THE BRIDGE | Spring 2015

Second Baptist Church

INSIDE SABBATICAL: A Time of Renewal RENOVATIO: Our Summer of Renewal Discipleship @ 2BC Hospitality Equipping

Leadership Development Missions:

Prayer Journey

Tutoring in S. Dakota Partnership Highlight

INASMUCH Ministry I AM SECOND- Steve Smith

SPRING 2015

Our Summer of Renewal 1

Second Baptist Church

The Bridge | Connecting Our Community FALL 2014 Edition Contributing Authors Connie McNeill | Nathan Lewis | Kim Halfhill | Greg Mees | Nick Bartlow Karen Rogers | Emmy Gregory | Debbie Lane | Steve Smith | Sue Wright Photography South Dakota Photography: Abby Bland | Angie & David Fuller Special Thanks to our team: Publication Editors: Terri Soper | Sue Wright | Connie McNeill Production Design | Graphics: Kelsey Adams Proof Readers: Neita Geilker | Kim Halfhill | Sue Wright Do you have a story you want to share?

Do you know of a story we should tell?

Do you want to be part of the Bridge Team?

Contact us: Sue Wright | suewrights@att.net | (816) 781.1568 Terri Soper | tsoper@2bcliberty.org | (816) 781.2824

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TABLE OF CONTENTS SABBATICAL: A Time of Renewal Rick Cole | Jason Edwards........................................4 RENOVATIO: Our Summer of Renewal Connie McNeill.........................................................10 DISCIPLESHIP @ 2BC Discipleship Connie McNeill /Nathan Lewis.................................12 Equipping Ministry Kim Halfhill...............................................................16 Hospitality Ministry Greg Mees...............................................................20 Leadership Development Nick Bartlow.............................................................22

MISSIONS Prayer Journey for Missions Karen Rogers...........................................................24 Tutoring in South Dakota Emmy Gregory.........................................................28 PARTNER HIGHLIGHT In As Much Ministry Debbie Lane............................................................30 I AM SECOND - Steve Smith Sue Wright...............................................................32

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sabbatical Senior Pastor Sabbatical Plan Summer 2015

At our January Church Conference, our congregation unanimously approved the Personnel Committee’s recommendation for sabbatical leave focused on renewal for Jason Edwards and his family during the summer of 2015.

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What

is a pastoral sabbatical?

The Personnel Committee’s recommendation regarding our Senior Pastor’s 2015 sabbatical was informed by the book Clergy Renewal: The Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning, the most recommended resource on effective sabbatical planning. The book emphasizes sabbatical primarily as a time for renewal, accompanied by opportunities for rest, study, reflection, travel and growth.

More information on effective sabbatical planning follows on page 6.

What is Jason’s sabbatical plan?

A daily commitment throughout the sabbatical

to writing, reading, reflection, solitude and

prayer. These daily commitments will support

Jason’s desire to experience renewal through: • Deepening his relationship with God by strengthening his prayer life.

• Growing his pastoral and theological understanding through intentional reading.

• Creating a writing bank filled with entries that may be used for articles, books, and blog entries that Jason may publish beyond his sabbatical.

Focused family time in South Fork, Colorado.

Time with Christy at the CBF General Assembly.

Jason and Christy both serve on national leadership

councils for CBF.

Time in Texas:

- Spending meaningful time with family

- Learning from the founder of Church Under the Bridge in Texarkana, TX

What is Second Baptist’s sabbatical policy?

Second Baptist offers pastors sabbatical leave after six years of employment, for the purposes of growth, professional development, study, reflection, and spiritual, emotional and physical renewal. The policy also strongly suggests that pastors take advantage of this leave time to be away from Liberty, Missouri, during most, if not all, of the time period.

HOW Is the sabbatical funded?

The Catalyst 2.0 ministry plan already has funds set aside for this sabbatical leave, though it will not fund the entire sabbatical. Jason and Christy will supplement church funding with personal funds.

Time with Christy in Europe, including: • Visits to some of the oldest Benedictine Moasteries in the world to learn about Benedictine spirituality.

• Visits to Christian holy sites in Rome to

enrich understanding of Christian history • Intentional marriage renewal

Time focused on in-depth homiletical study: Selected as an Engle Fellow, Jason will participate in Princeton University’s Engle Institute of Preaching. This opportunity is designed to nurture and strengthen the craft of those who preaching.

A personal retreat toward the end of Jason’s sabbatical for reflection on what God has taught Jason during sabbatical, as well as to prepare for reunion with our congregation.

In all, Jason’s leave will total 11 weeks, including nine weeks of sabbatical leave, one week of conference leave, and one week of vacation.

This leave time will span from

June 1 to August 16, 2015.

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WHY

Are Sabbaticals VALUABLE?

More information on effective sabbatical planning—The book Clergy Renewal: The Alban Guide to Sabbatical Planning describes a pastoral sabbatical like this: The word sabbatical has its roots in the biblical concept of sabbath (“to rest” or “to cease”).

Sabbath keeping is setting aside time that God consecrates and makes holy. Sabbatical leave is time for our pastor to shift gears in order to rest, disengage, study, reflect, and travel in order to return to minister among us refreshed and renewed in body, mind and spirit. Sabbatical is more than a vacation from meetings, budgets, sermons, and meeting people’s needs. It is a time for our pastor to receive spiritual nourishment and a change in perspective, to deepen his relationship with God, himself, and his family – a season of spiritual growth. This special time can also be a season of growth for the entire congregation.

And the book clarifies the value of sabbatical to churches as follows: Sabbaticals are a wise and healthful investment for all involved. Those taking sabbatical leave benefit, as do those left behind. If they are open

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to it, all involved in and affected by a sabbatical have an opportunity to grow and explore new opportunities and, in some cases, responsibilities.

In turn this growth, renewal, and experience of opportunity produce significant results, including lower staff turnover and fewer high-level conflicts leading to separation between church and pastor.

