For more information please call 1-800-984-9092.
]]>Who won the race for the Americans? It was not one swimmer, but four. Though Lezak anchored the team with an amazing comeback, each swimmer did their part to win the gold. It was an effort made by the whole swim team. This is just one more example of the power of a team working together.
As an association, we recognize the power of working together. None of us are Michael Phelps or Jason Lezak, or any of the rest of that gold medal winning team. But we are people whom God has gifted, and churches whom Christ has established. We are called together for one purpose. That purpose is His glory.
Is there value in association?
The early churches found value in association. Association and cooperation is modeled in the NT. Churches did not operate independently.
Do you see value in association?
Friends, I don't have time to tell you all that the churches in this association are doing as they cooperate together. Because of your work together there are new Bible Studies beginning, there are new church planters coming to Wichita, there are churches that are being encouraged and trained, there are pastors blessing and encouraging one another, there are churches partnering together to do the work of the Kingdom, and there are dreams of mission trips by those who have never been.
As I look across this association, I see the Lord doing wonderful things for His glory. Who but God can link churches with missions, dreams with resources, and workers with needs?
For 56 years, since 1952, the Southern Baptist churches in this area have worked together because they believed that we can do more together, than we can do alone. The value of this strategy has not changed. There is still benefit in us working together.
I want to express my appreciation for the cooperation of the churches of Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association. As we look to the future, it is with great anticipation of what the Lord is going to do in and through the churches. As an association, we want to come along side your church. Please let us know how we can be a help.
]]>First, we can work together as partners in our association. Isn't this what Southern Baptist life is all about? Churches partnering together to accomplish greater tasks than could be achieved alone? If five to ten of our churches have partnered together to start a church every year, we would have healthy growth and possibly be a larger association today. If all of our churches would band together in this way, we could start five to ten churches every year.
Secondly, we do partner with the North American Mission Board and the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. Each year we utilize funds that subsidize church planter salaries and support the work of new churches and we also take advantage of the expertise of these organizations.
Finally, we can (and are) forming partnerships with other Southern Baptist churches and associations from outside our area.
Perhaps your church or group would consider becoming a partner in growing God's Kingdom in our area. I have a lot of opportunities, so give me a call.
]]>The shower trailer is currently being used in Greensburg along with our rebuilding ministry. We are getting close to fielding our chainsaw trailer. The trailer and much of the equipment has already been purchased. We will have chainsaw training and certification on November 1st from 9a.m. - 2p.m. (location TBA). Notify us of your interest by October 18th. Disaster Relief will open many doors to tell the lost and hurting about Jesus. If God is calling you to this ministry, please contact Loren Phippen, Bill Riley or Elmo Brawley. We are available to speak about Disaster Relief.
So far this year we have been on four evangelism mission trips.
Start marking your calendar for our annual evangelistic trip to New Orleans during Mardis Gras. We will be leaving on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 4:00 from the Associational office and we are planning to return late in the afternoon on February 22. In the past few years we have had a group of seven. This year, we are praying for at least 12 to fill two vans. This is a great experience to share the Gospel to people who are hurting. Please pray about coming along with us.
Also, please start praying about going to the Rose Bowl parade with us this year. Over a million people line Colorado Blvd in Pasadena and thousands of them arrive the day before to save their spot for the parade. There are many opportunities to share the Gospel. We will leave here on December 30th and return late on January 1st. We provide our own transportation and living expenses. It is best to fly in and out of the Ontario airport so it will be easier for the team to pick us up. Please let me know as soon as possible if you are interested.
The River Festival runs from May 8th-16th. Our events will be from Thursday, May 14th to Saturday, May 16th. We will have a Team Impact type of event on Saturday. Street evangelists from around the country will be helping us all week during the River Festival. Our goal this year is to have one of our church members along side the evangelists every day. So start praying about when you would be available to work the streets and learn a very productive way to share the Gospel. Thousands of lost people are at the River Festival every year and we need to reach out to them. We will also need help with music and volunteers to man the inflatable's and snack food station. Let's make this the most productive festival yet for reaching the lost and dying in Wichita.
