SOUTHERN BAPTIST THE WEST VIRGINIA

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1 THE WEST VIRGINIA Oct.-Nov VOL. 43, NO. 8 SOUTHERN BAPTIST A Cooperative Program ministry gladly sharing the truth and gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and the stories of our Lord s work in and through the churches of West Virginia Southern Baptists. WEST VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF SOUTHERN BAPTISTS ANNUAL MEETING november 8, 2013 (FRIDAY ONLY) Immanuel Baptist Church, 264 New Hope Rd, Princeton, WV Rev. Ron McCoy, Convention Sermon Greg Varndell, President s Message Dr. Gary Frost, VP NAMB, Mission s Speaker Robert D. Jones, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Bible Study Special Music by Jonathan White, Vocalist from Ohio WEST VIRGINIA CONVENTION OF SOUTHERN BAPTISTS One Mission Way, Scott Depot, WV October-November 2013

2 Executive Director Terry Harper Fall is upon us and all that comes with that time of the year. This is my favorite time of the year as I love the leaves turning and the cool crisp air. The new start to a church year is always exciting and means a fresh start. I hope you are excited about new things in your church and willing to face new opportunities. I have been busy working on the fall meeting of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists. This year we will have our meeting on November 8, in Princeton, WV, at the Immanuel Baptist Church, where Dan Jividen serves as Senior Pastor. This is a great church and I know that they will serve as wonderful THE WEST VIRGINIA SOUTHERN BAPTIST (USPS ) Greg Wrigley, Editor gregwrigley@wvcsb.org Published nine times per year by The West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists Number One Mission Way Scott Depot WV Note: No paid advertising or subscriptions accepted. This paper is fully funded by Southern Baptists in West Virginia. Periodicals Postage Paid Scott Depot, WV and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Number One Mission Way Scott Depot, WV From the Executive Director: hosts. The annual meeting is preceded by the annual Pastor s Conference on November 7. Our Pastor s Conference will begin on Thursday at 1:00 pm along with the Minister s Wives Conference at the same time. The next day on Friday, November 8, the Convention meeting will take place. As usual, there are several speakers who will be bringing God s Word to us. Dr. Robert Jones, Professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, and a native West Virginian, will be bringing the Bible Study in each session. The Convention Annual Message will be brought by Rev. Ron McCoy, Pastor of the Cameron Baptist Church in the Upper Ohio Valley Association. Rev. Greg Varndell will be presenting the President s address. We will hear from our new Regional Vice-President with the North American Mission Board, Dr. Gary Frost. It should be a great convention, with time well spent as we have modifi ed the time of everything on the program to make it a one-day convention. You should not feel that you have wasted one minute if you attend this convention, as we have shortened many segments of this meeting to get to the heart of why we are there and present only the most important issues at hand. I am so thankful to God for His blessings upon our convention. We just had another wonderful ing the Conference at Pipestem, which was a great blessing. We are seeing a good number of new churches started as our CPC s are working out in the fi eld. We have had a wonderful summer experience with our Summer Camp and all that is involved with that. Many of our churches and our state convention had great mission trips during the summer months. Several training experiences have taken place for Sunday School, and the My Hope Billy Graham Evangelism Campaign, and on and on we could go. Many thrilling things have taken place in recent months. To God be the glory for his blessings upon our churches and on the state convention. If there is any way we can assist you or your church, please call upon us and make us aware. We still have many churches that are seeking a Pastor. We continue to pray for those churches, provide resumes, and our program staff stand ready to assist you with either supply preaching or to possibly serve as Interim Pastor for the short-term. Sincerely, Terry L. Harper The WVCSB is Building Strong Foundations for a Strong Future We are focused on ministries that Build the Kingdom: Missions and Evangelism Prayer and Spiritual Renewal Communication and Public Relations Strengthening Churches Fellowship...Fulfilling the Great Commission 2

3 MISSIONS CAMP 2013 was a week filled with study, worship, meeting new friends, and encountering God. Five campers accepted Jesus as their Lord, four rededicated their lives to Jesus, and one young lady publicly committed her life to fulltime international missions. Worship time [top left] was an important time. The North Greenville mission team [top right] helped out. The students did a variety of things during craft time, even fish impressions on pillow cases [right]. The children got a lesson in air rifle shooting [R]. Your gift to the Ola Cox State Missions Offering helps to fund missions camp! The RA Boys got to spend some extra time with the missionaries in Canada, Jason and Kimberly McGibbon. Rosie Richards won 2nd place and Hannah Stump [R] took first place in the Pinewood Derby. Everyday we made some weird stuff during kitchen chaos. [R] October-November

