fellowship! magazine - Fall 2022

God’s Holy Work of Equipping

To read the New Testament is to discover the powerful truth that the Triune God has always and everywhere been equipping the church for faithful ministry, especially in challenging times. Even before his death and resurrection, Jesus promised his disciples the gift of the Holy Spirit, who would remind them of everything he said and give them everything they needed. On the Day of Pentecost, when the church was born, the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples and equipped them with the gift of speaking in many different languages. Paul’s letters celebrate all the ways the Holy Spirit gives believers the gifts we need to do what God wants us to do. Yes, God is at work equipping the church for faithful participation in the life of Jesus in the world.

I believe our Fellowship is called to join God in this holy work of equipping. Just as the Triune God has invited us into this community of congregations and individuals for the sake of Christ’s mission in the world, the same God is drawing us into the divine work of equipping one another for bold faithfulness so that we can participate in Jesus’ transformation of the world. We heard this call to join the ministry of equipping loudly and clearly in our Toward Bold Faithfulness process several years ago, and we are beginning to live into this summons more fully.

Our CBF Global staff, in dynamic collaboration with CBF’s state and regional coordinators and partner ministries, are committed to equipping congregations and leaders. We are living into this commitment through new resources like Seeing Through the Eyes of Jesus; Amplify; Sacred Spaces Innovative Places; and a suite of Bible studies related to our mission distinctives. A revision of our Dawnings process is actively underway and when released in 2023, it will be a remarkable gift to congregations seeking greater clarity about calling, vision and ministry. We are building other collaborations and resources to help congregations with financial challenges and ministerial transitions.

All of these resources and initiatives have arisen through active collaboration across the CBF community to provide new means and greater access to relationships that faithfully join God’s work of equipping congregations for even more faithful ministry.

We are coming to discover that equipping is not just about the provision of resources. It is even more about the elevation of relationships and the creation of experiences through which

congregations and leaders can learn from one another. We believe that the most powerful kind of equipping is mutual.

Over these past several years, for all of their challenges, our congregations and leaders have been bold, innovative and creative in the most faithful ways. God’s creative power has been unleashed among us. So, we believe that every congregation and every leader has gifts to offer the rest of us, and we believe that we all need to be part of this community of mutual equipping. We made space for such mutual equipping in the roundtable conversations at General Assembly. Our brand new Thriving Congregations initiative will create learning cohorts of congregations thanks to a generous grant from Lilly Endowment. We have already discovered that mutual equipping for mission occurs when congregations and field personnel are drawn into vibrant Encourager Church relationships.

Over this past year, I’ve had the gift of participating in the leadership of CBF Fellows (a cohort of ministers in their first call), a group that has contributed in powerful ways to my ongoing equipping for this ministry, even as they have equipped one another. In the days to come, we will seek to cultivate more ways for congregations and leaders to teach one another, encourage one another and provoke one another on toward love and good deeds, as the preacher to the Hebrews teaches us.

This vision of mutual equipping is an embodiment of our Baptist commitment to the priesthood of all believers. And, it becomes more compelling as our Fellowship grows. The Holy Spirit is inviting more congregations and individuals, who come from outside the Southeast, who speak different languages, who have participated in a wide range of Baptist communities and who reflect an increasingly beautiful diversity of race and ethnicity, into this Fellowship. As more congregations and individuals come, our capacity to learn from one another will be dramatically expanded as we listen, trust, learn and love.

God has always been in the business of equipping the church for faithful ministry. We cannot wonder if we will be given what we need. The story of our faith is that God is always and everywhere pouring out gifts. The question instead is whether we will use what we have been given and join in God’s holy work of equipping. Doing so will not only transform us but prepare us to join God’s transformation of the world

Fellowship! is published 4 times a year in September (Fall), December (Winter), March (Spring), June (Summer) by the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Inc., 160 Clairemont Avenue, Suite 500, Decatur, GA 30030. Periodicals postage paid at Decatur, GA, and additional offices. USPS #015-625.

Executive Coordinator Paul Baxley Associate Coordinator for Identity & Communications Jeff Huett Editor Aaron Weaver Graphic Designer Jeff Langford

E-Mail fellowship@cbf.net

Phone (770) 220-1600

Postmaster: Send address changes to: Fellowship!

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 160 Clairemont Avenue, Suite 500 Decatur, GA 30030

PAUL BAXLEY is Executive Coordinator of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.

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BACK

FROM THE EDITOR

MINISTER TO MINISTERS

Michael Cheuk recognized for racial justice work in Charlottesville

By Chris Hughes

16 A PLACE AT THE TABLE FOR EVERYONE

CBF field personnel Scarlette Jasper serves the people of Appalachia

By Marv Knox

20 OUR FLAG MEANS HOPE

The Story of Darrell

By Grayson Hester

WINDOW

By Laura Stephens-Reed

By Jennifer Colosimo

By

On August 20-21, I traveled with my family from our home in metro Atlanta to Lyons, Ga., for the 20th anniversary celebration of The Oaks Baptist Church, a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship partner congregation in Southeast Georgia. The Oaks holds a special place for me—it is the community where I learned what it means to be a free and faithful Baptist, and the costs that can come with that. It’s where I learned that core values like soul freedom, Bible freedom and church freedom matter greatly.

Other CBF congregations have recently celebrated historic and deeply meaningful anniversaries like Ball Creek Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tenn. (225th anniversary in May) and First Baptist Church on Fifth in Winston-Salem, N.C. (150th anniversary in September). In the weeks and months ahead, you’ll read about these celebrations in the pages of fellowship!, via the CBFblog (www.cbf.net/blog) and in our Friday e-newsletter, Fellowship Weekly (signup at www.cbf.net/subscribe). Let us know of upcoming anniversaries so we can celebrate your congregation!

Last but not least, I want to express my appreciation to Carrie Harris, who has served as Associate Editor of fellowship! since December 2014 (8 years and 36 issues!). Carrie was recently promoted to Director of Fellowship Experiences, where she is coordinating CBF’s experiences and events, including General Assembly. Thank you, Carrie!

AARON WEAVER is the Editor of fellowship! Connect with him at aweaver@cbf.net

Charter members of The Oaks Baptist Church on August 21, 2022

1Missing Jesus Luke 2:41-52, Matt. 14:22-33

Really Seeing Matt. 14:22-33, John 15:1-11, Gal. 2:19-20

2Jesus is Lord Matt. 14:22-33, 16:13-20, Heb. 12:1-2

The Danger of Distractions

John 15:1-11, Matt. 14:22-33

A Community to Check Our Vision Matt. 14:22-33, Mark 8:22-26, 1 Cor. 13:11-13

Seeing Jesus, Claiming Jesus’ Mission Luke 1:46-55, 4:16-21, Mark 8:22-26, Matt. 14:22-23, 28:16-20

Seeing Jesus, Transforming Me Rom. 12:1-2, Phil. 2:1-11

Seeing Jesus, Transforming Congregations

Matt. 14:22-33, 1 Cor. 12:12-27, 2 Cor. 5:16-21

FOUR WAYS TO PRAY:

Pray for God to be glorified as God’s abundance fully provides for the salary, benefits, housing and children’s education needs of field personnel.

Pray for the trusting relationships field personnel build through their presence allowing opportunities to invite.

Pray for each and every person invited that they would experience God’s abundance physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. Pray for the fellowship of beloved community around the table.

Pray for tables that are large, plentiful and welcoming so that there is indeed a place at the table for everyone.

