Feb/March 2005 fellowship!

NEW!

April-May "fellowship!" will have a new look to serve you better.

FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005

CBF

fellowship!

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

INSIDE

Church Embraces Afghan Refugees

Volunteers Celebrate with Kenyan Orphans

Co-pastors Share Church Starting Vision

Virginia Church Connects to Roma Students

Vestal Reflects on 21st Century Global Missions

WW W.TH EF EL L OW S H I P. I N F O

Partnership Allows CBF to Provide Tsunami Relief in Southeast Asia W H E N D E VA S TAT I N G T S U N A M I S H I T

Southeast Asia the day after Christmas, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field personnel were in place

While all CBF field personnel working in the region were uninjured, several families were displaced and threatened by flood waters. Field personnel began assisting their neighbors as the death toll from earthquakeinduced tidal waves climbed above 160,000 at press time.

“Even though our field personnel are not all trained as first responders, some of them are some of the first people entering devastating situations,” said Barbara Baldridge, CBF Global Missions acting coordinator.

The focus of CBF relief efforts in Give tsunami-impacted EVERY DOLLAR DESIGNATED for areas has included Asian Response goes to the assessment of damfield to assist in the relief and age, clean up and recovery effort. Gifts should distribution of be earmarked #17016, Asian needed supplies.

Response and can be mailed to: Field personnel ASIAN RESPONSE, CBF, PO Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. are working through Gifts can be made by credit card various ministry online at www.thefellowship.info/ partners to distribLanding/Giving.icm. ute funds to areas To maximize the impact of their most in need. The financial contribution, donors can Fellowship authoalso research their employer’s rized each field policy on matching gifts. unit to spend up to

Field personnel photo

helping minister to those affected.

A tsunami survivor in India receives medicine provided by CBF.

$5,000 in emergency relief.

Because the Fellowship is not primarily a relief organization, such a massive relief effort requires partnering with organizations that have experts.

In India, the Indian Evangelical Mission is the Fellowship’s main partner, helping primarily with volunteer coordination. CBF Global Missions field [continues on p. 2]

COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP’S MISSION: SERVING CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES AS THEY DISCOVER AND FULFILL THEIR GOD-GIVEN MISSION.

GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES 2

personnel are also partnering with Church of Christ in Thailand. In Sri Lanka, the Fellowship is partnering with organizations such as World Vision and Baptist World Aid. Other partners in the affected region include Habitat for Humanity International, Buckner Orphan Care International, and Baptist Medical and Dental Fellowship.

As the Fellowship and other organizations provide relief to areas affected by tsunami destruction, financial donations remain the best form of assistance that stateside supporters can provide.

The Fellowship set up an Asian Response Fund that had received almost $31,000 online and almost an additional $59,000 by mail, totaling $89,000 as of Jan 6. At press time, the Fellowship had sent more than $100,000 to CBF Global Missions field personnel to use in the relief effort.

“We can assure donors that 100 percent of funds will go to relief,” said Barbara Baldridge.

Relief purchases to date include basic hygiene kits, food and utensils, water purifying tablets, supplies for shelters housing survivors and water purification systems.

Jack Snell, CBF Global Missions associate coordinator for field ministries, said the most pressing need for field personnel is prayer. “The work is slow and the strain on our personnel is severe, but they are totally committed to the challenge of sharing God’s love in a loving response. They need to be undergirded by prayer,” he said.

Some individuals have expressed desire to help by going to Asia, but Snell said people help best now by praying and giving. “You are there through our CBF personnel that you support through your prayer and financial contributions,” he said.

New Look for ‘fellowship!’ Coming in April THE COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP’S bimonthly newsletter is

being redesigned to better connect readers with the ministries of the Fellowship. To complement the upgrade of the Fellowship’s Web site in February 2004, the newsletter will be getting a new look and added features in its April-May issue that will make the publication look more like the Fellowship’s Web site and other signature publications, “Who We Are” and “You Make a Difference.”

The new and improved “fellowship!” will provide readers with a way to connect to the ministries featured in the stories. Just as each page on the Fellowship’s Web site offers visitors “Ways to Respond” and provides the option to “Learn,” “Pray,” “Give” or “Serve,” each article in the newsletter will have the same options presented.

Be sure to keep your eye out for the new “fellowship!” due out in late March. For questions or comments, send an e-mail to Lance Wallace at lwallace@thefellowship.info.

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

www.thefellowship.info

The Fellowship had a presence in Southeast Asia prior to tsunami destruction, and has committed to staying in the region even after immediate relief efforts subside.

Experts predict the rebuilding process will take years, but the Fellowship’s commitment remains. “Our commitment is not only to immediate relief but to long-term transformational development and long-lasting relationships,” said national CBF coordinator Daniel Vestal.

By accessing the Fellowship’s Web site, www.thefellowship.info, individuals can make a contribution online, read up-to-date dispatches from the field or learn of the latest prayer needs.

By Carla Wynn and Lance Wallace, CBF Communications

Tsunami Response THE FELLOWSHIP’S WEB SITE contains links to all information on CBF’s response to the tsunamis in Southeast Asia at www.thefellowship.info/ AsianResponse.icm.

Fellowship churches and individuals are invited to assist the efforts of CBF Global Missions field personnel and their partners by taking the following actions:

PRAY Pray for the needs of the people impacted by the disaster and CBF Global Missions field personnel working with them.

Prayer updates are available online.

SERVE CBF Global Missions Volunteer Missions is working to match the needs with skilled volunteers. For more information, contact Timothy Wood at (800) 782-2451, twood@thefellowship. info or visit www.thefellowship.info/Global Missions/Volunteer Missions/asiarelief.icm. A Tsunami Relief Volunteer Information form is available online.

LEARN View images online from the areas CBF is providing relief. Also, hear sound bytes and video relevant to CBF relief efforts.

The CBF Web site contains litanies, hymns, prayers and other guides compiled by CBF’s Initiative for Congregational Life to assist congregations in their response to the crisis in Asia. To access these resources, go to www.thefellowship. info/CL/FF/CMResources/Disaster.

CBF Global Missions field personnel are giving frequent reports on their work and the situations they face in the region. Their stories are available online at www. thefellowship.info.

T H E E A R T H Q U A K E O F F T H E C O A S T O F S U M AT R A

and the resulting natural disaster that

destroyed lives and displaced so many people, in one sense demonstrates the reality of a “world without borders.”

The global reach of human suffering in the Indian Ocean Basin is historic, as is the scope of the global response.

Unlike many tragic events which go unnoticed by most people outside the immediate area, this one was inescapable. The entire world was focused on the devastation in Aceh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere in the region.

