Just another Nikkel s worth 3 Online Edition March 2016 Volume 32 Issue 1 orizon H S 2016 Evangelism Conference Dale Bascue W yoming Southern Baptists met at Boyd Avenue Baptist Church in Casper, January 25 and 26, 2016, for the annual Evangelism Conference. Despite weather challenges, 152 people were present for the main sessions and breakouts. Things started off with a luncheon provided by the Evangelism office of the WSBC. All guest speakers and breakout leaders were invited to the luncheon as an opportunity to get to know each other and tell about what their part in the Evangelism Conference would be. This year s featured speakers were Wyoming church planters. Alan Bella, church planter at Living Water Community Church in Kemmerer, opened the conferlearn about ence with a powerful message from First the Youth Samuel on a church Evangelism that needs CPR. Conference Marty Roark from Circle G Cowboy on page 3. Church in Glendo was the next church planter. He strongly urged Christians to get off the fence and serve the Lord with their whole heart. Zach Edwards addressed the conference Tuesday afternoon, encouraging attenders to see things through God s eyes. Zach serves the Wyoming Southern Baptist Convention as Church Planting Catalyst, coming from being a church planter with Life Point Church in Cheyenne. In addition to the church planters, Evangelism Strategist Dale Bascue brought a message on the church in Sardis and addressed sick and dying v See CONFERENCE on pg. 2 ABOVE: Evangelism Conference speakers and breakout leaders. RIGHT: Evangelism Conference worship service participants photos provided
2 news March 2016 CONFERENCE continued from pg. 1 churches and their need to follow the Great Physicians prescription to be healthy. The main speakers for the conference were Don Lum, State Director of Evangelism for the Mississippi Baptist Convention, Gary Hawkins, Executive Director of the Fellowship of Native American Christians and church planter in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Evangelist Ernie Perkins from Oklahoma. Each of these men preached two powerful messages. The worship music was led by Scott Baxter and the Boyd Avenue Praise Team. There were a total of ten musicians that volunteered their time to provide a terrific worshipful atmosphere. There were eight breakout classes offered at three different times during the two day conference. The topics of the breakouts addressed many practical aspects of doing missions and evangelism. Mark Porter, pastor Life Point Church, Cheyenne, and Mike Cooper, pastor of College Heights Baptist Church, Casper, both led breakouts on how to prepare a church for mission trips. Zach and Amber Edwards taught a class on families being on mission together. Dean Whitaker, pastor of United Baptist Church in Riverton, encouraged churches to be involved in the life of their communities. Fred Creason, Leadership Strategist for the WSBC, led a breakout on evangelism in the Sunday school. The other three breakouts were led by our out of state guests. Don Lum s topic was getting a church ready for revival. Gary Hawkins led his groups through an understanding of Native American world view and Ernie Perkins taught about how to navigate change without having a wreck. Boyd Avenue Baptist Church was a wonderful host church. Pastor Quin Williams and his staff made sure all the space and equipment was available for the breakouts. They cleared space and set up tables for the Lifeway Bookstore from Denver. They provided snacks during the break times. They were present at every session to make sure the building was clean and comfortable and they kept the sound system running without a flaw. Each of the main session sermons was recorded. These sermons will be available at the WSBC website. They will also be available on a DVD. Call the WSBC office if you would like a DVD of the messages, ask for Dale or Cyndi. Every year the Evangelism office hosts two events. The Evangelism Conference is held the last week in January and the Youth Evangelism Conference is in the spring. Plans are already being made for next year s Evangelism Conference. The Youth Evangelism Conference has already been planned for 2016. It will be at the Ramkota Hotel in Casper, April 8 and 9. The featured guest will be the Strength Team from Missoula, Montana. Information for this event will be sent out to churches in February. It is the goal of the Evangelism Strategist that these events will be a great encouragement and inspiration for our churches as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission in Wyoming, across the nation, and around the world. photos provided LEFT: Don Lum, State Director of Evangelism for the Mississippi Baptist Convention. RIGHT: Gary Hawkins, Executive Director of the Fellowship of Native American Christians and church planter in Tulsa, Oklahoma photos provided LEFT: Ernie Perkins, Evangelist from Oklahoma. RIGHT: Zach Edwards, WSBC Church Planting Catalyst. photos provided LEFT: Dale Bascue, Evangelism Strategist & West Region Missionary, WSBC. RIGHT: Richard Mills, pastor of Set Free in Riverton
March 2016 NEWS 3 Save the date for the Youth Evangelism Conference Featured Speakers: The Strength Team Breaking Barriers Building Lives April 8-9 at 6 p.m. Friday to noon on Saturday Worship Music - led by Richard Mills and the band from the Set Free Church in Riverton Youth Breakout Sessions to Choose From: Youth Group What s the Point? Walking Worthy of My Calling Do My Actions Balance with My Beliefs? How to Start a Spiritual Conversation with My Lost Friends World View What s That? Youth Leadership Breakout: Allen Jackson, Director of Youth Ministry Institute and Professor of Youth Education and Collegiate Ministry at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary will be leading a breakout session for all youth workers. Conference Cost is $10 per person Free T-Shirt Included Plus Giveaways! Conference Location and Hotel for the Conference: Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center - 800 N. Poplar; WSBC Block Rate $75.99/double room with breakfast included.
