us to be better neighbors to refugees, international students and international business people? What are first (or next) steps we can take while we try to become more educated about the world on our doorstep? 7. Close in prayer for refugees and immigrants in your community and for churches that are called to welcome them in the name of Christ.

In Reading Groups In her book My Invented Country, Chilean author Isabelle Allende writes a memoir of her life centered around two pivotal dates — both on September 11. The first was in 1973 when her uncle, the President of Chile, was assassinated and the second in 2001 when Allende recognized her deep connection to her U.S. home.

e3 engages students through an introductory activity, equips them with biblical understanding and invites them to extend their faith into their schools, families and communities. e3 is a free monthly e-teaching plan that challenges students through Scripture and the stories of CBF field personnel to love their neighbors as themselves. Each lesson is built around CBF’s fellowship! magazine and is available for download at www.thefellowship.info/e3.

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“Students learn what it means to be fully present with another person and to see the face of Christ in those whom they may never have stopped to notice before. They are able to experience that God truly has created them with unique gifts to make an impact in the world. It changes their worldview forever — and gives them a desire to help others imagine a bigger world that God loves and has called us to care for and serve.”

Amy Derrick, CBF Global Missions Personnel Selection Manager

Student.Go The Fellowship’s Student.Go program provides opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to serve for a summer or semester among some of the most neglected people in the world. Uganda

Students serve in a variety of locations and unique types of ministry, working alongside CBF field personnel and Fellowship partner organizations. Not only do students gain invaluable experience in cross-cultural service, but they provide crucial assistance to the ministries with which they work. Through these experiences, Student.Go helps students reach beyond their culture, beyond their

India

comfort zones and beyond themselves to be the presence of Christ in the world. In 11 years of sending students onto the missions fields, nearly 500 students have served in more than 50 locations.

www.studentdotgo.com 16

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Locations where

students have served:

Angola Asheville, NC Atlanta, GA Birmingham, AL Brooklyn, NY Canada Charlotte, NC Charleston, SC Chile China Czech Republic Dallas, TX Dearborn, MI Eagle Pass, TX Egypt Ethiopia Fredericksburg, VA Fremont, CA Great Falls, VA Greenville, NC Ghana Greece Harlingen, TX Helena, AR Homestead, FL Houston, TX Hungary India Kenya Los Angeles, CA Louisville, KY Macedonia Miami, FL McCreary County, KY Mexico Middle East Mississippi New York City, NY Nicaragua North Africa Perry County, AL Philippines Raleigh, NC Liberia Romania Southeast Asia Slovakia South Africa Spain Uganda Washington, DC Zambia fellowship!

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‘To be there for the long haul’ Summer experience leads Humbert to full-time job

(Below) Amanda Humbert, center, first began serving at Touching Miami with Love as a teenager. Her home church of Hendricks Avenue Baptist in Jacksonville, Fla., a CBF partner, sent a mission team to serve at the center. (Opposite) Touching Miami with Love is located in Overtown, an inner-city neighborhood in Miami.

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manda Humbert was never interested in occasional compassion or serving in shifts. Her calling is fixed. She is the constant presence of Christ in a community that is often unstable. At Touching Miami with Love (TML), where Humbert works as youth mentor and case manager, children and youth have opportunities to learn and grow that they might not otherwise have in a community where crime, drug trafficking, high teenage pregnancy rates and failing schools are the everyday norm. Overtown, the inner-city neighborhood in Miami where TML is located, has an average household income of $11,314, and youth face hard choices every day. TML offers educationally enriching programs and services for children, youth and support for their families with the goal of changing the mindset of low expectations and highrisk behavior. Humbert’s love for the youth of Overtown goes back to high school, when she served at TML each summer with a mission team from her home church — Hendricks Avenue Baptist in Jacksonville, Fla., a CBF partner. When she enrolled at Florida International University in Miami, TML recruited her as an intern through Student.Go. Through Student.Go, Humbert immersed herself in the lives of students for four years as an intern,