We are continuing to minister in some of the area's youth detention facilities. There is a need for ministry at the juvenile facilities. 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. Many of you may know that I have been a Wichita Police Chaplain for the past few years. This has been such a rewarding ministry to me because of the opportunities to minister to so many individuals. Part of the job is delivering death notices and ministering to the families who have lost a loved one. The other part is riding with our police officers. This allows me to get to know them and it also gives me the opportunity pray for their special needs. This also gives them someone they know that they can go to when things get tough in their very stressful job. Please lift this ministry and our police officers up to our Lord.
Please continue praying for the Set Free house and for the ministry. Many of our local churches have "work days" at the house. We have also had a mission team from Arkansas work there. The work is coming along but we still have a lot left to do. Please contact Bart Buresh at 316-619-8648 if you are interested in taking a work group there. We will soon be starting on the drywall and finish work.
]]>The very next morning, she was amazed when someone knocked at her door with an invitation to a VBS. A group of volunteers from Arkansas arrived to Wichita only two days before and were visiting that area to invite children to VBS. They did not know they had a divine appointment that morning and that God would use them to be the answer to that woman's prayer.
Can you see the greatness of God? Can you see his Love and Grace? If we are willing to follow Him, even though we do not deserve it, he will use us to be the answer to the prayer of someone else.
This summer God used the churches and partners of our Association to touch the lives of many Hispanics in our community. Volunteer mission teams, summer missionaries and local churches came together and did an amazing evangelistic outreach in different parts of our association. Vacation Bible Schools, small groups, door to door evangelism, musical concerts and block parties where successful only because God's people where ready to serve Him unselfishly. We see the future of Hispanic Work in the Heart of Kansas with great excitement and expectations. We pray that during the coming fall the Lord of the harvest will bring more laborers to this field.
]]>While I was at college in Alabama, I was involved with the Baptist Campus Ministry on campus. That ministry was funded by the local association, and the Alabama State Board of Missions (ALSBOM). During one of our weekly worship services, a video was shown that featured a partnership between ALSBOM, and one of the Northeastern conventions. The video was about going to the northeastern U.S. to start campus ministries. God used that video, and the encouragement of some friends in the campus ministry, to call me to work with college students.
I ended up in Kansas in 2000 because ALSBOM sent 12 summer missionaries to serve in KNCSB. I was one of those summer missionaries, and I worked at Super Summer, the summer youth camp sponsored by KNCSB. Through my time at the camp, I met people who were instrumental in bringing me to Kansas to work at HOKSBA, and serve at Wichita State University.
In 2004, several international students were attending Southwind Fellowship (a HOKSBA cooperating church) because of a tie some of them had to that church through an IMB missionary they had met when they were in their home country. Because of Southwind's cooperation with HOKSBA, I was introduced to those students, and there is now an international student church (The Mission) on the WSU campus made up of students from over twenty different countries.
Earlier this year HOKSBA hosted a vision tour, during which, pastor's and lay leaders from churches all over the country came to see ministries that HOKSBA churches are involved in. One of the ministries featured was The Mission. After the vision tour, one of those churches, and the association it is a part of, decided they would help The Mission by purchasing a van and trailer for us to use as we serve students. In late July, we received their gift, and have already been using it to move equipment and students.
While I'm sure this list is not exhaustive, it is at least indicative of the many ways cooperation between churches has been a key avenue by which God has brought me to where I am today. God is at work in so many ways around us, and has given us all so many gifts and ways to serve one another. What a blessing it is to see how God uses us, when we're willing to use what he has given us, wherever it is needed.
]]>You are encouraged to sign up as a team, but if you are unable find a partner, we will try to find one for you. Each team will be paired with a team from another church. This golf tournament will be low key compared to the Spring Fellowship Golf Tournament. Contact Charley Powell at 650-1959 or e-mail him at xtremegolfer2@cox.net with any questions. You may download an entry form. Many of you will receive an entry form by e-mail as well. We hope to see you in Hesston!
