LoveLoud ON MISSION. magazine. Impacting lives and transforming communities through the power of the gospel. Summer

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1 ON MISSION magazine P as t ors E di t ion L-R: Kay Bennett, Baptist Friendship House executive director, David Crosby, pastor of First Baptist New Orleans and Fred Luter, pastor of Franklin Avenue Baptist Church are leading ministries to reach the neglected and hurting people in New Orleans. LoveLoud Impacting lives and transforming communities through the power of the gospel Summer A Publication of the North American Mission Board

Ministry Toolbox Ideas, insights, inspiration for leading your church The number of foreign-born people in the United States climbed to 40 million in 2010. That s a 28 percent increase since 2000.

This same number also say they feel lonely at times.

net June 19-20 2012 SBC Annual Meeting July 22 loveloud sunday namb.net/loveloud July 30-31 Send North America Conference sendconference.com August 12 student Evangelism Day ii Summer 2012 onmission.

2 Ministry Toolbox Ideas, insights, inspiration for leading your church The number of foreign-born people in the United States climbed to 40 million in That s a 28 percent increase since Source: Brookings Institute Discouraged Pastors More than half (55 percent) of the Protestant pastors surveyed by LifeWay Research agree with the statement, I find that it is easy to get discouraged. This same number also say they feel lonely at times. Source: LifeWay Research upcoming events June 16 Crossover New Orleans June SBC Pastors Conference June 17 Baptist Men s Day June 18 Send North America Luncheon namb.net June SBC Annual Meeting July 22 loveloud sunday namb.net/loveloud July Send North America Conference sendconference.com August 12 student Evangelism Day ii Summer 2012 onmission.com/pastors Prioritizing our work in North America Dear Pastor: Southern Baptists are blessed with so many resources, and I am truly grateful for every dime your church gives through its tithes and offerings. Still, when facing a task as large as reaching North America, we have to prioritize. One way we have started doing that here at NAMB is to look at the map. If you flip over to the map on page 10 of this issue, you will see some areas of North America colored in red. These are the hot zones of lostness on our continent. Other areas are green. These are the areas with the best ratio of churches to population. Some green states might surprise you Alaska, New Mexico and Montana for instance. There is still a lot of lostness in those states, but people living there have much better access to the gospel than any place else. NAMB is beginning to shift its resources to the hot zones of lostness in North America. We are not turning our backs on anyone, but we are moving some money from the green states and sending it to the red states. And sometimes even in red states we are taking some money we normally send to state convention partners and sending it directly to missionaries and church plants in large red zone cities where lostness is off the charts. I often address these issues on my blog at kevinezell.com, if you ever want to learn more of the why behind our strategy. God bless you. It is my great privilege to be able to serve you and your church. Serving Together, Kevin Ezell President, North American Mission Board Pray for 40 days: Pray once each day between September 26 and November 4, for 40 days of prayer. Pray for 40 hours: Pray for 40 hours, between 4:00 p.m. on November 2 and 8:00 a.m. on November prayer.com Prayer Vigil Ideas, insights, inspiration for leading your