KY Baptists are doing more together, even as the world becomes more divided

By wpengine | Published: May 11, 2018
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If you support the cooperative mission work of the 2,400 churches of the Kentucky Baptist Convention by tithing in a church that gives through the Cooperative Program, by giving through the Eliza Broadus Offering for State Missions, and/or by serving in a KBC ministry, thank you! For 181 years, Kentucky Baptists have remained committed to working together for the cause of reaching Kentucky and the world for Christ. Thankfully, there’s no indication of a waning devotion to this cause. Evidence, in fact, points to the contrary, as Kentucky Baptists are pulling together and doing more in a day and age when polarization, strife, and division seem to characterize just about every facet of life. The tangible impact of our unified convention is remarkable and historic. I want highlight two aspects of our work.

 

First, Kentucky Baptists are headed to the mountains! More than two years ago, when we began dreaming about taking the 2018 KBC annual meeting to Pikeville, we were hoping the effort would be an encouragement to churches in the Eastern Kentucky. As we’ve met with pastors, DoMs, and state missionaries, that dream has become a plan called Hope for the Mountains, a one-night crusade event scheduled for Nov. 11, the Sunday preceding the KBC annual meeting in Pikeville. We are praying that God will use this event as a time of eternal harvest for those being evangelized by churches throughout the region. We’ve already had two churches, one from the region, First Baptist Pikeville, and another from as far away as you can get (and still be in Kentucky), First Baptist Lone Oak in Paducah, make a very generous financial commitment to this effort. If you, your church or association want to help bring hope to the mountains, donations can be mailed to KBC and designated to “Hope for the Mountains.” The address is 13420 Eastpoint Centre Drive, Louisville, KY 40223. You can also give online to “Hope for the Mountains” at www.kybaptist.org.

 

Second, Kentucky Baptists are working together in the state capitol. As you may already know, the combined efforts of our legislative agent, Tom Troth, our news service, Kentucky Today, and our state chaplain, Steve Weaver, has given us an elevated platform from which to impact state government for the sake of Christ. God is granting us great success with significant pieces of legislation passed during the 2018 General Assembly to safeguard unborn children, battle against human trafficking, protect the rights of crime victims, provide better support for foster children, expedite adoptions, and hold back the plagues of casinos and legalized marijuana.

 

Working together, Kentucky Baptists are doing more. We are caring for more abused and neglected children through Sunrise than we’ve ever cared for in our history, approximately 1,200. More than 14,000 teens and older children will hear the gospel in our Crossings camps this summer, more ministry couples will be encouraged at Shepherding, more churches will be planted, more broken lives will be touched through Disaster Relief, refugee ministries, homeless ministries, and collegiate ministries. More pastors will be encouraged and equipped by our regional consultants and trained by our Evangelism Team, and more churches are being connected to mission opportunities in Kentucky and around the world through our Mission Mobilizations Team. More for Christ.

 

 

Posted in Adoption, Annual Meeting, Crossings Ministries, Culture, Disaster Relief, Eliza Broadus Offering, Evangelism, Foster care, Government, Hope for the Mountains, Kentucky Baptist Convention, Kentucky Baptist Foundation, Missions, More for Christ, Sunrise Children's Services | Comments closed

Make disciples, not duplicates

By wpengine | Published: May 3, 2018
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Editor’s note: Dr. Paul Chitwood’s column features a guest article from Nathan Bishop, Kentucky Baptist Convention First Vice President and senior pastor of Forest Baptist Church, in Louisville.

By NATHAN BISHOP

Nathan Bishop

If you know my father, you would know I am my father’s son. I talk like my father, have the same mannerisms as my father, and have a similar work ethic. Though his goal in life was not to make me his “mini-me,” his faithfulness and godliness has definitely been a tremendous influence. Sometimes when we set out to make disciples for Christ, we can have the idea that good disciples should look like, talk like, and act like us. In many ways this is true, however, in Christian discipleship, the goal should be Christlikeness over and above “my likeness.”

 

As we are engaged in the disciple-making process, we must ask if we are more concerned with making disciples for Christ or making duplicates for ourselves? Within our gospel communities there is the temptation to believe that assimilation or conformity to one’s cultural ideas of piety and moral rightness equate to faithful obedience to the Lord. This unfortunate error occurs when we place unbiblical expectations on individuals as they come into the faith, e.g., dress, speech, or other cultural norms. From our personal conversations and convictions, we can mistakenly create an environment that says if you don’t always agree on the practical application of the gospel or vote for a particular political party, then you can’t be a faithful Christian. Apart from the grace of God working in our own lives, we will always create false gods in our own image and expect others to take part in our false worship.

 

How can we guard against this temptation?

 

First, by asking God to search our own heart for sinful motivations: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Continually ask the Lord for His divine perspective in order to see the blind spots in your own life. Before, we can make disciples for Christ, we must be faithful disciples of Christ.

 

Second, we must guard ourselves against the temptation to make duplicates and not disciples by asking God to make us others-focused: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:3-4). If we genuinely put others before ourselves then we will be looking for ways to help those we disciple realize their full potential in Christ instead of trying to make trophies for ourselves. May God get all the credit for the “good works” for which He has saved us.

 

Third, to guard ourselves against the temptation to make “mini-me’s” in ministry, let’s ask God to help us to not settle for less: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers”

(Romans 8:29). When we try to make duplicates instead of disciples, we are actually settling for a lesser image of righteousness. We need to be so overwhelmed with the grandeur of God that we would want nothing less than conformity to Christ within the lives of those we disciple.

Posted in Christianity, Evangelism, Great Commission | Comments closed

Child Abuse Prevention Month

By wpengine | Published: April 13, 2018
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April is designated as National Child Abuse Prevention Month. It is a time when our nation turns its attention to the scourge of child abuse.

You probably know the statistics. Every year in our country, more than 3.6 million referrals are made to child protection agencies involving more than 6.6 million children. On average, 4 to 7 children die every day because of abuse and neglect. On any given day, there are well over 400,000 children in foster care in the United States. Given the number of kids in and out of the system over the course of a year, the number of children who require protection from the state is even higher. For example, in 2015, over 670,000 children spent time in U.S. foster care.

What does any of that have to do with you and me?

The psalmist wrote, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him” (Psalm 127:3)

Mark records that Jesus “took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me’” (Mark 9:36).

Matthew quotes Jesus as saying about children who were in his presence, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:10).

As Kentucky Baptists seek to live out the teachings of Scripture, we recognize that we have an obligation to acknowledge, welcome, and do all we can to protect children, especially those who are vulnerable or have already been victimized. One of the ways we meet that obligation is through our financial support of the ministry of our Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, known today as Sunrise Children’s Services. Every church giving through the Cooperative Program and/or through the special Thanksgiving Offering supports Sunrise.

What more can we do?

  • Raising our awareness to signs of abuse and neglect and being proactive about reporting anything that looks suspicious is a good place to start.
  • With 8,700 victimized kids in the state system in Kentucky, let’s consider adopting a child or training to be a foster parent.
  • Most of us could provide respite care for a foster family, which means you keep a child overnight or over the weekend.
  • Any of us could become a mentor and visit a girl or boy who lives in an institution without anyone in their lives who ever interacts with them except those who are paid to do so.
  • We could serve as a CASA volunteer—a “Court Appointed Special Advocate” who has volunteered to be assigned to kids in the court system to help them navigate the bureaucracy and trauma.
  • Maybe you could start an orphan care ministry in your church.

These are just some of the many ways we can help protect at risk children and seek to heal the hurts of those who have become victims. In light of James 1:27, might the Lord find us striving to practice pure religion before Him!