assistant director and eventually director of TML’s ToMorrow’s Leaders Summer Camp, where students participate in literacy activities, fitness, Bible study and academic disciplines. “With mission teams, each week is hosted by a different church and teams come and go, but as an intern, you’re the consistency, the mother figure who is there the whole time,” Humbert said. “I get to ask them more than, ‘What’s your favorite ice cream?’ I hear the awesome stories and the hard ones — when their father passed away or why they don’t ever see their sister. When you’re in that position, you’re on the inside and you know

how they’re really doing.” When Humbert graduated college last year, TML offered her a full-time position. Humbert calls it her “dream job.” In addition to summer camps, Humbert also mentors high school students, meeting with 25 students each month. “Aside from paperwork required for grants, my main job is to be a consistent presence in their lives,” Humbert said. “Whether it’s going to football games, checking in on them at school or taking them to lunch, I’m there to know them, right down to their college applications or their relationship with their boyfriend.”

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Humbert recalls a day last summer when a student failed to show up for camp. As she later learned, the boy and his brother had remained at home as a SWAT team surrounded the house in pursuit of their father, who was allegedly involved in a drug case. Two weeks before camp ended, the brothers were going to be forced to leave their home. The boys’ grandmother arranged for them to live with their mother 1,200 miles away in New York. To Humbert’s surprise, the boy refused to leave

town until camp ended and finished the summer with his friends at TML. Eight months later, Humbert received a call from New York and heard a familiar voice. The boy reported good news about his new life. Humbert connected him with a ministry similar to TML in New York that she learned about from Ronnie Adams, one of CBF’s field personnel in New York City. “I used to hate leaving each summer,” Humbert said. “I would cry, they would cry. Deep down I knew I had to be there

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for the long haul.” When Humbert first moved to Miami, she did so amid a chorus of questions from friends and family. Why are you moving to Miami? Why are you going to school at Florida International? What will you study there? Few things were clear to her, but two things she never doubted: she felt called to serve the children of Overtown and that is where God wanted her to stay. By contributing writer Blake Tommey

Learn more about CBF field personnel Angel and Jason Pittman and Touching Miami with Love at www.thefellowship.info/pittman. fellowship!

August/september 2012

‘You can never be the same’

Missions experiences lead Georgia native to seminary

walk through an African slum opened Kolby Knight’s eyes and sent his life in a new direction. “I had never been particularly attracted to ministry until the summer between my junior and senior years at Mercer University,” said Knight, now a student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity, a CBF partner. At the time, Knight was planning on becoming a doctor. But during the summer of 2009, he went on a three-week, studyand-ministry trip to Kenya, where he and other Mercer students worked with CBF field personnel. “I experienced an epiphany of sorts walking through Kibera, a massive slum section of Nairobi,” recalled Knight, a native of Baxley, Ga. Overwhelmed by the human needs he saw, Knight began to think

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In 2010, Knight ministered among the Romany people in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

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about investing his life in a way that could make a difference. “I eventually concluded that I would attend seminary in order to continue to decipher my call,” he said. “After graduating from Mercer, I wanted to travel internationally and serve.” In 2010, Knight served through Student.Go, ministering among the Romany people, or Gypsies, in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. “Student.Go provided me a tremendous opportunity to continue to search for the answers to the overwhelming questions which emerged in Kibera,” he said. “I had never even heard of the Roma people in Eastern Europe. As I learned about them, I realized the tough reality in which they live.” Because of racism, the Romany people have suffered political abuse and economic hardship for centuries throughout Europe. For more than two decades, CBF field personnel have served among the Romany people, working to improve those conditions and meet human needs.