4 News March 2016 just another nikkel s worth Go and make disciples I was reading recently and ran across a quote that resonates with something that has been on my heart for some time. Here s the quote by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. That is a message consistent throughout Scripture concerning those who would be Christians Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. (Matt. 16:24, ESV). I have been crucified with Christ. It nikkel is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Gal. 2:20, ESV) That statement of Bonhoeffer and those verses resonate with me as I think about the church today, and churches in Wyoming. We have decided together that We are Wyoming Churches working together for the expansion of the Kingdom of God by making disciples in our communities, in our state, and in our world. A vision statement like that, by the very nature of a vision statement, implies that that is what we want to be, but maybe realize and admit we are not there yet. Making disciples is the crux of the Great Making disciples involves the transformation of the lives of people to become committed followers of Jesus in every area of living... Commission, Go therefore and MAKE DIS- CIPLES of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV). Question How are we doing when it comes to the main thing Christ left us to do as His Church? Making disciples is certainly more than making people believers, though that is a big part of it. Making disciples is more than getting people to attend church. Making disciples involves the transformation of the lives of people to become committed followers of Jesus in every area of living baptism that connects people to the Christ who died for them and rose from the grave; teaching them the things and ways of God; and continuing to hold one another accountable to obedience to those teachings, and to the leadership of the Spirit in life. So, how are we doing? How are you doing? How am I doing? How is your church doing? Is there an intentional strategy in your church to grow people into those that would come and die for the sake of Christ s Kingdom? Not just worship, Sunday School, but a strategy for making genuine and deeply committed disciples of those who are part of your local body of believers? That is going to be the emphasis of your WSBC staff this year. We are going to hold up the making of disciples who are transformed into genuine, committed Christ followers. We are going to talk about it everywhere we go. We are going to preach about it when we have the opportunity. We are going to teach it, encourage it, do all we can to resource it for churches, and to raise up the attitude toward life transformation in all we do. How about a commitment on your part, mine, and all of us together in Wyoming that we would do our very best to develop a way and a strategy to Go and Make Disciples! Then, let us know how we can assist you in that task!