The cost of conflict is high: generally one to three years of conflict and then separation, one to three years of an interim period, and three to five years for a new staff person and strategic direction to emerge. Consequently five to eleven years may be lost in the congregation’s survival, maintenance, and mood before development and growth can happen, a period that could have been put to the creative use of sabbaticals, strategic planning, and spiritual growth for all.

Sabbatical leave has come to mean more than taking time off to study in one’s area of expertise and then writing a book on the topic. For most who serve in congregational settings, the sabbatical emphasis is renewal, and thus sabbatical renewal leave is likely to combine time for rest, study, travel, and reflection. The effects of renewal are likely to be seen and felt in surprising ways for

sabbatical years afterward.

A word from Jason

I am so grateful to God and Second Baptist Church for this upcoming sabbatical. The more I learn about Sabbath and sabbatical, the more I am convinced these practices enrich the soul of the practitioner and increase the longevity of relationship between church and pastor.

My sabbatical plan has been revised at least four times.

In my initial planning, this sabbatical was designed to create space for me to write a book that was rooted in my doctoral work and related themes I have preached on numerous times during my tenure at Second Baptist.

However, as I read about the nature of a healthy pastoral sabbatical, it became clear that I wasn’t designing one.

Contrary to a sabbatical given to an academic to write a book, my reading and conversations suggest that the most beneficial use of a ministerial sabbatical for the pastor, the pastor’s family, and the congregation seems to be one focused on renewal. In light of this, the Personnel Committee members who have walked with me in this journey toward sabbatical indicated that instead of developing a sabbatical that would potentially overburden my family and leave me in no better emotional or spiritual place, I should focus on renewal. With that in mind we have utilized the resources at our disposal to design a sabbatical leave focused on fostering personal renewal, marriage renewal, and family renewal.

My family is grateful for this glorious gift. Second Baptist Church has proved through its plan to provide holy space like this for its pastors that it is a congregation that values the spiritual and emotional health of its pastors and their families. This sabbatical offering actually represents good strategy for the future, for the health of a congregation is no doubt connected to the health of its pastoral leadership and vice versa. My aim for this sabbatical is for our family to come back to you spiritually and emotionally healthier than we left you, so that we can enter into this next season of ministry together as a congregation with renewed strength, wisdom, vision, and spiritual depth. Thank you for providing this opportunity for us to do that.

With love and appreciation, Jason

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Who

will fulfill Jason’s responsibilities during his absence?

SUMMER CALENDAR

Administration: Connie McNeill will hold many of Jason’s administrative duties during his absence, including work with Deacons, Church Council, Personnel and Leadership Development committees, as well as the supervision of church staff.

Jason on Sabbatical

Pastoral Care: Our whole Pastoral Staff serves in the ministry of pastoral care, but Mike Lassiter, who has significant gifts and stated responsibilities in this area, will hold primary leadership in pastoral care during Jason’s sabbatical. In regard to funerals and other unexpected moments of a similar nature when special care is needed, Mike, other pastoral staff, and a group of gifted and trained volunteers are on call to serve us.

Preaching: We have a wonderful cast of preachers ready to serve our congregation this summer, including Dr. Heather Entrekin, Tyler Tankersley, Connie McNeill, Dr. Jerry Cain, Dr. Mike Graves, and Mike Lassiter. Our Drama Team will also offer a Sunday message in July.

We hope you’ll plan to be a full participant in worship this summer as we hear powerful words from a variety of messengers.

June 1 - August 16

SUMMER SERMON Series: Renewal

June 7 - Heather Entrekin June 14 - Heather Entrekin June 21 - Heather Entrekin June 28 - Tyler Tankersley July 5 - Jerry Cain July 12 - Connie McNeill July 19 -

(New Student Pastor)

July 26 - Mike Graves August 2 - Drama Team August 9 - Mike Lassiter August 16 - Heather Entrekin

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by Gwen Phillips

Are

you familiar with the children’s book, Flat Stanley? In the story, Stanley does a lot of creative traveling after he’s flattened by a bulletin board in his bed one night! Hopefully, none of us has been flattened, but we are sure there is going to be some traveling going on this summer. Let’s be creative and include Pastor Jason in our fun!

On May 31, Second Baptist children will be given a paper copy of “Flat Jason” to take home. During the summertime, you are encouraged to take him with you as you travel on a vacation, go swimming, have a family outing, see a ballgame or a movie, even go out to eat. While you’re there, have someone take a picture of the “two of you” and share it on Instagram with the hashtag #Flat Jason. (Adults are welcome to join the fun too!)

Although we aren’t going to be corresponding with Jason and his family while he’s on sabbatical as we don’t want to burden him with needing to respond, we can all enjoy sharing our summer fun with him through photos. And the best part: Pastor Jason is going to post some photos of his sabbatical travels via Instagram too! Watch our Instagram (@2bcliberty) and website home page for all the photo streams. Additionally, we’ll have a map on the wall in the Welcome Center and will post any pictures we receive and watch where Jason is traveling.

Stay tuned for the fun to begin!

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Experiencing God Through Prayer

by Connie McNeill

You

are encouraged to join our churchwide summer focus, Renovatio (Latin for renewal), by experiencing God through prayer. While our Senior Pastor is away on his sabbatical leave seeking renewal for his life and ministry, we will also seek renewal as a congregation. Just as Jason has a plan for his weeks away, we will have a Renovatio Guide to give us weekly direction in why, what and how we pray. The book is written for eleven weeks so we begin and end with the rhythm of our pastor’s sabbatical.

The weekly guide will give us opportunity to pray in two different traditions. You may choose one or pray through both. One is contemplative prayer and focuses largely on silence and listening, praying scriptures and developing an awareness of God’s presence with us. We are renewed as we experience God’s presence and allow that presence to fill our lives.

The other tradition is more common to those of us from an evangelical tradition. We are calling it practical prayer. Many of us grew up learning the many different foci prayer has—praise, intercession, confession, etc. Each week, the book will explore one focus along with scripture and other material to help us experience God by praying that particular focus.