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During his seven weeks of missions service, Knight helped conduct Vacation Bible School-type programs for children in several villages in Hungary, working alongside CBF field personnel Ralph and Tammy Stocks. He also helped promote understanding between Slovakian and Romany youth at a community summer camp in Slovakia, working with CBF field personnel Dianne and Shane McNary. “You never can be the same because you remember specific people you met in those situations,” said Knight, who still carries a drawing in his wallet that was a gift from a child. “I’m connected to those people I met forever.” Since returning from Europe, Knight has worked as a youth minister and a chaplain. But he said his Student.Go experience taught him lessons that will shape his ministry for the future. “As I worked with the Roma, I experienced an affirmation that ministry indeed was the place I needed to be,” Knight said. “My experiences there gave me the foundation and provocation necessary as I entered the next stage of my journey at Wake Forest.” Knight hopes to pursue a doctorate soon and teach Christian history. But he also expects to return to a ministry either in a local church or overseas. “There’s no doubt in my mind I will be back in one of those contexts eventually,” he said. “It’s been too formative for me to run away from.” By contributing writer Greg Warner

To learn more about serving with Student.Go during the summer or a semester, go to www.studentdotgo.com.

‘I can no longer live life the same’

Student.Go alumna Ward commissioned to serve among refugees in Uganda

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and Shelah Acker. At the Center of Hope, a refugee community center founded and run by the Ackers, Ward ministered among people affected by war and violence. She focused much of her work on helping women who had fled war and genocide in countries such as Somalia, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. For Ward, Uganda felt like home and she began to understand that ministry among female refugees affected by violence was a wonderful way to live out her calling. In June, Ward was commissioned to serve as one of CBF’s field personnel. After she graduates from the McAfee School of Theology, a CBF partner, in December, she’ll begin serving full-time as the refugee women’s advocacy coordintor at the Center Of Hope. She’ll begin four new initiatives through the Center of Hope: a temporary shelter for refugee women and girls, women’s illiteracy education initiative, strengthening vocational empowerment and community discipleship groups based in local refugee churches. Ward’s hope is that female refugees find safety, community, transformation and empowerment as they seek to live out God’s calling in their lives. CBF photo

hen Missy Ward enrolled in CBF’s Student.Go program and went to serve among immigrants in Fremont, Calif., she knew she had found her calling. In 2008, Ward began working alongside CBF field personnel Lita and Rick Sample and Fran Stevenson, ministering among Afghan women at a community center in Fremont. Many of the women had fled violence in their home country. This ministry fit with Ward’s studies at Weslyan College, where she majored in both religious studies and political science. “The lack of female equality around the world in education, economics, political representation and even just safety is simply startling,” Ward said. “In war-torn areas of the world, the majority of the refugee population is women and children, and because of the prevalence of sexual assault and domestic violence, they face a completely different level of trauma.” In Fremont, Ward taught English at the community center, met regularly with students to help them with their cultural transition, often accompanied students on weekly pregnancy check-ups and to the local food markets. As Ward began visiting one of her most isolated students, she was quickly confronted with the complexity of empowering her new neighbors, who often endured physical, verbal and sometimes sexual violence within their marriages. In 2010, Ward extended her participation with Student.Go to Uganda, where she served alongside CBF field personnel Jade

Missy Ward, left in red shirt, was commissioned as one of CBF’s field personnel at the 2012 General Assembly in Fort Worth, Texas. She served with Student.Go in Uganda in 2010 and will begin serving there full-time next year.

“Serving with Student.Go has absolutely changed my life, and it has ruined me forever in the sense that I can no longer live life the same,” Ward said. “Student.Go gave me the opportunity to work alongside CBF field personnel who are doing the work that I wanted to be doing, the work that God has called me to do, in a holistic way. Student.Go has shaped me, leading me to become the person that I am through working alongside field personnel and meeting Fellowship Baptists who are seeking to be the hands and feet of Christ in our world that is deeply hurting.” By contributing writer Blake Tommey

Your gifts to the CBF Offering for Global Missions enable the ministry of CBF field personnel Jade and Shelah Acker. To give, use the envelope provided in this issue or go online to www.thefellowship.info/givenow. fellowship!

