We Do More When We Cooperate

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With my six year old daughter, Cai, practicing her reading, I was recently reacquainted with the story of the lion and the mouse. If you recall, the mouse somehow convinces the lion that the day will come when he will give aid to the lion. So, the lion foregoes the mouse as a snack and sets him free. Soon enough, the mouse sets the lion free by chewing through the lion’s ropes and freeing him from a trap.

The Scriptures teach us, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil” (Eccl 4:9). Even partnerships that seem unlikely and, at least at first, very one sided, can pay significant dividends to everyone involved.

The more time I spend in my role as your executive director, the more I appreciate the partnerships of Kentucky Baptists. Those partnerships are paying huge dividends.

For example, each year the Kentucky Baptist Convention partners with Baptist Healthcare System to minister to ministry couples in Kentucky through our Shepherding the Shepherd the event. According to feedback from participants, the quality of this event continues to bless and reinvigorate ministry couples year after year.

The International Mission Board’s EMBRACE Conference hosted by the KBC on the campus of Southern Seminary is another beautiful illustration of three partnering agencies coming together for the sake of getting the gospel to the unreached and unengaged around the world.

Likewise, KBC’s four upcoming “Seminary for a Day” events are a model of partnership aimed at equipping ministers and leaders in KBC churches. Consider the long list of partners who have come together: the North American Mission Board, Lifeway, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College, University of the Cumberlands, Campbellsville University, Mid Continent University, Southern Seminary, and, of course, the KBC. I am anxious to see the impact these events will have as the synergy of so many partners is focused upon strengthening ministry in local churches.

Other ongoing partnerships are those between the KBC and local associations to undertake a long list of Kingdom ministries including church planting, evangelistic events, leader training, church revitalization and more.

The partnership between the KBC and the Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union is another illustration of impacting lostness through cooperating together. The WMU works hard to promote and ensure the success of the Eliza Broadus Offering for State Missions that now totals over $1million dollars each year. The WMU then disperses that offering to ministries of the KBC Mission Board, local associations, state missionaries and others to resource vital Kingdom ministries.

I have only scratched the surface but I hope you are able to see that so much of the Kingdom work taking place in Kentucky is only possible because Kentucky Baptists and Southern Baptists are committed to cooperating together.

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