From print media to television, Patrick Anderson accounts from countries around the world reported the unfolding story. For a while, everyone in the world, it seemed, was talking about the same thing.

This worldwide focus is a characteristic of the contemporary age. I remember walking through a remote village in Asia one night a few years ago and seeing the entire village huddled around a small television with a satellite receiver watching a World Cup soccer match. Last year on a trip that can make a difference,* I sat in a tea café with a group of American pastors in a town on the edge of the Sahara Desert and watched the news along with a large group of robed desert dwellers. Soccer matches and war bring a common focus among people with common interests, although the focus may be slanted by the values of reporters and viewers alike.

The tsunami interrupted all of our lives wherever we live in the world, and reminded all of us just how tenuous life is, and how quickly human plans and priorities can change. Like you, I celebrated Christmas with friends and family, and reflected on a year just past and the prospects for the year to come. Our tranquility was shattered by the tsunami.

CBF personnel returned to work immediately to communicate with all of our people in the area of the tsunami. They prayed and planned to respond to this natural disaster to help make Christ’s presence felt. Our partners were consulted, efforts began to cooperate with Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christians, governmental and nongovernmental agencies alike to bring desperately needed food and water and medicine and shelter to people in need.

CBF field personnel in Toronto and Brussels and San Francisco and other places far away from the Indian

Ocean also responded to the tsunami among people from Indonesia and Sri Lanka and other affected countries they know as students and immigrants. The presence of Christ was exhibited among the grief and suffering due to the loss of loved ones, the uncertainty and lack of information, the stresses felt by many.

We are thankful that CBF field personnel are ministering to people in their time of need. They are there because of the prayers and generosity of people giving to the CBF budget and the Offering for Global Missions. Now they are in place to help make long-term, significant contributions to the abundant life promised through Jesus. f! * For information about “Trips that can make a difference … going to hard places with Pat Anderson” go to www.thefellow ship.info/Global Missions/Goingtohardplaces.

By Patrick R. Anderson, CBF Global Missions advocate

He was There: A Personal Reflection THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT from a poem written by Katy,

a CBF MK from Asia. Her identity cannot be given because of security concerns.

“It came from a part of me that was trying to understand all that happened, and a part of me that believes a God stronger than the forces of nature was there during it all. … He will be there. And that brings hope,” she wrote.

When wave upon wave of water hit shores thousands of miles from where they began, You were there.

When these waves crashed away everything in their path, You were there.

When the people You loved enough to die for ran for their very lives, You were there.

When houses fell and possessions were swept away, You were there.

You saw as these waves broke buildings, stole lives, left terror and grief in their wake.

Did Your heart break? I don’t have to ask.

I imagine Your tears would put the waters of tsunamis to shame.

In the midst of death and destruction, the God of the Universe was there. You were there.

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GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES

Tsunami in a World Without Borders

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CROSSROADS CHURCH PASTOR Paul McGovern knew he and his congregation had a heart for global missions. What he didn’t know was that a group of Afghan refugees in desperate need lived less than a mile from the Fremont, Calif., church. CBF Global Missions field personnel Lita and Rick Sample, who had recently joined Crossroads Church, alerted him to the situation.

“When they shared that, I was shocked,” McGovern says. “Fremont is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. I wasn’t aware of the high population of refugees all around us.”

The Samples belong to CBF’s internationals cluster — a group of CBF field personnel who minister to people living far from their homelands. The internationals cluster is highlighted as part of MissionConnect, the spring emphasis of the 2004-05 Offering for Global Missions.

Get Connected While most Afghan families had enough money CHURCHES AND INDIVIDUALS can to pay the rent, there was assist ministry to immigrants by little for necessary items providing: like laundry soap. The • Gift cards: Target, Wal-Mart, Samples, along with church Payless, Safeway • Toiletries: toothpaste, members, began to help toothbrushes, shampoo, soap meet these needs. and bathroom tissue The Afghans, who are • Bath supplies: hair brushes, mostly Muslim, were also hand towels, washcloths, diaper hungry for friendship with wipes Americans. “We tell them • Kitchen supplies: dish and we’re happy that they’re laundry soap and paper towels here and that Christians in • Other: board games, socks and America care about them,” backpacks.

Rick says.

Send items to Lita and Rick Other churches across Sample, 410 Lower Vinters the country are partnerCircle, Fremont, CA 94539 or ing with Crossroads contact rsample@thefellowship.

Church through CBF’s info.

Refugee Needs Project To order CBF’s new “Walking Alongside Internationals DVD,” to provide needed items which many Afghan contact The CBF Store at (888) families lack.

801-4223 or www.thefellowship. info. ($7.50, plus shipping) During Christmas 2003, the Samples and C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

www.thefellowship.info

Crossroads small groups “adopted” four Afghan families. They invited about 25 Afghans to Christmas parties in their homes.

“We make it a point to share with the Afghan guests the true meaning of Christmas, that it’s about the birth of Jesus,” Rick says. In 2004, about 125 Crossroads members held 12 Christmas parties for 17 families, reaching 73 Afghans.

As part of Afghan Friendship Week during spring

Courtesy of field personnel

GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES 4

California Church Embraces Afghan Refugee Community

As part of Crossroads Church’s outreach to Afghan refugees, 17 families attended Christmas parties in church members’ homes.

break 2004, Baylor University students, the Samples and Crossroads members spent a week with the Afghans playing games, touring nearby San Francisco and sharing a traditional Afghan dinner.

Plans are being made to start an Afghan church so refugees can learn about Christ in the Farsi language. “This will allow them to come as seekers, to know what the gospel is about and who Jesus is without a high-pressure kind of preaching,” Lita says.

The Samples hope other churches can use this refugee ministry as a model. “We didn’t come to California with these ideas,” Rick emphasizes. “This came out of our partnership with Crossroads Church. They’ve helped us learn how a local church can minister to refugees around them.” f!

For more information about the Offering for Global Missions, go to www.thefellowship.info, call (770) 220-1653 or e-mail ogm@thefellowship.info. Use the contribution envelope in this issue to help meet this year’s $6.1 million Offering goal and challenge goal of $6.3 million. Or go to www.thefellowship.info to make a contribution online.