August/september 2012

‘Anywhere you go’

Smith serves with Together for Hope in Alabama, finds familiar surroundings

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studs visible. Some were covered with linoleum scraps, cardboard or whatever was available. Holes in the rotting ceiling and walls were plentiful, leaking sunlight and wind through the cracks. A gas leak in the water heater presented a real hazard. “We helped to make her home safe again,” Smith said. “My time in Perry County was eye-opening. It was both devastating and uplifting. I saw a community not unlike my own being torn apart by poverty, violence and addiction. And I realized that you can do good anywhere you go. It could be in a place that feels just like home.” Since serving through Student.Go, Smith has graduated from Southeast Missouri State University and is now a student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, a CBF partner. “The one thing I really took away Joshua Smith, who spent a summer serving with Student.Go in Alabama, is now a student at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, a CBF partner.

from my experience with Student.Go is I don’t think I could live my life in a career that didn’t benefit others in some way,” Smith said. By contributing writer Greg Warner

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efore being assigned to serve through Student.Go, Joshua Smith had never been to Perry County, Ala. But the then college student said it immediately felt “just like home.” Having grown up in the small town of Williamsville, Mo. (population 300), Smith identified with the people in Perry County — one of the 20 poorest rural counties in the nation and part of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative, Together for Hope. “It was pretty obvious it was a good fit,” said Smith, who lived on the campus of Judson College in Marion, Ala. “The people who were my neighbors in Perry County were very similar to the people who were my neighbors back home.” A third of Perry County residents live below the federal poverty line, and two thirds are African-Americans. The area’s systemic poverty is a remnant of the plantation economy of the antebellum South. Smith spent the summer of 2009 as home repair coordinator for the non-profit agency Sowing Seeds of Hope. He facilitated the work of mission teams from churches. The teams renovated public schools and repaired homes of those in need. “You can sink into the monotony of [the manual labor],” Smith said. “But there will be that one person or event that will stick with you forever.” For Smith, that person was Classie, a woman in her 70s who lived by herself in a cabin 20 miles from town and kept on hand a shotgun to chase away snakes and solicitors. In her old, dilapidated home, the frame walls were left unfinished, leaving the bare

Learn more about Together for Hope, CBF’s rural poverty initiative, at www.thefellowship.info/togetherforhope. There are opportunities for individuals and churches to partner with ministries in five regions.

August/september 2012

Opportunities to

Missions Education Resource How to use this page

Student.Go

September 2012

In Small Groups:

The following is an outline for adult mission groups, Bible study classes or other small groups. Share copies of fellowship! with group members prior to the meeting and have some extra copies available. These suggestions are for a 45-minute time frame. 1. In this session, you will focus on two students serving through Student.Go, a CBF program that allows students to serve among and advocate for the most neglected people in our world. Provide copies of CBF’s fellowship! magazine for each person in your small group. 2. Introduce the session by reciting Student.Go’s tagline: “Beyond your culture. Beyond your comfort zone. Beyond yourself.” Ask the following questions: What experiences have you had outside your culture? When did you feel pushed beyond your comfort zone? How did you adapt? Did it produce any permanent change? 3. Direct participants to form two smaller reading groups and assign the stories of Joshua Smith (pg. 22) and Kolby Knight (pg. 20) respectively. Allow 10 to 15 minutes of reading and reflection before reconvening. Then, ask each group to present their story to the group. 4. Pose the following questions: Smith served in Perry County, Ala., and described his summer there as “both devastating and uplifting.” What do you think he means? Have you had this experience? He says it’s possible to “sink into the monotony” of manual labor. Is it possible to separate ministry from a certain amount of monotony? How did Smith find meaning in the midst of it? 5. Ask a group member to read aloud the following quote from G.K. Chesterton’s Orthodoxy: “But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’