4 reprinted from Guidestone Magazine 4

5 NEWS FROM ABUNDANT HOPE We had a team of 28 from Bethel Baptist Church who fl ew in from Lakeland, Florida, on July 29th. They had several other team members who drove up with campers. They all stayed out at Beech Fork State Park during their stay here. life of our town of Barboursville. What a great day we had serving the Lord. Thanks, Michelle Harris Abundant Hope Baptist Church Greater Huntington Baptist Assoc. [above---some of the members of the Bethel Baptist Church] Each day we provided a sports camp for all ages from 9 to 11:45 am. In the afternoons we took on the task of Servant Evangelism. We held 2 free car washes on separate days, we visited the local assisted living here in Barboursville, we passed out fl yers, and went door to door giving out Bibles and doing surveys. They also helped to paint our base- [above---michelle Harris (r) gives instructions to the ministry teams before they leave.] ment (fellowship hall) and made new window treatments for our windows downstairs. They cleaned our children's area, and did major construction on our youth house. The kitchen was gutted when they got here, but they installed drywall, paint, a ceiling fan, and cabinets. On Saturday we had a huge back to school bash. They provided live worship music with their youth praise team. We had 3 bounce houses/slides, popcorn, nachos, hotdogs, snow cones, and cotton candy. We also had a hair stylist who was here giving free hair cuts to all school age children. We had a table set up for the adults to have their blood pressures checked for free, and we had lots of freebies to give away for the children. At 1:30 pm we had a gospel presentation given by Pastor Wayne from Florida. Eleven people gave their hearts to Jesus. We then gave away an X-Box 360 and let all the children go downstairs to pick out a book bag that was fi lled with school supplies, church information, and a Bible. The book bags were delivered to us on Saturday morning by 3 teams from N.C. who helped us to reach our goal of 400 book bags. We also had a team from Cincinnati who was here helping with introducing visitors to the pastor and his wife so they would have a contact at the church when they came to visit. This was true Cooperative Program in action. Teams from all over the area came to help us make a difference in the October-November

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7 SNEDDEN-SLAUGHTER AWARDS ANNOUNCED The awardees for the Snedden-Slaughter Scholarship are Daniel Bouchoc and Joy Lind. Daniel is the son Rev. and Mrs. Raymond Bouchoc, pastor of Baker Heights Baptist Church, Martinsburg. He is a student at Appalachian Bible College, preparing for the pastoral ministry. Joy is the daughter of James and Jerilyn Smith. James is the Church Planting Catalyst for the north central region, and Jerilyn is the administrative assistant for Monongahela Association. Joy is a graduate of North Greenville University and is attending Southeastern Seminary, majoring in Biblical Counseling. The John I. Snedden Scholarship Fund was established in 1979 by the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists. The scholarship was to honor John Snedden for his many years of work in helping to organize and then to lead the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists. At the 2010 state convention, the messengers approved combining the RAY SLAUGHTER SCHOLAR- SHIP FUND with the Snedden Fund. This was done with the prior approval and recommendation of the Immanuel Baptist Association, which had started the Slaughter Fund for the same purpose many years ago, to honor the devoted ministry by Ray Slaughter on behalf of the churches. The purpose of the SNEDDEN- SLAUGHTER SCHOLARSHIP FUND is to provide scholarship money for students in college or seminary who are preparing for service in a church vocation. The interest from the Fund is used to provide the scholarship monies. A Selection Committee chooses the winners of the grant. Each spring, a letter describing the Fund, and an application, is sent to each pastor. Each pastor then passes the information along to qualifying students who may want to apply. The Fund has increased from about $12,500, to a little over $16,000. This a refl ection of the additional Slaughter funds and some gifts made to the Fund. Even though there has been an increase, the total amount is still small. This greatly limits the amount of money that can be awarded each year. I would like to see the principle at $200,000, or more, said Greg Wrigley, the offi ce director for the Foundation. That would give us about $10,000 each year we could divide among the applicants, instead of four or fi ve hundred dollars. With the cost of education, it would be nice to make a real impact on the assistance to people preparing for the ministry. Anyone interested in contributing to the Snedden-Slaughter Scholarship Fund can contact Greg Wrigley at , ext 118, or at gregwrigley@wvcsb. org. WVCSB Calendar October Cooperative Program Emphasis 3 - New Ministers Orientation WMU Officers Council 6 - Great Day in the Mountains- Sunday School High Attendance 6 - Soul-Winning Commitment Day (SBC) Churches Planting Churches Training 11 - DR Chaplaincy Training 13 - World Hunger Day (SBC) 19 - DR Blue Hat Training, Northern WV 20 - Bivocational Ministers Appreciation Day 26 - DR Blue Hat Training, Southern WV November 3 - Daylight Saving Time Ends 3 - Disaster Relief Appreciation Day (SBC) 4 - Baptist Women s World Day of Prayer 7 - WVCSB Executive Board Mtg 7 - Pastors Conference and Ministers Wives 7 - My Hope w/billy Graham 8 - WVCSB Annual Meeting 28 - Thanksgiving (Office Closed 28-29) December Week of Prayer for International Missions & Lottie Moon Christmas Offering 25 - Christmas (Office Closed 12/24/13-1/2/14) January Call to Prayer Month January Bible Study 11 - WVCSB Executive Board Mtg Youth Evangelism Conference 19 - Sanctity of Human Life Sunday 25 - WV Foundation Officers Mtg February True Love Waits Emphasis 9 - Racial Reconciliation Sunday Deacon Training Focus on WMU (SBC) October-November