By contributing writer Traci Rylands, Nashville, Tenn.

care enough to come from the United States and spend time with them,” says Dickson Masindano, director of and helps the little girl cut out figures of Mary, Joseph and Buckner Africa. baby Jesus. Together, the Kenyan orphan and the Texas During the trip, the Fellowship hosted Buckner staff volunteer are telling the Christmas story. and African Baptist leaders in a three-day dialogue about Teresia and 76 other orphans from the Baptist closer cooperation on issues Children’s Center in Nairobi related to children in Africa. were joined in early December For volunteer Bob Hefner 2004 by 29 volunteers from and his wife, Laura, returnacross the United States for a “Christmas in Africa” ing to the children’s home in camp sponsored by Buckner Nairobi is a confirmation of the Orphan Care International and work Buckner, CBF and Kenyan Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

Baptists are doing with the The camp provided an children. opportunity for 50 orphans “We have fallen desperately from the children’s center and in love with these children,” 27 who live in Buckner-sponsays Hefner, who is a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in sored foster homes to interact Dallas. “They are literally the with the American volunteers.

Barbara Baldridge, center, and Daniel Vestal sing with the children of the Baptist Children’s Center in Nairobi. most important children I have Activities included crafts, recrun across. They are bright and reation and Bible stories. they are hopeful and they appreciate where they are and Buckner President Ken Hall and CBF Coordinator are anxious to succeed. They really want to show appreciaDaniel Vestal, along with CBF Global Missions Acting Coordinator Barbara Baldridge also participated in the tion for the help they get and to just grow in their faith.” f!

Kenya Christmas trip.

By Scott Collins, Buckner News Service “It means so much to the children to know that people Photo by Scott Collins, Buckner News Service

MARLENE GRANT PUTS HER ARMS around Teresia Ngao

Quilting Provides Income for Village Families Doing Missions in a World Without Borders Missions Education Curriculum IN SEVERAL RURAL Southeast Asian

villages, Muslim and Christian women work side by side making quilts to help supplement their meager incomes.

Besides the income produced from quilting, the work gives the women time to share about their families and faith.

The women use their income to help meet health needs and pay school tuition for their children. Each quilt takes eight women approximately 160 hours to complete.

“For these women, quilting is the only other work available to them other than field work which is seasonal,” says one of CBF’s Global Missions field personnel who partners with the nationals that run

the quilting ministry.* Although quilting is not a traditional handicraft of the people group, some of the quilts use a traditional fabric called Batik cloth.

Most of the quilts are sold in the United States at the CBF General Assembly or at churches hosting quilt shows. Since a lot of work goes into hosting a show, marketing the quilts is sometimes difficult, the field personnel admit. If given the opportunity, the women could triple their quilt production.

For more information about hosting a quilt show, e-mail contact@thefellowship.info and put

“Newsletter: Quilt Info” in the subject line. To contribute to the handicrafts project, send your financial donation to CBF, PO Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. Please mark your check comments line “80858 Handicrafts.”

The Fellowship’s March 2005 missions education curriculum focuses on a holistic approach to agriculture in Asia. The February 2005 materials highlight Partner’s in Hope, CBF’s rural poverty initiative in Helena, Ark. * Name has been withheld for security reasons.

By Lisa M. Jones, CBF Communications

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GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES

Buckner, CBF Volunteers Celebrate Christmas with Kenyan Orphans

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W H E N TA L K I N G W I T H R O Y G E N E E D G E A N D S T E V E M AT T H E W S ,

co-pastors of Rena Road

Baptist Church in Van Buren, Ark., the word “amazing” comes up often. builders led the service and took up an offering in which In 1997, the two unacquainted men were full-time they gave $20,000 for the new church. The next morning, pastors in Oklahoma — Edge at Main Street Baptist in they put the building up. We worshipped in it Wednesday Stigler and Matthews at First Baptist Church, Vinita. night and on the next Sunday we had our service there.

However, the two had a couple of things in common.

“Two weeks later, about 40 people from Trinity Baptist Natives of the Fort Smith area, they both “shared a burden” in Conyers, Ga., came to begin a Cooperative down and helped Baptist Fellowship church finish out the inside. there.

The Lord has blessed They discovered this us in so many ways,” common bond when Edge adds.

Rick McClatchy, then Current coordinator of CBF of attendance at Rena Oklahoma, told Matthews Road ranges from there was another pastor 30 to 60, and the in the state who shared his co-pastors take vision for a church start in turns preaching a Fort Smith. month at a time. The McClatchy contacted Fellowship has been Tom Logue, who was a great help to the serving then as CBF of church, Edge says.

Arkansas coordinator, “We are trying to do and the four men met for Steve Matthews, left, and Roy Gene Edge share the responsibilities of helping lead Rena Road Baptist Church as co-pastors. more in educating the lunch in Fort Smith. “We people about CBF. My drove around the area and wife does this through things like the missions offering, then went back home to pray about it,” Matthews says. “Both and we have speakers to show how God is blessing and of us decided we needed to move back to the area and start a using CBF in global missions.” church. Roy Gene and his wife, Cindy, and my wife, Staci, and Tom Ogburn, CBF’s former associate coordinator for I resigned our churches on the same Sunday, and Roy Gene partnership missions, conducted a workshop to help and I became bivocational pastors. It was a real leap of faith.”

Rena Road zero in on its missional direction, and national The couples initially started a Bible study in an office at Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal was a recent pulpit guest. the steel plant owned by Steve’s father. “It was attended by “I personally feel that if CBF is going to be viable for the others in the area who had CBF interests,” Edge says. “We future, we have to plant churches,” Matthews says. “It was next met in Steve’s home and other homes and then rented good to hear Dr. Vestal say the same thing. This has been a conference room at a hotel in Van Buren.” an amazing experience. I never thought I would be a church When the newly-formed congregation needed a planter.” f! permanent home, Logue put the pastors in touch with a volunteer group known as the Texas Church Builders.

For more information about new church starts, contact Phil “More than 300 adults and youth representing seven states Hester at (678) 429-9753, or phester@thefellowship.info, or go showed up one morning to start building the church,” to Global Missions/Church Starts at www.thefellowship.info.

Matthews recalls. “It was an amazing thing to watch.”

“It was amazing,” Edge echoes. “The first night, a By contributing writer Gay Campbell, Nashville, Tenn.

Sunday, we worshipped together on the cement pad. The Lance Wallace photo

GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES 6

Co-pastors Share Vision for CBF Church Start in Arkansas

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

International Seminary Unites Diverse Students in Classroom

Beulah Land Media Ministries

Clarissa Strickland photo

$365,000 over claims the seminary was liberal. Led by then THE FA C E S O F I N T E R N AT I O N A L Baptist Theological CBF moderator John Hewett, a group of 50 Baptists travSeminary in Prague, Czech Republic, include a Latvian man whose conversion to Christianity cost him his coleled to the seminary in February 1992 to present a check for more than $235,000. By April, lege teaching job, an Albanian who was raised Muslim and the seminary had received twice the amount of the funds originally a Bulgarian who ministers to Prague’s prostitutes. promised by the FMB. The first global missions offering contributed These stories are just a few heard by Clarissa Strickland, $345,000 to the seminary. This year, the Fellowship gave $90,000.