]]>The WMU Year Book for 2008-2009 is a tool that will help you with planning for the year and it will also inform you of WMU Ministries. If you are interested, you can order your WMU Year Book from the WMU in Birmingham, AL. Feel free to call me with any questions, 215-0135.
We held our 4th Annual Women's Conference at Metropolitan Baptist Church on July 19th. Our theme was "Live the Call: God's Design for your life", and there were 39 in attendance. La Vaughan Scheurich presented the Prayer Patterns and the WMU Director from South Central Association, Calah Titus was our worship leader. Calah also sang a song called "He Knows My Name." Kim Andrews, our guest speaker, spoke on how we need to have a vision of faith and that our churches need to get their faith back. She referencd Hebrews 11. We need to put more faith in God as we do his work. In all, we had ten great conferences. We collected food for the Midtown Good Neighbor Center and we also collected $129 for Bibles for the Youth Detention Center. Thank you Metropolitan ladies!
Mother & Daughter Retreat: October 3rd and 4th at the Webster Conference Center for girls in grades 1st-6th as well as sponsors. Registration will need to be postmarked by September 3rd. Contact your WMU Director, pastor, or church office for forms and complete details.
]]>We are collecting pop cans. If you save your cans I will be glad to come and pick them up. Just call me at 204-9517.
Our next event will be our Christmas Dinner. Winter is around the corner and we could use the following: coats, pants, flannel shirts, back packs, blankets and sleeping bags.
]]>Midway Baptist Church has recently started a Celebrate Recovery Ministry. They are having a great response and are seeing fruit from this ministry. This is a great outreach tool to our community. Tom and Marilynn Melton are leading the ministry and God is using them in a mighty way. Many participants are now members and/or regular attendees at Midway.
If you know someone that would benefit from this ministry, please contact Tom Melton or Ray Emery for more information, 524-4237.
]]>The workday will be Saturday, November 8 from 8a.m. - 5 p.m.
]]>The one-day event will be held Saturday, November 1, 2008, at Webster Conference Center. The $15 registration fee includes a seminar notebook, two books, and lunch.
The seminar will customize Sunday School basics for double-digit churches. The intent is to make it "hands on" and practical for those leaders in attendance. Dean Abernathy of LifeWay Christian Resources said, "I would rather conferees walk away understanding and prepared to implement a few basic Sunday School principles than for us to "dump" a bunch of stuff on them that they don't value and see as meaningful in their church situation."
This event is jointly sponsored by LifeWay Christian Resources and the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. The primary leaders are Dean Abernathy, LifeWay, and Marie Clark, KNCSB. To register contact Barbara Spicer, 1-800-984-9092, or complete the registration form from the website, www.kncsb.org.
]]>We are blessed to minister to the truckers who come to our Trucker's Chapel. Love Box Company donated SAMARITAN'S ROAD a 48' semi trailer in June 2005 that we converted into our present Chapel. We held our first service on New Years Day 2006. Since then we have added an additional evening service starting at 7:00 PM.
As with any ministry, we could use your help. We are in need of volunteers who are willing to give of their time to help with the Sunday services and at other times as well. We need volunteers who have a hearts desire to share the gospel with the lost.
Our ministry provides a great opportunity for people to come and grow in their spiritual walk as they exercise the use of their spiritual gifts. This affords churches the opportunity to grow as they exercise and encourage their congregation to use their Spiritual gifts.
I challenge you to come and see for yourself what SAMARITAN'S ROAD is really about. If you would like more information concerning our ministry, just give me a call at 316-519-5602 cell or 316-322-7133 home. I encourage you to visit our web site where you can see more about this great ministry of love. You will find us at: www.samaritansroad.us
]]>We had three missionaries from Latin America: Mexico, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. One of their primary focuses was to make contacts in the community and share the gospel. They were very successful in this endeavor with thirty-five decisions for Christ. They also launched a Bible study that is continuing on under local leadership. One of them has a vision for our work and is considering returning to the area as a pastor when his school is finished.