8 CHINESE CONGREGATION CONSTITUTES The West Virginia Chinese Baptist Church was constituted in a special ser- ern Seminary as their preaching pastor to speak each week. The group went for a few years without being able to fi nd a preacher, but continued to meet and often used the help of a translator and The Pastor of the Highlawn Baptist Church at present is Dr. Ricky Ray. Serving the Good Congregation is the Rev. Kenny Stidham. Participating in the Constituting Service was Worship Leader Wang Nan and Translator Liu Jianquing. Rev Eddie Henson gave a brief history of the church and the sermon [above---the new congregation] vice held on August 11 at the Good Baptist Church in Scott Depot, WV. The new Chinese congregation will offi - cially become a part of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists when [above--the choir sings] that convention meets in annual session in November in Princeton, WV. We are thrilled to have these sweet Christians as part of our fellowship, reported Terry L. Harper, Executive Director of the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists, in discussing the new church. We have long prayed for and looked forward to this day and we rejoice to see it come to fruition. The real heroes in this story are Rev. and Mrs. Eddie Henson, who had a vision for this ministry many years ago. Hinson was serving as Associational Missionary for the Huntington Baptist Association. When the group was started by he and his wife, Mary, as a Bible Study at the Highlawn Baptist Church in Huntington, WV, over 20 years ago, a Bible Study is really all that Henson assumed it would be. But the group continued to meet, many times calling a student at South- 8 Brother Eddie Henson, though since long ago retired, would meet with them, serving as speaker for the services. The group, in 2010, called Sung Chuen (Paul) Noh and his wife, YuJin, to come to serve them. Paul and his wife are both native Koreans, but felt called to reach out to the Chinese, and both of the Noh s speak Mandarin fl uently. The group recently began talks with another group that was meeting in Charleston, WV. The two groups got together and formed as a church plant, meeting mid-way in Scott Depot, at the Good Baptist Church. The Huntington Church had a Sending Service on July 5, 2012, and bid these folks their best as they sought to combine with the Charleston Congregation. On August 5, the Good Baptist Church in Scott Depot, had a Receiving Service, and the two Chinese groups met there to become an offi cial congregation. A few months after this step, under God s leadership the group agreed to offi cially constitute as an autonomous church on August 11, The Chinese Congregation feels deeply indebted to the Highlawn Congregation for their sacrifi ce and diligence to share their facilities for many years. They are also grateful to the Good Congregation for now providing facilities in which to meet. They also expressed appreciation to the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists and the North American Mission Board for their fi nancial support during their fl edging years. [Inmon leads in prayer for Pastor Paul] was delivered by Terry L. Harper, with a word of Blessing by Tony Inmon, WV/ NAMB Church Planting Catalyst. The service also included the ordination of three deacons to serve the new congregation. Those ordained were Tu Guoqiang, Wang Nan, Tian Baozhong. The Reverend Stidham brought the charge to the new deacons. In a state that is 95% Anglo, we rejoice to have this group join our convention. We currently have one congregation that is predominantly African American and now to have one Chinese Church, thrills us beyond measure, reported Harper. Our hope is to involve these folks in the life of our convention. Reported by Terry L. Harper