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s associate coordinator for leadHamrick says the partnership enables the Fellowship to help train ership development, during and develop European Baptist leaders. a recent trip to the seminary.

But the partnership isn’t one-sided, Strickland traveled to IBTS to Magdi Maria Pap receives her master of theology Hamrick emphasized. “We learn a present a worship banner she degree from Parush Parushev (left), IBTS director great deal from them,” he says. “They made on behalf of CBF for the of applied theology and academic dean, and Keith Jones, IBTS rector. are Baptists who have been in difficult seminary chapel and to gather circumstances such as persecution.” f! stories from the international student body.

For more information about IBTS, go to www.ibts.cz.

“Their stories were as varied as their accents,”

By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications Strickland says. “Some were raised in Christian homes and others came to their faith later on in their lives. I heard stories of those imprisoned because of their faith, and Student Spotlight: Adam Dejan those who were alienated from family because they ADAM DEJAN OF SERBIA was supposed to spy on Christians A Vision for IBTS became Christians.”

— not become one. He heard the gospel while serving as an Founded in 1949 in undercover police officer assigned to CBF ENVOYS Ann and Nick Ruschlikon, Switzerland, infiltrate Serbia’s Seventh Day Adventist Skipper have joined with the seminary moved churches, which like other evangelicals, other “friends of IBTS” in the to Prague in 1995.

The were considered traitors to the country.

United States to form the After his baptism, Dejan left the police. student body, currently Vision Group.

Now Dejan is pursuing a master’s 140 students in six Their plans include keeping degree in Baptist studies at IBTS. But he degree programs, is “a U.S. supporters of IBTS informed almost didn’t make it to seminary. In and assisting short-term good example of Baptists Adam Dejan 1999, he crossed a Serbian bridge only volunteers in serving at IBTS. around the world,” says two minutes before NATO aircraft bombed “The Link,” the official newsletter Terry Hamrick, the it. He says he has learned how to forgive at IBTS, where one of of IBTS, and a new newsletter, Fellowship’s coordinator his fellow students is a former U.S. Army officer who worked on “The Vision,” will be produced for leadership developthe NATO campaign against Serbia. stateside to keep individuals ment.

“When we met one another for the first time, I didn’t know informed. The group has also The newly-formed what to think,” Dejan admits. “He embraced me by asking could launched a new Web site, Fellowship began supI forgive him and have friendship with him. Finally, but not so www.ibts.us. porting the seminary easy, I said, ‘Yes, you are forgiven.’”

Following seminary, Dejan wants to return to Serbia and in October 1991 after For more information, change public opinion about Baptists. He hopes to become a the Southern Baptist contact the Vision Group at member of the Serbian parliament.

Foreign Mission Board friends@ibts.us. withdrew its funding of w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o F E B R U A RY / M A R C H 2 0 0 5

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sonnel Ralph and Tammy Stocks. The couple, who are highA FA M I L I A R FA C E S H O W E D U P recently on the campus of the Gandhi School in Pecs, Hungary, which provides lighted as part of the Fellowship’s 2004-05 Offering for educational opportunity for some 270 Roma (Gypsy) stuGlobal Missions emphasis, coordinate an array of cooperadents. The friendly face belonged to Tom Leland, pastor of tive Christian and humanitarian programs among the Roma University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va., who along in both Romania and Hungary. with six team members, traveled to “Roma teenagers rarely prothe school to share Christ’s love. ceed past the eighth grade in Leland, who has previously led school,” Ralph explains. four teams to the school, says the “While living in the school purpose of the trip was four-fold. dormitory for the week, team “We were there to share God’s love members were able to form relawith the Gandhi students through tionships with the students not two worship/celebration services; only through classroom activito help students with their English; ties but by hosting a hot dog to encourage Penny Mann, one of supper, two celebration worship the new CBF Global Service Corps services and intentional hallway personnel, who has just started conversations,” Ralph says. three years as a teacher; and to The celebration events with Tom Leland, pastor of University Baptist Church, teaches a 12th grade English class. encourage the local Hungarian the students attracted more than Baptist Church to continue its 70 students who joined the team ministry with the school,” he says. for games, songs, a short message and refreshments. “After The team complemented the ongoing work of the Americans led several songs, the students themselves Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field perbroke into a spontaneous hymn in their own language,” Ralph says.

On Sunday, the missions team sang in the local Tennessee Volunteers Hungarian Baptist Church and Leland shared a message Share God’s Love through an interpreter in preparation for the Lord’s Supper.

Ralph points out that building this relationship with THE FOLLOWING UPDATE comes from CBF Global Missions field Hungarian Baptists will help Mann as she works with the personnel Ralph and Tammy Stocks: church in weekly outreach at the Gandhi School.

What happens when 13 volunteers from First Baptist Church, University Baptist member Mike Smith says when he Jefferson City, Tenn., collide with 150-plus Gypsy kids in a and his wife, Amanda, entered their classroom at the end of remote village in Hungary? A whole lot of love! By the end of the five-day children’s camp, the tears shed at saying goodbye the week, they were moved to find the students had written fell across children’s arms “tattooed” with hearts and crosses, them a “postcard” in English on the chalk board wishing and splashed across jewelry of colored beads reminding them them “Good travel at home!” of Jesus.

“We know that many of these students face discriminaRomany children in Tuzser experienced first-hand the love tion in the Hungarian culture, but we also know that God’s of God as team members hugged, played, painted, sang and love extends to them as it does to all of us,” Mike says. “Our taught Bible stories. Teenagers enjoyed playing sports with hope is that our brief visit helped affirm them as worthy volunteers. of God’s love and opened their hearts to the good news of Team members participated in an evening worship service Jesus Christ.” f! with some 250 Gypsy villagers crowding around the tent. Gifts University Baptist photo

GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES 8

Offering for Global Missions Strengthens Churches’ Connection to Roma Students

of chocolates and flowers for female team members were all the local community could afford as they extended a heartfelt invitation for a return visit. Team members shed tears as the vans rolled away.

For more information, or to make an online contribution to the Offering for Global Missions, go to www.thefellowship.info, call (770) 220-1653 or e-mail ogm@thefellowship.info.

By contributing writer Gay Campbell, Nashville, Tenn.

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

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Carla Wynn photo

COLLE G E S T U D E N T S F O C U S E D on the theme of “God’s call, the world’s cry, my answer,” during the inaugural Antiphony conference in Birmingham, Ala., from Dec. 29-Jan. 2. More than 250 students and leaders gathered for the event sponsored by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions, Passport Inc. and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.