In a Youth or University Class 1. Before the session, gather a laptop with Internet access, a projector and photos from mission projects that your group or church has participated in. 2. Begin by showing the following video: www.thefellowship.info/youchoose. 3. Ask the group to respond: What do you know about how CBF missions and ministries help people who need water, food, medicine, school and freedom? 4. Have someone read or tell the story of Amanda Humbert on pages 18-19. Ask the following: What are the pressing needs in Overtown? How is she helping? How did her calling become “fixed?” Is there a purpose in short-term mission projects aside from what is accomplished in that brief time frame? Humbert’s short-term experience set her course for the long haul. Do you think her experience is typical or is it the exception? 5. Review your ministry project photos and ask the group to respond: What opportunities have you had to “get your toes wet?” How have those opportunities changed lives — and directions? 6. Share the following quote from Brian McLaren’s A Generous Orthodoxy: “… in a pluralistic world, a religion is valued based on the benefits it brings its non-

to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never gotten tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” Ask the group to brainstorm ways they might cultivate joy in monotonous daily tasks.

fellowship!

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Cooperative baptiSt fellowShip | www.thefellowShip.info

Serving Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission

Student.Go for more than a decade, college and graduate students have been serving among some of the world’s most neglected people through Cbf’s Student.Go program.

Learn more on pages 18-22.

6. Transition to Kolby Knight’s ministry by asking the following questions: How did Knight’s experience in Kenya lead to his Student.Go assignment with the Roma people? He had not heard of the Roma people before that time. Is this evidence of the downside of living in the information age? How does Knight’s Student.Go experience continue to affect him? 7. Discuss the last part of Sudent.Go’s tagline, “Beyond yourself”: What does this mean? How did Smith and Knight experience this? How does your church go beyond its own culture, comfort zone and itself? What are further steps that it might take? 8. End by praying for the ministries of Joshua Smith, Kolby Knight and the communities in which they work, as well as for those mentioned in the Prayer Calendar on page 6.

In Reading Groups Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists by Courtney Martin explores the lives and motivations of eight activists — not superhuman heroes, but ordinary young people searching for their own way to make a difference. Do It Anyway introduces a new generation of activists drawn to the kind of work that keeps you up at night because you believe in it so deeply.

adherents.” Ask the group: Do you agree? If churches believed this statement, how would it affect their priorities? What benefits does your church provide to nonadherents or non-members? 7. Close by asking the following questions: How can followers of Christ meet people’s needs for food, water and education with no strings attached while still being concerned for spiritual needs? Has anyone from your group participated in Student. Go? How could your church encourage participation? What choices can your group make to change the world?

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‘Infinitely more’

Vestal inspires Assembly with final sermon

With the words of Daniel Vestal’s final sermon still echoing through the Fort Worth Convention Center, the 22nd Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly ended, closing the chapter of Vestal’s leadership as executive coordinator. The Assembly, which drew 1,625 registered attendees, began writing the Fellowship’s next chapter by approving the 2012 Task Force report, looking ahead to the future and anticipating God doing “infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.” “Isn’t this really our ultimate purpose as CBF, to be a people that honors God and worships God and centers in God?” Vestal said on the final evening of the Assembly, preaching from the theme verse, Ephesians 3:20-21. “So join me tonight in offering a benediction of praise to God and God alone. And as we do we receive a blessing. It is in blessing God that we are blessed. It is in giving our heart’s devotion, and our mind’s attention and our will’s allegiance to God that we find the deepest needs of our lives fulfilled, the deepest longings of our spirit satisfied, the deepest questions of our intellect addressed.” Vestal, who has served as CBF’s Executive Coordinator since 1996, reflected on the challenges and surprises of his time leading the Fellowship, including the generosity of Baptists and relationships that have sustained his ministry in 24