9 West Virginia Prayer Focus Your state convention staff meets each working day for a brief time of prayer. We pray for missionaries, campuses, associations, churches, and church plants by name each day. We invite our readers to pray as well. Date Oct. 7 Oct. 8 Oct. 9 Oct. 10 Oct. 11 Oct. 14 Oct. 15 Oct. 16 Oct. 17 Oct. 18 Oct. 21 Oct. 22 Oct. 23 Oct. 24 Oct. 25 Oct. 28 Oct. 29 Oct. 30 Oct. 31 Nov. 1 Nov. 4 Nov. 5 Nov. 6 Nov. 7 Nov. 8 Nov. 11 Nov. 12 Nov. 13 Nov. 14 Nov. 15 Nov. 18 Nov. 19 Nov. 20 Nov. 21 Nov. 22 Nov. 25 Nov. 26 Nov. 27 Dec. 2 Dec. 3 Dec. 4 Dec. 5 Dec. 6 Association Allegheny Coalfields Greater Huntington Immanuel Monongahela Mountain State Pioneer Potomac Highland Tri-County Upper Ohio Valley Allegheny Coalfields Greater Huntington Immanuel Monongahela Mountain State Pioneer Potomac Highland Tri-County Upper Ohio Valley Allegheny Coalfields Greater Huntington Immanuel Monongahela Mountain State Pioneer Potomac Highland Tri-County Upper Ohio Valley Allegheny Coalfields Greater Huntington Immanuel Monongahela Mountain State Pioneer Potomac Highland Tri-County Upper Ohio Valley Allegheny Coalfields Greater Huntington Campus Church First, Fort Ashby First, Hinton First, Huntersville First, Kenova First, Princeton First So., Fairmont First So., Grandview First So., Sutton Foxes Hollow Freedom, Beckley Freedom, Charleston Freedom, Nutter Fort Freedom Biker Ch., Huntington Gilbert Creek, Baisden Glade Comm., Daniels Good, Scott Depot Gordon Missionary Grace, Branchland Grace, Fayetteville Grace, Parkersburg Grace Fellowship, Wana Graydon, Lansing Hamlin HarborLight, Oceana Harmony, Parkersburg Hebron, Green Bank Heritage, Elkview Highlawn, Huntington Hillcrest, Spencer Hines Horsepen, Gilbert Immanuel, New Martinsville Immanuel, Princeton Indian Creek Isaban Jackson Avenue, Pt. Pleasant Jordan Christian Flwshp, Sophia Kingwood Knobley Road Lighthouse, Ivydale Lighthouse, Hurricane Lilly Grove, Princeton Lincoln, Branchland Church Plant Grace, Pleasant Valley Lighthouse, Follansbee Living Hope, Petersburg Living River, Flatwoods Manger, Wellsburg Marland Heights, Weirton Marshall Comm. Fellowship Messiah, Christiansburg, VA Ministry of Salvation Mountain Ministry Chapel New Heights, Milton New Vision, Berkeley Springs Solid Rock, Hundred South Wheeling Urbancrest, Beverly Abundant Hope, Barboursville Carpendale Centerpointe, Hurricane Cherry Grove Cherry River, Richwood The Church at Martinsburg The Church at Winchester Cornerstone, Berkeley Springs Crossroads, Burnsville Dawn s Light, Harrisville Dayspring, Charleston Exalt Comm., So. Charleston Ferrellsburg Friendly Frontier Comm., Morgantown Grace, Pleasant Valley Lighthouse, Follansbee Living Hope, Petersburg Living River, Flatwoods Manger, Wellsburg Marland Heights, Weirton Marshall Comm. Fellowship Messiah, Christiansburg, VA Ministry of Salvation Mountain Ministry Chapel New Heights, Milton New Vision, Berkeley Springs Solid Rock, Hundred Does your church have a Bible studying, missions teaching, fun stuff incorporating organization for your boys, grades 1-6? If not, Royal Ambassadors may be just what you need. It is simple and inexpensive in structure, yet you can add as much to the basic organization as you desire. See the RA display at the state convention, or contact us for more information. gregwrigley@wvcsb.org randyspurgeon@wvcsb.org xt 116 or xt 118 October-November