church Why We Need More Church Plants By Aaron Coe It s easy to look around at North America and focus on the lostness to see the declining morals, broken families and misplaced values and miss the root cause. The people of North America need Christ. The North American Mission Board estimates that there are 259 million people on this continent who don t have a relationship with Christ. We simply don t have enough churches to reach all of those people. Church planting isn t the only good evangelism option. But it should be the ultimate outcome of all of our evangelism efforts. Evangelism should lead to new disciples. Disciples should lead to new churches. If we want to see a thriving Southern Baptist Convention far into the future, we need a lot more evangelism, disciple-making, and church planting. We want to see a net gain of 5,000 new Southern Baptist churches over the next 10 years. Sure, it s a big goal. It would be the biggest net gain in the history of our convention. But it s critical, too. Why is it so important that we start more evangelistic churches in North America? It s biblical. Making disciples is at the heart of the Great Commission. Throughout the book of Acts you see that new churches were always the natural outcome of the early Church s evangelism. It will strengthen existing churches. Healthy organisms reproduce. Churches are no different. If we, as Southern Baptists, hope to see a plethora of new churches throughout North America, it ll only happen if healthy Southern Baptist churches reproduce. A big part of our Send North America strategy is to help churches get healthy so they can eventually plant new healthy churches. It expands the kingdom. Not everyone will come to an existing church. The more contextually appropriate churches we start in North America the more people we ll reach with the gospel. As Southern Baptists start new churches in North America, we ll develop a stronger base to reach the nations. New churches baptize more people. According to Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird in their book Viral Churches, established Southern Baptist churches baptize 3.4 people per 100 resident members. New churches average 11.7 baptisms! It involves more people in North American missions. As we focus on church planting, we ll give individual congregations throughout the continent an opportunity to get involved in direct, hands-on missions. Currently, only 4 percent of Southern Baptist churches are involved in church planting. As Southern Baptists focus on church planting in the years to come, we expect that number to go up. We re praying it goes up to at least 10 percent. It s measurable. Church planting is a measuring tool that can help us get a picture of how effective our evangelistic efforts are. If our evangelistic efforts take root in an area, we should expect the number of churches nearby to grow. At the North American Mission Board, we want to help you be part of what God is doing through church planting. To get personally connected to a Southern Baptist church planter, visit namb.net, click on Mobilize Me and give us some basic information about your church. You ll be contacted by one of our expert mobilizers to start your church s journey toward serving some of the most unreached areas of North America. No matter the size, ethnic makeup, geographical location or history of your church, you can do this. Your church can be part of penetrating lostness in North America through church planting. I hope you ll join us! Aaron Coe is the vice president of mobilization and equipping at the North American Mission Board. On mission Summer 2012 iii

Be a Blessing in your Un-Retirement By B. Carlisle Driggers recently read a timely article by Don Hinkle, editor of I the Missouri Baptist Convention s news journal, The Pathway.

generously giving through the Cooperative Program and special missions offerings.

This is taking nothing away from the critical role of our larger churches. It simply is a reminder of the vitality and importance of our medium- and smallersized churches.

Fewer and fewer of the younger, trained pastors are interested in serving medium and smaller churches.

3 Be a Blessing in your Un-Retirement By B. Carlisle Driggers recently read a timely article by Don Hinkle, editor of I the Missouri Baptist Convention s news journal, The Pathway. The article recognized the thousands upon thousands of medium- and smaller-sized churches all across the nation, loyal to our Southern Baptist ideals, faithfully serving their communities, and generously giving through the Cooperative Program and special missions offerings. Without those congregations, our Southern Baptist witness and mission enterprise would be severely impaired and even put in jeopardy. This is taking nothing away from the critical role of our larger churches. It simply is a reminder of the vitality and importance of our medium- and smallersized churches. They provide a bedrock of stability for all we do together as Southern Baptists. We have a crisis emerging with our medium and smaller churches. They struggle to find available pastors. Fewer and fewer of the younger, trained pastors are interested in serving medium and smaller churches. They want to either serve in established, well-funded larger churches or become church planters in response to our clarion call for urgently needed new churches, particularly in the largest metro areas of the nation. There is nothing wrong with those ministry avenues, but I wonder who will serve the smaller churches many of which have been in place for a century or more. Vance Havner used to say Do not depreciate the pastor of the small church. We will not know who the really big preachers are until we get to heaven. Over the years, a ready source of leadership for those churches has been bivocational pastors. What a blessing they have been. They are the Iron Men of the SBC. But here again, as more and more bivocational pastors are becoming church planters, where will our smaller congregations find pastors? Let me suggest a potential source for those churches to turn to now more than ever. I am referring to retired pastors, denominational workers, associational directors of missions, Baptist college and seminary professors, children s homes and retirement center directors, state paper editors the list goes on. As is well known, retired folks are living longer. Most have benefits and many do not need a lot of salary support. Five years ago I retired from a position I dearly loved with the South Carolina Baptist Convention. My wife, Jeanette, and I moved to Georgia to be closer to our two children and their families. For the past three years we have served at Lake Country Baptist Church near Eatonton. It has been a rich experience in kingdom growth, and we are amazed that at this time in our lives together, our wonderful Savior has a work for us to do that is challenging, never boring and fulfilling. The small church has grown numerically, financially and spiritually. And we are able to use our previous years of training, experience and contacts in a meaningful and productive fashion. At the same time, we are hearing of more and more retirees like us who are being invited to pastor smaller churches. They are doing a fine work. It is surely a win-win situation for those smaller- and mediumsized churches that are having trouble finding experienced, able pastors. And it is an opportunity for continued service by those retired, ordained ministers who are available to use their talents and experiences in helping the churches. Carlisle Driggers is executive director-treasurer emeritus for the South Carolina Baptist Convention. He currently serves as pastor of Lake Country Baptist Church in Eatonton, Ga. PHOTO courtesy fbc woodstock Media Guide Recommended resources for leaders The Send North America Conference, July 30-31, is a two-day experience designed for church planters, pastors and other leaders committed to penetrating lostness in North America. At the conference you ll find plenty of time and space for connecting, communicating and finding your place in the mission. Here, under one roof, Southern Baptists will come together with a shared vision and common goals to bring about remarkable change to the spiritual landscape of North America. Whatever It Takes is the new blog of NAMB president Kevin Ezell. Here you ll receive insights into NAMB s vision and strategy, resources for mobilizing your church in North America and discussions on developing the next generation of Southern Baptist leaders from Ezell s decades-long commitment to leadership development. namb.net/whatever-it-takes LoveLoud Events For the past four Octobers Have members sign the people of First Baptist up for a project. Church of Woodstock, Ga., You can either open up all have dedicated three days to the projects to everyone in demonstrating God s love to your church or ask Sunday their community in practical School classes or small groups ways. Doing everything from to adopt particular projects. light construction to feeding If you do the latter, challenge people to putting on a massive the classes to continue their free dental clinic, church relationships in an ongoing members tell people about manner. Jesus as they help to meet their physical needs. It s an be ready to share event that any church regardless of size or ministry context could do. Here s how need to provide some training, do so. Help your congre- the gospel. If you you can do something similar: gation understand the importance of combining acts of service with a verbal explanation of the gospel. Survey your community. Find out about the practical needs in your community that your congregation can help to meet. Go door-to-door to talk with people about their needs. Connect with city leaders to find out about citywide projects where help is needed. Provide the final list of potential projects to your congregation. Set a date. Pick a time in your church calendar when you have nothing else planned. Try to set aside two to three days for the project. Challenge your church to give sacrificially. Instead of providing for it out of your regular budget, consider holding a special offering to pay for the costs of these projects. Celebrate all that God has done. Pick a time probably in one of your regular scheduled worship services to share stories of all God has done. iv Summer 2012 onmission.com/pastors On mission Summer 2012 v

The Love Loud Journey Three pastors share the story of their engagement with social ministry and its impact on their churches By Tobin Perry Pastor Ted Traylor Olive Baptist Church of Pensacola,

A local social worker and church member had been after him for years to pay more attention to the poor and Jackie Johnson, house manager for phase one of Charis House, meets with women served through

But when she used Matthew 25 to question his commitment to Christ one day about a decade ago, Traylor couldn t take it anymore. He asked her to leave.

4 The Love Loud Journey Three pastors share the story of their engagement with social ministry and its impact on their churches By Tobin Perry Pastor Ted Traylor Olive Baptist Church of Pensacola, Florida Pastor Ted Traylor has never thrown anyone out of his Olive Baptist Church office except one. A local social worker and church member had been after him for years to pay more attention to the poor and Jackie Johnson, house manager for phase one of Charis House, meets with women served through the ministry at the home. Photo courtesy Olive Baptist Church. homeless in the community. The Florida pastor was always cordial even if, in reality, he gave the idea little thought. But when she used Matthew 25 to question his commitment to Christ one day about a decade ago, Traylor couldn t take it anymore. He asked her to leave. She left my office, but the Spirit of God didn t, Traylor says. I began to do some looking at Matthew 25 and saw the passage about the least of these. God began to grip my heart to do something. But I didn t know what that something was. Traylor turned where he always turned when God moved him into new avenues of ministry to prayer. Then Traylor started talking to fellow pastors who were more involved in various compassion ministries. Their suggestion pray over your community and look for needs that aren t being met. That led Traylor and Olive Baptist to look into helping women they were leading to Christ in prison but who didn t have a place to live once they were released. We took a house out here, and we gutted it, Traylor says. We put five bedrooms in it, got a house mother and decided we were going to try to disciple women we were leading to faith in Christ in prison. We didn t know what we were doing. We fell on our faces a few times, but that was the beginning of a ministry we started on faith. We ve learned by trial and error. Today, the Charis House program serves 14 women and is part of a larger ministry at Olive Baptist helping meet practical needs in the community. Pastor Johnny Hunt First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia Pastor Johnny Hunt grew up poor and didn t have to be awakened to the physical needs of his community. He had experienced those needs firsthand. For at least the past 15 years, First Baptist Woodstock has been heavily involved in ministries like a job bank, a food closet, jail ministry and a clothes closet. But when the economy veered downward in 2008, Pastor Johnny Hunt Hunt saw an even greater need for the church to do what Jesus did by meeting practical needs and sharing the gospel. For the past three years Hunt has challenged the people of his congregation to give him three days in the month of October (a Thursday, Friday and Saturday) and to use their talents and skills to serve the community. Called LoveLoud, the weekend mobilizes doctors, lawyers, dentists, mechanics and others in the church to use their professional skills to help the nearby poor. When we do a LoveLoud project, we re there several days, Hunt says. They see us go back and forth. They get to know us, and we build a relationship. It strengthens the fiber of the bridge that brings them to us. But it brings them to us because it first brought us to them. So often we have a bridge constructed and we tell them to come to us. But when we have a bridge constructed to go and stay in their communities year in and year out, what a difference it makes. Most of the projects are done through the church s small groups or Sunday School classes. Those classes don t stop serving the areas they ve helped after those three days either. Most develop yearlong relationships with the people and neighborhoods where they ve ministered. Hunt says the last three years of LoveLoud has helped participants become more others-focused and has grown them spiritually in the process. If I can keep my people focused on others, I m not only helping people but I m developing my own, Hunt says. It s really a part of the discipleship training of our church. Josh Arrington Church on the Rock, Vancouver, British Columbia Today, as a church planter in the mostly unchurched Vancouver, British Columbia, meeting the practical needs of the community is a vital part of Josh Arrington s ministry. But that wasn t always true. Honestly, I was under the impression meeting practical needs didn t matter, Arrington said. I thought people just needed to hear that there s a God who loves them and there s a Savior who died for them. While the former Texas youth minister had first experienced the importance of community ministry while participating in mission projects in Arlington, his Vancouver ministry context really sealed the deal. When you have so many different religions and philosophies in people s minds and so many worldviews in play, when a new church plant comes in, you can just feel the skepticism, Arrington says. It has become of even greater importance for us here to lay our agendas down and ask, How can we serve you? One way Arrington s church plant, called Church on the Rock, serves the community is through the Community Unity project, where people from the congregation do random acts of kindness in the community. For example, recently church members prepared blessing baskets with a variety of baked goods and handed the baskets out to people in the neighborhood. The Church on the Rock also does a variety of other outreaches based on meeting practical needs. One of the most successful of those outreaches has been Kids Rock, a weekly neighborhood kids program that provides parents with a safe, fun place for their kids for an hour and a half. We re not about growing our church; we re about impacting and growing the kingdom, Arrington says. I believe God will grow His church if we get out there and share the gospel with kids as we re meeting their needs. About half of the families that are now a part of the church plant came through the Kids Rock ministry. Eight of those children who came to Christ through the ministry were baptized last year. Tobin Perry is the online editor for On Mission. PHOTO courtesy church on the rock vi Summer 2012 onmission.com/pastors On mission Summer 2012 vii

On Mission magazine On Mission is published by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention Postmaster: Send address changes

5 On Mission magazine On Mission is published by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention Postmaster: Send address changes to On Mission, P.O. Box 3068, Langhorne, PA change service requested Non Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Thomaston, GA Permit #362

2018 Ministry Inquiries

! P.O. Box 6767 (3806 Monument Avenue), Richmond, Virginia 23230 Cooperative Program 2018 Ministry Inquiries 1. With an understanding that SBC entities who receive Cooperative Program funding share an