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challenging times. “I can’t tell you how many times in the past 15 years I have been surprised by God,” Vestal said. “About the time I thought I had things figured out or thought I understood what was going on in the culture or in the Baptist family or in CBF, something would happen that would show me how little I knew. I’ve been surprised by the caliber of the people who continue to step forward and say, ‘I want to serve God in the hard places, the remote places, the forgotten places.’” Also, on the final day of the Assembly, the 2012 Task Force report was approved. (Learn more at www.thefellowship. info/2012taskforce). The report recommends a restructuring of CBF’s governing body and the formation of a collaborative structure that calls for greater cooperation among CBF and its partners, including the state and regional organizations. Keith Herron, who became CBF moderator at the conclusion of the Assembly, spoke to the next steps in the process, saying that he hopes to have a plan for implementation in place by the October meeting of the Coordinating Council. (Learn more about Herron on page 30). “The task of implementation is to

construct a road to the horizon,” said Herron, who is pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo. “When we leave this gathering today, interim CBF executive coordinator Pat Anderson and I will gather a group of strategic thinkers and leaders to figure out how to best put this plan into action.” The Assembly also approved the 201213 CBF budget of $12.4 million and the nominating committee report, which includes the election of moderator-elect Bill McConnell, a Tennessee businessman. George Mason, chair of the Executive Coordinator Search Committee, spoke to attendees about the ongoing search process. “We have called 171 pastors to have conversations with them, and it was really fruitful to hear people talk about CBF life,” said Mason, pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. “Then, we went to partners and began to talk with them. There is such a sense that we really are cooperative Baptists. We are finding confidence that we will be able to take this next step together. The people of God in CBF are going to make this successful whoever God leads us to.” On Thursday evening of the Assembly,

JV McKinney photos

The 22nd annual General Assembly was held in Fort Worth, Texas, the hometown of retiring CBF executive coordinator Daniel Vestal.

the Fellowship commissioned eight field personnel and church starters as part of the Fellowship’s annual General Assembly. “We stand with you tonight to give our blessing, our support and our commitment to pray for you, love you and walk alongside you through this awesome journey on which you are about to depart,” Vestal told those being commissioned. (Learn more on pages 28-29). During the two evening worship services, attendees gave $32,847 to the CBF Offering for Global Missions, which provides for the salary, benefits and operating and ministry expenses of fully-funded field personnel, as well as member care, health insurance,

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technology support and travel stipends for self-funded personnel.

Fellowship Baptists honored for contributions to CBF The second annual CBF Advocate of the Year award was presented to Dick Hurst, a physician, Sunday School teacher and frequent mission volunteer with CBF field personnel. “I’ve been with dedicated CBF workers in difficult situations,” Hurst said. “We who hold the ropes, as they say, need to hold the ropes a little tighter. Our field personnel need us.” At the Coordinating Council Alumni dinner, Vestal presented the CBF

Coordinating Council Distinguished Alumni Award to Helen MooreMontgomery of McKinney, Texas. Moore-Montgomery has been a part of the Fellowship from its inception, committed to providing opportunities for lay involvement. She has been a member of both the CBF Coordinating Council and CBF Oklahoma’s leadership council, and instrumental in the first Laity Luncheons at early General Assemblies. “This was before the days of e-mail and smartphones,” Vestal noted, “So Helen personally invited people via countless letters and numerous phone calls.” By Patricia Heys and Lance Wallace

View photos, videos and read stories about the 2012 General Assembly at www.thefellowship.info/fortworth. fellowship!

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2012 General Assembly â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;

JV McKinney, Patricia Heys, Carla Wynn Davis photos

As a symbol of a collaborative community, members of the 2012 Task Force asked attendees to write down gifts and resources in their churches, states or regions and offer them up to the larger gathering.

On the shoreline of Eagle Mountain Lake, approximately two dozen college students gathered for Fort Worth Sessions, a week-long event focused this year on a Christian response to prison reform.

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The Assembly provided attendees with opportunities to hear from leaders and authors, learn about ministry resources and share ideas.

‘Infinitely more’ More than 1,600 gathered in Fort Worth for the Assembly, including evening worship services.

As CBF moderator, Colleen Burroughs, vice president of Passport Inc., presided over the Assembly.

Worship sessions at the Assembly included music by groups from Texas, including Rondalla de las Américas from the Baptist University of the Americas, a CBF partner.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner events provided times for fellowship ¬– reconnecting with old friends and making new ones.