During a worship session based around God’s call, speaker Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, told students the call to Christ comes above any vocational or ministry calling they might feel.

Additional conversation happened in small group discussion times called D-groups, where students further grappled with how to hear God’s call. Students also had their choice of A student paints her response to the Antiphony conference during the final more than 25 different worship session. topic-based discussion sessions called Chat Rooms.

Musical guest Ken Medema led students in musical responses throughout the conference.

The conference attracted students for a variety of reasons. For some, it was not knowing what life after college graduation would bring. For others, it was a desire to ring in 2005 with friends.

During the opening session, Pennington-Russell and Colleen Burroughs, executive vice president of Passport Inc., introduced the idea of an antiphony-style sermon where ideas were shared through a conversation between the two.

Human need around the world was the focus of the second full day of Antiphony. Burroughs told students it was important to understand the complexity of human need. “The unresolved tension of Antiphony is that God’s call and the world’s cry might actually be the very same sound,” she said.

Small group discussion was the conference’s hallmark, allowing everyone a chance to share their ideas, said Graham Ashcraft, a May 2004 graduate of Baylor University. “It’s not a lecture; it’s a conversation,” he said.

Participants ended the second full day of the conference with a New Year’s Eve party.

Antiphony participants grappled with their response to God and the world during the third full day of the collegiate conference.

“I needed it to mean a lot, and it did,” said Mississippi College senior Jonathan Barlow. “God had called me into the ministry, and I needed to know what that meant,” he said. Through Antiphony, “God brought to focus what my future ministry might look like,” Barlow added.

Kendall Bumgarner, a University of Oklahoma senior, said her focus on future plans had distracted her from current unmet needs around her. “Now I have this passion to be comfortable with where I am now and be willing to do whatever needs to be done right now,” she said. f!

By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications

Class Notes: News from Partner Schools Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. The seminary recently received a $100,000 bequest from the late Dorothy Peace of Greenville, S.C. Lilly Endowment has awarded BTSR nearly $2 million as a part of the national Making Connections Initiative. BTSR will use the funds to build a job-placement system, to assist churches considering female pastors, to coach ministers in transition, and to fund seminary staff positions to relate to congregations and alumni.

Campbell University Divinity School. The divinity school has created an endowment for Hispanic ministry on a financial gift from North Carolina resident Ruth Faires.

Central Baptist Seminary. Molly Marshall was named the seminary’s president in November. She began duties Jan. 1, as the first woman president of any Baptist-affiliated seminary accredited by the Association of Theological Schools.

Bozhidar Igov of Bulgaria has joined the seminary as this year’s missionary-in-residence.

McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. Lilly Endowment has awarded McAfee nearly $2 million as a part of the national Making Connections Initiative, which will create two-year church residencies for McAfee graduates wanting to become pastors.

The first six residencies will begin summer 2005.

Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. The seminary’s Alumni Association honored Joseph C. Parker Jr., pastor of David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, with its Distinguished Alumni Award.

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GLOBAL MISSIONS & MINISTRIES

Antiphony Conference Helps Students Respond to God's Call, the World's Cry

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FAITH FORMATION 10

CBF Spiritual Formation Summit Shapes New Network TWELVE COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP spiritual formation leaders met recently in Atlanta to discern the future of the Fellowship’s new spiritual formation network (SFN).

The SFN was announced at June’s General Assembly but had not yet taken shape. “We had an idea, but we didn’t have substance,” says Rick Bennett, the Fellowship’s associate coordinator for faith formation.

Through times of prayer and worship, summit participants began discerning the SFN’s direction, including a definition for spiritual formation, Bennett says. The definition reads, “Spiritual formation is the process of being shaped in the image of Christ by the gracious working of God’s Spirit, for the transformation of the world.”

Summit participants also drafted a conceptual structure for the SFN, which includes leadership by a 12-person steering team, which has yet to be selected. With a priority of achieving spiritual formation through gatherings, print media, partnerships and an Internet presence, the network’s two-fold purpose will be relating and resourcing.

Selected on the basis of experience and involvement in spiritual formation, the 12 spiritual formation leaders joining Bennett in the discerning process were: • Mary Jayne Allen, minister of education at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.

• Sheree Jones, pastoral educator at First Baptist Church

in Aiken, S.C. • Rick Jordan, congregational life coordinator for CBF of North Carolina • Jeanie Miley, spiritual formation author and retreat leader • Devita Parnell, associate coordinator for congregational life for CBF of Georgia • Sandi Rogers, pastor of faith formation at Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va. • Royce Rose, theological education for Baptist General Convention of Texas • Ann Ross, layperson at First Baptist Church in Madison, Ga. • Rachel Shapard, associate minister at First Baptist Church in Gainesville, Ga. • Marjorie Thompson of Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, Tenn.

• Alta Whitt, college minister at Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. • Howard Williams, minister of spiritual formation at Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala. f!

For more information about spiritual formation, contact Rick Bennett at (770) 220-1605 or rbennett@thefellowship.info.

By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications

CBF-endorsed Chaplain Receives Legion of Honor Award THE CHAPEL of the Four Chaplains recently awarded its 2004 Legion of Honor distinction to Cooperative Baptist Fellowshipendorsed chaplain Keith Ethridge.

Keith Ethridge, left, Ethridge, with George Pickle a member of Hampton Baptist Church in Hampton, Va., is deputy director for the National Chaplains Center for the Department of Veterans Affairs. A former U.S. Navy chaplain, Ethridge has been a Clinical Pastoral Education supervisor for

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

www.thefellowship.info

17 years. He leads the Veterans Affairs Chaplains School.

“The Chapel of the Four Chaplains has for years and years been the symbol of interfaith cooperation service among military and veterans chaplains,” Ethridge says.

The Chapel of the Four Chaplains, a national non-profit organization established to encourage cooperation and promote unity without uniformity, annually recognizes individuals who render selfless service.

The Chapel was inspired by the courageous acts of four U.S. Army chaplains serving aboard the U.S. troop carrier Dorchester, which was sunk by a torpedo off the coast of Greenland in 1943. The chaplains — Catholic, Dutch Reformed, Jewish and Methodist — went

down with the ship after surrendering their own life jackets to service men aboard.

Previous recipients of the Legion of Honor Award include presidents Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan; Bob Hope, John Glenn, Martha Raye, James Michener, C. Everett Koop, and Tommy Lasorda.

Ethridge has been endorsed by CBF since 2002.

For more information about CBF chaplaincy and pastoral counseling, contact George Pickle at (770) 220-1617 or gpickle@thefellowship.info, or go to Church Life/Chaplains & Pastoral Counselors at www.thefellowship.info.