Looking Back at the 2022 CBF General Assembly

Nearly 1,500 Cooperative Baptists gathered in Dallas, June 28-30, at the invitation to “Come & See.” There and on a virtual platform, the Fellowship had the opportunity to reconnect, learn together, hear from partners in missions and ministry, commission chaplains and pastoral counselors and field personnel for service, and see the many ways that God is moving in our midst.

Find news coverage, photos, videos and recorded workshop sessions from the 2022 Assembly at www.cbf.net/assembly.

After three years apart, Cooperative Baptists had the opportunity to come together in The Gathering Place to laugh, learn and have fun. (Above Left) Forty sponsors and exhibitors including representatives from Baptist News Global met with Cooperative Baptists throughout the Assembly. (Above Right) Attendees were invited to “Come & Party” to open the Assembly, kicking up their heels on the dance floor, playing games, meeting exhibitors, shopping in the market and catching up with old friends. (Right) CBF staff members including Ellen Sechrest and Nell Green were excited to welcome Cooperative Baptists in Dallas.

Cooperative Baptists celebrated leaders and heard from incredible speakers. (Top Left) During the Baptist Women in Ministry annual gathering, Glendale Baptist Church was recognized as the 2022 Church of Excellence. (Top Right) The Rev. Dr. Frederick Haynes delivered a powerful message of “Jesus and Justice” during the Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award Luncheon. (Bottom Left) Rubén and Xiomara Ortiz share words of welcome and blessing during the CBF Familia breakfast gathering. (Bottom Right) Acclaimed historians Dr. Beth Allison Barr and Dr. Anthea Butler engage in a conversation on race, gender and patriarchy in Christianity during the Baptist News Global dinner.

During plenary and worship sessions, Cooperative Baptists came together around tables of many kinds as the body of Christ.

(Left) Newly endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors were commissioned and anointed for service with oil on their hands. (Middle Left) Kan’dace Brock and Ryon Price invited the Assembly to gather around the Lord’s Table. (Middle Right) As chaplains and pastoral counselors were commissioned to service, they received hand-woven stoles from Togo, West Africa—including a stole made for a commissioned service dog, Avalon, who ministers alongside her owner Christina Pryor Pittman. (Bottom Left) Anyra Cano shares about the work of Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo during a roundtable plenary session. (Bottom Right) Cooperative Baptists discuss ways their churches are creatively using their sacred spaces..

During worship, Cooperative Baptists heard challenging messages and affirmed field personnel for service. (Top Left) CBF field personnel Gennady and Mina Podgaisky offered updates on their ministry home in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Top Right) The Rev. Courtney Stamey challenged Assembly attendees to testify to one another about the struggles of the past two years and press on through the fire together. (Middle Left) Family and friends affirm CBF field personnel Elket Rodriguez for his service along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Middle Right) The Rev. Dr. Ralph West called on Cooperative Baptists to come and see the unique and different ways that God encounters us to unlock our potential and take away the sins of the world. (Bottom) Friends and family affirm Global Service Corps member Hannah Turner for service in Raleigh, N.C.

Throughout the Assembly, attendees were invited to learn from partners, leaders and staff via workshops, cohort experiences, meal events, live podcasts, panel discussions and café conversations. (Top Left) Bruce Gourley leads a workshop on understanding white Christian Nationalism and its dangers to American Christianity and democracy. (Center) Rosalío Sosa accepts the honor of the Dr. Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award. (Top Right) Participants in the Thriving Congregations cohort met to dream about future work. (Middle Left) Eugene Cho, president of Bread for the World, takes part in a live podcast conversation on hunger and advocacy. (Middle Right) Paul Baxley leads Familia, CBF’s Latino Network, in prayer during their breakfast gathering.

(Bottom) CBF staff members, including Javier Perez, Kasey Jones and Renée Owen, led a session for newcomers to the Fellowship called CBF 101. (Next page) L. Nicole Stringfellow shares about the work of Together for Hope during TFH’s 20th anniversary celebration dinner.

The CBF General Assembly invites Cooperative Baptists together to lift one another up, meet new friends and forge relationships, offers chances to equip and empower each other, and provides opportunities to be transformed as we journey together. The Holy Spirit moves among the Fellowship gathered. We look forward to the way God will move among us together in 2023.

We look forward to seeing you June 27-July 1 in Atlanta for the 2023 General Assembly!

More details will be made available at www.cbf.net/assembly in the new year.

Minister TO MINISTERS

Michael Cheuk recognized for racial justice work in Charlottesville

By Chris Hughes

Outside the brick walls of the historic First United Methodist Church in Charlottesville, Va., chaos was rising to a fever pitch. White nationalists and white supremacists by the hundreds were rallying throughout the quaint college town to protest the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. They proudly brandished symbols of their ideology—Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols, Confederate battle flags and Deus vult crosses—as they chanted antisemitic slogans and racial slurs. Many donned Army fatigues, body armor and carried semiautomatic weapons. The air was filled with the sounds of large truck engines rumbling and people yelling.

Just inside the walls of the church, the Rev. Michael Cheuk worked alongside a group of interfaith and interracial clergy who were doing everything in their power to create a space of respite, rest and peace—in a word, sanctuary.

First United Methodist Church sits directly across the park from where the Lee statue stood, the epicenter of the racial strife threatening to rend the town apart. Throughout the day, Cheuk served as a communications liaison for a group of clergy organized by Congregate Charlottesville, an interfaith group that led non-violent direct action trainings and mobilized volunteers to respond to the “Unite the Right Rally” that took place on August 12, 2017. Cheuk kept tabs on social media to track developments in the protests, communicated with group members, responded to media requests and, when needed, called for help.

Michael Cheuk links arms with fellow clergy (from left to right: Reverends Carol Sims, Elaine Thomas, Susan Minasian, Seth Wispelwey, and Brittany Caine-Conley) as they lead marchers to counter protest the KKK rally in July 2017. (Photo credit: David McNair/The DTM)

In October 2018, Cheuk kicked off a week-long “Cville to Jamestown Pilgrimage” that honored the enslaved at Monticello, walked the Richmond Slave Trail, and traveled to Point Comfort to remember the arrival in Virginia of the first enslaved Africans in 1619.

for a racist history. Between 1959 and 1964, members of the church had supported closing public schools and diverting tax money to establish an all-white academy rather than desegregating their schools. The church even had an informal policy of not allowing Black individuals to be on church property, a policy members employed to arrest civil rights protestors on the front steps of the church in 1969. The group of protesters included the Rev. J. Samuel Williams, Jr., an activist and pastor in Farmville.

When Cheuk unearthed the disturbing history, he worked to find ways to make amends, first by befriending Williams. Later, he extended a public apology on behalf of the church to Williams at a public symposium on the public school closures between 1959 and 1964. “I felt that a public apology was decades overdue,” he said.

For Cheuk, the role of pastor includes a powerful, symbolic and historical role. His hope was that such a public act would do some healing work for Williams, for the church and for the whole community. “For the pastor to acknowledge publicly what was a part of the church’s history might actually strip the power of the guilt and shame for the congregation of Farmville Baptist. I credit church members who supported me in reckoning with our past,” he added.

“We would get a call if someone needed help, and we would dispatch what we called ‘Care Bears’—people with little red wagons with things like Band-Aids, water, sunscreen, snacks, whatever was needed to take care of people,” Cheuk explained. “It was a stifling hot day that day,” he recalled.

Members of the clergy group were spread across the city, with some participating in direct action, some providing aid to anyone in need of water or medical attention and some staying in the church to offer prayer, counseling or just a place to rest. “Later in the day, we had people coming in, and their faces were just in shock. Some of them actually had blood on their jeans. Some would come in and just slump down against the walls in the hallways of the church,” Cheuk said.

