SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A mission partnership between the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) and Montana Southern Baptist Convention (MTSBC) has opened the door to ministry in Springfield, Mo. Montana ministry leaders fostered a ministry to the hard-to-reach that is now taking root here.
Set Free Ministries originally started in the late 1980s or early 1990s, when Phil Agular was saved in a California jail and became passionate about sharing Jesus with others.
The movement spread to Montana, and as the MBC has for several years had an active mission partnership with the MTSBC, Set Free has now started a ministry in Springfield.
“A few years back, I met Steve Fowler through the Missouri Baptist Partnership with Montana,” said Paul Clark, pastor of Northwest Baptist Church in Springfield. Fowler currently serves as MTSBC Interim Executive Director.
JEFFERSON CITY – Steve Fowler, a former Missourian and longtime minister in Montana, speaks to Missouri Baptists about the potential for mission partnerships between Missouri and Montana Southern Baptist churches. (Pathway file photo)
“I felt led to go to Montana (to see their work) and met him at their convention,” Clark continued. “God germinated in my heart to start a set free in Springfield,”
“We’re burdened for those in need of recovery from drugs, alcohol, and church hurt,” he said. “Set Free fits the heart and mind of our church. We’re primarily in downtown Springfield.
“I’ve been with NAMB for 15 years planting churches. This is different. This isn’t your mama’s church in a lot of ways,” he said.
Clark said every Sunday, crews go out to homeless camps looking for people that are hungry. They deliver sandwiches to them.
“We build relationships. We want to know their names. We’re making friends. Then we invite them to a Sunday night service. There will be music from rock and roll songs, and the music is familiar to them. We offer them ‘Set Free steaks’ (hot dogs) and water. Every Sunday we have 2-3 testimonies. We present the gospel every week,” Clark said.
“Our motto is, ‘We are in a place where the pizza man won’t deliver.’ Our vision is to reach the hard to reach, to reach the people far from God, and to reach the ones others are not paying attention to,’” he said.
Since Set Free Springfield launched at the end of August, attendance hovers between 50 and 75 people. There have been about a dozen salvations and about half of those have been baptized.
Steve Fowler, who came to visit during the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting shared that at least one person has gotten off the streets and has a job.
Clark said they are loosely connected to a recovery center, which has been able to share their facilities, but Set Free is looking at a Springfield property to open a house for up to 16 men, initially.
With the onset of winter, the crews are also passing out hats, coats, and gloves to the homeless.
Clark said part of set free is a motorcycle ministry, and he himself and others in his church are motorcyclists.
“It’s been crazy watching God put this together. This has to be a calling. It’s not for everyone. But it’s so simple what we do. The church may meet in a warehouse, or a race track, or a bar, or a pizza joint, wherever God leads.”
There are a half dozen or so men taking Experiencing God in discipleship to help launch other Set Free Ministries.
The current vision includes a Set Free in Nixa, Rogersville, Mt. Vernon and other cities.
“We want to plant one church a year for the next 10 years,” Clark said.
The group has been careful to self-fund, not taking any NAMB or convention funds,
“We needed a van and prayed for an older van. God provided a newer van,” Clark said.
Fowler said in addition to Set Free in California, there are eight in Montana, one in North Carolina, three in Alaska, one in Bethlehem, Israel, and other strands of the ministry at various locations.
“We encouraged the start-ups to multiply and report to the one that started them,” Fowler said.