March 2016 news 5 calendar of events MARCH 4-5 Disaster Relief Training, North Cheyenne Baptist Church 6-13 Week of Prayer for North American Missions /Annie Armstrong Easter Offering 13 Daylight Savings Time, spring ahead 14-15 Possible GuideStone Exec Meeting, Dallas 21-24 WSBC IN OFFICE WEEK 27 EASTER 28 WSBC Office Closed, Easter 28-31 Church Planting Week, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary APRIL 8-9 Youth Evangelism Conference, Casper, Ramkota 12-14 West Region SDOE Meeting, Salt Lake City 14 Administrative Team Meeting, 3:00pm, WSBC Office 15 Executive Board Meeting, 10:00 am, WSBC Office 15-16 BCM Directors Planning Retreat, Casper WSBC office 18-20 Partnership Meeting w/ IMB 22-23 Vacation Bible School Clinic, Casper, Mt View Baptist Church 22-24 Hispanic Laborer Conference, Casper, Principe de Paz 25 Horizons Deadline June Edition (June, July, August) 29-30 Preacher School, Riverton, United Baptist Church 2-4 MAY Partnership Meeting w/ IMB 8 Mother s Day 12-14 Church Planter and Wives Retreat, Casper, C mon Inn 14 Golden Gate Seminary Graduation Denver, CO 16-19 WSBC IN OFFICE WEEK 20-21 Disaster Relief Training, Thermopolis, Risen Son SBC
6 news March 2016 Casper planter adds mentoring to the mix Karen L. Willoughby CASPER Church Planter Chris Sims invited the young bicyclist who lived two doors down to a park party, and he came, with his Mormon dad. We started talking; he broke it off suddenly, but a month later he came to my house, Sims said. Conversations over the next several months led in January to the father and son being baptized, and in April, the boy s mom. They had been attending the Mormon church weekly, but feeling less and less love and acceptance than they had when they became Mormons 14 years previously, Sims said. Over time that became much more legal and difficult, and they didn t sense grace. They sensed grace in our group, and months later I shared the gospel with him in our home, and led him to Christ. The grace Sims shares has led to the growth of not only Wind City Church, but also to an apprenticeship program to equip others to plant churches in Wyoming and other Rocky Mountain states. Chris and Eve Sims, with daughters Brianna and Katelyn, 16 on Jan. 14, and Emma, 10 on Jan. 27, arrived in Casper in June 2014 from Batesville, Ark., where he had pastored Pilgrim s Rest Baptist Church for five years. We were sponsoring a church plant in another state, and now were looking where to put our resources next, said Sims, who in pre-ministry days had worked as a Sam s Club manager in Casper. I put out some feelers and heard of the need in Casper; that put a burden in my heart. Once they made the commitment to move to Wyoming, Sims sent out 130 letters, seeking partners for a church plant; 21 signed up: 18 churches in Arkansas, and one each in Mississippi, Tennessee and North Carolina. We also receive some support through the partnership of the Wyoming Southern Baptist Convention and the North American Mission Board, said Sims, whose official status is NAMB lead church planter. We spent the first couple of months learning the context and meeting our neighbors, Sims said. A couple of mission teams helped us canvass a See SIMS on pg. 7 Churches on mission Dubois Pastor Geoff Stevens reports that Wilderness Baptist Church has changed it s name to Mountain Grace. Casper Boyd Avenue Baptist Church continues to move forward in the church addition construction process. Plans are being made for ground breaking in March or April. Quin Williams is pastor. Buffalo Don Paulson has been called to serve as Interim Pastor of Big Horn Baptist Church. Don and wife Arlene have been faithful members serving in many ministry areas. Riverton Taylor Bascue, son of Dale and Charlotte Bascue was licensed to the Gospel Ministry December 27, 2015, by United Baptist Church in Riverton. Taylor is a junior at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. He is pursuing a degree in Christian Studies and Biblical Languages. Pictured above are Dale, Tyler and Pastor Dean Whitaker. Hudson Santa Claus visited Hudson on December 5, 2015 as Pastor Craig Waters and Hudson Baptist Church hosted a Breakfast with Santa. Around 100 children and adults came to the Hudson Town Hall for pancakes and sausages. Children were invited to do crafts and hear the gospel. Pictures were taken of kids sitting on Santa s lap and the church will be delivering the pictures to the homes of those children. Kemmerer Santa also made a visit to Kemmerer on December 12. Pastor Al Bella and Living Water Community Church hosted a wellattended Christmas event. Pictured on the right.
