Missouri Baptist missionaries head to Colorado
Partnership kicks off with 2 revival services
By Barbara Shoun
Contributing Writer
April 19, 2005
VERSAILLES — Four teams from the Lamine Baptist Association will launch the first ministry in a new partnership between Missouri and Colorado Baptists when they conduct simultaneous revival services beginning May 22.
Rolland (Ron) Melton, director of missions for Lamine Baptist Association, reports that the two-person teams will be ministering in the Royal Gorge (Colo.) Baptist Association from Sunday, May 22, through Wednesday, May 25. Each team will consist of a preacher and a music leader.
The partnership was worked out Oct. 26 between the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and the Colorado Baptist General Convention (CBGC). The agreement is for three years and its purpose is the planting of new churches.
To get the ball rolling, Melton went to Colorado in March, accompanied by Dinzel Webb, pastor of First Baptist Church, Stover, to meet with Ron Clement, partnership/evangelism director for CBGC.
Four churches there agreed to host the revival meetings. Two are in the city of Pueblo; the other two are in the southern part of the association. One of the churches is a bilingual Spanish church.
Since this first contact was made, other churches in the Lamine association have been discussing the possibility of partnership projects. “Mission teams are nothing new for the Lamine association,” Melton says. He notes that the association has sent out teams for about 13 years to Colorado, Arizona, Michigan and Wyoming.
Lamine has received help from Norm Howell, MBC partnership missions specialist, who has issued a long list of Colorado ministry opportunities. Included on the list are vacation Bible school, building projects, inner city work, teams to help in parks, youth events, music, county fairs, and much more. For more information and the complete list, contact Howell at 1-800-736-6227, Ext. 620 or nhowell@mobaptist.org.
Churches in Colorado, in return, are making plans to minister to Baptist congregations in Missouri.