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New field personnel and church starters The following individuals were commissioned as Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel or church starters at the 2012 General Assembly in Fort Worth, June 20-22. Learn more about CBF field personnel at www.thefellowship.info/fieldpersonnel. Learn more about CBF church starters at www.thefellowship.info/churchstarts.

Field Personnel

Andy and Jutta Cowie Haiti Hometown: Weston-super-Mare, United Kingdom Ministry: Community and vocational development The Cowies will serve in the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti. Andy will work to start a vocational training facility concentrating on automobile repair. Jutta, a trained nurse, will focus her ministry on empowering women and children. The Cowies are co-appointed with the Baptist Missionary Society World Mission, United Kingdom. “Pray for the ability to connect with adults in the local area, who would be interested in learning. Pray for a good connection with the Haitian Baptist Convention and the Source of Light Center.”

Church Starter

Andy Hale Clayton, N.C. Hometown: Clayton, N.C. Church/Ministry: Mosaic of Clayton Located outside of Raleigh, N.C., Clayton features a diverse community of people familiar with the Christian faith and others who have become disenfranchised with the church. Hale will work to create a sense of belonging for all people, whether they are seeking discipleship or have yet to enter into God’s story. “We are breaking ground on an array of new ministry opportunities as we try to connect with the diverse groups of Clayton. Pray that we can be faithful and obedient to God’s kingdom vision.”

Field Personnel

Jessica and Joshua Hearne Danville, Va. Hometowns: Ashland, Ky. (Josh); Saginaw, Mich. (Jessica) Ministry: Poverty and community development The Hearnes will serve among people living in poverty in Southside Virginia, a community with twice the poverty and unemployment of the rest of the state. Partnering with Grace and Main Fellowship, they will work to provide education, training, advocacy and to share Christ’s love. “Pray for discernment as we find ways to serve, and pray for the empowerment of the poor and marginalized people of Danville, that they will learn to serve themselves and others and receive the love of God. Pray for reconciliation among the rich and poor in Danville, that they will bless one another and see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ.”

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Church Starter

John Norwood Houston, Texas Hometown: Houston, Texas Church/Ministry: Heights Church The historic Heights neighborhood of Houston is a diverse urban neighborhood full of life and energy. Norwood hopes that Heights Church will be able to reflect the diversity and energy of this neighborhood and is committed to ministering holistically to the people of the Heights. “Heights Church currently has 45 regular attenders most of whom have never been active in church before. Please pray that I am able to guide these folks to Christian maturity and that we are able to identify leaders and workers for the future of the church.”

Church Starter

Brickson Sam Charlotte, N.C. Home Country: Sierra Leone, West Africa Church/Ministry: The Early Church Ministries Sam will be working to establish a ministry among African immigrants, primarily from Sierra Leone, who have not found a church where they can worship God in their own culture and context. “Please pray for the power of the Holy Spirit in my life as I undertake this venture. That the Lord will provide funds and partners to support me and my family. Pray that the Sierra Leonean community will soften their hearts and be ready to receive the gospel.”

Field Personnel

Missy Ward Uganda Hometown: Merritt Island, Fla. Ministry: Women’s advocacy Ward will be serving as the refugee women’s advocacy coordinator for Refuge and Hope International in Kampala, which is directed by CBF field personnel Jade and Shelah Acker. She will direct a new project that will provide services to refugee women affected by violence and trafficking. This will involve community advocacy through refugee churches, strengthening women’s empowerment initiatives of education and vocational training and opening a temporary emergency shelter for young female refugees who are either trafficked to Kampala or arrive alone and have nowhere else to go. “I am grateful to my CBF family for their prayers and financial support. I would appreciate prayers for strength, discernment, direction and for doors to open for partnerships in Uganda. I also would appreciate people praying for the holistic rehabilitation of young girls and women affected by intimate partner violence and trafficking — pray that they would know and understand they are loved by God, cared for by their community and have a purpose for their lives.” Read more on page 21.