By Lance Wallace, CBF Communications

2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

CBF Adds Reyes, Staley to List of General Assembly Keynote Speakers are Friday morning’s communion service, new Global Missions field personnel commissioning Friday evening, keynote speakers Albert Reyes, Baptist General Convention and the choice of 70 workshops throughout the event. of Texas There will also be a Hispanic leadership conference and president, “Companions in Christ” training in English and Spanish. and Carolyn Dove Award-nominated composer Joseph Martin will be Staley, assothe event’s guest pianist. ciate pastor of Departing from the traditional midday Thursday Briggs Memorial through Saturday morning schedule, this year’s assemBaptist Church in Bethesda, Md. This bly will run Thursday morning, June 30, through Friday year’s meeting is evening, July 1, with auxiliary events being offered June 29-July 2 at Wednesday, June 29, and Saturday, July 2. f!

Gaylord Texan Resort and See p. 15 for a pre-registration form. Online registration and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas. hotel reservations can be made at www.thefellowship.info.

Reyes, the first Hispanic BGCT president, also serves as president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio. He will be the keynote speaker during the

By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications Thursday evening session.

“Albert is a powerful and inspirational preacher.

2005 General Assembly Schedule — June 29-July 2 I can’t wait for the Wednesday, June 29 Auxiliary Events rest of the CBF family to discover what Thursday, June 30 7:00 a.m.-8:45 a.m.

Auxiliary Events we in Texas already 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

Resource Fair Open know — Albert Reyes 9:00 a.m.-10:10 a.m.

Workshops (five of our very best) is one of the most 10:30 a.m.-11:40 a.m.

Business Session Albert Reyes gifted individuals in 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.

Lunch and Auxiliary Events the Baptist family,” 2:00 p.m.-3:10 p.m.

Workshops (includes Business Breakouts, too) said Philip Wise, 3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m.

State Meetings 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

Dinner and Auxiliary Events chairman of the 6:45 p.m.

Pre-Worship Gathering General Assembly 7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Worship program committee.

8:30 p.m.

Resource Fair Event Staley will deliver Friday, July 1 interpretation of Carolyn Staley 7:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.

Auxiliary Events this year’s theme, 8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m.

Resource Fair Open “Being the Presence of Christ … In 9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m.

Communion and Community (Business Session) All the World,” at general sessions on 11:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m.

Fellowship Time Thursday and Friday. Staley has held 11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m.

Lunch & Auxiliary Events numerous church staff positions. She 2:00 p.m.-3:10 p.m.

Workshops 3:30 p.m.-4:40 p.m.

Workshops was acting director for the National 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

Dinner and Auxiliary Events Institute for Literacy in Washington, 6:45 p.m.

Pre-Worship Gathering D.C., from 1994-2002.

7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

Worship The Fellowship’s national coor8:30 p.m.

Resource Fair Event dinator, Daniel Vestal, will be Friday Saturday, July 2 Auxiliary Events evening’s keynote speaker.

Other General Assembly highlights THE FELLOWSHIP’S ANNUAL General Assembly has added

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1 The church is exploding around the world. The growth poorest counties in America, we are discovering that for true of the church is greatest in those places where the unchanging transformational community development to take place, truth of Christ is adapted to the language and culture of the major changes have to occur. Changes must take place not people. Whether it is in China, Latin America or Africa, the only in individual lives, but in institutions, government and Christ that is proclaimed and embraced is not a western culture. This takes time and is tediously slow, but I believe Christ, or an American Christ, or even a Baptist Christ, but the Christ can and does transform entire communities. crucified, living One that transcends all of our categories.

5 The Great Commission to all peoples will be fulfilled 2 The globalization of the through dialogical witness, church means that partnership is suffering love and the power of the future of world mission. The day the Holy Spirit. What I mean by of “colonial missions” is over. The day dialogical witness is that we enter when western countries and western into real conversation with people denominations impose their culture of other religions. We really listen to on other parts of the Body of Christ them. We seek to learn from them. is past. But the day when Christians We try to find common ground, and from all over the world in mutual trust in that context, we give our witness to and respect work together for the Jesus Christ. We are unapologetic of sake of the gospel is just beginning. our convictions and commitments, Partnering is woven into the very but we share them out of friendship fabric of our faith and it is being and earned respect. discovered and re-discovered in fresh The Great Commission will be Daniel Vestal new ways around the world. fulfilled only in suffering love.

3 The overwhelming needs in our world require new As we identify ourselves with and collaboration like never before. One of the tendencies involve ourselves in the sufferings of people, we bear our in cultural and denominational fragmentation is for greatest witness to the One who suffered the greatest, even local churches to think that they can fulfill the Great the Lord Jesus Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in 1944, Commission without cooperation with other Christians.

“It is not the religious act which makes the Christian but They retreat into a kind of “go it alone” mentality and reject participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.” I partnership. This is a tragic mistake. We are living in a believe an acid test of the Christian faith is what we do with world where human need is so great that we simply cannot our pain and the pain of the world. afford duplication, competition or isolation. About oneAs we witness and as we suffer, God works in half of the world’s population, nearly 3 billion people, live beautiful, mysterious and powerful ways to convict people in poverty on the equivalent of $2 per day or less. There of sin and draw them to Christ. God heals bodies, minds are still a billion people who have little access to the gospel and spirits. God restores broken relationships. God story. There are now 40 million people world-wide living transforms character. God answers prayer. In the power of with HIV/AIDS. These kinds of needs require collaboration the Spirit, God works among His people in the world. I’ve and partnership. known some people to come to faith in Christ because of 4 Justice and reconciliation are part of the mission visions and dreams. Others come because of a strange warm of the church. The central theme in the teachings of Jesus feeling or an unexplainable presence. Most often, I’ve is the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the incarnation of that known people who came to faith by seeing an exemplary Kingdom and we are to be a continuing incarnation. We are life or hearing the gospel story. I believe in the power of to do this not only in our personal and congregational lives, the Holy Spirit. f! but when we confront the wrongs of the world, we are to To read more of Vestal’s commentary, go to “News & Views” and speak and act prophetically. We are to live and speak from a “Vestal Online”at www.thefellowship.info.

Kingdom perspective, not only with mercy and compassion, but with justice and truth. In our commitment to 20 of the

By CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal Stanley Leary photo

AS WE JOURNEY 12

Reflections on Global Missions in the 21st Century

C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

www.thefellowship.info

FELLOWSHIP FARE

Fellowship Roundup News from CBF’s states, regions and national offices ALABAMA THE ALABAMA CBF Spring Conference

will be held March 4-5 at Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham with the theme “Present Hope for Unseen Hurts.” CBF National Coordinator Daniel Vestal will be the keynote speaker for Friday evening.