March 2016 news 7 The Sims family. SIMS continued from pg. 6 five-block area around our house. Out of that we built a few relationships. Meeting our neighbors is our number one strategy still today. Within three months of moving to Casper the Sims opened their basement to a Bible study that 12 people attended, including the dad mentioned above. Within three months the group had grown too large for the space, and a second Bible study was started, with both groups meeting together once a month at a larger venue, a local Holiday Inn s conference room. That kept the community in place, Sims said. On April 12, the church plant now known as Wind City Church moved into the aerobics room at a local recreation center, and the two Bible studies became one. Today, in addition to Sunday services that begin at 3:16 p.m., seven missional community groups that range in size from eight to 20 participants meet throughout the week. Our whole strategy [for those who connect with Wind City Church] is to follow God where we live and work and play, Sims explained. It s a missional lifestyle. Wind City Church hosts events indoor pool parties, concerts, VBS in the park, and the like to raise awareness and build community. People who visit the church most often invited by a current participant are within a couple of visits asked to help in a non-threatening way at an upcoming event, such as taking registration or bringing snacks. The involvement increases their participation and instills a servant (rather than pew-sitter ) attitude, the planter/pastor said. The heart and soul of church planting in Wyoming is very relational: relational evangelism; relational discipleship, Sims said. We pair people together, and call it LO L Life On Life. We extract that from the Great Commission. Jesus said, As you are going, and as they were walking along the road He was teaching them to do ministry as they re going to their job, school, recreation. We believe in mentoring, Sims continued. We try very hard to come alongside someone so they can watch us, let them try, let us watch photo provided them and then send them out. Our hope and our heart is that we teach and train disciples that Sunday is not the event; Sunday is the gas station for the event, and the event is life between Sundays. It s written into the DNA of our vision, that from day one everything points to growing as a disciple, that it s a natural progression just like a first-grader expects to go to second. Sims, who studied church planting and church planters for years before he moved to Wyoming, uses that concept of progression also to train other church planters. In nine to 24 months they go through 12 aspects of starting new churches in Wyoming or elsewhere in Rocky Mountain states. This includes preaching, managing volunteers, finance, youth ministry and more, and I lead them through a visioneering process too, so they can develop the model that God is going to use for the vision of their ministry, Sims said. Two couples and an individual have already begun their apprenticeships; one from Wind City Church; two from out of state. Our idea was always to be a multiplying church, but we really didn t understand this [apprenticeship] would be one of the ways we do that, until we had been on the field six months, the planter/pastor continued. There are many people who sense a call to church planting and to Wyoming, but they don t have the practical experience in church planting or in the Wyoming context. That context includes the fiercely independent people who live in Wyoming. Whenever you decide on a strategy to engage the community, you have to ask, Will this push people away, or let a wall down? It s vital that you try that [strategy] on and pray that on, before you execute something, Sims said. Another issue specific to a Wyoming context: developing a stable leadership pipeline within the transiency of a population dependent to some level on the boom-and-bust jobs-transfer nature of the energy industry. And related to that, As we do develop leaders and prepare to send them out, we have to develop financial support for them, Sims said. As PRAY for the harvest Pray for churches seeking God s direction for a new pastor. Lynn Nikkel (Interim) South Region Agape Baptist Church, Cheyenne Bairoil Community Baptist Church, Bairoil Circle C Cowboy Church, Green River North Cheyenne Baptist Church, Cheyenne** Fred Creason Northeast Region Antelope Valley Baptist Church** Big Horn Baptist Church, Buffalo* Clearmont Community Church, Clearmont First Southern Baptist Church, Moorcroft First Southern Baptist Church, Douglas Dale Bascue West Region First Baptist Church, Big Piney* *Served by interim pastor. **Served by transitional pastor. I look forward, I see the need to develop that support as a natural bottleneck to the ability to start more churches. Before people become church leaders, they need to become Christian. The willingness of Wyomingites to listen to and study the Scriptures without making a wholehearted commitment to becoming a Christ-follower is both refreshing and a frustration, Sims said. Refreshing because those who follow through with baptism are really serious about their decision, but I m used to seeing more and faster decisions, the planter/pastor said. This is just completely different from the Bible Belt, the South, Sims continued. I truly believe the western, the cowboy or mountain culture says, I m not going to say I m committed to something unless I m really committed to that. Sims made one final point. As a church plant in Wyoming, you don t have a baptistry, he said. You use the river or lake, and it s cold. We baptized two in October in the North Platte [River], and it was, using a typical Wyoming understatement, chilly.