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In addition to material that introduces the week’s focus, each week will have quotes about prayer from classic literature on prayer, a scripture focus, stories of prayer experiences from our congregation and specific prayer requests as we pray for our pastor and his family and for what he will be praying for us, the congregation.

Students and children will have their own guides that will coincide with the adult materials. You could use the guides individually, as a family, with friends, as a Sunday School class—there is great flexibility. The most important thing is that we all pray and seek an ongoing awareness of God’s presence. Imagine what the Spirit could do with a renewed pastor and renewed congregation!

Experiencing God Through Prayer

Second Baptist Church

Our Summer of Renewal

There will be a “sneak peak” of The Renovatio Guides for all ages on Wednesday night, May 20. General distribution will begin on May 31. Adult guides will be distributed to our seldom-seen members too. (If you would like to help with that please let us know.) The guides will be available in digital format via our website and email system. Printed versions will be available by REQUESTS ONLY. Just fill out a printed guide request form (from the Welcome Center or on our website) and we’ll be happy to print one for you.

The Renovatio Guide writing team includes Sue Wright, Eleanor Speaker, Angie Fuller, Beth Dusin and Connie McNeill, with our graphics team of Terri Soper and Nicole Swanson. Any of us would be happy to talk more with you about what to expect.

Why wait until the summer? Let’s begin praying now as we prepare for spiritual renewal and pray for our pastor’s renewal. May Renovatio be generative for all of us.

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Discipleship

by Connie McNeill /Nathan Lewis

DISCIPLE:

A person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another.

(Dictionary.com)

Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20 MSG).

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Why

is discipleship an emphasis of the church? How does one become a disciple?

What do disciples do? We take these questions seriously here at Second Baptist Church—we always have. We are a congregation that makes decisions from conviction. We realize there are many things that inform our spiritual life that may or may not help in the transformation that happens when people become whole-life Christians . . . when we become disciples.

Tom and Christine Sine’s book, Living on Purpose: Finding God’s Best for Your Life, speaks to wholelife discipleship or faith. They talk about the common approaches to discipleship being a twolegged stool, but they contend that isn’t complete.

We commonly understand discipleship as spiritual transformation, getting our hearts right with God and as moral transformation, getting our behavior within a biblical morality. While both are part of the stool of discipleship, there is a third leg.

To be a disciple of Jesus is a whole-life faith way to live. The third leg of that stool is cultural transformation. “We can no longer do our discipleship on top of individualism, materialism, consumerism, and status-driven values and wind up with anything that looks like authentic biblical faith.” Jesus called the first disciples to live in ways that would change the prevailing culture. “Calling the crowd to join his disciples,’ he said, ‘Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead.

You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am. Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self.

What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? What could you ever trade your soul for?’” (Mark 8:34–37, MSG) As the Sines say, “The call of Christ was profoundly counter-cultural.” The early disciples understood that following Jesus, becoming his disciple, was a three-legged stool experience. They were to be spiritually transformed, they were to be morally transformed, and they were to be culturally transformed.

“The call of Christ was profoundly counter-cultural.”

-Christine & Tom Sine Living on Purpose

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At Second Baptist Church we understand this is Christ’s call to us too. Here we talk about this three-dimensional, whole-life faith in different ways.

We even use a tag line to remind us that we are community to Become, Believe and Belong. Wholelife discipleship is a unique culture. For the early groups of believers this meant radically different beliefs and behaviors about love and service, Jews and Gentiles, males and females, slaves and free.

The common life Jesus taught and shared was as radically counter-cultural as being a Jesus-disciple is today. In our highly competitive and power seeking culture, we are still learning that the first shall be last.

In a world fearful of those whose twist on their religion and beliefs would have them wage war, we are still learning to love our enemies. Nearly every component of our prevailing culture would require transformation in order for the reign of God to come to earth. Christ’s disciples are called to bring that transformation.

Along with the church in Rome, we are reminded: “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.

Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (Romans 12:2, MSG) This is why we offer Bible study and worship for children, students and adults. It is why we emphasize engagement in missions and other areas of service.

It is why we offer gatherings of the whole community and of small community groups. We desire transformation—spiritually, morally and culturally. That is, we want a vibrant relationship with God, we want to treat others as the hands and feet of Christ, and we want to bring to earth the reign of God. Inward, outward, upward. Become, Believe, Belong.

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The common life Jesus taught and shared was as radically counter-cultural as being a Jesus-disciple is today.

Discipleship at 2BC Discipleship is a journey. No two people come to be a disciple of Christ in the same way or on the same path. Finding clarity and experiencing transformation along our discipleship journey is key.

We have attempted to graphically depict some of the places and ways discipleship occurs. In our illustration, the wheel that all of the various elements and components turn on is discipleship. Each individual wheel has a purpose and impact of its own, but every time any two or more of these individual wheels intersect and overlap, transformation toward discipleship can occur.

There are additional wheels that could be added, of course, but this serves to illustrate the dynamic activity of how we pursue becoming a disciple of Christ here at Second Baptist Church.

What wheels are you in that intersect with other wheels?

Are you being formed and transformed into a disciple?

For more information or to become involved in Discipleship, contact:

Nathan Lewis nlewis8@gmail.com

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EQUIPPING MINISTRY

by Kim Halfhill

My

mom has always introduced me as her “little surprise.” I am the youngest of three children, 14 years separating me from my sister, the next oldest. As far back as I can remember, whenever my mom would tell someone about our family she would talk about my older siblings, and then say “and this is our little surprise.” During my sophomore year of college I was sitting in my dorm room with a new friend chatting about our families.

I was telling her about my parents and my siblings including the age difference between us. Before I could explain that I was a “little surprise,” she blurted out “oh, so you were an accident.” Wait. What? An accident? Not once in my then 20 years on Earth had I ever considered the possibility that I was indeed an accident. I was a SURPRISE.

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My parents told everyone with such certainty that I was their “surprise, their gift from God” that I, too, came to believe this truth with unwavering certainty. My parents shaped in me the central belief that each one of us was created by design, with purpose by God. Each one of us is special to God. In Psalm 139, we find the words, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

This passage reminds me that we were all created by God with intention, with purpose for every season of our lives. Whether you feel that your gifts, your talents, and your abilities are great or small—they matter to the mission of God. Our Creator has a distinctive place for us while we are here on this Earth.

In the coming months and years, we will work together to become an equipping church where we can explore how God has shaped our lives. We will discern how we can best use our spiritual gifts, our passions, and our experiences to contribute to the dream of God at 2BC and beyond.

Over the past year, you have likely heard a great deal about 2BC embracing a culture of equipping.

Together, we have learned a lot about what this means. We have also studied some of the best practices that can be implemented to drive this vision forward. The acronym SERVE© will be a constant reminder of the characteristics we seek to express as an equipping church. As such, this initiative or ministry will be referred to as

SERVE.

©

©

validate

review

enjoy

Seek enable

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1.

Team SERVE

©

Within the next few weeks, Team SERVE© will be in place. This team will include six to eight SERVE© Coaches to help form the processes needed to support SERVE©.

In addition, each SERVE© Coach will guide a small group of SERVE© Connectors.

Connectors will serve as the links between SERVE© and every other ministry area of the church. The primary role of Connectors will be to champion the characteristics of an equipping church within their individual ministry areas.

The HUB3 will be utilized as a resource for matching volunteers with ministry opportunities.

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HERE IS A PREVIEW OF WHAT WILL BE HAPPENING OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL MONTHS TO HELP ACHIEVE THIS VISION.

2.

SHAPE

How has your life been shaped to ready you for the unique ministry role God has for you?

In the coming year, we will explore how our spiritual gifts, heart (or passions), abilities, personality, and experiences might be used to fill needs at 2BC and also make way for new ministry opportunities.

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3.

HUB3

The HUB3 (Our 2BC online congregational/community information hub) will become a resource for matching volunteers with ministry opportunities—large and small. Ministry profiles (including spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, etc.) for each ministry area will be added to the HUB3. Potential volunteers seeking a role to best use their gifts will be able to find it on the HUB3.

Likewise, committee and team leaders will be able to search for volunteers who might fill needs in their respective ministry.

----------------------------

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Ministry Profile

EQUIPPING MINISTRY

(for every 2BC ministry)

Online SHAPE Assessment

Ministry profile/ descriptions

Current & New Members

• Why •Tasks | Time •S.H.A.P.E.

loaded in the HUB3

complete assessment

Fully integrated gifts matching volunteer needs via the HUB3

LEADERS search for volunteers

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VOLUNTEERS search for opportunities to serve

----------------------------------

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As you can see, there is much to be done in the coming months. Your prayers are coveted as we seek God’s guidance for SERVE© at 2BC and in each of our lives.

learn more

To learn more about SERVE©, please contact --------------------------------------------Kim Halfhill, Volunteer Director of Equipping khalfhill@2bcliberty.org.

© Copyright 2015, Kimberly A. Halfhill. All rights reserved.

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A Word from 2BC’s Director of Hospitality

Greg Mees

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hospitality

My

faith is growing, and this growth is because of Second Baptist Church. I have had the opportunity to grow through Sunday worship, Sunday Bible study, small group interactions, “dinner-for-eight” conversations, leading the hospitality ministry, and personal prayer. Each of these areas impacts me in its own unique way.

Sunday worship for me is about stopping to listen and reflecting on the wonderful life I have been blessed with by God. I listen intently to the music, the scriptures and to the sermon. But I also listen to God during the practicing-the-presence moments. I relax and can feel my heart slow down, my breath ease. I picture God standing behind the pew I am sitting in with my wife and our oldest daughter seated between us. I picture him placing his hands on my shoulders, on my daughter’s shoulders, on my wife’s. My heart slows more and my breath becomes effortless. I feel His warm, caring, forgiving, loving embrace for me and my family. I feel calm during the storm which swirls around me. But for those few moments, I am at peace, at real peace and know how blessed I am by God. But peace comes in other ways too. The Bible study I attend, the small group I gather with, and my dinnerfor-eight group provide me insight into my own faith story as well as the faith story with those whom I share time. I see how the experiences of all our lives shape us into the people of faith we have become and continue to grow into because of others we learn about and from.

But learning cannot be the end of our growth in the faith. It must also be about service. I hope that as time passes, my role within the hospitality ministry will help grow the church and therefore grow people in their faith. I believe God gives us spiritual gifts which he expects us to use to build His kingdom.

I know since coming to Second, part of my spiritual gift is to organize, revise, and implement a system to help us grow as a faith community. Through this plan I hope to bring others into this church so they can find a place to grow in their personal faith and find their spiritual gifts to help us continue to build God’s kingdom in Liberty, in Missouri, in the United States, and around the world.

hospitality It was just a few years ago that I entered Second Baptist Church, but I know my growth as a person of God has been profound during that time because of the faith community we are building together.

“Congregations that practice ‘Radical Hospitality’ demonstrate an active desire to invite, welcome, receive, and care for those who are strangers so that they find a spiritual home and discover for themselves the unending richness of life in Christ. Radical describes that which is drastically different from ordinary practices, outside the normal, that which exceeds expectations and goes the second mile.” (fivepractices.org/radical-hospitality) Some will remember the terrible and tragic shootings that occurred several years ago at Conception Abbey.

A gunmen had easy access into the abbey stead as no doors were locked. The abbot was asked if the incident would change their practice and he gently said they would not. It was part of their practice of hospitality. Some would certainly call this radical hospitality. No one can deny the central and constant presence of the practice of hospitality throughout scripture. In fact, the people of God sometimes suffer greatly if they are not hospitable. Here at Second Baptist as we seek to be God’s people, we want to be a radically hospitable community of faith.

There is a great difference between being a friendly congregation and a hospitable congregation. May God help us be God’s radically hospitable people.

For more information or to become involved in our Hospitality Ministry, contact:

Greg Mees gwmees@hotmail.com

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

by Nick Bartlow

For more information or to become involved in Leadership Development, contact:

Nick Bartlow nicholaus_bartlow@yahoo.com

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Three

years ago, the 2BC Committee on Committees was renamed the Leadership Development Committee (LDC). This decision was very intentional. We believed that God was calling this committee to do more than simply name new leaders to committee work. We believed that God was calling this committee to equip servant leaders throughout our congregation to be the most effective leaders they could be. Seth Godin says “Transformational leaders start by describing a future they would like to create…” Wow! Pretty powerful stuff. What happens next though?

One can describe a vision, but making that description turn into reality can be scary, tough and daunting. We believe it is our responsibility to assist every leader in our church to be transformational in his or her ministry.

Jesus was an amazing leader. Looking through the Bible you can see where he set a vision for his team…the disciples. He released responsibility and allowed others to flourish.

He made sure to celebrate when success was achieved. He also believed in consistent development for himself and for his followers.

Jesus knew the importance of continuing to hone one’s skill-set to be successful in leading ministry.

“ TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS start by

describing a future they would like to create . . .”

– Seth Godin

It is the task of the LDC to help all of our servant leaders within our congregation to lead with a Christ-like attitude . . . as well as be effective in the ministries they are passionate about.

We continue to refine our process and our own development as a committee . . . we are still learning as well. However, we continue to strive to develop our congregation into the best leaders possible so that we can continue the work that God has called us to do.

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MISSIONS My Heroes Haven' ’t Only Been ‘

Cowboys

by Karen Rogers

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On

a shelf down in my basement are a few smallish, lidded plastic bins. They contain bits and pieces of yesteryears that I just can’t quite bring myself to part with. My baby shoes, some letters from family members who are now long gone, newspaper clippings—you know, the sort of things that might not end up in scrapbooks but which bind your heart to precious pieces of the past.

One of the bins contains a five-year diary. Writing inside the front cover says Grandma gave it to me in 1956. I would’ve been eight years old then. A generous four lines were provided to record the important happenings each day. Many of the pages are blank and many were, clearly, filled with whatever I could find to record. Some entries have more meaning for me now than they did when penned. A sampling, including childish spellings:

March 1, 56 . . . . . . “Keith broke his water gun.”

March 27, 56 . . . . . . “Daddy got us a new car. It cost $4,520.00 dollars and it was a 57

Nash. It was black and Pink inside.”

August 11, 56 . . . . . .“We dressed three chickens. And made a swing in the woods.”

August 29, 56 . . . . . . “Sunbeam band at church. Bring a gift for the Missanoneys.”

September 13, 56 . .“Went to piano Lessons. Grandma called and said her house in the country had burned down.”

September 16, 56 . .“I was babtissed. I was also the first one to be babtissed in our new babtistre.”

October 1, 56 . . . . . . . “Promoted to a G.A. from a Sunbeam” October 19, 56 . . . . . “Joe called and said Grandmother was getting the cows and fell down the creek and broke her back.”

December 12, 56 . . .“Went Christmas shopping at Sears and lost all my money - $10.00” October 24, 57 . . . . . “Hard work at school and also at home. I had a lot of thinking to do.”

August 7, 58 . . . . . . . . “Lorraine got a bottle of hand lotion for winning the foot races and Rose Ann got a plastic comb for blowing the biggest bubble out of bubble gum.”

August 12, 58 . . . . . . “Christy, Keith and I went down to Charlie’s on the horse and we each got to play his acordian.”

November 8, 58 . . . .“9-10 yr. old G.A. had a bunking party at Sharon Leach’s house.

We had chillie and Ice Cream for dinner.”

November 26, 58 . . (Thanksgiving) “May and John came over. Daddy came back from deer hunting. He didn’t catch any deer so we had turkey.”

On a special “Memorandum” page at the back of the diary – “I say Roy Rogers will be the best cowboy forever.”

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I

MISSIONS

enjoyed my young life. It was filled with family, friends and church. And I did think Roy Rodgers was really the best version of a cowboy that ever could be! Right up there with Roy, however, were those missionaries we were learning about each week at Sunbeams and then in Girls’ Auxiliary (GAs). At weekly meetings, we read the names of missionaries who had birthdays that week and we learned more about their work. The same plastic bin in my basement contains a GA autograph book filled with signatures of my real life heroes – the missionaries who told fascinating stories about their lives and the people they told about Jesus. I loved Vacation Bible School every year but my absolute favorite part was always the time when someone (often my mother) told the missions story. I thought nothing was more exciting or important than the lives the missionaries lived.

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As I matured, opportunities to participate in missions broadened. Some involved travel; many did not.

Some involved observing and some required more leadership. The most rewarding times were always those in which I could work alongside missionaries as they lived out their daily responses to God’s calling. One of the more recent of those experiences was a visioning trip Harold Phillips planned in the early stages of Missouri CBF’s partnership with Diane and Shane McNary, full-time field personnel in Slovakia. The McNarys’ work has been among the Roma gypsies, a group of people who have suffered debilitating injustices through generations of discrimination.

Diane and Shane preach, they teach, they coach, they network, they encourage, they motivate, they study and they pray. Prayer is so important in their work that they have created a daily prayer calendar which they distribute through a stateside partner church. The calendar is compacted onto a small pocket-sized card with a daily focus for prayer. I found the use of their card to be very functional and motivational. It was good to think that my prayers could join with those of others spread across many states and nations who were targeting specific aspects of the McNarys’ ministry.

After only a few months using the McNarys’ card, it occurred to me that the same vehicle might be adapted for Second Baptist Church missions. It seemed that 2BC’s diverse missions could also be itemized on a prayer card. So deep are 2BC’s mission roots and so vital are her ever-emerging missions commitments that it was impossible to include each, but the Missions Support Committee has made a beginning effort. In the Welcome Center you will find copies of the 2015 Missions Prayer Calendar for Second Baptist Church. We encourage you to take one or more to places where you most often find yourself in prayer. Take one for your bedside, one for your desk, one for your Bible— whatever works for you. We invite you to spend a few moments each day in prayer for specific aspects of the mission ministries of 2BC. It is our hope that, as we pray together each day, we will experience that sense of working alongside the missioners among us; that we will become more closely connected with them; and that they will realize blessings resulting from our communal prayers.

Roy Rodgers was pretty great for a child of the 1950s. Even more worthy of praise in 2015, however, are all those whose heart’s desire is to spread the transformative good news of the gospel. Second Baptist Church is blessed to have a tremendous host of those heroes among us. Let us support them in prayer.

For more information or to become involved in Missions, contact:

Karen Rogers

krogersmo2@sbcglobal.net

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Tutoring IN SOUTH DAKOTA

by Emmy Gregory.

My

name is Emmy Gregory and I am 18 years old. I am a senior at Liberty North High School in Liberty, Missouri. As a well adjusted teenage girl having grown up in a middle class community, in a loving Christian home, a member of a functional family, I have come to realize that not all children have been given this gift.

Throughout high school, I have taken multiple drawing and painting courses. This year, I am taking a year-long AP Studio Art course. In the fall of 2015, I will be attending Iowa State University to study at the College of Design and major in Studio Art and in Religious Studies. My goal is to use my artistic abilities to help the marginalized of society.

For the past 10 years, our church has had the great opportunity to spend a week during the summer on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation in South Dakota. The Reservation is located in one of the poorest counties in the United States. Typically during that week, we perform building maintenance, operate a rummage sale, and play with children from the community. We have also refurbished ceremonial Powwow grounds and sacred cemeteries, and constructed a basketball court. However,

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the most crucial thing that we do while on the reservation is building positive relationships with the people who live there.

I am so thankful that I have been able to take part in these mission trips for nine out of the ten years since the program’s creation. These mission trips have influenced my world vision and increased my desire to make a difference through similar missions, now and in the future.

The summer of 2015, I will be blessed with the opportunity to teach art in a summer program associated with Takini School on the Reservation. As part of a seven-person team, including Samantha Heston, Johnna McGlaughlin, Elliott Yoakum, Jordan Groves, Loulla Efstathiou, Mike Lassiter, and myself, we are creating a summer school curriculum and lesson plans. We will be spending four weeks based in Bridger, South Dakota, on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation teaching summer school for the children living in the surrounding communities. I am excited to have this chance to teach art five days a week.

Through my lessons I hope to inspire children to be more self-confident and creative, and give them a vision of who they can become.

MISSIONS

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partnership

InAsMuch Ministy

by Debbie Lane

“Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me” Matthew 25:40.

In

1986 Don and Dorothy McLain became actively involved in helping those in need in the Liberty community after hearing of a baby wearing a paper sack for a diaper.

Dorothy spoke with her Bible study class and they began a Diaper Fund, which furnished diapers to those in need. About that same time Don began helping deliver bread to low income housing areas once a week. Don would load his truck with sacks of bread, drive to the housing areas, honk his horn and people would come to get bread for their families.

This was the beginning of InAsMuch Ministry.

The Ministry officially began in 1988 with 4 members—Don and Dorothy McLain, Neita Geilker and Virginia Link. The membership grew quickly and by the end of April there were 20 members and assistance had been given to 88 Liberty families.

InAsMuch has continued to grow over the years in the numbers of families served and the kinds of services provided. During 2014, InAsMuch served approximately 1800 families in the Clay County area. Services provided included food from the Link Food Pantry, fresh produce, baked goods, government commodities, milk vouchers, prescription assistance, school supplies, clothing assistance, eyeglasses, gas vouchers and utility assistance.

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During 2014, In As Much served approximately 1800 families in the Clay County area.

InAsMuch Ministry is open on Thursday from 10 to 11:30 and 1 to 2:30 and on Saturday from 9:00 to 12:00. When a family arrives at InAsMuch they are given a number and then while waiting, write out their “grocery list.� When their number is called, they proceed to the computer room where a volunteer enters the services the family will receive that day.

From there, the family goes to the pantry table and a volunteer assists them in completing their pantry list based on a list of items currently in stock. The pantry list is then given to a volunteer who fills their order.

Bread, bakery items and fresh produce donated from local stores and farmers are also available to families.

Families needing assistance other than food also meet with a volunteer in the office to take care of those needs.

InAsMuch relies primarily on contributions and donations from the community. Grants have been applied for and received but the majority of our funding comes through churches, organizations, and individuals in the community. The pantry is stocked with items from food drives and items purchased from Harvesters.

InAsMuch has no paid employees. All of our workers are volunteers, even our Executive Director, who spends many hours overseeing the daily operation of the pantry. The work of our volunteers varies greatly. They work in the office, interview new clients, take pantry and commodity orders, sort and arrange

produce and bakery items, fill orders, stock shelves, and drive the truck. Many others provide assistance with a variety of other tasks.

InAsMuch is always in need of pantry donations and volunteers. If you are interested in donating items for the pantry, you may bring them to church on the first Sunday of every month or drop them by the pantry located at 2050 Plumbers Way in the Freedom House building.

InAsMuch is grateful for the support and generosity provided by 2BC. Without your monetary contributions, donations of pantry items and the service of 2BC volunteers, the pantry could not provide these much needed services to those in need in the Clay County area.

Blessings to you for your continued support.

Debbie Lane, Board Chair, InAsMuch Ministry / 2BC Member If you are interested in donating your time or know of other organizations interested in doing so, please contact Debbie Lane (debbielane71861@gmail.com or 781-9281) or the InAsMuch Ministry office(781-6357).

We always have places for new volunteers!

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I AM SECOND with sTEVE SMITH

by Sue Wright

“There

is a song in the musical Mary Poppins,” Steve Smith begins, “Where Mary sings, she is ‘Practically Perfect.’” Then he quickly adds, “That does not describe me, but it does describe the life I’ve lived.”

So starts Steve’s story, drolly put at times, in what he describes as “a galaxy far, far away”—a place called Tennessee, where he was going to church “nine months before I was born.” In fact, his mother continued making sure he “won” perfect attendance pins throughout his childhood. He was active in Sunbeams and RA’s. His sister, a GA, was crowned Queen Regent in Service.

He became a Christian and was baptized in 1955 at the Broadway Baptist Church of Maryville, Tennessee.

Steve was elected president of all the Youth Groups of Blount County, Tennessee, and played baseball for both the Little League and Babe Ruth League. “I just knew I was destined to replace Tony Kubek at shortstop

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for the New York Yankees” he muses. Steve was also interested in music, playing tonette, flutophone, and saxophone by seventh grade. He was a drum major in high school and college and active in his church and high school choirs.

“I knew very early I was called to some type of ministry,” Steve says, then references Jeremiah 1:5.

At that point, he thought the highest form of ministry was hacking your way through the jungles and taking the gospel to darkest Africa. But he had an interest in music ministry too, so he had a decision to make.

Eventually his “calling” would come in the middle of the night (see Jeremiah, again) at which time he decided to pursue a pastoral/preaching ministry rather than music.

Steve explains, “I went to the William Jewell of East Tennessee—Carson-Newman College—where I majored in Bible and minored in music. There, I was so smart, I was able to cram four years of college into seven! After my freshman year, I served as a Summer Missionary in Middle Tennessee, holding Vacation Bible Schools in rural-mountain churches.

The Associational Missionary invited me back after my second year of college to hold VBS again. After leading VBS in the Moodyville Baptist Church, I was called to be their pastor. That was 1965.

I was licensed to preach in 1964 and ordained in 1966.

“I knew very early I was called to some type of ministry.”

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet \ to the nations.

Jeremiah 1:5

“The Academic Dean suggested I take a sabbatical after my third year at CNC, so I moved onto the church field, working in a shirt factory to supplement my income.

Later, I was employed by President Johnson’s War on Poverty and served five counties for the Neighborhood Youth Corp.

I continued pastoring at Moodyville where we established a strong youth group and initiated an outdoor Christmas Program like the area had never experienced before.

“I met a Summer Missionary in 1967 and we were married in 1968. Returning to Carson-Newman, both of us graduated in 1970. I resigned from the Moodyville church, and as a couple, my wife and I were selected to be part of the Missionary Journeymen program assigned to Uganda, East Africa. Due to personal issues we terminated early and in February 1971, I entered The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I began pastoring the Union Baptist Church, in Defoe, Kentucky, the fall of 1971 and remained there until I

graduated from seminary in May 1974—the year a tornado struck the Seminary’s campus.

“Following graduation from Seminary, they asked me to stay on as part of the staff—I’d worked for the Seminary while a student. Instead, knowing Billy Graham was getting older and that it might be left to me to save the world, I decided to take a pastorate in South Carolina at the Antioch Baptist Church. While at Antioch, I developed a Youth Choir that sang several musicals in neighboring churches and was invited to sing at the dedication of a National Park Visitor Center located near the church.

“My daughter was born in 1972 while I was a student in seminary, and my son in 1976, while I pastored in South Carolina. In January 1977, we would be called to the Northgate Baptist Church in Kansas City North where I served as an Associate Pastor in charge of Education. Following the departure of the first pastor, Dr. Larry Baker became Interim. About the same time, I became interested in the ACTS Television Network sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention. As a consequence, Northgate purchased the necessary television equipment and we began preparing to televise our weekly worship services.

When a new pastor was named, I was asked to find another place of ministry and in 1984, became Interim Pastor of the Camden Point Baptist Church in northern Platte County. There I served as Interim Pastor for seven years! During this time I also worked as the coordinator for the ACTS Television Network in Metropolitan Kansas City. We began televising high school basketball games as well as worship services.

I also began volunteering for ECUMEDIA Television programming for American Cablevision, producing and

directing the only State Convention Annual Meeting that utilized satellite technology to broadcast its proceedings.”

It seemed to Steve that every church he ever pastored or worked in experienced internal strife and problems, thus requiring him to develop his “gifts for Pastoral Care.” Perhaps it’s only natural then he would begin working as a chaplain. Eventually, he began the first of his employments at North Kansas City Hospital in 1984. Following that, he worked part-time at Children’s Mercy Hospital. When the chaplain there retired, she tried to appoint Steve as head chaplain but couldn’t because he did not have the required chaplaincy training. Yearning to stay in the field where he felt his gifts were finally being best utilized, he began his Clinical Pastoral Education in 1988 at St. Luke’s Hospital on the Plaza. He completed seven units (quarters) of CPE and left St. Luke’s in June of 1990.

That same year he was hired by Liberty Hospital where he worked until his retirement in June 2011. Serving as chaplain, he was on-call, 30 weeks out of the year (24/7). A number of ongoing programs/ministries were started during his sojourn as well as the addition of a part-time chaplain in 2001.

According to Steve, “Several life altering events shaped my tenure at Liberty Hospital. For one, I was divorced and a few years later remarried. My current wedding anniversary is April 1. Most people blame me for this date but in reality it is also my wife’s daughter’s birthday. And so, at our wedding in 2000, we had a wedding cake, groom’s cake, and birthday cake. I also began to feel a strong pull to people that were in the middle of a trauma or tragedy in their lives. Whenever there was an emergency, I was drawn toward it. To

“Whenever there was an emergency, I was drawn toward it.”

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help me learn how best to meet these crises, I trained in a variety of programs including the International Critical Incident Stress Foundation aimed at helping first responders.”