10 News from West Virginia Churches above--(l to R) Gib Shade, Dr. Ken Hemphill, Pastor Johnny Kelly, Westview Baptist Church, Martinsburg, where Dr. Hemphill lead a Sunday School training seminar on August 24. He used Revitalizing the Sunday Morning Dinosaur as his basis to discuss the 10 best practices of a successful Sunday School. (above) The people who gathered for Homecoming at Beaver Creek Baptist Church, Allegheny Baptist Association, August 18. A huge lunch was enjoyed as part of the celebration. (right) Pictures of some of the activities enjoyed by the campers at the Monogahela Baptist Association s summer camp, June (below) Randy Spurgeon led 20 adults and youth from West Virginia to Orlando, FL, in July, for the music and mission experience, SONPOW- ER. Randy s brother, Daniel, also took a group from his church. (right) The North Greenville University s summer mission team was involved in many activities during the summer, including the above mentioned Monongahela camp, and Missions Camp. (below right) The youth group from Friendly Baptist Church spent Sunday afternoon, July 14, working at a city event, painting faces, making balloon art, and generally helping the boys and girls have a good time. Larry Bayle is Pastor. 10

11 News from West Virginia Churches Grace and Jim Davis (front) stand with some of the people who participated in the constitution ceremony for HarborLight Baptist Church, in Oceana. HarborLight was started about 12 years ago with a husband and wife mission service corp volunteers. Jim and Grace came to do mission work at the church, from a church in South Carolina. God gave them a burden for the town and they have ministered there for many years. [above right] Jim and Grace sit with one of their young parishoners. [middle right] A front view of the storefront building that after much work looks more like a traditional church building. [bottom right] At the end of the ceremony, the people fellowshipped around a snack supper. [below left] Pastor Brian Warden, Horsepen Baptist Church, Gilbert, gave the charge to the church and pronounced HarborLight a church in its own right. Horsepen Baptist Church had been the sponsoring church for the new work. [below right] Rev. Terry Harper, West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists Executive Director, was the keynote speaker at the celebration. (above) Randy Spurgeon [L] stands with Terry Williams, Director of Music Ministries for the Florida Baptist Convention. Terry led a series of meetings across the state for churches dealing with music and worship. (left) Randy Spurgeon was invited to lead the combined youth choirs of Old Fields Baptist Church and North Fork Baptist Church in a music presentation of what the students had learned at YSC. The group met at North Fork. October-November

12 Qualifications of Messengers This Convention shall consist of messengers who are members of and elected by Southern Baptist churches which are in agreement with "The Baptist Faith and Message," as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention and which cooperate with, fellowship with, and contribute to the work of the Convention. Each church shall be entitled to three (3) messengers for the fi rst fi fty (50) resident members or fractional part thereof and one (1) additional messenger for each additional fi fty (50) resident members or major fraction thereof, but in no case shall any church be entitled to more than fi fteen (15) messengers. Messengers shall be elected and certifi ed by their churches to the Convention. Students from about 20 churches and 10 states composed two World Changer groups that came to the Teays Valley area to do work in Charleston, Milton, and in Huntington. The teams did construction and ministry projects. Funds to have the World Changer teams come in and work came from the participants, the churches, the towns in which they work, and other sources. [top] One of the teams gathered on Wednesday night at North Charleston Baptist Church for a meal and for worship [left]. [left] A workteam swept the parking lot and repainted the parking lot lines for the school where New Heights Church is meeting. [below] During the week, another workteam led a backyard Bible club at a local apartment area. HOW CAN A PERSON BE RIGHT WITH GOD? There are many answers given to this question. The answers usually say people have to do something to make God happy, or to earn God s favor. It is common among most religions to say that people must work in some way to earn their salvation. But the Bible says salvation is a gift from God. Indeed, man cannot work to earn salvation. In fact, according to the Bible, there is no plan or program or schedule of activity that a person can do to get salvation. What does a person do? Jesus said the work was to have faith in God. That is, trust Jesus. A person can do nothing for salvation. Jesus did it all. A person needs to trust Jesus. Admit to Jesus that you are a sinner, and that you need a Savior, because you cannot save yourself. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins. Confess Him openly and publicly as your Savior and Lord. Commit to follow Him, and obey Him, and so demonstrate faith and trust in Him. Jesus is the only way.