“I remember distinctly when we got a message saying, ‘There is a car that just drove through the crowd at 40 mph.’” Cheuk frantically reached out to the nearest hospital to get emergency medical attention. The car, driven by James Fields, was the one that fatally struck Heather Heyer, who later died at University Hospital, and injured 35 others.

The ill-fated protest was a boiling point for racial tensions in America, emblematic of a renewed boldness for white supremacist groups that had been percolating since at least the mass shooting at Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015.

Cheuk is no stranger to racial justice work. In fact, it is one of the threads stretching across his work as a pastor and now with the Charlottesville Clergy Collective. His first pastorate was at Farmville Baptist Church in Farmville, Va., a church known in the community

In his next pastorate at University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Cheuk found a calling that took him beyond the walls of his own church with the Charlottesville Clergy Collective. The group was formed in 2015 at the initiative of the Rev. Dr. Alvin Edwards, pastor of Mt. Zion First African Baptist Church, as a response to the shooting at Mother Emanuel AME. Edwards had served as pastor for nearly 30 years in Charlottesville, and even served a stint as the city’s mayor. But in the wake of the terrible shooting, he realized a pressing need for a space for clergy to come together to confront the harmful effects of racism that still lingered in their town and across the nation.

This kind of organic and relational work laid an important foundation for the horrifying events that took place in Charlottesville that fateful August day. The entire summer was filled with

Cheuk stands in front of a 2019 Charlottesville downtown photo exhibition recognizing local activists doing racial justice work.

demonstrations from white supremacist groups after Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy called for the removal of the Lee statue. These demonstrations led to an increasing interest in groups like the Charlottesville Clergy Collective, which began drawing attention from faith leaders beyond just the Christian faith. Buddhist, Sufi and Jewish faith leaders started showing up as well, all looking for ways to counter the virulent racial hatred.

It’s through that work that Cheuk sensed a shift in his calling. He left the pastorate of University Baptist in January of 2016 to focus entirely on racial justice work with the Charlottesville Clergy Collective. He serves as the secretary for the group, where he manages communications, coordinates its organizing strategies and helps facilitate groups and events in order to promote racial justice. This work includes organizing forums, planning interfaith worship services, showcasing films and promoting book groups, and leading spiritual pilgrimages. In the summer of 2022, for example, he served as a chaplain for a community-wide civil rights tour to important sites in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. The tour included a visit to the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a haunting memorial honoring the lives of those who were lynched in America.

In this new calling, Cheuk considers himself a “minister to ministers,” helping to coach and counsel pastors as they grapple with difficult conversations. It is a way for him to be more directly involved in repairing the injustices he sees in the world. “For years, I preached about the importance of God’s spirit calling us beyond the walls of the church. And then an opportunity came along and I sensed a calling, almost as if God were asking, ‘Yes, and what about you, Michael?’ What are you doing beyond the walls?’”

For his work, Cheuk received the Emmanuel McCall Racial Justice Trailblazer Award at the 2022 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly in Dallas. Presented by the Pan African Koinonia, the award recognizes CBF individuals and ministries who charter through unequal and unjust areas of life, initiating proactive resolutions for communities in the form of policies or practices that result in greater equity, opportunity, impact and outcomes for all.

“I am so humbled to receive this award; but this is not an individual thing,” Cheuk said when he accepted the award in June. “I don’t do this alone, and I am grateful for you all who are a part of this movement that sees the need for and prioritizes efforts toward racial justice.”

For Cheuk, of course, the work is ongoing and requires shifts in mindset, as individuals, as institutions and as a nation. “I think for real and tangible progress to take place, there has to be a frank recognition of what Philippians talks about as kenosis,” he posited. “What would it mean for the church, which has for so long been the pinnacle of respect and power, to make the kenotic move and pour themselves out more and more, just as Jesus did?”

Above: Cheuk leads in a community prayer vigil in 2020 after the murder of George Floyd. (Photo credit: Mike Kroft)

Below: Ongoing memorial to Heather Heyer at the car attack site. (Photo credit: Kristen Finn)

RESOURCES FOR YOUR CHURCH

GROWING GENEROUS FOLLOWERS

Stewardship is a spiritual discipline. Just as we grow believers who read Scripture, pray, worship and serve, we are called to develop Christ-followers who view generosity as a key element of the life of faith. To this end, these lessons for adults, youth and children have been made available to you and your church to be used for a focused time of study on what it means to be good stewards.

SACRED SPACES, INNOVATIVE PLACES

Through case studies of seven CBF partner churches and the creative ways they are using their facilities and property, this resource shares both the sacredness and challenges of church campuses. Celebrate the sacred spaces that continue to play a key role in our faith formation and discover the innovative solutions these churches have found.

CBF Field Personnel Scarlette Jasper Serves the People of Appalachia

Scarlette Jasper came to Appalachia

to take care of her family, and that move has blessed thousands of families across more than three decades.

“My dad was a contract engineer in Monticello, Ky., and my mom got sick. So, I came from Texas to take care of my brother and sister while my mom recuperated,” she recalled.

But Jasper did more than look after her siblings. “I met a young man named Brian through a bowling league, where he was on a team with my dad,” she said. “We fell in love… and we got married. He was born and raised in Somerset, Ky., and that’s why I settled here.”

She fell in love not only with Brian but also with Appalachia—its lush beauty, and more than that, its straightforward people.

Since 2014, she has been serving them as a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel. Her service area covers south-central and southeastern Kentucky and eastern Tennessee. It encompasses about 10 counties of persistent poverty, where median family income remained below the U.S. poverty level 30 or more years.

But Jasper’s passion for helping hurting people developed long before she arrived in Appalachia. “I felt called to ministry as a child,” she explained. “I didn’t have a faith foundation, and I didn’t know what ministry was. But one of my earliest memories is meeting a candy striper at the hospital. I saw

By Marv Knox

that girl volunteering, and I felt called to help people.

“As a young adult, I tried to meet that call through volunteer work,” she said. “I got involved in Habitat for Humanity, PTA, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and other groups. But I could not fulfill whatever that desire was.

“We also were members of a Southern Baptist church, and I was active in Acteens, Vacation Bible School, teaching Sunday school—every position a woman could do. I didn’t have permission to do more, but I still had this desire to do more.”

She did more working for nonprofits covering a large swath of her part of Kentucky.

Then she heard about CBF through her son, Roger Jasper, who was pastor of Living Faith Baptist Fellowship, a congregation in Elizabethtown, Ky.

She discovered CBF had launched Together for Hope, a rural development coalition to combat poverty in the 20 poorest counties in the United States, which included parts of Appalachia.

“I read about CBF and field personnel, and the Lord just spoke to me,” she said. “I already was living and working in the region, including McCreary County (Ky.), one of the original Together for Hope counties. It was a natural fit for me.”

CBF commissioned Jasper as field personnel in 2014. She subsequently earned a Master of Divinity degree from Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, with a concentration in pastoral care and counseling, sharpening her skills for that lifelong call to ministry.

Through her Olive Branch Ministries and networks of relationships, Jasper serves folks in crisis across an area characterized by a poignant contrast between scenic vistas and human need.

[Below] (Top) White Flag Winter Relief Ministry participants experiencing homelessness embrace while waiting for a hot meal and shelter. (Bottom) A participant at the free health clinic receives a rapid Covid-19 test. These clinics are open and free to anyone.

[Below] Scarlette Jasper leaves Wal-Mart after purchasing needed clothing for a homeless participant at White Flag Ministry. [Right] Jasper discusses White Flag Ministry’s winter relief plans with Alex Lockridge (left) and Paul Sims (middle), ministers with First Baptist Church, Corbin, Ky.