8 news March 2016 Church planting thoughts: Stimulating spiritual formation Don Whalen As the church, we instinctively know that if we re going to Impact our community and world, we will discover the plan in God s Word. It is there that we discover God s plan and power to change our world. Acts 2:42-47 provides insight into the characteristics of the early church that positioned them and enabled them, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to take the church from a handful of disciples to a force that brought the Gospel to every corner of the world, transforming lives and communities all along the way. As we read Luke s description of the church, it becomes painfully obvious that in too many cases, Luke is describing a different church than many of us have experienced. Todd Wilson in his book Sparks: Igniting a culture of Multiplication, encourages his readers to read Acts 2:42-47 and notice what you don t see. They devoted themselves to vision clarity, optimized organizational structure, WHALEN healthy teams, geographically based small groups, great preaching, monster outreach events, massive marketing campaigns, world-class children s ministry, the best music in town, leadership development, new sites, and the latest growth strategy to break the next barrier. Some of the believers came together weekly for an excellent Sunday morning show; others opted for overbooked schedules of travel sports and long work hours to pay increasing debt, leaving no margin for living in common. With a divorce, addiction and crime rate similar to society at large, outsiders simply mocked the church wondering why in the world they should be part of something so judgmental, hypocritical and irrelevant. Rather than praising God for the abundance of blessing and being the fullness of Christ in everything and in every way, they spent their time praying for deliverance from the same crazy, empty lives of their outsider friends. When the numbers were not added daily, they looked for the next silver bullet to catalyze the growth and make the church more relevant. They desperately sought to do church without being the church. Ouch! Sadly, that certainly describes many unhealthy churches and spiritually immature believers today, but it is definitely not a description of the early church. As you read Acts 2:42-47, you notice that the early church was focused and known for several important things. They were focused on Jesus. Not numbers, budgets, plans and strategies (by the way, these aren t bad things, just not the most important things). Jesus was the focus of everything they were and did. They didn t attend church because they had developed the spiritual habit of attending church services on Sunday. They went to church to experience Jesus and to learn more about how to live for Him. Their spiritual hunger didn t cause them to give their lives to a program or a position in the church or event to a place in the pew. Their spiritual hunger brought them to experience Jesus personally and completely. They were growing, maturing disciples. They were focused on the Word. The disciples and church leaders taught God s Word in a way that brought people to a place of intimacy with Jesus. They didn t learn about Jesus, they encountered Him through the teaching of those leaders that knew Jesus, (1 John 1:1-4). Opening God s Word wasn t just an intellectual exercise, it became a life changing encounter with the God who loved them, had saved them, was now their life, and Lord. They experienced changed lives. These believing, growing disciples did life differently because of their relationship with Jesus and because of their surrender to Him as Lord. They eagerly and regularly (more than just for an hour a week on Sunday) came together to rehearse the life and message of Jesus and to worship Him through celebration and through changed lives. Their intense unity with God enabled deep community that was lived out through sharing lives together, meeting needs, and loving one another. Verse 47 mentions two important outcomes when churches are filled with growing, maturing disciples like those we read about in Acts 2. First, these growing, maturing followers of Jesus, became more fully devoted. They became raving fans of the Savior and His mission. You might say they become owners of the Mission of God (Missio Dei). Their devotion became the fuel for further personal growth and personal involvement in the work of the Kingdom, inside and outside the four walls of the church building. Second, the disconnected, those not yet part of the Kingdom of God or the community of that local church, saw what these growing disciples enjoyed, and they wanted it. The growing, vibrant, transformed lives these believers lived out in front of the world, became a magnet that drew non-believers to life in Jesus and became a bridge to share the gospel. The church enjoyed the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. The answer for many struggling churches and believers is not a new program or a new way to worship, or even a new ministry plan. What is needed is a renewed focus on our intimate, abiding, life changing relationship with Jesus, and a re-focus on the Gospel hope shared in God s Word. What is needed in the church and in the world, is a group of growing disciples that shed cultural Christianity for a life of deep devotion, that causes those around them to want what they enjoy in Jesus, which in turn, will open the door for God s people to share the Gospel hope and see more lives transformed. The Gospel truth is because I am a sinner, I need mercy, and because God is merciful, I can face the reality of my sin, and because I can face the reality of my sin through the Savior s mercy, it changes my life and God will use me (and you) to change our world. 2015 WSBC Cooperative budget update