 

 

 

Posted in All Posts, Family | Comments closed

KY Baptists needed to help bring ‘Hope for the Mountains’

By wpengine | Published: April 2, 2018
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I wanted to personally let you know about an amazing opportunity to impact the Appalachian region for Christ through what we’re calling the Hope for the Mountains crusade, which we’ve scheduled in conjunction with the KBC annual meeting in November.

Hope for the Mountains is set for Nov. 11 at the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center in Pikeville. For it to be a success, we need your help. First, we need you to pray, asking God’s blessing on this initiative. Second, we need you and your church to get involved as counselors, ushers, and greeters for the service.

Evangelist Jon Reed from Dacula, Georgia, will be preach that evening. And the Jason Lovins Band will provide the music.

Jon Reed will be in the state in May to provide training for volunteers. I encourage you to RSVP for the training at www.kybaptist.org/hope.

Dates and locations for are:

MAY 14 1:00-2:30 pm Local Time
Texas Roadhouse (meeting room)
501 Winchester Ave in Ashland

MAY 14 6:00-7:30 pm Local Time
Peking Chinese Restaurant (meeting room)
Glyn view Plaza, Glynview Plaza in Prestonsburg

MAY 15 8:00-9:30 am Local Time
Airport Gardens Baptist Church
32 Sumac Avenue in Hazard

MAY 15 11:00-12:30 pm Local Time
Peking Chinese Restaurant (meeting room)
Coal Run Village, 4533 N Mayo Trail in Pikeville

KBC will provide free meals for those who attend one of these meetings.

If you don’t live in the region, you can still volunteer to serve in a host of ways during the crusade. Please reach out to Todd Gray (todd.gray@kybaptist.org) or Andy McDonald (andy.mcdonald@kybaptist.org) to learn about ways you and/or your church can support this effort. Hope for the Mountains is a tremendous opportunity for Kentucky Baptists to come alongside our sister churches in the mountains to encourage and bless them in their work.

We hope to see you there!

Posted in Annual Meeting, Evangelism, Leader Training | Comments closed

A Greeting from KBC President Charles Frazier

By wpengine | Published: March 19, 2018
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On November 14, 2017, I was elected to be President of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. I am honored to be able to serve Kentucky Baptists in this capacity. In the past few months I have been able to meet with numerous pastors from Paducah to Pikeville. It has also been educational for me to attend KBC committee meetings in Louisville.

I am very excited about our upcoming annual meeting in Pikeville on November 13.  On the Sunday night before Convention, we will have an evangelistic crusade called, ‘Hope for the Mountains.’  We will need 200 pastors to be Decision Time counselors for we are asking and expecting the Holy Spirit to move in a mighty way.  We are praying that we will have 3500 in attendance on that Sunday evening.

Our Lord said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45 NJKV). Jesus preached timeless messages and was sympathetic for those whom he met. On multiple occasions, he taught his disciples the important role of servanthood as a leader. We are blessed to have many wonderful servants of Jesus and of his churches as pastors in our state. Following the example of our Savior, I desire to serve those pastors and all Kentucky Baptists during my time as KBC president. God has placed me in this position for such a time as this.

I once heard John Maxwell bring a message at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. He quoted the adage, “People do not care what you know until they know how much you care.”  Serving as a pastor for over 25 years, God has taught me the truth of those words and the value of caring for those to whom God has called me to minister. I care about the 2,400 churches and 750,000 Kentucky Baptists.

If you have social media, friend me on Facebook so we can connect as fellow Kentucky Baptists.  I can also be found on Twitter at @cookingpastor. Social media is a good tool for pastors to keep up to date and a tool that I have used. Connecting on social media will also provide me the opportunity to pray for you as you labor for the Lord.

I have one prayer request for you. I serve as pastor at Zion’s Cause Baptist Church in Marshall County where the high school shooting occurred on January 23rd.  Please continue to remember our community. Pray that our Kentucky Baptist churches and pastors can continue to minister in this difficult situation. The road to healing will be long and difficult. We trust in the Lord that healing will come.

Blessings,

Charles Frazier, D.Min.

Posted in Annual Meeting | Comments closed