“There is a lot of natural beauty here, a lot of natural resources,” she said. However, state and federal governments own vast swaths of those gorgeous mountains, making them off-limits for economic development. And although the communities are distinct, they share a litany of woes—lack of infrastructure, healthcare, transportation and job opportunities.

Since Jasper started with CBF, Together for Hope has expanded to cover 301 counties of persistent rural poverty. She serves at least 10 of those counties, expending her energy alleviating poverty’s dismal destruction.

A PLACE AT THE TABLE MEANS EVERYONE IS WELCOME HERE. WE’RE ALL TOGETHER. WE’RE ALL EQUAL.

“A large part of my ministry is financial literacy,” she reported. “The main goal is to help families learn how to budget and improve their credit, because credit affects everything in our lives.” The people she helps can’t get housing, car insurance and even cell phones until they get their credit in order.

Her ministries naturally extend to myriad problems of poverty—homelessness, hunger, lack of health care, transportation, home repairs and even a bat infestation.

One of Jasper’s most prominent endeavors is providing case management for White Flag Ministry at First Baptist Church in Corbin, Ky., smack in the middle of three impoverished counties.

White Flag Ministry started five years ago, providing temporary shelter for homeless people on nights when the temperature dipped below 29 degrees, Pastor Alex Lockridge explained. The ministry partners with a hotel to secure warm rooms at a fair rate. It provides meals to homeless people weeknights throughout winter, and it includes a winter clothing ministry.

“Our dream is to help [homeless people] find sustainable living, where they no longer need our services,” Lockridge said. “Scarlette came into our lives at the right time. We’d always known Scarlette; we’d partnered with her. But in terms of our White Flag Ministry, she came when we realized the need was greater than we could handle.

“Scarlette showed us there are ways she can help these people long-term. So, she’s helping us find permanent solutions for these people’s lives, and they’re living the lives they want to live. We help them survive the night; she gets them to a life that’s worth living.”

Darrell Jackson, a former White Flag client and now a ministry volunteer, agreed. “I’ve pretty much been a loner since I came here, and interacting with Scarlette really opened my eyes to just, you don’t have to be out here by yourself,” he said. “There are people willing to help you get on your feet. It’s stressful, but her financial skills, man, the best I’ve ever seen.”

Glynda Jackson, no relation to Darrell, also praised Jasper for helping her deal with financial, health and emotional issues. “Besides being a financial advisor, with her being a minister, of course, she does the counseling,” she said. “So, if I’m just stressed, I can call her. Sometimes, I will call her before I call my doctor. So, she will talk me through it, and I’ll feel better afterward.”

As those on-the-ground assessments indicate, Jasper believes in “a place at the table for everyone.”

“As someone who was born and raised in the South, hospitality was how I grew up,”

(Top) Jasper meets with a White Flag Winter Relief Ministry participant at a local shelter location to discuss immediate needs, including medical and next steps in the stabilization process. (Bottom Left) Mission team volunteers supporting Jasper’s ministry deliver supplies to local families in need.

(Bottom Right) Hot meals are served weeknights throughout the winter relief season and weekend bags are given each Friday with non-perishable food items, providing six meals for the weekend.

she said. “My mom’s philosophy was serving others over self. If you showed up at our house, you ate. A place at the table means everyone is welcome here. We’re all together. We’re all equal.”

The invitation to that table points equally in two directions, Jasper added. “It’s an invitation to relationship and community, because we all need community,” she said. It’s an invitation of care and empathy, because Jesus takes us as we are. The Lord’s going to help and walk with us.” It’s also an invitation for Cooperative Baptists not only to support field personnel, but also “to create a relationship with folks who don’t feel they are welcomed at the table.”

“How do we reach out to folks in our own communities, our congregations and even our own families who don’t feel they belong at the table?” she asked. “We have so much work to do in just loving each other.”

CBF’s Offering for Global Missions is vital for allowing Jasper to be a conduit of that love.

“If it weren’t for the Offering for Global Missions, I would not be on the field. That is the bottom line,” she stressed. When she became a field personnel, CBF had several funding models, and her commissioning stipulated she raise her own support— including salary, project and programming funds. Now, the Offering funds the salaries, benefits and housing of all field personnel, who raise support for their projects and programs.

“Back then, CBF covered travel to my required team meeting, but I never received a salary,” she said. “My husband provided for my needs. And he was disabled, so we lived on Social Security Disability Insurance. It put my family in a place that, as a financial counselor, I would not advise someone to do. But I felt God calling me.”

Not long after CBF’s funding model changed, Brian died. “I would not be on the field today without the Offering for Global Missions,” she acknowledged. “I still had a daughter at home, and I was not old enough to get a widow’s pension. So, the offering makes all the difference.”

That “difference” means Jasper still pursues the calling to ministry God planted in her heart as a girl. And it means she keeps on bringing Appalachian people to God’s table of relationship and wholeness.

Even Superman

can be in only one place at a time.

But that doesn’t stop Corbin, Ky., resident and White Flag Ministry volunteer Darrell from trying to emulate him.

Darrell, who moved to Corbin nearly six years ago, is one of White Flag’s most regular volunteers and knows intimately the challenges facing both unhoused people and the organizations set up to assist them. It’s a task so difficult that, at times, it requires a super-heroic response.

OUR FLAG MEANS HOPE

The Story of Darrell

By Grayson Hester

“Well, the challenges for me? Really, it’s trying to be there for everybody,” Darrell said. “And you can’t be Superman, and Superman can’t be in more than one place at one time. And I try my best to cope with what everybody else is going through because I’ve been on the other side as well. And I’m no stranger to it.”

Darrell had relocated to the small Kentucky city to help take care of his twin daughters, one of whom, he says, looks like him and one who looks like the mother whom he sees only sparingly. He realizes it’s hard to care for other people when one’s daily task is simply trying to survive day-to-day.

“The way I see it, being out here is kind of like being in prison,” Darrell said. “You got to barter and trade with each other to survive. Pretty much the whole challenge is just surviving.”

Darrell arrived in Corbin in late 2016 and would soon find out firsthand what it means to face this challenge: He spent two years as an unhoused person. It was during this period of his life that he first came into contact with CBF field personnel Scarlette Jasper’s White Flag Ministry, which opened in Darrell’s second year there. It was a meeting he did not initially greet with open hands.

“I was actually at a homeless shelter and things didn’t go so well,” he said. “So, I decided to dip out, and a gentleman by the name of Paul Sims—who works here at the church—tried his best to help me out, and I kept denying him because I was in a different place, and I didn’t know anybody, and I kind of gave the man an attitude.”

Like Superman, Darrell had traveled to an unfamiliar place as the result of family upheaval, a place in which he didn’t immediately find belonging or people who could relate to him.

But, also similar to the seminal DC Comic hero, Darrell soon learned that, differences notwithstanding, no one can do this life alone—and that true, deep connection might be merely an arm’s length away.

After initially rejecting Sims’ offer, and, subsequently, “going away for a while” and struggling “in the next place,” Darrell accepted White Flag’s still-outstretched hand. Sims embraced Darrell and, in his second year in Corbin, introduced him to Jasper. That decision would change his life.

“Well, I’ve pretty much been a loner since I came here, and interacting with Scarlette really opened my eyes to seeing that you don’t have to be out here by yourself,” Darrell said. “There’s other people out here, and there are people willing to help get you on your feet.”

One of Superman’s hallmarks is his Clark Kent alter ego, cultivated to keep secret his true identity as someone who, as southerners might express it, “ain’t from around here.”

But, as anyone who’s read even the barest minimum of Brené Brown could tell you, the line between secrecy and shame is a fine one indeed and, in this way, Darrell’s move to accept help also moved him out of reticence and isolation. He was allowed to be his full self,

not bifurcated on the axis of respectability, but instead accepted in his fullness.

“And it’s really tough, man, being on the streets and being, where you don’t get to see family and friends like that, it’s really tough. And once they find out that you’re in that situation, the mood and the attitude changes,” Darrell said. “And me, when I first got this way, I didn’t really tell anybody for the first two years, I didn’t really talk to my family. It was just too much.”

It’s not just intergalactic superhumans with whom Darrell and his story share similarities; it is, tragically and unsurprisingly, those just down the street from him and those all across the country.

It is people like Darrell, cast aside and rendered homeless by economic systems designed more for hoarding wealth than shoring up compassion, that White Flag Ministry was created to serve.

And while it does offer material necessities—housing and hot food in the winter, financial literacy services (Jasper’s speciality) in all seasons—it offers something less tangible but no less important. It offers belonging. It offers purpose.

“You don’t have to be out here by yourself,” Jasper said. “Darrell has become a vital part of White Flag Ministry—one of our most-trusted and always-there volunteers, always involved. He has the perspective and insight of someone who has experienced homelessness, to be able to share with some of the struggles and some of the ways we can best be advocates and walk with our folks who are experiencing homelessness.”

Five years ago, CBF field personnel Scarlette Jasper started White Flag Ministry in partnership with First Baptist Church, Corbin, Ky., to provide temporary shelter for homeless individuals. She continues to provide case management for the ministry, working alongside volunteers like Darrell, who himself was previously unhoused.

Since that fateful initial offer, Darrell has lent to White Flag his indefatigability and ingenuity—so vital to surviving on the street and outside of society’s concern—often working overtime to make sure his people’s needs get at least heard, if not met.

“I think we’ve helped a lot of people in and outside of our community,” Darrell said. “And nobody’s more dedicated than me. Even if I’m not here every day, or, since we’re just Monday through Friday, I still take the initiative and help out on weekends when everybody is closed and at home, which I don’t mind doing. Saturdays and Sundays when I’m not doing nothing, somebody will say, ‘Hey, I need a meal.’ I say, ‘Meet me at the White Flag.’”

So crucial is his volunteering at White Flag—which is to say, his serving the community—that Darrell structures his daily routines around it. His days begin with a healthy breakfast—“like anybody else”—and end with pointing people toward resources, providing extra clothes, distributing housing information—anything the organization needs.

Because, at the literal end of the day, what Darrell looks forward to most is what he and all of us need the most—relationship.

“Seeing different faces that come through that need assistance, but also making friends, and even sometimes where I open up my own home, if they need a place to crash or just for a little bit or need a shower,” he said. “And I think this place is really important, not just for people outside of White Flag, but also the people that we help. So, at the end of the day, I just look for a smile and a ‘thank you.’”

Perhaps this is why Jesus, as recorded in the Gospel of Luke, didn’t merely instruct his hearers to provide a banquet or hand people the leftovers. He explicitly admonished the audience—which includes us, all these millennia later—to prepare a table. To offer a banquet. And to invite anyone and everyone to it. It’s not just about quelling hunger. It’s about abolishing isolation.

“A place at the table means, to me, there’s a spot for you here. And that’s what I think the white flag means to me,” Darrell said. “Back in the day, that flag meant to people, like, ‘I’m giving up,’ they’re just waving it in the air. But that flag here, to me, it means ‘hope.’”

And is it a coincidence that the insignia Superman sports on his chest—you know, the one we earthlings mistake for an “S”—is his native planet’s symbol for ‘hope’?

Probably not.

STORY

A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IS OPENING FOR CONGREGATIONS DUE TO THE GREAT RESIGNATION AND MASS RETIREMENT

By Rev. Laura Stephens-Reed

The Theological Education Fund of the Presbyterian Church (USA) recently noted on Facebook that 85 percent of clergy currently serving in the PC(USA) are set to retire in the next 10 years.

Eighty-five percent. Let that number sink in.

I’m guessing that the percentage is similar across most Protestant denominations, including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Fewer seminary graduates look for congregational ministry positions, instead opting for nonprofit work, teaching or social entrepreneurship. Those who do start their professional lives in church might not stay there until retirement; and this is becoming even more the case now with the Great Resignation.

For many laypeople, the 85 percent statistic probably pings your anxiety: Who will lead us? That is an understandable response. But my own gut reaction is to think that, for all of those ministers who have been waiting in the wings, this is their chance! For all the ministers who have been told that congregations were not yet ready for their leadership, for all the ministers who have been told they were not ready to lead congregations, this is their moment to show what they have

to offer—to show up as the wonderfully made children of God, called by God to accompany churches in the holy work of deepening their relationships with God and one another and waging peace.

I’m thinking particularly about how clergywomen might shine in this moment. Baptist Women in Ministry released its most recent “State of Women in Baptist Life” in June, and the numbers were grim. There were fewer women in pastor/co-pastor roles in CBF life in 2021 (105) than in 2015 (117), the last time this type of survey was conducted. This is not for lack of qualified and called women. In addition to more seasoned clergywomen, percentages of enrolled female students in CBF-affiliated seminaries—many at or above 50 percent—have held steady or increased from 2015 to 2021.

The title of this piece though, is “A window of opportunity is opening for congregations.” Because even more than for ministers themselves, mass retirement/resignation realities present possibilities for churches.

This is your chance, Church, to be beautifully challenged and wonderfully delighted.

This is your chance, Church, to welcome new perspectives and gifts.

Laura Stephens-Reed is a clergy and congregational coach based in Alabama.

This is your chance, Church, to do something different, to have a different—and potentially bigger—impact.

This is your chance, Church, to give people who’ve never seen anyone like them in leadership a role model to which they can relate.

This is your chance, Church, to see what might unfold when you are bold.

Because when 85 percent of your clergy are on the short path to retirement, there are no more excuses. The pool of people who look and act like the pastors you have always had will be a mere puddle, while there will be an ocean—or at least a lake—of pastors who are talented and faithful but whom you would never have seriously considered before.

Recently I had a conversation with my friend and colleague, Craig Janney, founder and president of Greenfields Church Consulting, about how congregations could proactively prepare to harness this opportunity and consider clergywomen candidates during their next pastor search. We developed the reflection points below as a kind of audit of readiness to welcome a female pastor; but each question contains the nugget of an action a church can take to be better able to receive the gifts of a woman in the pulpit. (Note: The steps a congregation takes based on this audit make it more hospitable to all women, and, more generally, to all people.)

WOMEN IN LAY LEADERSHIP:

q When was your first female deacon ordained?

q What percentage of your active diaconate is made up of women?

q For other church committees, how well does the female/male ratio reflect the congregation’s composition?

q What percentage of your Sunday school/Christian education teaching team is women?

WOMEN IN THE PULPIT:

q How many clergywomen does your church know?

q How many female pastors serve congregations in your city/ county?

q In the past year, how many women have preached during a worship service?

q Did the women preach from the pulpit or from somewhere else?

q Were a woman’s sermons referred to as such, or were they called something different (e.g., talk, devotional, reflection)?

q When was the most recent time a woman preached during a worship service?

q To your knowledge, was there any verbal (e.g., expressed concerns) resistance to a woman filling the pulpit? If yes, please elaborate.

q

To your knowledge, was there any non-verbal (e.g., church members stayed home or walked out before/during the sermon) resistance to a woman filling the pulpit? If yes, please elaborate.

q Support of women for professional ministry:

q For how many women has your church provided financial support toward seminary/theological education?

q How many women has your church ordained to ministry?

q How many women are on your church staff in pastoral roles (e.g., pastor, associate pastor, minister to particular age groups)?

q In what other ways does your church show support for women in ministry (e.g., give to Baptist Women in Ministry, direct support)?

WOMEN IN PRINT:

q Does your church use inclusive language (e.g., not just “he” and “him”) on its website and in its print materials?

q How much of your Sunday school/Christian education curricula is written by women?

q Conversations about issues important to women:

q What topics have been formally (e.g., in the pulpit, Christian education, or business meetings) addressed in the past year that are typically important to women? These might include but are not limited to the gender pay gap, sexual violence, and the availability and affordability of child care.

Mull over these questions. Print this audit and take it to your church leadership to start or further a conversation. Work toward a culture of openness to all that women have to offer. Get ready both to bless and be blessed in accepting the challenge, and prepare to be surprised by all that God will do through previously inconceivable mutual ministries.

Good Intentions Are Contagious

CBF new church start and pastor Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz join in spreading God’s love to the Dominican Republic

By Jennifer Colosimo

It’s

not the likeliest of stories, but it is a true one: Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz, a CBF pastor in DeLand, Florida, started a church out of her book club. The speed-reader version is that when her husband, Rubén Ortiz, decided to leave his pastor position and take on the role as CBF Latino Field Coordinator, their plates got pretty full. The couple experienced many transitions while adjusting to the new ministry reality and after a year, they began to crave community, and a book club was where Xiomara found it. What happened from there is truly a story worth reading.

Hogar Arcoiris (or Rainbow House) is a ministry that aims to interrupt generational cycles of illiteracy and family brokenness in the Dominican Republic through teaching preschool-aged children to be ready for first grade through mentoring and counseling families and providing emergency resources.

Reboyras’ book club began with a handful of people—family members and friends who simply shared a love for reading. They gathered in each other’s homes, chatted about books all concerning spiritual life and growth, faith and the Bible. As their group outgrew their respective living rooms, something spiritual began to happen organically—they became like a church and, because there is a need for intentional church life and biblical teaching, the group started to explore and organize the birth of a new church with Reboyras leading since she has been doing pastoral ministry for 20 years.

Officially, they became Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto and the only Spanish-speaking CBF church in Florida, when they started, claiming about 30 members. As the church continues to grow today, the phrase “quality, not quantity” looms large as this tiny church with no brick and mortar to call their own is doing really big things beyond the United States border.

Called “Tati” by all of her friends, one of the members, Altogarcia Reyes, told her new church about a piece of land she had purchased in Sabana de la Mar, Dominican Republic, and how with indescribable efforts she and her husband, Pedro, had started the construction of a missionary house.

Sabana de la Mar is a village on the coast on the northern side of the island with a significant number of its population living in extreme poverty. There is no electricity there and the people lack education, common social skills and emotional stability. When Reyes went back to visit—about the same time she joined the book club, she brought back and shared God’s dreams for that beloved community.

“God put it into her heart to build a house where she could receive and house missionaries to help the community,” Reboyras said. “She told us about people living in shacks, sleeping on the floor. It’s a community of people with absolutely nothing.”

The community consisted of numerous ramshackle shacks built by poverty-stricken families with no running water, no electricity and girls who were getting pregnant at a very young age, as early as 13. Hardly any child was in school. What Reyes learned was that once in school, they were unable to keep up and teachers quickly lost interest in trying to teach them. Most would drop out before third grade. It was a vicious cycle that had become second nature.

Seeing this did two things to Reyes: It simultaneously broke her heart and inspired her to see God’s calling. She shared what was going on in Sabana de la Mar with her little church, and Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto decided to join her in this beautiful ministry however possible.

The ministry name is Hogar Arcoiris, or Rainbow House, with the goal of interrupting generational cycles of illiteracy, poverty and family brokenness through teaching preschool-aged children to be ready for first grade through mentoring and counseling families,

providing emergency resources, and generating a positive sense of community. The congregation joined to raise money to fund the project, much of that coming directly from Reyes and Pedro who rented out every room in her own house to save money to use there.

Today, the Rainbow House is not big enough to accommodate the need for schooling in the community; so their next goal is to start working on a new school building. With a new school completed, the main house can fulfill its potential as a boarding house for missionaries, teachers and volunteers coming into the community.

Reboyras helps by meeting with engineers to discuss what to build and how to make it something that can grow with this community’s needs. With Tati, they lean on their tiny-but-mighty congregation and friends of the ministry to raise money for teacher salaries, school supplies, food, resources and the ability to rebuild some of the houses in the community. They’ve already been able to install floors and roofs on many of the shacks housing families who have joined their efforts.

And, in the spirit of breaking cycles, the daughter of one resident in the school is a teacher who has dedicated herself to coming back to teach the next generation.

“I hope people can recognize the power of this story,” said Reboyras. “When just one person is passionate and committed to something, others will follow. The feeling that comes with doing good for other people in the world is contagious. And once it catches on, you can do so much. I’ve never seen anybody discern God’s will and God’s love for a community the way Tati does for this community. She has no fear, and I think that’s the biggest message here.

“It’s been incredible to see the immediate impact that this missional work has on the people in the community there,” Reboyras added. “I’ve seen a lot of poverty. A lot. We’ve done mission work in a lot of areas in Latin America and the Caribbean; but this, this is something else. And these children who didn’t even know how to say, ‘hello’ or ‘how are you’ are now learning to read and write and interact with each other. It’s just incredible.”

Reboyras has also been able to connect with other pastors in Florida as well as other CBF congregations to garner support from people in their communities to partner in building the school. That’s another blessing because, after graduating the first class this past May, the school already has a waiting list for the next school year, including interest from other communities in the wake of the stunning academic and social impact on the children and families in Sabana de la Mar.

“We still have a lot to do, and a lot of money to raise,” Reboyras shared. “None of these are our problems; they’re God’s problems. We just need to be a medium for God’s process.”

The group is working with Reyes toward three goals: First, the school must be finished; more teachers must commit to being there; and they must implement a curriculum such as EDUKA which is already established in Mexico with the leadership of Javier Pérez of CBF Global Missions.

While the goal is one year, Reboyras trusts that because God put this in their hearts, it will happen. Their prayer is that, much like the books they read together, this is just the beginning of a great story in Sabana de la Mar.

Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz is the pastor of Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto, a Spanish-speaking CBF congregation in Deland, Florida. She and her husband, Rubén Ortiz, have been leaders in CBF life for many years.

Hogar Arcoíris es un ministerio que tiene como objetivo sanar ciclos generacionales de analfabetismo, pobreza y ruptura familiar en la República Dominicana. Lo hacen a través de la enseñanza a niños en edad preescolar, la preparación para el primer grado, el acompañamiento con mentores y consejería, así como la presencia activa con recursos en caso de emergencias.

Las Buenas Intenciones Son Contagiosas

Nueva Iglesia CBF y la pastora Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz se unen para difundir el amor de Dios a la República Dominicana

Por Jennifer Colosimo

Esta,

ciertamente no es la más probable de las historias: Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz, una pastora de CBF en DeLand, Florida, comenzó una iglesia en su club de lectura. La versión rápida es que cuando su esposo, Rubén Ortiz, decidió dejar su puesto de pastor local para asumir el papel de Coordinador de Campo Latino de CBF, sus platos se llenaron bastante. La pareja experimentó muchas transiciones mientras se adaptaban a la nueva realidad del ministerio. Anhelaban el ser comunidad y después de un año fue en un club de lectura fue donde Xiomara la encontró. Lo que sucedió a partir de ahí es realmente una historia que vale la pena leer.

