BELLUNO, Italy — Former art teacher turned youth pastor, Jared Griffin pulled out cans of spray paint and set up an easel on in a public park in this northern Italian town of Belluno, population 35,876. He was there with a recent mission team from the Cape Girardeau area. Their intent was to attract Belluno residents viewing the art creations and engage them in conversations about the Gospel. Why spray paint cans? In Italy there is a great appreciation for art. Classical sculptures, … [Read more...]
St. Louis author watches over kids like a ‘Mama Bear’
BALLWIN – Thirteen years ago Julie Loos was getting ready to send her oldest son off to middle school. The question came to her: “How will I help him prepare for exposure to different worldviews? Like any good mother, she was watching over her kids carefully and she described herself as “kind of a Mama Bear.” That led her to speak with some folks in her family’s church, First Baptist Church of Ellisville, which is now called the Fellowship of Wildwood. There she learned more about the … [Read more...]
Forty people saved at the Missouri state fair
SEDALIA – Forty individuals prayed to receive Christ at the Baptist tent at the Missouri state fair. The invitation to step inside the colorful tent on Main Street at the fairgrounds, was followed by a promise, “This will just take three minutes of your time.” Volunteers then had three quick minutes to welcome fair attenders to the Baptist tent and then to share their testimony of how they became believers in Jesus. At the end of the three minutes they would ask, “Has anything like this … [Read more...]
Webster County DOM leads association, helps people amid end-of-life transitions
MARSHFIELD – Mitch Fisher is involved in two ministries. He is the director of missions for the Webster County Baptist Association and he also is a bereavement chaplain with CoxHealth Hospice (formerly known as Oxford HealthCare Hospice). With these two ministries he is able to work full time, serving each part time. He manages to divide up his time with each entity having flexible hours. But he says the biggest struggle is not working too much. Like many Missouri directors of missions … [Read more...]
Shuford family ministers in very diverse association in southwest Missouri
NIXA – Director of missions Philip Shuford said he has four kinds of churches in his diverse Baptist association, which spans three counties in southwest Missouri. The Tri-County Association has: suburban churches near Springfield, tourism-oriented churches in the city of Branson, lake churches which tend to attract retirees and small rural Ozark mountain churches. He and his wife Elsy and their two children, minister as a director of missions and wife in this diverse set of … [Read more...]
Truman State BSU feeds hungry students at the end of their semester
KIRKSVILLE – The Baptist Student Union at Truman State University believes hungry university students need nourishing food in the middle of their week of final exams at the end of a semester. They have been ramping up this “Food for Finals” effort the last several years and now feed about 200 TSU students over the course of three days of finals weeks. Greg Xander, campus missionary at the BSU said they started about eight years ago providing some snacks during “reading day” (a day of study … [Read more...]
MBCH hosts ‘Golfers 4 Kids’ event at Hannibal golf course
HANNIBAL — The annual “Golfers 4 Kids” tournament was held at the Norwoods Golf Course in Hannibal, May 10. Seventy-six golfers from the northeast Missouri region participated this year. They received information about how they can assist the Bridgeton-based Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH). Nineteen teams of four played in the “best ball scramble” tourney. Organizers said not much golf experience was needed and they even allowed for “mulligans” as needed. A mulligan is a golfing … [Read more...]
Kirksville church reaches out to neighborhood with free shoes, health screenings, family fun
KIRKSVILLE – The Fellowship Baptist Church here reached out to the kids in the Head Start program, located just a few blocks from their facility with an outreach event in mid-May providing for several physical as well as spiritual needs. They arranged to have a free pair of shoes provided for every child who attended their annual “Shoes From the Heart” giveaway. In addition to a free pair of new athletic shoes, the kids could get health, dental, vision and hearing screenings. … [Read more...]
Rising Sun Baptist Church’s Hoffmann builds ministry to reach out to Latter-day Saints
HATTON – Wil Hoffmann is interested in Mormons. It has been a lifelong fascination for the central Missouri pastor. Formally known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), the Salt Lake City-based church is one of the fastest growing religious groups in the world. The LDS Church is particularly dominant in Utah, where early church pioneers migrated by wagon train in the 1840s, fleeing persecution in Missouri and Illinois. Hoffman, pastor of Rising Sun Baptist Church, … [Read more...]
Northeast Mo. church plant welcomes ‘cowboys, cowgirls, buckaroos, even dogs’
KIRKSVILLE — The invitation said “cowboys, cowgirls and buckaroos are welcome and you can even bring your dog.” The NEMO Cowboy Church is being held in a sale barn and everyone is welcome. Pastor Tom Rowland said they chose to start the church, which opened February 21, to reach the local population of Adair County who are interested in horses, rodeo, cattle-raising and a rural lifestyle. “Jesus preached in the temples, but He also went out into the world to preach to them as He found … [Read more...]
Wife’s support lets bivo planter pastor full-time
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is an excerpt from the book, Why Not Me?: You Could Be A Bivocational Pastor. To learn more about the book, visit http://www.lulu.com/shop/richard-nations/why-not-me/paperback/product-23933632.html?ppn=1. CAPE GIRARDEAU – April Garner is the hero of this story. Her husband, Billy, is a pastor of a unique church reaching a segment of the population, some would dismiss. But he is able to minister to The Church of the Rescued and Redeemed in Cape Girardeau because … [Read more...]
DOMs gather to hear about rural, multi-site church planting
JEFFERSON CITY — When the Missouri Baptist directors of missions and their wives gathered for their spring retreat in March, they heard Andy and Kathy Addis, of Hutchinson Kansas, speak of planting multi-site churches in Kansas. Usually when the term “multi-site” church plant is spoken of it is in an urban context. A “mother church” begins to branch out and sends video of their pastor to another campus which may have their own worship team and a “campus pastor.” Andy Addis graduated … [Read more...]
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