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Meet CBF moderator

Keith Herron Keith Herron is senior pastor of Holmeswood Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., a position he has held for 11 years. Herron is a graduate of Baylor University, Southwestern Theological Seminary and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. Previously, he served on the CBF Coordinating Council from 2006 to 2010. As the Fellowship faces several significant changes in the coming year, Herron reflects on the role of transition in the life of the organization.

Transition versus change. Transitions imply movement with purpose. Changes can be made with no transitions navigated, but transitions occur when one embraces change as meaningful.

Transition in spiritual life. The movement of God through time has always included changes and transitions. When changes are embraced that are driven by a deep commitment that we are in partnership with God, those changes can move us through transitions evolving in response to God’s continuing direction. The old deacon would suggest, “nothing stays the same for long,” reminding us that purposeful changes are a part of life and that we can embrace purposeful changes in our response to God.

The history of CBF and transition. A guiding metaphor for the Fellowship has been the journey likened to that of the people of God who left Egypt and traveled under the guidance of God. The old English word, sojourners, that deepens that notion as it recognizes that those on the journey are always on the move. The sojourners are therefore people on the move.

Priorities during transition. We are hoping to begin living into the 2012 Task Force recommendations as fully as we can short of the processes needed to amend the CBF Constitution and Bylaws by this fall. We will intentionally reorganize our current teams and committees according to the model of the three councils, particularly within the Missions and Ministry Councils. This fall an implementation team will begin mapping the changes we will follow in making structural changes that will help us live into the organization envisioned by the 2012 Task Force. We intend to introduce the first round of constitutional changes at the General Assembly next summer in Greensboro. In the next year, we also hope to welcome a new Executive Coordinator and to work together in dreaming a new dream together. Hiring a new Global Missions Coordinator is a high priority and we should be able to develop the right team to help us move forward.

Hope for this period of transition.

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I’m praying we will continue to be in hopeful dialogue with one another about the journey we share. There is a great need for the Fellowship, for the kind of lived faith that Fellowship people can live. In the past two decades, we have carved out a place for gathering together and for a shared identity of being faithful and free.

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Vestal Scholars

Honoring Daniel and Earlene Vestal by Investing In Future Baptist Leaders

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n honor of Daniel Vestal’s significant contribution as CBF Executive Coordinator (1996-2012), the Fellowship created the Vestal Scholars initiative to cultivate the next generation of Baptist leaders. Potentially the finest future Baptist leaders enrolled in CBF partner theological schools, Vestal Scholars receive significant scholarship support and leadership development opportunities from the Fellowship. Scholars are provided $12,500 Daniel and Earlene Vestal with the first two scholarship recipients for a maximum of two years. Emily Holladay (student left), a student at Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, and Mary Beth Gilbert Foust (student Among other criteria, recipients right), a student at the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. must maintain at least a 3.5 grade point average, be nominated by a seminary professor, demonstrate affinity for CBF, serve one summer in a CBF Congregational Internship and participate in CBF’s annual General Assembly.

Vestal Leadership Scholar Endowment What better way to honor the Vestals’ leadership than by helping provide for a legacy of future Baptist leaders? Your gift to the Daniel and Earlene Vestal Leadership Scholar Endowment will ensure a financial foundation exists for generations of Vestal Scholars. Each $12,500 Vestal Scholarship can be underwritten through a $250,000 endowment gift, which will provide theological education for CBF leaders for generations to come. Your investment of $1,000, $500 or even $100 will make a difference, both for future leaders and for the future of the Fellowship. Contact the CBF Foundation to give: www.cbff.org or (800) 352-8741

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Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 2930 Flowers Road South, Suite 133 Atlanta, GA 30341 www.thefellowship.info • (800) 352-8741

Greensboro awaits. Be here June 26-29, 2013.

Join us for the CBF General Assembly June 26-29, 2013, at the Sheraton Hotel and Joseph S. Koury Convention Center in Greensboro, N.C. Register online now — www.thefellowship.info/assembly

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship