For more information please call 1-800-984-9092.
]]>Friends, the answers for our nation will not be found in the voting booth, they will be found in the prayer closet.
I recently returned from the Southern Baptist Convention in Indianapolis where I had the opportunity to hear from the president of the North American Mission Board, Geoff Hammond. He shared with us a new National Evangelism Initiative called God's Plan for Sharing, or GPS. Just as a GPS in your car gives you direction to reach your destination, God's Plan for Sharing will offer us direction. God has called us all to be His witnesses and GPS will help us focus on 4 steps which will move us toward that destination. These steps include Praying, Engaging, Sowing, and Harvesting. These 4 steps are steps that churches of all sizes can implement.
God has promised to respond to our prayers, with no regard the size of our church. God has promised that the prayers of those who live up-right before Him will be effective.
The need of our nation is not the election of a particular candidate. The need of our nation is that God's people will pray for and engage the lost; and that we will sow seeds of the gospel message throughout our nation so God might bring a great harvest of souls in our land.
Friends, couldn't we all be more diligent in our prayers? Couldn't we all pray more fervently for those who don't know Christ, those who are living, and will die apart from Him? Would you begin to pray for three lost people who you know, or are trying to get to know? Would you pray for an opportunity to know them and to share the hope of Jesus with them?
Have you ever considered these questions, "If not me, then who? If not now, then when?" Think of the people in the Heart of Kansas. Ask yourself, if not you, then who will pray for your neighbors, and share Christ with them. If not now, then when will you and I begin to pray for them, engage them, and share with them the love of God. Then, by God's grace, see them come to genuine faith in Jesus Christ.
Will you pray?
]]>Our three Hispanic Summer Missionaries are students from Rio Grande Bible Institute in Edinburg, Texas where they are receiving Bible training to go back to their countries to preach the gospel. The focal ministry these interns have with us is to go door to door sharing the gospel. They are concentrating their efforts in two different locations: The north part of Wichita, around the Good Neighbor Baptist Church and in Plainview, just close to the Hispanic Community Center. God has blessed their efforts in a wonderful way; four different families have opened their doors for Bible study and 15 people have made decisions for Christ. These evangelistic efforts are part of our overall strategy to start new Hispanic congregations around our area for the Glory of God.
Please pray for Johanna, Daniel and Mari, our Hispanic interns, for their safety as they walk in the streets of Wichita and for wisdom and power from the Holy Spirit to share the good news. Also, keep praying for our four Hispanic churches and missions (Fuente de Paz, Redencion, Nueva Vida and Getsemani) as they continue their ministries and for the efforts of First Southern in Hutchinson to reach the Hispanics in that city. Please help us pray that the Lord will send more Hispanic Church planters to our area and for the provision of the Lord to supply the needs of those he will send to us.
]]>For those of us that appreciate a cost/return evaluation, our $8,000 dollar investment in the vision tour has already resulted in projects being started that could result in approximately $30,000 in various resources and hundreds of volunteer hours being spent in our association. However, the real measure of this effort is ultimately to be found in the lives that will be changed.
]]>Our Good Neighbor Centers continue to minister to the needy in Wichita. They provide food, clothing and most of all, the Gospel. Our Good Neighbor Centers are in continuous need of our support. They are always in need of food and clothing. Between our centers, we minister to approximately 250 people per week. Our centers can always use donations for food. The dollars you give to the centers are stretched greatly due to the ability to buy food at the food bank for 16 cents per pound. Our Good Neighbor Centers also need your help. Work projects are always available and youth groups are extremely valuable in reaching the youth of those neighborhoods.
Much progress is being made toward equipping our new Disaster Relief Trailer. We have had several large donations to be used for outfitting the trailer, and a great deal of planning and searching for the proper equipment. All of the team members are becoming familiar with the different types of chain saws and their uses. After we get the trailer up and going we will have training here in Wichita for volunteers to be certified as a disaster relief chain saw volunteer. Today I received a very nice certificate from KNCSB recognizing the volunteers from HOKSBA for their services during the hurricanes of years past.
I just returned from Indianapolis for an Inner City Evangelism event and the SBC conference. The ICE event took place from June 1 to June 7. Twenty five street evangelists from the ICE team worked with five inner city churches in Indianapolis. Each church had "prayer walked" their section of town and many church members went door-to-door witnessing. After the block parties on Saturday, we prayed with 649 people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. There were also over 100 decisions during Cross Over Indianapolis and many others were reached during the convention. This was a great event and many of the church members were trained and are now excited about sharing the Gospel. Next year the ICE event will be in Louisville, Kentucky just before the SBC annual meeting. Please put that on your calendars now and contact me for more details. Also, start thinking about the Mardis Gras trip in February of 2009. Please help us pass out tracts and share the Gospel in that spiritually dark place. At the convention, Dr. Chuck Kelly of New Orleans Baptist Seminary sincerely thanked us for making the trip every year. There is also a possibility of an ICE event during the Democratic Convention in Denver. Please contact me if you would like more information.
The 2008 RiverFest is over and we had a great time this year. We had 12 evangelists from around the country helping us. They also helped train some of our church members. We had over 90 decisions for Christ. Team Impact performed twice at the Eldorado prison, twice at the juvenile detention facility, and once at River Fest. Over 10,000 tracts were handed out and also 20,000 cards advertising the Team Impact event. We estimated that nearly 1,000 people were in the parking lot at Metropolitan to see the Team Impact performance. We also had several great music performers. This year we made some great strides in reaching the Goth and Juggalo kids that congregate under the bridge on Douglas by McLean. After we fed them, we shared the Gospel with the whole group. Several of our ICE team members were able to connect with these lost and needy kids. The WMU ladies provided hot dogs, snow cones, chips, and homemade cookies. The snow cones were a big hit as was the moon walk. Please start planning to participate in next year's event. My prayer is to have enough church members to partner with the ICE evangelists during their time here. This is a great way to get comfortable sharing the Gospel.
One of our churches has recently started a Celebrate Recovery Ministry. They are having a very good response and are seeing fruit from this effort. This is a great outreach ministry tool to our community.
Please contact Loren or Mark if you have any questions. Our prayer is that we would have several more churches doing Celebrate Recovery all over Wichita.
We are continuing to minister in some of the area's youth detention facilities. There is a real opportunity for ministry at the juvenile facilities. These youth need to hear about our Lord and see His love in a real way. Youth leaders and workers over 21 are the ideal prospects for this ministry. Not only could we minister to them in the facility, but it would open contacts to plug them into our churches afterwards. Please call me if you have an interest in getting involved.
I am considering an Intentional Community Evangelism event in Wichita in the near future. My plan is to make this a project for my doctoral dissertation. The Intentional Community Evangelism strategy is one that can be very successful. The process lasts several months and includes training in different areas of evangelism, prayer walking, and follow-up at the end of the event. My vision is to use this strategy to form an ICE team here in the Heart of Kansas Association so that we would be available to help churches here and around the area. This will help us all be more comfortable in our witnessing.
The evangelism rally this year will be at Immanuel Baptist Church at 6:30p.m. on August 24th. We will start at 5:00p.m. with an associational missions fair. If you are interested in participating in the fair please let me know. Our speaker this year will be evangelist Brian Fossett. Brian lives in Northern Georgia and preaches all over the world. He comes highly recommended. His website is www.brianfossett.org and has a lot of information about Brian and his ministry. I talked to him at the SBC conference and he is excited about coming to Wichita. Our associational worship team will lead us in worship before Brian brings the message. See you there!!!
]]>Over time, our ministry has changed focus from American commuter students to international residential students. It has grown from a few local students to over 60 students from dozens of countries. We have graduated several students from our ministry and many have gone home, or entered their careers. Personally, I have moved twice, gotten engaged, gotten married, had a little girl, have another little one on the way, started and finished seminary, and am preparing to move again. Anyone want a cute little house in Riverside?
The only constant in all of this has been God. God's faithfulness to take me, move me, use me, and transform me into a vessel for his use has been an incredible journey. On June 21, I plan to attend my ten year high school reunion. I will see people there that I have not seen since the last day of high school. They will be floored when they find out what I have spent the last six years doing and I do not blame them. Sometimes I can't believe it either.
God's constant work of changing me and changing the students that I have worked beside over the past six years has been an awesome blessing to experience and observe. I thank God that he is constantly there, but more than that, I thank God that he is constantly at work changing me and using me to influence change in others.
Six years is really not that much time, but what wonders God can accomplish in us when even the smallest amount of time is committed to him. May God continue to work in your life, in the lives of those in your family, and in your church, so that you may be used by him to transform the lives of others around you.
]]>Ladies, mark your calendar for July 19, 2008 at Metropolitan Baptist Church for the "Live the Call", "God's Design for your life." Registration starts at 9:00a.m. Kim Andrews will be our speaker and Calah Titus will lead our worship music. Bring a salad for the salad luncheon.
We will have a KNCSB WMU Bookstore at the conference this year. The following are the list of conferences that we will be having this year: WMU Leadership; WOM/ Adult/Acteens/Youth; GA's/Children in Action; Mission Friends/Preschool; Mini Experiencing God; "Who Me"; Praying the Word; Counseling on Depression; Something for Hispanics; Short term Mission Trip.
]]>Set Free is a church planting movement that successfully enables people to escape from the bondage of addiction by leading them to faith in Christ and discipling them. The purpose of the Set Free House is to provide a location for workers that will reach out to addicts, prostitutes, and homeless in the downtown area. The next phase of this project will be to establish a discipleship ranch in a remote area.
]]>The money was really not enough to buy gas much less pay for wear and tear on my vehicle. However, my wife and I made the two hour drive every weekend and did the best we could to minister. After six months, they found a pastor and our ministry came to an end. That church is still going strong today.
Thinking back on those times, it really did not cost me anything to make all those long trips every week. I had the privilege of being involved in people's lives and seeing growth take place. I do not miss any money that was spent and have the peace of knowing that I served God.
Today, many churches would like to participate in starting a new church but a major roadblock is always the resources: people, money, time, a meeting place, etc. There always seems to be some reason why the present is not a good time to help plant a church. The investment that eleven churches made in the early 1950s, when our association was formed, has now grown to over fifty churches. I think it is a safe assumption that none of these pioneers regret having made great investments in the work of starting churches, but only feel a deep satisfaction in knowing that they served God.
In the Heart of Kansas, we have a partnership of churches, our state convention, and the North American Mission Board who are willing to join together to start churches. The opportunity before us is great and some would say the investment required is also great. I am convinced that in twenty-five or fifty years no one will remember how much it cost to serve God. We will only have the deep satisfaction of knowing we served God or the even deeper regret that we missed a great opportunity.
Give me a call today so we can discuss how a partnership can be forged to start new churches in our association.
]]>If you have never heard the prayer that Franklin D. Roosevelt led the nation in during WWII, you should take the time to read it. In the prayer, he asks that Almighty God might give our soldiers steadfastness in their faith. He spoke of faith several times throughout his great prayer. It made me think about Hebrews 11, the chapter on faith, where the writer lists the different people of the Bible who exhibited great faith. We too have an awesome opportunity in these last days to exhibit such faith and steadfastness. One way is through CWJC. There can be many obstacles in building and maintaining a CWJC site, but with faith and steadfastness it can grow and be used to tell many of their need for Christ.
If you or your church would be interested in helping women in need become equipped for life and employment through job-readiness classes, computer classes, GED training on Bible study and mentoring, please contact me and I will be glad to assist you in beginning a CWJC site.
]]>We live in a society which is driven by success. We mistakenly measure an individual's success, and even their value, by their professional status, the size of their house or bank account, or their social standing in the community. How we assess and measure success in the ministry has been influenced by our societal view of success. Some churches will determine success by the "bottom-line" of enrollment, attendance, or giving. Others may place a more subjective spin on success by considering the minister's level of personal satisfaction as the determining factor.
What does the Bible teach us concerning successful ministry? "Then I said, 'For how long, O Lord?' And he answered: 'Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid to waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.'" (Isaiah 6:11-13) By today's standard, Isaiah may have been viewed as unsuccessful in turning the stubborn people of Israel back toward God. Isaiah was told that the unrepentant attitude of the people would persist until only a few faithful would remain. However, from these faithful followers, a new foundation would be laid. Success was not measured in numbers or personal satisfaction. Success was the result of being faithful.
Do you have a successful Sunday School and Vacation Bible School? Don't look at the numbers. Instead, look at the people. Do they continue to labor faithfully, regardless of the perception of success? Here are a few thoughts as to how we can answer the question of success when related to ministry. Are you...
F Forgetting what is behind... Philippians 3:13
A Aiming toward what is ahead... Philippians 3:13
I Instructing faithfully... Ephesians 6:4
T Transformed by the renewing of your mind... Romans 4:1
H Honoring God with your body... I Corinthians 6:20
F Firmly standing... Philippians 4:1
U Understanding your giftedness... Romans 12:6-8
L Loving sincerely... Romans 12:9
May we remain faithful to the tasks before us so that on the day of His coming He will say, "Well done good and faithful servant!"
]]>"For from Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever!" Romans 11:36
Friends, there is nothing of worth in our lives that has not come from our Lord Jesus. He is the source of all things. All things are "from Him".
And all things are "through Him". There is nothing in life that comes to us that is not through Him. Colossians tells us that all things are held together by the Lord. And if He ever stops holding it together, it will fly apart. It is through Him we are reconciled to the Father. All things are "through Him".
And all things are "to Him". The end of all things is the glory of God. Why did Jesus come? For the glory of God. Why did Jesus die? For the glory of God. Why are you and I born? For the glory of God. Why does the church exist? For the glory of God. Why does Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association exist? It is not for you or me. All things are "to Him". We exist as individuals and as churches and as an association for the glory of God. All things are unto Him.
Since all things are from Him, and all things are through Him, and all things are to Him, we can therefore understand that all glory is His. "To Him be glory forever!"
Though I have known some of you for years through our state convention, there are many that I have not yet had the opportunity meet. But the Lord in His perfect wisdom and plan has brought us together for a purpose. What could that purpose be? Hint: It is not for your glory or mine. It is for His glory.
Please join with me in praying that the days ahead in the life of Heart of Kansas Association will be filled with the Lord at work for His glory.
]]>Set Free is a church planting movement that successfully enables people to escape from the bondage of addiction by leading them to faith in Christ and discipling them. The purpose of the Set Free house is to provide a location for workers that will reach out to addicts, prostitutes, and homeless in the downtown area. The next phase of this project will be to establish a discipleship ranch in a remote area.
]]>Our Good Neighbor Centers continue to minister to the needy in Wichita. They provide food clothing and most of all share the Gospel with all. Our Good Neighbor Centers are in continuous need of our support. They are always in need for food and clothing. Between our centers we minister to approximately 250 people a week. Our centers can always use donations for food. The dollars you give to the centers is stretched greatly due to buying food at the food bank for 16 cents a pound. Our Good Neighbor Centers also need your help. Work projects are always available and youth groups are really valuable in reaching the youth of those neighborhoods.
Things are really coming along with your Disaster Relief Committee. Last year we purchased a shower trailer and it is now on it's 3rd deployment. Our committee has gotten it all set up with on demand hot water, washer and dryer and winterized it so it can go anywhere any time. We have received some good comments about the trailer. This year the committee voted to buy another trailer. This trailer will be used as a chain saw trailer. It is a 16 ft. enclosed trailer with heavy duty axles and tires to be able to take the weight of a chain saw recovery trailer and with the potential of being used as a rebuild trailer. Funds are still needed to outfit the chain saw trailer. The committee wants to encourage everyone in the association to get involved as a volunteer in this necessary and rewarding ministry. Please contact the committee if you are interested in being trained for disaster relief. Thousands of lives have been changed by receiving the love of Christ through the SBC disaster relief efforts which leads us to sharing the Good News of Christ .
So far this year we have been on two evangelism mission trips. The first one was at the Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena Cal. Three of us from Wichita teamed with about another 100 people from around the country to share the Gospel with the hundreds of thousands of people that show up a day in advance for the parade and are open to hearing the Gospel. Seven of us from Wichita teamed with 50 men from around the country to share the Gospel and Mardis Gras this year in New Orleans. We handed out thousands of tracts, shared the Gospel numerous times and saw some fruit. Normally each year we hand out 60,000 plus tracts and hear back from hundreds of the partiers when they get home. Still planning on going to Sturgis this year to help the Dakota Baptist Convention sharing the Gospel at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. What an opportunity to reach this special "people group" with the Gospel. Please call me if you are interested in going.
The 2008 RiverFest is coming up fast. We will be doing an evangelistic event during the Fest. We have about 12 evangelists from around the country coming to Wichita to help us share the Gospel and to train anyone who has a burden for sharing with the lost. We will start sharing Thursday evening May 15, all day Friday and Saturday. We will be handing out tracts and invitation cards for the Team Impact event which is at 6:30 Saturday in the Metropolitan BC parking lot. We need volunteers to hand out invites and tracts and share the Gospel. Also will need help with the inflatables and music from around 2 till 6. If you are a face painter or have any other game or skill we could use to reach out to the kids and families please let me know. We also will be having music for several hours before Team Impact. Our WMU will be providing hot dogs, snacks and drinks during the event. We also will need counselors to help after the Team Impact invitation. Last year's event went very good and please pray with us for God to use this event to touch the lost and dying in Wichita.
One of our churches has recently started a Celebrate Recovery Ministry. They are having a very good response and are seeing fruit from this effort. This is a great outreach ministry tool to our community. Please contact me or Mark if you having any questions. Please check out their web page, http://www.celebraterecovery.com/, for training opportunities and information on this community ministry. Our prayer is that we would have several more churches doing Celebrate Recovery all over Wichita.
We are continuing to minister in some of our detention facilities here. At the juvenile facilities there is real opportunities for ministry. These youth need to hear about our Lord and see His love in a real way. Please call me if you have an interest in getting involved.
I am looking to put on an Intentional Community Evangelism event in Wichita in the near future. My plan is to make this a project for my doctoral dissertation. The Intentional Community Evangelism strategy is one that can be very successful. The process lasts several months which includes training in different areas of evangelism, prayer walking and follow up ending with the event. My vision is to use this strategy to form an ICE team here in the Heart of Kansas Association so we would be available to help churches here and around the area. This will help us all to be more comfortable in our witnessing.
]]>Individual churches would determine their level/frequency of involvement. While we are praying for long-term partnerships, any length of time the church is comfortable with is acceptable.
The Hispanic group will focus on both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking peoples. The Set Free group will focus on those who have become dysfunctional through drug/alcohol addiction that will include the homeless and recently incarcerated. Aviator Church will have young professionals in the southeast area of our association as their target group.
]]>You may ask - "Does a person have to come to church to study their Bible? Isn't it possible that many on our class membership rolls, whom we haven't seen for quite some time, could be growing, mature believers who just don't want the 'church experience'? My response - lets look at the Bible. What example do we have of the importance and result of Bible study? Looking at Acts 2:42 and 47 we read "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship of breaking bread and to prayer...and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." The early church had their priorities right. They studied and prayed together; they sacrificed for the needs of others; they remembered the broken body and spilt blood of Jesus. The result - the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Now, it hadn't always been that way! The children of Israel in the Old Testament had a hard time giving God the time and devotion He desired and commanded. In fact, two continuous struggles they faced were idolatry and the keeping of the Sabbath day. God reminded the prophet Ezekiel of the importance of the Sabbath when He said "...I gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between us, so they would know that I made them holy." What was to be holy - the people or the Sabbath day? Both! Israel's observance of the Sabbath was to serve as a testimony that she was the Lord's holy people. Even at this time in history, there was a connection between the Sabbath day and the indication that how God's people observed that day was a reflection of their dedication to Him.
As teachers and leaders of Sunday School, it should be our desire to echo the words of Paul as written in Colossians 1:28 "We proclaim Him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ." The reality is that one day Christ will return for His church. When He does, will she be presented to Him as a perfect bride, kept holy and pure? Or, will we be embarrassed at how we have allowed the culture to pollute and dilute both our message and our methods? May the Lord find us faithful as we attempt to invite, connect, and discover the truths of God's Word with those in our class, church, and community.
]]>First, contact the HOKSBA office at 943-3446 and give us the dates and times of your VBS event. This will allow us to share with churches the names of other churches that may have recently completed their VBS and may have resources or decorations that they would be willing to pass on to a sister church. By all the churches of the Association having their dates on the Associational calendar, this makes connecting churches with others much easier.
Second, we have an Associational VBS box that has resources for "Outrigger Island". If your church is using that curriculum and you can use a second copy of a teacher book or other similar resource, contact the HOKSBA office and ask for the box to be reserved for your church's use the week of your VBS. The materials in this box are not intended to be consumed by any one church so please don't plan on using-up the resources!
Third, Mark Jackson will have several summer missionaries that he may be able to make available to assist your church with their VBS. If this is an area of need, contact Mark and make your request known.
If there are other things that we can do as an Association to assist you in planning, preparing and implementing your Vacation Bible School, please do not hesitate to contact one of the following Associational VBS team members: Terry Beasley, Sharon Baptist Church; Linda Hingst (crafts), Calvary Baptist in Valley Center; Jean Edwards (preschool), Metropolitan Baptist; Lois Mercer (children), Midway Baptist; or Dana Bishop (music), Sharon Baptist.
]]>Fifty percent of your offerings are returned directly to the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association for distribution to various ministries. The remaining fifty percent is used to support various ministries throughout the state which includes some of our ministries. This enables us to help reach areas of our state that may not have the resources to spread the gospel in their community.
The Viola Webb State Missions Offering is an important part of our strategy to increase the Kingdom of God. Please give generously through your church.
]]>After much prayer and hard work and looking at more than 100 resumes we would like to introduce you to our chosen candidate, Glenn Davis.
We would like to give you an opportunity to meet and get to know Glenn and his wife Rhonda at a reception at Metropolitan Baptist Church March 25 at 7 p.m. We will ask Glenn to share a brief testimony and then give you the opportunity to ask questions of him.
The committee will then make a recommendation at a special called executive board meeting on April 1 that our association hires Glenn as our new Director of Missions contingent upon approval of the North American Mission Board.
]]>Pastor Glenn was pastor at First Baptist Church in Orrick MO 1979 - 1983. He came to First Southern BC Salina in 1983.
He has served Kansas Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptist as President, President of the Pastors Conference, Executive Committee and Executive Board member, Youth Evangelism Staff and various other committees.
He has served Smoky Hill Baptist Association as Moderator, Executive Committee and Executive Board Member and Chairman of Search Committee for DOAM.
Pastor Davis has been involved in two mission trips to China, a mission trip to India, Pakistan, Taiwan and Africa. He has also been involved in construction trips to several states including Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas.
He has a Masters in Biblical studies from Trinity Seminary in Newburgh IN. and a Bachelors Degree in Religion from Oklahoma Baptist University.
His interests are biking, bird hunting and fishing.
He is currently involved in the Executive Board and has served in the past on the Program Committee for the YMCA of Salina. He has also served on the Policy Review Committee for USD 305 and various other committees. He and Rhonda received the 1995 Friends of Education Award for USD 305 and were nominated for the state of Kansas award.
]]>All of these students were served by upperclassmen from The Mission, and we did our best to meet each one and tell them about our ministry. We also showed a teaser for our upcoming Valentine's event called "The Checklist." This annual Valentine's outreach attracted over 400 people last year, and we hope to have even more this year.
Each of these gatherings, full of students from all over the world, have given us opportunities to share the love of Jesus with many who would never show up at one of our services. As we move further into the semester, fruit from the semester's labor is already being seen. One of the fifty students that we picked up from the airport in January has accepted Christ. This young man is from India, and will hopefully be the first of many Indians that come to Christ this semester.
Because of your cooperation with the Heart of Kansas, college students from around the world are being reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you're interested in learning more about what we do, or in ministering to international students yourself, feel free to call the associational office, or email me at brads@hoksba.org.
]]>Our churches and communities are filled with people who are struggling with pain, shame, and addictions.
Sixteen years ago, Saddleback Church launched Celebrate Recovery with 43 people. It was designed as a program to help those struggling with hurts, habits, and hang-ups by showing them the loving power of Jesus Christ through a recovery process. Celebrate Recovery has helped more than 10,000 people at Saddleback, attracting over 70 percent of its members from outside the church. Eighty-five percent of the people who go through the program stay with the church and nearly half serve as church volunteers.
Whether you are just beginning a Celebrate Recovery ministry, are already active and growing, or are just interested in finding out more about what Celebrate Recovery is, please join us at a Celebrate Recovery Regional Seminar near you!
April 19th, 2008 at First Baptist Church, MOORE, OK 301 NE 27th Street, Moore, OK 73160 www.fbcmoore.org
]]>Individual churches would determine their level/frequency of involvement. While we are praying for long-term partnerships, any length of time the church is comfortable with is acceptable.
The Hispanic group will focus on both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking peoples. The Set Free group will focus on those who have become dysfunctional through drug/alcohol addiction and will include the homeless and recently incarcerated. Aviator Church will have young professionals in the southeast area of our association as their target group.
]]>Sponsored by the churches of The Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association
We are in need of around 150 volunteers to staff an outreach event to Hispanics. Help is needed in the following areas:
Contact: Abraham Arevalo at 371-4312, Don Chance at 841-2622, or Mark Jackson at 214-3647
]]>Set Free is a church planting movement which successfully enables people to escape from the bondage of addiction by leading them to faith in Christ and discipling them. The purpose of the Set Free house is to locate those workers who will reach out to addicts, prostitutes, and homeless in the downtown area. The next phase of this project will be to establish a discipleship ranch in a remote area.
]]>Who: Those in, going to, or just graduated from college
Where: Wichita, KS
When: May 15 through July 31 (some flexibility)
Pay: $750 from NAMB and $250 from KNCSB
How: contact Mark Jackson, 943-3446 or mark@hoksba.org to start the process
Activities:
Work Hours: about forty hours a week during the day and evening
Objective: to provide opportunities for students to discover their calling in ministry, to train students in ministry skills, and to help meet the mission objectives of the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association by sharing Christ, starting churches, and developing volunteers, missionaries, and ministers.
Who: Those entering the tenth through twelfth grade
Where: Wichita, KS
When: a four week period (longer periods are available) between June 2 and August 1
Pay: to be determined
How: contact Mark Jackson, 943-3446 or mark@hoksba.org to start the process
Activities:
Work Hours: about twenty hours a week during the day and evening
Objective: to provide opportunities for students to discover their calling in ministry, to train students in ministry skills, and to help meet the mission objectives of the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association by sharing Christ, starting churches, and developing volunteers, missionaries, and ministers.
This year, the first night will be a banquet, vision casting, and entertainment by singer/songwriter David Petete. The second day will be a tour of our mission field where we will hear the hearts of our own missionaries.
All of the Heart of Kansas churches and members are invited to attend but we need to know if you are coming, so please make reservations with the HOKSBA office as soon as possible. Space is limited!!
Monday, April 28, 6:00 - 9:00 pm Tuesday, April 29, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
]]>This is a "FELLOWSHIP" golf tournament with the primary purpose of developing fellowship among the churches in our association. As such, sign-up is on an individual basis and you will be paired with people from other churches. We attempt to put an A,B,C, and D player on each team according to your average declared score. Some exceptions are that husbands and wives will play together unless the wife desires to play on an "all ladies" team; family can play together, and church prospects can sign up to play with someone from the church they are considering. All other exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis - contact the Tournament Director.
Over the past seven years, the overwhelming response to the question, "What did you like most about the tournament?" has been, "The Fellowship!" If you haven't played in the tournament previously and you do play golf, sign up early. The number of registrations is limited to the first 144 golfers/duffers/hackers. The registration deadline is April 18th.
]]>It is not too early to start thinking about this year's River Fest outreach. God truly blessed us last year with more volunteers and we were able to pray with over 200 people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. We will have plan on having Team Impact back to put on an event on Saturday, May 17. We will also be inviting members from the ICE team to share the gospel on the streets and to train any of our members who wish to share. We will have the inflatable moon walk and obstacle course, and the WMU will be providing hot dogs and snacks for lunch. We would like to do more activities this year. We will have music opportunities for any one who is interested. We would like to have several groups from our churches perform. Also, face painting or games are real attractors for kids and give us the opportunity to share with their parents as they wait. If you are a face painter or have other skills please let us know. We would love to have you involved. Last year we had many churches involved and are praying for even more this year. What a great way to reach out to our community and visitors from across the state.
For the fourth year in a row, we took a team to New Orleans to share the Gospel at Mardi Gras. Seven members from four of our associational churches made the trip this year. We braved the snow storm and ice packed roads as far south as Oklahoma city. We handed out thousands of tracts and shared the gospel with numerous people. We prayed for numerous opportunities to share the gospel and for spiritual protection and travel safety and our Lord blessed our trip. Two of our members went for the first time and are excited about going again next year. Please start praying about going with us next year. This dark, dark place needs us to be there to share with them about the Light of the World, Jesus.
Please let me know soon if anyone would be interested in doing an evangelistic mission trip to Sturgis, South Dakota during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. This event is another great opportunity to share the gospel with our lost and dying world and especially this particular people group. The Dakotas Association uses a very unique way to get an audience to listen to the gospel. They purchase a new Harley and raffle it off. People get a raffle ticket by listening to a gospel presentation. Hundreds of people heard the gospel last year and many gave their life to our Savior. This year's rally is August 6-12. Please call me ASAP to talk about this so we can make plans to take a team there this year.
Three of us traveled to Pasadena on New Year's Eve to share the Gospel on Colorado Avenue for about twenty-four hours before the parade. Thousands of people arrive hours before the parade to save their spot to watch the parade. We worked with a group of about fifty believers to reach out to these people in many different ways. We used mimes, computer games, street preaching, EvangeCube and other ways to share the gospel. We handed out over 15,000 parade schedules/tracts and numerous people prayed with us to give their life to Christ. My prayer is to take many more people with us next year. What an opportunity.
Have you been to one of our Good Neighbor centers lately? Have you met the men and women who volunteer every day at these facilities? Have you been privileged to see our GNC's minister to the needy people of Wichita? All of our centers are constantly in need of food, clothing and volunteer help. Please call or visit one of our centers and see how God can use you in this vital ministry.
Now that that the weather is starting to get a little better, it is time to think about street and neighborhood witnessing. I am always looking for partners to help witness in downtown Wichita and various neighborhoods. If you have never done any outreach like that, I would love to have you go and have that experience. I also am ready at any time to teach evangelism in any church or Sunday School.
]]>So too is the life of a Christian. Once we accept the saving power of Jesus Christ and allow for the transformation of our natures from the old man to the new man, God can use us to change the world! Transformation - this is what the study of God's Word is about! As Paul wrote to the believers in Rome, "...be transformed by the renewing of your mind." But does our teaching of God's Word promote life change? Or is it more an exercise in Bible trivia, learning the facts of the Bible without bringing the learner to see the application of the Word to everyday life in the 21st century?
On Saturday, January 12th the churches of our association were invited to participate in a training conducted at Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church in Emporia. Though the focus of the leader, Aaron Reynolds, was on children's ministry, much of what he said is applicable to learners of any age. To reduce the instruction of the day to a few simple points, I would focus on the following four attributes of transformational teaching.
First, transformational teaching moves past head knowledge into heart knowledge. It moves the learner intellectually and emotionally so that the student wants to DO something with what they have learned. Teaching as a means of "information exchange" is fine for school, but for church we must move through the intellect to the heart.
Second, transformational teaching balances the talk of the teacher with the activity of the learner. Recognizing that students (of any age) vary in how they best learn information, we, as teachers, must vary our teaching techniques to meet the needs of auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. While some learners retain best by hearing, others prefer seeing, and still others need to put their entire body into the learning process.
Third, transformational teaching is creative. Perhaps one of the greatest inhibitors of creativity is the lack of preparation time. You can not be creative with a Sunday morning Sunday School lesson if you begin preparing at 9:30 on Saturday night! Granted, for a teacher with limited time to prepare, the easiest way to teach is to either focus on lecture (thereby minimizing distractions and the possibility of the discussion going to places for which the teacher is not ready) or to lean heavily on the "facilitator" concept whereby you ask questions and allow the learners to discover the content of the lesson on their own. While both of these methods have their place in teaching, one must not stifle the creative presentation of a lesson by staying in a familiar rut. At the same time, don't let creativity upstage content!
Fourth, transformational teaching is applicational. The learner must be equipped to live differently on Monday because of Sunday. A Sunday School lesson that does not apply to life may be "information exchange" but it is not for "life change." By applying these four principles of transformational teaching, we can best prepare our students to live their Sunday School lesson each week!
Our associational Sunday School team was pleased to provide a two-hour training for the Sunday School workers of South City Baptist Church this past month. If you would like assistance from our team, contact Terry Beasley at 684-5156.
Vacation Bible School may still be months away, but preparation begins now! To assist you in equipping your VBS leaders, two training options are available over the next several weeks.
Individual churches would determine their level/frequency of involvement. While we are praying for long-term partnerships, any length of time the church is comfortable with is acceptable.
The Hispanic group will focus on both Spanish-speaking and English-speaking peoples. The Set Free group will focus on those who have become dysfunctional through drug/alcohol addiction that will include the homeless and recently incarcerated. Aviator Church will have young professionals in the southeast area of our association as their target group.
]]>It is not too early to start thinking about next year's River Fest outreach. God truly blessed us last year with more volunteers and we were able to pray with over 200 people to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. We will have plan on having Team Impact back to put on an event on Saturday May 17. We will also be inviting members from the ICE team to share the Gospel on the streets and to train any of our members who God has pricked their hearts to share. We will have the inflatable moon walk and obstacle course there and the WMU will be providing hot dogs and snacks for lunch. Last year we had many more churches involved and are praying for even more this year. What a great way to reach out to our community and visitors from across the state.
For the fourth year in a row we will be taking a team to New Orleans to share the Gospel at Mardis Gras. This dark, dark place needs for us to be there to share with them about the Light of the World, Jesus. We will be leaving here at 4:00 PM on Thursday Jan 31 and returning late afternoon on Sunday February 3. Our prayer is to have at least two full vans going. We will always pair up first timers with men that have been there before. Last year we gave out over 60,000 tracts and shared the Gospel numerous times. We have a chance to share with and reach out and touch people that might not otherwise ever hear the Gospel.
Please let me know soon if anyone would be interested in doing an evangelistic mission trip to Sturgis South Dakota during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. Another great opportunity to share the Gospel with this lost and dying world and especially this particular people group. The Dakotas association uses a very unique way to get an audience to listen to the Gospel. They purchase a new Harley and raffle it off people get a raffle ticket by listening to a Gospel presentation. Hundreds of people heard the Gospel last year and many gave their life to our Savior.
]]>The first night will be a banquet, vision casting, and entertainment by singer/songwriter David Petete. The second day will be a tour of our mission field where we will hear the hearts of our own missionaries followed by a dinner and time of commitment in the evening.
All of the Heart of Kansas churches and members are invited to attend as well as our out of town guests but we need to know if you are coming, so please make reservations with the HOKSBA office as soon as possible. The 2008 Vision Tour will be held April 28-29.
]]>Who: Those in, going to, or just graduated from college
Where: Wichita, KS
When: May 15 through July 31 (some flexibility)
Pay: $750 from NAMB and $250 from KNCSB
How: contact Mark Jackson, 943-3446 or mark@hoksba.org to start the process
Activities:
Work Hours: about forty hours a week during the day and evening
Objective: to provide opportunities for students to discover their calling in ministry, to train students in ministry skills, and to help meet the mission objectives of the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association by sharing Christ, starting churches, and developing volunteers, missionaries, and ministers.
Who: Those entering the tenth through twelfth grade
Where: Wichita, KS
When: a four week period (longer periods are available) between June 2 and August 1
Pay: to be determined
How: contact Mark Jackson, 943-3446 or mark@hoksba.org to start the process
Activities:
Work Hours: about twenty hours a week during the day and evening
Objective: to provide opportunities for students to discover their calling in ministry, to train students in ministry skills, and to help meet the mission objectives of the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association by sharing Christ, starting churches, and developing volunteers, missionaries, and ministers.
One of the pressing needs that have come to my attention in all of the detention facilities is the need for a good study Bible. We have many people in the facilities, both adults and juveniles that would benefit greatly by having this tool. If you or your church or your Sunday School class would be interested in helping provide this valuable resource please contact me at the Association office.
Just recently one of churches has asked me to teach a discipleship class for them on evangelism and jail ministry with the goal of getting their people involved in ministry out side the church. Out of six people in the first class four of them have submitted their paper work to be able to minister in the detention system and the others are in process. Praise God! In Matthew 28:19 Jesus is clear that we are to go and make disciples. And in Matthew 25:40 He tells us that what ever we do for the least of them we did for Him. Hebrew 13:1-3 also encourages us to minister to prisoners and others. Please contact me if you would be interested in classes like this in your church or how you can be involved in detention or outreach ministries.
]]>Regardless of the size of congregation, teaching the Bible for the spiritual growth of the individual must be a priority. In the December 1st edition of "World" magazine, I was reminded of this simple premise as I read an article on Willow Creek Church. The article quotes Pastor Bill Hybels as saying, "We made a mistake...When people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become 'self feeders'. We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own." Hybels reminds us of a lesson from which we can all learn. As School School teachers and leaders, we must be teaching our students - regardless of their age - that the Bible is to be studied and applied daily. We don't study the Bible solely as an appreciation for what God has done historically. Instead, we meditate and memorize God's Word for what it is yet to do in us and through us!
The purpose of the Sunday School Team of the Heart of Kansas S.B.A. is to support the local congregations in the area of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. To accomplish this purpose we need YOUR help. We need to know how we can best help, assist, and support you as you provide Sunday School and/or Vacation Bible School ministries through your church. In the past, this support has primarily come through the fall training event referred to as the "Flight School" and the associational Vacation Bible School worker training. However, we as a team and individual members within the team would also be receptive to assisting you and your church in other ways. Please, feel free to contact one of the team members and express to us the challenges you face in these ministry areas so that we can consider how to best support you. The members of the Sunday School team are: Terry Beasley, Minister of Education & Music at Sharon Baptist Church (684-5156); Jean Edwards from Metropolitan Baptist Church (264-2354); Peggy Welch, Children's Minister at Immanuel Baptist in Wichita (262-1452); and Ray Kempel, Pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Hutchinson (663-4425).
]]>"Before Sunday school became the instructional hour for believers' children, it was an edgy, faith-based social-service movement in the slums of eighteenth-century England. And the public loved it." Elesha Coffman
Some of the business that will affect us for years to come is proposed changes in personnel. Larry Thomas is moving to the state convention office in 2008. Larry has done a great job for us and we celebrate with him the new opportunities to which God is moving him. The Associational Missions Development Committee is recommending to you that Loren Phippen fill this position of Church and Community Leadership and Evangelism. I have known Loren and Gail for almost eight years and they are a great couple. Loren is also a passionate, effective trainer and soul winner. The successful work he is leading in the jail and juvenile detention facilities is a great example of this. Loren is also involved in getting the Set Free ministry, voted on at last year's annual meeting, up and running.
The second personnel change recommended by the Associational Missions Development Committee is a new position of Hispanic Church Planter Strategist filled by Abraham Arevalo, currently pastor of Nueva Vida. Abraham has been a successful pastor and church planter and has a strong relationship and reputation with our state staff. We presently have over 50,000 Hispanics in our associational area and only two churches involved in reaching them. This population is predicted to grow by another 10,000 in the next three years. The AMDC has shown great wisdom in recommending to you this change.
Many of our ethnic/language churches will be in attendance with a display of their church and culture (possibly with some of their favorite snacks to sample). Come up to thirty minutes early at 6 pm or stay after the meeting to visit and see their heart for reaching their people.
I look forward to being with you to celebrate the past year and addressing the challenge God has laid before us in the coming years.
]]>Bart Buresh, a general contractor and volunteer missionary from Country Acres Baptist Church, is the lead on the construction. To take part in this day or to schedule a time to help out, please call Bart at 619-8648.
Set Free is a church planting movement which successfully enables people to escape from the bondage of addiction by leading them to faith in Christ and discipling them. The purpose of the Set Free house is to locate those workers who will reach out to addicts, prostitutes, and homeless in the downtown area. The next phase of this project will be to establish a discipleship ranch in a remote area.
]]>This semester we are holding four Bible studies each week. Two are co-ed, one is for guys, and the other is for the ladies. In the single sex Bible studies we are studying about God?s plan for our romantic relationships and have seen God greatly challenging how we think about the decisions we make regarding these relationships. Pray that our students continue to seek God?s will for their dating relationships and future marriages.
We held our annual Mooncake Festival party at Grove Park on September 29 and had the chance to reach out to over 100 students. It was a great time of fellowship, games, and food! A special thanks to Metro East Baptist Church who let us borrow their extra large grill for the event!
We are looking forward to how God will move among us as we plan to attend the Life Impact conference in Denver, CO the first week of January. If you are interested in sponsoring a student to go on this retreat, please contact me. We are always blessed by the support of our local churches in prayer and financial means, and are so thankful for your assistance!
Finally, we were thrilled to baptize another student this past month and had a special baptism service and celebration dinner afterward. Continue to pray that God will add more believers to our group. We love to see to see Him at work!
]]>For the fourth year in a row, we will be taking a team to New Orleans to share the Gospel at Mardi Gras. This dark, dark place needs us to share the Light of the World, Jesus. We will be leaving here at 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, Jan 31 and returning late afternoon on Sunday, February 3. Our prayer is to have at least two full vans going. We will always pair up first timers with men that have been there before. Last year we gave out over 60,000 tracts and shared the Gospel numerous times.
Please let me know soon if anyone would be interested in doing an evangelistic mission trip to Sturgis, South Dakota during the Sturgis motorcycle rally. This is another great opportunity to share the Gospel. The Dakotas Association uses a very unique way to get an audience to listen to the Gospel. They purchase a new Harley and raffle it off. You get a raffle ticket by listening to a Gospel presentation.
]]>Allow me to give you a few theological reasons for the necessity of working with others.
It is a fact that there is great emphasis in the Old and New Testaments about the people of God standing together to do the work God has assigned us. A wonderful illustration of people working together in the New Testament comes from a healing that Jesus performed found in Mark 2:1-12. Here we see several men bringing a paralyzed man to Jesus. The man was carried by four of them: A perfect image of the necessity of cooperation in the task of bringing people to Jesus.
Why am I telling you all this? Here goes. The task of reaching ethnic people in America cannot be done in isolation. It takes all of us working hand in hand. It is a team effort. With this in mind, I want to encourage you to consider the following event that would train you to stand together with others to reach ethnic Americans.
The event is called Standing Together That We May Be One. It is a 3-day long conference and breakout sessions presented by Ethnic America Network. This network is made up of several denominations that are serious about reaching ethnics in America with the Gospel of Christ. The event will be held April 10-12, 2008 in St. Louis, Missiouri.
This event is described as a national ministry summit for those ministering to Ethnic America and those wanting to get started. If that describes you, I promise you great benefits from attending this summit. I have attended several times and continue to learn about Ethnic America and how to work with them.
If you are interested please give me a call at 1-800-984-9092. I will assist you in every way I can to help you attend this valuable event.
]]>The gift is inexpensive, a cost of about $5, and is usually something like a hat, gloves, socks, underwear, cologne, or some small gift. They try to supply a gift that matches a need.
The dinner includes a meat item, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, a sack of flour and sugar, bread, etc. We will have a menu for these items a little later in the year.
They start identifying needy families in August and will continue through November.
The families are invited to the Good Neighbor Center for a time of worship and fellowship, a gospel presentation, and the distribution of the gifts and food.
Here is how you can help:
This could be an event that would capture the interest of young people in your church. Young people like to be involved in missions.
Bill has had as many as 80 families at this event and they probably could discover more if there is enough support for this event.
God Bless you as you consider your involvement.
]]>On July 7th the HOKSBA Shower Unit was relocated to Coffeyville, KS to assist displaced people impacted by the flood and volunteers who were on site to help with the clean up. A Tennessee Laundry Unit provided 370 loads of laundry and over 200 showers were provided by the Heart of Kansas Shower Unit. The Shower Unit was deployed for a total of 53 days and returned to Wichita on August 2nd.?
The Heart of Kansas Association Disaster Relief (DR) Committee is seeking to have additional volunteers to be involved on mission in disaster relief. Disaster Relief is a ministry of compassion and love to those impacted by natural disasters. It is a ministry of caring and action to share the love of Christ by being present and helping individuals in time of need which gives us the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. The opportunities for ministry are numerous, including the addition of Disaster Relief teams for a Chain Saw Unit, Recovery/Rebuild Unit, a Feeding Unit and others as the Lord provides.
If there are individuals or churches that would like more information or help in growing this mission , please contact the Disaster Relief Committee: Bill Riley - 788-3466, Elmo Brawley - 788-1237, Loren Phippen - 943-3446.
The HOKSBA shower unit will be available for you to check out at the HOKSBA annual meeting November 5 at Believer's Southern Baptist Church.
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