Chuck Bugg, the Kenneth L. Chafin Professor of Preaching at Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond, will speak on Saturday. Workshop topics to help congregations will include: mental illness, at-risk children and youth, respite care, AIDS, addiction, divorce, grief and eating disorders Register online at www.alabamacbf.org or call (888) 245-4223.

FLORIDA TOMMY DEAL has been chosen as

associate coordinator for CBF of Florida.

Deal, who was director of operations and volunteers for the social-service agency Christian Service Center for Central Florida in Orlando, began his duties Jan. 1. Deal previously served churches in Texas, Georgia and Virginia. Deal is a CBF-endorsed chaplain.

The CBF of Florida annual meeting, The Gathering, will be April 22-23 at the United Methodist Retreat Center, Leesburg. CBF National Coordinator Daniel Vestal will be the preacher. Go to www.floridacbf.org for details.

GEORGIA THE CHRISTIAN Fellowship Baptist

Church of College Park hosted the 2004 Fall Convocation of the CBF of Georgia. Carolyn Gordon challenged participants with sermons on the theme of “Being ‘in’ the Presence of Christ.”

The Meridian Chorale provided music for the services attended by more than 500 people. Special recognition was

given to Touching Taliaferro With Love (TTWL) — a partnership begun in 2002 between CBF of Georgia and Taliaferro County to improve the quality of life for families. Participants met Angelica Harper, the 2004 recipient of a fouryear scholarship to Shorter College, thanks to a partnership between TTWL and the college.

The CBF of Georgia General Assembly will be held March 4-5 at First Baptist Church of Rome. Charles Poole will be the featured preacher. For additional information, contact CBF of Georgia at (478) 742-1191, x 21, or fbroome@cbfga.org.

The CBF "Convergence: The Minister as Leader" seminar began Jan. 24 in Georgia with 65-70 hours of intense training over four levels, plus three self-development projects.

To learn more about the seminar, go to www.healthychurch.org and click on “Leadership Development for Clergy,” or contact Dawn Hall at (336) 716-9722 or dmhall@wfubmc.edu.

For more information or to register for March Mission Madness in Americus March 11-13 and March 1820, contact Scott Ford at (770) 8600473 or robertscottford@mac.com.

PASSPORTkids! summer camp for children completing grades 3-6 will be on the campus of Wesleyan College in Macon, June 29 – July 2. For more information, go to www.passportkids.org or call (800) 769-0210.

Baptist Women in Ministry of Georgia is accepting applications for the Sara Owen Etheridge Scholarship and the Distinguished Churchwoman of the Year Award.

Applications and nominations must be received by March 15. To receive a scholarship application form, contact Bonnie Oliver at (770) 808-5160 or

bonnieoliver@bellsouth.net. For more information about the churchwoman award, contact Reneé Bennett at Morningstar Family Based Services, P.O. Box 4933, Macon, GA 31208; (706) 773-2298 or (478) 746-9868.

MISSOURI CBF OF MISSOURI has named Jeff

Langford as its new associate coordinator.

Langford, 35, comes to CBFMO from the International Publishing Management Jeff Langford Association in Liberty, where he served as general manager.

Langford follows Leslie Limbaugh, who

Coming Attractions FEB. 23-26, 2005

current Retreat First Baptist Church, Asheville, N.C. Cost: $100 Contact: Mary McCoy, (770) 2201637, mmccoy@thefellowship.info MARCH 7-9, 2005

True Survivor Training Event Royal Lane Baptist Church, Dallas, Texas Sponsor: CBF Congregational Life Presenters: David Odom, Diana Garland, Bo Prosser Contact: Toni Draper, (770) 2201654, tdraper@thefellowship.info JUNE 29 – JULY 2

CBF General Assembly The Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, Grapevine, Texas Info: www.thefellowship.info/Church Life/GA2005 For a complete schedule of events, go to www.thefellowship.info/Inside CBF/Calendar

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FELLOWSHIP FARE

previously served CBFMO for more than three years as associate coordinator in the St. Louis area.

NATIONAL 14

CBF’S INITIATIVE for Congregational Life will sponsor its fifth annual “True Survivor” conference for Christian educators, age-group ministers and church education staff March 7-9 at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Leaders Diana Garland, Dave Odom and Bo Prosser will focus on the theme, “Missional Leadership: The Island of Intentionality.” Cost is $50. For more information, contact Toni Draper at (770) 220-1654 or tdraper@thefellowship.info.

The Fellowship’s ecumenical task force recently changed its name to the Task Force on Ecumenism and Justice.

The group wanted to acknowledge that, although they are composed only of Baptists, they are uniting to do the work of ecumenism, justice and interfaith dialogue. The task force discussed creating tools for interfaith dialogue with religious groups including Jews and Muslims. Plans are also underway for developing an ecumenism resource kit for pastors and churches.

SOUTH CAROLINA FOUR LONG-TIME leaders in Baptist life were at First Baptist Church, Greenville, on Nov. 8 for the Fall Convocation of the CBF of South Carolina: Foy Valentine, former director of the Christian Life Commission; Duke McCall, former president of Southern Seminary; Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, former executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union; and Jimmy Allen, former president of the Radio and Television Commission. Jeff Rogers, pastor at FBC, Greenville, moderated a panel discussion among the four leaders, and each one also preached.

About 300 people attended the Convocation. For tapes of the speakers, C O O P E R AT I V E B A P T I S T F E L L O W S H I P

www.thefellowship.info

contact Josh Gribble at the CBF Resource Center in Atlanta at (770) 2201633 or jgribble@thefellowship.info.

CBF of South Carolina will hold its spring General Assembly April 22-23 at Timberlake Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach. A poverty simulation workshop will be a part of the meeting.

Ginger Barfield has been installed as director for Baptist studies at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia. The Baptist studies program began in fall 2004. Barfield is also adjunct professor of Greek and New Testament at the seminary.

TENNESSEE FIRST BAPTIST Church of Jefferson City will host the 2005 General Assembly of the Tennessee CBF on April 22-23.

John Kinney, dean of the school of theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va., will speak. A Nashville native who recently returned from her work as one of CBF’s Global Service Corps field personnel and who cannot be identified because of security reasons will also report on her unique ministry.

Seminar leaders will include Gene Wilder, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jefferson City; Bill Blevins, professor at Carson-Newman College; Valerie Burton, regional coordinator for CBF’s Initiative for Ministerial Excellence; and Steve Frye, adjunct professor at CarsonNewman. Worship will feature the A Cappella Choir of Carson-Newman College, a mass choir with members from east Tennessee churches, and a jazz ensemble from Emmanuel Baptist Church, Jefferson City. A fellowship dinner on Friday night will be $8 for adults and $4 for children. Additional information about the program, housing and registration will be included in the next issue of the “TCBF NEWS.” The sixth Church Staff Roundtable will be held at Fall Creek Falls State Park on Feb. 3-4. National CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal will lead worship sessions

with an emphasis on spiritual formation.

