JEFFERSON CITY – Missouri Baptists are giving more to missions through the Cooperative Program so far in 2013, according to just-released figures from the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). For the first nine months of the year, CP giving from MBC churches totaled $10.7 million, compared with $10.59 million for the same period last year, an increase of 1 percent. CP giving during the same period is running 2.7 percent behind budget, however. “Missouri Baptists are staying faithful … [Read more...]
Baptist Builders: Ministry poised to grow, evolve
JEFFERSON CITY – Baptist Builders may be one of the best kept secrets in Missouri, but one of its most active members wants to help it grow into a well-known and often-used ministry. Leighton Clemons, a member of Country Meadows in Independence said he thinks Baptist Builders can take an already established ministry and build – pun intended – something even better. Baptist Builders offers a simple way to help construct a new building while being good stewards: a church provides the … [Read more...]
Twice Adopted tells of God’s Love at Branson, on tour
ST. LOUIS – Adopting 10 children into a family might seem daunting, but it works for Randy and Linda Koenig who live in a St. Louis suburb. Their children, adopted between 1990 and 2002, now range in age from 16 to 23. They sing as “Twice Adopted” at the historic Owens Theatre, Branson’s first theatre, which the Koenigs manage. The name indicates inclusion in a physical family as well as a spiritual family, as all the children have surrendered their lives to Jesus. After 11 childless … [Read more...]
Send N. America sparks Alabama-St. Louis church plant
Eric House, Senior pastor First Baptist Church, Hokes Bluff, Ala. Like thousands of other Southern Baptist churches, First Baptist Church of Hokes Bluff, Ala., has a long and treasured history of missions involvement. Several of our families have served as foreign missionaries. We have given substantially to missions through our local association, the Cooperative Program and special Southern Baptist Convention offerings. Yet despite that long history, it has been nearly 15 years since … [Read more...]
Pastor, family make return to Congo for mission work
KINSHASA, Congo – It is a dark, occult-like world, but a Missouri pastor and his family took the message of Jesus’ love to the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo during a recent mission trip. First Baptist, LaBelle, Pastor James Renot and family took a two-week trip in June to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, a place where they served as International Mission Board (IMB) missionaries from 2005-07. Now, few missionaries are there, with even IMB pulling out. “The obstacles … [Read more...]
Guns in church
Norwood – Pastor Stephen Fugitt believes that churches have the right to arm themselves for the day when a gunman enters their buildings to do harm. Yet no one had time to open fire against a gunman who aimed his .357 magnum revolver at Fugitt as he preached to his congregation at the First Baptist Church of Norwood, July 21. Instead, one church member grabbed the gunman’s arm, causing his first shot to hit the ceiling, while other men helped to wrestle him to the ground. They held him … [Read more...]
Let’s celebrate the past and the present, too
I’m so glad the pastor invited me to participate in his church’s 190th anniversary. Can we even begin to imagine the kingdom impact of a rural congregation over the course 19 decades of ministry? Think about the total number of people saved and baptized or the number of Vacation Bible School cookies eaten on the premises or the total number of chickens that were fried for all the church luncheons. The numbers are unfathomable. The drive to this worship service was breathtakingly … [Read more...]
Freshwater Church gives birth to ‘twins’
JEFFERSON CITY – Freshwater Church in Bolivar birthed two new churches on Sept. 8. One was in Jefferson City, the other in Springfield. Freshwater Church, Jefferson City, officially launched by meeting at a Lutheran high school near Wardsville. Joshua Hartley was called as planter/pastor in June. Freshwater Church, Springfield, was launched at Ed V. Williams Elementary School. It is led by Planter/Pastor J. T. Patton. Their mother church, Freshwater Church, Bolivar, is pastored by … [Read more...]
Portable baptisteries see use for church plants
ST. LOUIS – Two portable baptisteries have been provided for use in Kansas City and St Louis by joint funding from the North American Mission Board and the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC). Rick Hedger, MBC partnership missions strategist, provided the funds to support the church planting underway. “The need to support SEND Kansas City and SEND St. Louis church planting strategies was my motivation for providing them,” said Hedger. “Baptism is the first step of obedience in … [Read more...]
God calls a cop to become full-time pastor
Pleasant Valley – Open Door Bible Baptist Church in Pleasant Valley is more than a church-plant name. It describes the path of its pastor Shane Stamm. Stamm was 19 when he began a career with the Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) in 1993. He’ll leave the force in December. “It’s a super job. When I tell people I’m walking away, they ask why don’t I wait for six years (for full retirement). I’m walking away from a $70,000 job to basically nothing. It’s a wonderful thing,” Stamm … [Read more...]
Springfield pastor Bumpers to preach convention sermon
KANSAS CITY – Eddie Bumpers, senior pastor of Crossway Baptist Church, Springfield, will deliver the convention sermon during the annual meeting of the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), Oct. 29 at 11:35 a.m. As the annual meeting approaches, Bumpers prays that God will use his sermon to encourage pastors “to be dedicated to where God has put them and to overcome the difficulties, the obstacles, and the discouragement that might come.” “The heart of my message, for myself as well as for … [Read more...]
A former minister’s heartfelt candor about the church where he once served
I left First Baptist Church, (FBC) Bolivar, just over three years ago. I had had enough. I was tired of inefficient committees. I was tired of worship wars. I was tired of what I perceived as passive leadership. I was tired of the infighting. I was tired…of the church. To be clear, I was not just tired of FBC; rather, I was tired of the institutional church. I grew up at a rural Baptist church in central Missouri that, while smaller, operated much like FBC, the first church I’d really … [Read more...]
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