El club de lectura de Reboyras comenzó con un puñado de personas; familiares y amigos que simplemente compartían el amor por la lectura. Se reunían en las casas de los demás, charlaban sobre libros relacionados con el desarrollo y la práctica de la vida espiritual, la fe y la Biblia. A medida que su grupo superó las respectivas salas de los hogares, algo espiritual comenzó a suceder orgánicamente: se convirtieron en una iglesia. Y debido a la necesidad de ser y vivir la iglesia de manera intencional, así como de la enseñanza bíblica, el grupo comenzó a explorar y organizar el nacimiento de una nueva congregación bajo el liderato de Reboyras, ya que ella ha estado ejerciendo el ministerio pastoral durante 20 años.

Oficialmente, se convirtieron en Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto y la única iglesia CBF de habla hispana en Florida cuando comenzaron, con alrededor de 30 miembros. A medida que la iglesia continúa creciendo hoy en día, la frase “calidad, no cantidad” se cierne sobre ellos, ya que esta pequeña iglesia sin lugar físico propio donde reunirse, está haciendo cosas realmente grandes más allá de la frontera de los Estados Unidos.

Llamada “Tati” por todos sus amigos, una de las integrantes, Altagracia Reyes, le contó a su nueva iglesia sobre un terreno que había comprado en Sabana de la Mar, República Dominicana y cómo con esfuerzos indescriptibles ella y su esposo Pedro, habían comenzado la construcción de una casa misionera.

Sabana de la Mar es un pueblo en la costa en el lado norte de la isla en la cual un número significativo de su población que vive en la pobreza extrema. Allí no hay electricidad y la gente carece de educación formal, herramientas de desarrollo social y espacios de cuidado emocional. Cuando Reyes regresó a visitarla, casi al mismo tiempo que se unió al club de lectura, compartió los sueños de Dios para esa amada comunidad.

“Dios puso en su corazón construir una casa donde pudiera recibir y albergar misioneros para ayudar a la comunidad”, dijo Reboyras. “Nos habló de personas que viven en muy improvisadas viviendas, durmiendo casi en el suelo. Es una comunidad de personas sin absolutamente nada”.

La comunidad consistía en numerosas chozas o casitas con muy pobres condiciones, construidas por familias quienes carecen de agua potable y electricidad. En la comunidad muchas niñas quedaban embarazadas a una edad muy temprana, ya a los 13 años. Casi ningún niño iba a la escuela. Lo que Reyes aprendió fue que los que asistían a la escuela no se quedaban todo el día y entonces los maestros rápidamente perdían interés en tratar de enseñarles. La mayoría abandonaba la escuela antes del tercer grado. Como en un círculo vicioso.

Observar esto le hizo sentir dos cosas a Altagracia: le rompió el corazón, pero también la inspiró a ver el llamado de Dios. Compartió lo que estaba sucediendo en Sabana de la Mar con su pequeña iglesia en Deland, y la Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto decidió, como fuera posible, unirse a ella en este hermoso ministerio.

El nombre del ministerio es Hogar Arcoiris, y tiene como misión objetivo el interrumpir los ciclos generacionales de analfabetismo, pobreza y quebrantamiento familiar al educar a los niños en edad preescolar, prepararlos para el primer grado a través de la tutoría y el asesoramiento a las familias, proporcionando recursos de emergencia y generando un sentido positivo de comunidad. La congregación se unió para recaudar dinero, para ayudar a financiar el proyecto. Gran parte de los fondos han

sido donados directamente de Tati y Pedro, quienes alquilaron todas las habitaciones de su propia casa para así poder solventar la construcción de la casa y su funcionamiento.

Hoy día, el Hogar Arcoiris no es lo suficientemente grande como para acomodar la necesidad de escolarización en la comunidad; por lo que su próximo objetivo es comenzar a trabajar en un nuevo “edificio escolar”. Al completar la construcción de una nueva escuela, la casa principal puede cumplir su objetivo original de albergar misioneros, maestros y voluntarios para trabajar en la comunidad.

Reboyras ayuda reuniéndose con ingenieros para discutir qué construir en ese nuevo edificio y cómo convertirlo en algo que pueda crecer con las necesidades de esta comunidad. Con el liderato de Tati, se apoyan en su pequeña pero poderosa congregación y amigos del ministerio para recaudar dinero para los salarios de los maestros, útiles escolares, alimentos, recursos y la capacidad de reconstruir algunas de las casas de la comunidad. Ya han podido instalar pisos y techos en algunas de los hogares que albergan a familias que se han unido al equipo de trabajo del Hogar Arcoíris.

Y, en el espíritu de romper ciclos, la hija de un residente de la comunidad y una de las personas que colaboran mano a mano con Tati en la escuela, es hoy día estudiante universitaria preparándose para enseñar a las próximas generaciones.

“Espero que la gente pueda reconocer el poder de esta historia”, dijo Reboyras. “Cuando una sola persona es apasionada y comprometida con algo, otros lo seguirán. El sentimiento que viene con hacer el bien a otras personas en el mundo es contagioso. Y una vez que inicia, puedes hacer mucho. Nunca he visto a nadie discernir la voluntad de Dios y el amor de Dios por una comunidad de la manera en que Tati lo hace por nuestra gente en Sabana de la Mar. Ella no tiene miedo, y creo que ese es el más importante mensaje de esta historia.

“Ha sido increíble ver el impacto inmediato que este trabajo misional tiene en las personas de la comunidad”, agregó Reboyras. “He visto mucha pobreza en diferentes áreas de América Latina y el Caribe; pero esto, esto es otra cosa. Y estos niños que ni siquiera sabían decir ‘hola’ o ‘cómo estás’ ahora están aprendiendo a leer y escribir e interactuar entre sí. Es simplemente increíble”.

Reboyras también ha podido conectarse con otros pastores en Florida, así como con otras congregaciones de CBF para obtener el apoyo y asociarse en la construcción de la nueva escuela. Esa es otra bendición porque, después de graduarse de la primera clase en mayo pasado, la escuela ya tiene una lista de espera para el próximo año escolar además de que ha surgido interés de padres de otras comunidades para matricular a sus niños en el Hogar Arcoíris a raíz del impresionante impacto académico y social en los niños y las familias en Sabana de la Mar.

“Todavía tenemos mucho que hacer y mucho dinero que recaudar”, compartió Reboyras. “Ninguno de estos son nuestros problemas; es un asunto de Dios. Solo necesitamos ser un medio para la solución de Dios”.

El grupo está trabajando con Reyes hacia tres objetivos: Primero, la escuela debe estar terminada, más maestros deben contratarse y entrenarse para implementar un plan de estudios como EduK, que ya está establecido en México con el liderazgo de Javier Pérez de CBF Global Missions.

Si bien la meta es un año, Reboyras confía en que debido a que Dios puso esto en sus corazones, sucederá. Su oración es que, al igual que los libros que leen juntos, este es solo el comienzo de una gran historia en Sabana de la Mar.

Xiomara Reboyras Ortiz es la pastora de Comunidad Cristiana Nuevo Pacto, una congregación de CBF de habla hispana en Deland, Florida. Ella y su esposo, Rubén Ortiz, han sido líderes en la vida de CBF por muchos años.

To China and Back, and Beyond

By Jennifer Colosimo

How Ann and David Wilson hope to establish a future for volunteers in China

starting right here at home

That’s how you stay in the loop, how you get ahead, and how you find success, many would agree. But, if we’re honest, that common phrase can mean something different for Christians, because we know it’s not necessarily about us, but about God.