Church staff teams will be invited to provide models of ministry and there will be time for affinity groups, recreation and fellowship.

WASHINGTON, D.C. WALTER B. and Kay W. Shurden of

Macon, Ga., have donated $100,000 to the Baptist Joint Committee, a CBF ministry partner that advocates religious freedom and separation of church and state, to establish an annual lectureship. The Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State will be held at Mercer University every three years and at another seminary, college or university the other years.

Vol. 15, No. 1 CBF COORDINATOR • Daniel Vestal EDITOR • Ben McDade MANAGING EDITOR • Lisa M. Jones PHONE • (770) 220-1600 FAX • (770) 220-1685 E-MAIL • fellowship@thefellowship.info WEB SITE • www.thefellowship.info

fellowship! is published bi-monthly

by The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Inc., 3001 Mercer University Dr., Atlanta, GA 30341-4115.

Periodicals postage paid at Atlanta, GA, and additional mailing offices.

USPS #015-625 POSTMASTER:

Send address changes to “fellowship!”

Newsletter, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, P.O. Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329

2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY

General Assembly Pre-Registration

June 29-July 2, 2005 • Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine, Texas

Please complete one form per person or couple. There is no registration fee for CBF’s General Assembly. However, separate pre-registration or advance reservations and costs may be required for some auxilary events.

SPOUSE INFORMATION Name_______________________________________________ Name____________________________ Please register my spouse  Yes  No Address_____________________________________________ Work Phone_______________________ City______________________State___________ Zip________ Email_____________________________ Birthdate mm / dd / yy Church________________________City_________ State____ Spouse’s first Assembly  Yes  No Highest degree earned______________

Home Phone_____________ Work Phone________________

Graduate of_______________________

E-mail______________________________________________ Birthdate mm / dd / yy Gender  Female  Male This is my first Assembly  Yes  No Highest degree earned________________________________ Graduate of ____________________________ Year ________ I am:  Laity  Clergy/Church staff - Position_______________________

____________________ Year ________ Spouse is:  Laity  Clergy/Church staff Position___________________  Student School____________________

 Student - School________________________________

Degree____________________

Anticipated Grad. Date______ Degree________________

Anticipated Grad. Date________

MISSIONS INVOLVEMENT Have you ever volunteered with CBF Global Missions?

Self:  Yes  No

Spouse:  Yes  No

If yes, in what ministry area did you or your spouse serve?  Construction  ESL/Education  Art/Music  Other

 Medical/Dental  Technical (IT, Ag., Engineering, Technology, etc.)  VBS/Backyard Bible Club

CHURCH INVOLVEMENT I am currently serving as/on: Church Clerk Deacon Missions Committee Finance Committee Personnel Committee Stewardship Committee Denominational Relations Committee Other _________________________

Self

       

Spouse

       

CHURCH LAITY POSITIONS I am currently serving in/as: Self Missions Education Preschool  Children  Youth  Adult  Music Ministry Preschool  Children  Youth  Adult  Sunday School Director  Preschool Teacher  Youth Teacher  Adult Teacher  Christian Education Ministry  Specify:____________ Evangelism/Outreach  Missions Volunteer/Advocate  Other ___________________ 

Spouse

               

Thanks. This information helps us plan for future Assemblies.

Return this form to: CBF General Assembly, Attn. Laura Domke, PO Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329 You may also pre-register online for any of these events at www.thefellowship.info.

Registration for the Children's Assembly, Youth Assembly and other auxilary events will be available in early March. w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o F E B R U A RY / M A R C H 2 0 0 5

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instruction, leadership development, missions and social ministry, outreach and assimilation, prayer and spiritual dreaming what their church could be. Imagine a nearly practices, resource support, and worship and music.

42-year-old church scrapping its organizational structure These teams represent the “essential areas of spiritual and starting something new. Imagine this from Derbyshire formation in the life of church,” Canaday says. Each team Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., where members are will eventually have between five and seven members. implementing a new discipleship model developed by Marty These leaders will be the “eyes, ears and brain for those Canaday, the church’s minister of Christian formation. areas” while the congregation becomes The Teaching/Learning “the feet that live out God’s call,” Discipleship model is a church-wide Canaday says. attempt to establish a theological Also during this exploratory foundation for the church’s practicphase, the church has weekly sessions es. “We’re trying to help our people dealing with the model’s components, to think theologically and grow their including Canaday’s five essential own ministries,” Canaday says. practices to healthy church life: “It’s not a quick fix program. It’s a discipleship, teaching and learning, long-term process based on quality participating, intergenerational theological education and proper Members of Derbyshire Baptist Church brainstorm connecting, and reflecting and organizational structure.” and dream together about the future of their experiencing.

With this model, a theologicongregation.

Israel Galindo, a Christian educacal basis will focus all the church’s ministries and activities. “Many churches are doing church tion professor at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, consulted with Canaday about the model. without thinking theologically about their practices — what they do and why,” Canaday says. “We’re about renovating While the model won’t change every member of the congregation, some members “will find deeper and more our church, which means building on the good that exists through theological reflection. We’re not just wiping everyauthentic ways of responding to their call,” Galindo says.

“A good formation process like this leaves room for the thing out and starting all over.”

Spirit’s movement and guidance. When that happens, The staff conceptualized the model, received member amazing and powerful things beyond our imagining tend feedback through listening sessions and launched the to be realized.” model June 20, 2004. In September, the 1,200-member Imagine that. congregation entered a 10-week exploratory phase, called “Imagine a Church,” where members worked together For more information about the Teaching/Learning through Canaday’s manual, “Foundations for Theology Discipleship model, contact Marty Canaday at and Practice.” mcanaday@derbyshirebaptist.org. For more resources Derbyshire formerly had more than 40 committees. The for church health, contact Bo Prosser or Rick Bennett at (770) 220-1600 or bprosser@thefellowship.info or model has reshaped the church’s organizational structure rbennett@thefellowship.info. to a new 10-person council on ministry that includes leaders from each of the following ministry teams: Christian vocation and service, church and family health, fellowship,

By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications I M A G I N E A C H U R C H where members corporately

Courtesy of Derbyshire

BUILDING COMMUNITY 16

Richmond Church Activates New Discipleship Model

0410P010

P.O. Box 450329 Atlanta, GA 31145-0329 Address Service Requested