HAM’s. He has joined the Northland Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) as a trained weather spotter. He volunteers with several groups that use communications through amateur radio. And in his spare time he enjoys woodworking and golf. For the last 40-plus years Steve has made wooden Christmas ornaments as gifts to present to his family and friends.

Steve formed a CISM Team and led over 80 debriefings/defusings for groups in northwest Missouri.

In addition, he would receive training by the National The American Red Cross continues deploying Steve Organization for Victim Assistance (NOVA) and be to disaster areas when necessary. In 2011, he was invited for Spiritual Care Team training led by the sent to Alabama following killer tornadoes, to New National American Red Cross. Around this time, he York City in 2012 following Hurricane Sandy, and to also joined the Medical Reserve Corp of Kansas City, Oklahoma after their 2013 tornadoes. “Once deployed,” the Missouri Disaster Response Team, and the City says Steve, “I’m usually on the scene for two weeks of Liberty’s Community Emergency Response Team working with the Integrative Care Team (ICT). These (CERT). He became a Board Certified Chaplain with teams have four members the Association including a chaplain. We visit of Professional “Chaplains are trained to not ‘fix’ families who have experienced Chaplains and began working things but to be the presence of the a death due to the specific disaster, and perform other on his Doctor of Creator in times of trouble.” tasks ‘as assigned.’ That may Ministry Degree. mean loading, unloading, or This is when driving trucks, packing disaster he became a member of Second Baptist Church too. kits, passing out disaster information and disaster kits Steve says, “I was drawn by the preaching of Dr. Steve and food, working in MARC, walking disaster strewn Graham but more specifically to the dynamic music streets looking for people in need, and spending time program. I liked the high church music of the organ, with people affected by disasters and volunteers there the choir, and the orchestra. It adds another dimension to help others. Beyond the official duties of the ICT, of worship for me. Now the marvelous wordsmith a chaplains primary task is listening to folks tell their preaching of Dr. Jason Edward fills my spiritual story. Chaplain’s are trained to not ‘fix’ things but to be needs. Since retirement, I’ve offered my expertise the presence of the Creator in times of trouble. in emergency and disaster planning to the Safety & “My wife Sandy Foley and I moved to Liberty in Security Committee at Second, working with them to 2003. She works for a retirement center. We have provide a safer environment for worship and accessing five dachshunds—one who is a rescue—and a our facilities. This includes working with MOPS and Yorkie—also rescued. We have a large yard where I VBS. I also help on a team providing live streaming enjoy spending time on my mower cutting the grass video via the internet of our worship services.” and doing other yard-related chores. My daughter is Besides his work at Second, Steve is still active in the a teacher in the Blue Valley District and my son, a Missouri Disaster Response Team. He has become businessman in Kansas City. Sandy’s daughter lives a licensed amateur radio operator better known as in Pennsylvania where she runs an animal rescue service. Her two granddaughters raise award winning goats for 4-H. Sandy and I enjoy attending the Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet, and theaters offering live performances. In June of 2014, I received my Doctor of Ministry Degree.”

Looking back, Steve can’t think of many things—if any—he would change about his life. “Even the tragedies in mine,” he says in conclusion, “have given me a perspective to be present with others in their time of need. Yup, everything’s been ‘practically perfect,’ in every way!”

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From the CBF Blog . . .

As second earthquake hits, CBF continues aid in Nepal

By Aaron Weaver

DECATUR, Ga. — Together with a network of Baptist groups from around the world, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship continues to provide relief to the victims of the April 25 earthquake in Nepal. That 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed more than 7,350 people, injured thousands more. On Tuesday, another large earthquake struck Nepal, leaving at least 36 people dead and injuring more than 1,100, according to the Nepalese government.

CBF has contributed an initial $10,000 to the global Baptist relief efforts and is encouraging Cooperative Baptists and friends to support the Fellowship’s response to the growing crisis in Nepal. Gifts can be made to the CBF Nepal Response at www.cbf. net/nepal. To date, churches and individuals have contributed more than $14,200 to the relief fund.

Following the April 25 earthquake, CBF deployed Eddy Ruble, one of CBF’s field personnel who serves in Malaysia and is a seasoned disaster response expert, to Kathmandu, the densely-populated capital of Nepal where at least 1,150 people died. Ruble has been working to make initial needs assessments and determine capacity support for the global Baptist network’s relief efforts. Ruble is also providing support to the development arm of the Nepal Baptist Church Council and other smaller Christian organizations to develop their disaster response capacity and link them to wider networks of support.

The response of the global Baptist network—known as BReaD (Baptist Relief and Development Network)—is being led by BMS World Mission, a United Kingdombased mission organization formerly known as the

Baptist Missionary Society. BMS was selected as the lead agency on behalf of the network due to its significant pre-existing partnerships and personnel in Nepal and the surrounding region.

Through pooling its resources, as of May 4, the network had made three emergency relief grants totaling $40,000 for medical assistance and possible treatment of up to 9,500 persons, shelter (including the purchase of about 500 tents to assist 1,578 households in four communities) and 1,000 emergency food packages. The network is also working to develop proposals for a long-term response, which has been CBF’s focus—finding ways for the Fellowship to make a meaningful impact for the long term following a disaster.

CBF Executive Coordinator Suzii Paynter said the Fellowship is standing with the people of Nepal.

“In the wake of unimaginable tragedy and devastation, CBF is working with our global partners to be a Christ-like witness to the people of Nepal,” Paynter said. “We are seeking to provide for the immediate needs of victims, but also the long-term renewal of their lives and their land.”

Donations to support CBF’s Nepal Response efforts may be made online at www.cbf.net/nepal or by mailing a check payable to “CBF” with 17029-42050 in the memo line to: Cooperative Baptist Fellowship P.O. Box 102972 Atlanta, GA 30368-2972

www.cbf.net/nepal35

Second Baptist Church

Liberty, MO

300 E. Kansas St., Liberty, MO 816.781.2824 2bcliberty.org

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