That’s a little hard to stomach, right now, for field personnel and volunteers who’ve answered God’s call to serve in China. When the pandemic hit, China all but shut its doors to tourists, field personnel and anyone who wasn’t there for employment. It’s still that way today, tensions high over issues beyond just Covid-19. As Ina Winstead, one of CBF’s first field personnel to serve in China, would say, “Feet on the ground, means the Gospel is on the ground,” so without the feet for nearly two years, she knows there is a lot of ground to cover.

Ina and her husband, Ron Winstead, began working with CBF in China in 1996. They spent their first few years there working to establish relationships for CBF with different universities, the China Christian Council and The Amity Foundation so that, together, they could make a greater impact on the people there. From there, they led summer English camps at Guangxi University and established co-ops with local churches to conduct social ministry projects like building elementary schools, bringing electricity to remote villages, and digging wells for clean water. They connected CBF churches and individuals to these projects and opened avenues for donations of food and funds. They helped facilitate the CBF’s contribution to building an orphanage, and aided in the distribution of 2,000 Bibles to retired political leaders in Guangxi. The Winsteads retired from CBF in 2001, but their legacy—and long list of connections—paved the way for people to continue serving there.

Two of those people are Ann and David Wilson. Their story in China started in 1988, when Ann took her first trip there as part of the Lottie Moon Tour led by the WMU. Following that, Ann spent her summers teaching in China and traveling extensively, eventually leading a WMU tour herself. Aside from Ann’s stories, David’s introduction to China came while on a business trip to Beijing in 1996 when he went to a Baskin-Robbins for ice cream.

Ann and David Wilson’s story in China started in 1988 when Ann took her first trip there as part of a Lottie Moon Tour. The couple founded Volunteers for China to facilitate the placement of Christian volunteers in places where the love of Christ could be shown through teaching. David (center) pictured with a class of teachers.

That may seem trivial, but there he experienced “being the presence of Christ” leading his first oral English lessons with more than 15 Chinese people. He extended his business trip, went back to that Baskin-Robbins the next night, and had the same moving experience. He was hooked.

Ann and David spent the next two decades serving in China in various ways, including founding Volunteers for China to facilitate the placement of Christian volunteers in places where the love of Christ could be shown through teaching.

“The organization provides conversational English teaching opportunities that make a difference in the hearts of Chinese teachers and students through friendship and the gift of English language,” Ann said. “English is sought after by Chinese as a way to improve life opportunities. Volunteers for China is in China to help improve people’s lives. English is that tool for building relationships of trust and respect. Through teaching and conversation, we are able to model a Christian life.”

The Wilsons also began aiding CBF in 1998 as Volunteer Project Assistants for China, after Ron Winstead asked them to do so, where they used their knowledge and expertise to organize conversational English teacher teams as well as college student cultural exchange

It’s all about who you know, so it is said.

trips, arranging travel, hotels, logistics, insurance, and visas for as many as 91 volunteers annually.

The essence of both couples’ stories is the potential that rests in making friends as a way to get the Gospel on the ground. Both the Winsteads and the Wilsons have made a lot of friends in China, lifelong friends even. They visit them year after year, and those friends have visited them in the U.S. Relationships have planted seeds across China, seeds of what it means to be a Christian in real life, rather than what they might hear from leaders there. Much in part to that, the Wilsons are officially known as, “Friends of China,” a term that originated during CBF’s first awareness trip to China in 2002.

So it is a little about who you know to get ahead—they’ve found success in sharing the Gospel by making friends; and their greatest hope is that more people will be led to do the same, and, then, to actually do it.

“You know, when I first heard about the teaching program, I was interested,” Ann said. “I wrote to them to send me an application, and a few weeks later, I got it. But I talked myself out of it and kind of just put it out of my mind. A few weeks later, right after David had asked if I had heard about the assignment, they wrote to me again, and sent me another copy of the application. David’s encouragement to seek God’s will in this made me complete the second application and send it in. If I was accepted, then it would be God’s way of saying that’s where I needed to be. I was and so I went!”

Once she followed God’s call, she never stopped. And it’s changed her, and David, too. Just listening to them talk about China is endearing, story after story, ones to make you laugh, and ones to get you choked up. They’re inspiring, motivating and hopeful.

Of course, Covid didn’t care a bit about how much the Wilsons were fulfilling God’s call during their retirement in China and, when programming in the country was brought to a halt for Volunteers for China in 2019, they chose to temporarily find another way to fulfill God’s call.

In 2016, the Wilsons had started a fund through the CBF Foundation in honor of and respect for Ron and Ina Winstead to help volunteers get to China. The Winstead-Wilson Volunteers for China Endowment Fund’s intention is to provide funds for individuals or groups who wanted to go and serve there. It spent three years

growing its bottom line healthy enough to begin rallying people, and then the pandemic settled in, and China closed its doors. No traveling to China, no meeting people there, no English classes. Now, the fund sits, six years old, itching for a little creativity.

“What we hope is that people will hear about this fund, and want to use it in ways we haven’t thought of,” said Ann, who throws out one idea of a college campus starting a ministry for Chinese students. “We can’t go to China right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t show Christ’s love to Chinese people that are here.”

Today, the Wilsons’ biggest hope is that the fund can be rethought of as something to serve the Chinese diaspora until the doors to China reopen. To keep making friends, and getting to know people, but maybe in different ways.

“Truly, you can go anywhere in the world and meet people from China,” David said. “Everywhere there are people from China with whom you can talk, serve and be a friend.”

“Those students can learn about Jesus here, and learn what it’s like to belong to a Christian community, and then take that back home with them,” Ann added. “Who knows how many people we could touch in China, by making just one friend here in the U.S.?”

The Wilsons have had the freedom, experience and resources to respond to the Lord’s leadership in this unique ministry. It will always be about helping others to go to China and experience what God is doing there—the ultimate goals that David and Ann have for Volunteers for China. As they wait for tensions to recede, they lean on the innovation and creativity of others who feel called to minister to the Chinese people to do the work of God that seems impossible.

“Can you just imagine how big of an impact on the world it could be if Chinese visitors and students in the U.S. were welcomed with kind and caring words of friendship?” David said. “By showing God’s love to those people right here in our community, we have no idea the impact that makes on their lives. That’s how we hope this fund can be perceived and that people will use it to spread God’s love no matter where they are in the world.”

So maybe it’s not just about who you know, but how well you know them—how well you love them while you know them. Succeeding in the latter right here at home may just be the change China needs.

[Left] David and Ann Wilson pictured with friends. [Right] Ron and Ina Winstead (pictured) began working with CBF in China in 1996 until their retirement five years later.

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What is Your God-Sized Dream?

CBF Foundation is here to help.

This edition of fellowship! magazine tells the story of Ann and David Wilson (pp. 30-31) and their God-sized dream to share the love of Christ with the people in China while also honoring the life work of retired CBF field personnel Ina and Ron Winstead.

The Wilsons worked with CBF Foundation to resource that dream and created The Winstead-Wilson Volunteers for China Endowment Fund. Future generations of volunteers within CBF life will benefit from this fund and experience first-hand what it means to spread the hope of Christ near and far.

What is your God-sized dream? What is the legacy of faith you want to leave behind for future generations? CBF Foundation is here to partner with you in your faithful consideration of the use of your assets within your lifetime and beyond.

We have the resources and expertise to help you express your generosity, passion and desire to provide for the future of CBF’s mission and ministries, including your local church.

Contact CBF Foundation President Shauw Chin Capps at scapps@cbf.net or 770-220-1622.