The remaining nine consisted of five college students (four from the association and one from Texas), and three high school seniors from California and Tennessee. This group helped with Vacation Bible Schools for five of our churches, passed out flyers, performed manual labor, and made a tremendous impact on the Aviator church plant with a multitude of outreach activities. Two summer missionaries, after serving with us, have been called to church planting.
Next summer we hope to expand this activity to serve even more of our churches. Let me know if you have needs or students who would serve.
]]>These roles were filled by five of our summer missionaries. They would carry flyers advertising the first preview service of Aviator and autograph them as they passed them out. Imagine the attention they received when knocking on doors in neighborhoods. Mothers would ask them to pose with their children for pictures and patrons at a local restaurant would often cheer when they showed up.
Aviator's first preview service attracted 164 people and they had sixteen salvation decisions. These costumes can be purchased online for under $50: www.discountsuperherocostumes.com.
]]>Loren Phippen and myself will be traveling back for their annual meeting this October to enter into a formal partnership, if God so wills. Please pray for us and that God will be glorified through this relationship.
]]>The beginning of September marks the start of a new Sunday School year. With the new year comes opportunity for change, revision, and improvement. But how do we know where change needs to occur? Once we identify needed areas of change, how do we design and implement plans to encourage such change? Then, after we've given our revisions time to fly (or flop), how do we know if the change has been successful?
Goal setting is common place in the educational and corporate world though less familiar in the church environment. An athlete on the soccer field wouldn't consider kicking the ball without knowing where the goal is on the field! The cross country runner would be foolish to start running without a good understanding of the course before him and the direction to which he races. As Paul expressed in Philippians 3:14, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me..." Paul knew the goal that had been set before him and he was determined to persevere to reach that goal! As Sunday School teachers, we too should have predetermined goals before us. However, how do we set, plan for, and evaluate these goals?
First, to plan for where we are going, we must know where we are! Goal setting for the Sunday School ministry, department, or class must begin with an honest review of the numbers. Several specific questions should be asked and answered. What is our enrollment? What is our attendance? What is the percentage relationship between our enrollment and attendance? Are there enrollment/attendance trends that we can see? (For example, our attendance in the senior adult department is very strong but continually weakens through the young adult department.) How many prospects have we identified for our Sunday School program? How many contacts are made through the Sunday School each week? How many Sunday School leaders have been enlisted and trained?
Once, we review the data to see where we are, we can set goals for each area: enrollment, attendance, prospects, contacts, and leaders. The goals must be attainable and realistic. Mary Kay Ash once said that "A good goal is like a strenuous exercise - it makes you stretch." We must not expect to see drastic changes immediately. In fact, if we do, these changes may not last. A growth rate of 5% annually for a Sunday School class or ministry would be substantial! The more we can involve our Sunday School leadership in the goal setting process, the more ownership they will accept.
Goal setting itself will not guarantee improvement. The next essential step is the development of an action plan to achieve the stated goal. If your goal is to see your Sunday School program increase its enrollment by 5% over a period of one year, what are the things that will be done for the purpose of reaching this goal? Who will be responsible for each step within the action plan? What is the timeline for the completion of each step? Again, the development of an action plan must not be done by one or two leaders in the confines of a church office. For the goal to be attained, we must have ownership of the goal and the plan by the teachers, leaders, and members of the Sunday School classes and departments. It is work; work that must be shared.
Finally, after goals have been set, action plans have been developed and implemented, there will come a time for assessment. This involves measuring the results of your actions to see if you have reached your goals. Just as it does no good to set goals with no action plans, it also accomplishes little to implement action plans and then not evaluate the success of those plans. If we have followed through with our action plan, we have a better likelihood of meeting our goal. Measure your success. Make adjustments where necessary. Celebrate the victories!
If the Sunday School team of the Heart of Kansas Southern Baptist Association can assist you in reviewing your Sunday School data and guiding you in the goal setting process, please do not hesitate to contact Terry Beasley at Sharon Baptist Church in Wichita.
"The leader is one who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by leaders and followers... Leaders, followers and goals make up the three equally necessary supports for leadership." Gary Wills, American Author
]]>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.