Montgomery Baptist being used by God in outreach
CAMDENTON—Montgomery Baptist Church is celebrating a sustained period of spiritual growth under the ministry of Pastor Jack Kirkham, who has seen the congregation increase from five in 1999 to its present day total of more than 50.
“Very slowly this dying church started coming to life as more and more people learned that the little church on State Road EE had a pastor who loved the Lord,” said Rosemary Kirkham, Jack’s wife.
Kirkham became their pastor on March 1, 1999. It was a challenging call to accept, since his four grandchildren had been murdered next door to the church building in 1977, but he obeyed the Lord despite his feelings and went to work shepherding the very tiny flock.
Thirty years after that tragic event, Kirkham announced that Montgomery Baptist was going to have its first Vacation Bible School (VBS). That led to several church members attending a VBS training session at Trinity Baptist Church in Versailles. On that day Kirkham told the workers from other churches that this would be the first VBS for Montgomery Baptist. That resulted in representatives from two churches, Mount Olive Baptist and Linn Creek Baptist, volunteering supplies and labor for the July effort.
The Montgomery church VBS wound up being a huge success with 26 children enrolled and 32 workers. On the last night, a young man accepted Christ as his Savior.
On Sunday morning after VBS, the pastor was hospitalized with internal bleeding. In the absence of someone to fill the pulpit, individual church members stood to testify about the great blessing they had received from VBS and how much they were looking forward to participating in next year’s outreach.
“A community came together, in God’s love, making VBS possible for our small church, and then they came together again to let God’s pastor know he was loved and appreciated in the community,” Rosemary Kirkham said. “It is our churches working together that will get God’s Word to a lost and dying world. Thank you so much to all of you who showed love for us and your Lord Jesus Christ in such a meaningful way during this past month.”
