Arkansas
In 2020, Woodlawn Baptist Church and Oasis Little Rock joined together to form Hillcrest Community Church in Little Rock with the vision of becoming an Arkansas church “in the city, for the nations.” Under the leadership of pastors Mitch Tapson and Jordan Bowen, the church has embraced that vision. Multiple language groups are represented in the congregation, and the church’s missions focus includes reaching South Asians in the community. Bowen said the church’s vision is simply connected to the Great Commission. “That’s been our prayer from the beginning, if anything happens that our only response would be that it’s only God,” Bowen said. To read more of this story, click here.
Florida
The Haitian Leadership Conference at Peniel Haitian Baptist Church in Lake Worth drew 920 Haitian Florida Baptists for a time of training, fellowship and worship. The event featured a variety of workshops on topics that included pastoral ministry, deacon’s ministry, church administration, strategies for effective Sunday School growth and sustainability, leadership development for men and next generation ministry training.
The day ended with a worship celebration led by the Peniel worship team. To read more of this story, click here.
Georgia
Revival services at Kingwood Baptist Church in Moultrie were, in a word, “remarkable,” according to pastor Matt Greene. The congregation, which averages around 80 on Sundays, recorded 30 salvation decisions between Sunday and Wednesday. Kingwood leaders sensed the Lord leading them to hold an evangelistic revival two years ago. They reached out to Tim Williams, an evangelism consultant with the Georgia Baptist Mission Board, to lead it, and the church began to prepare for a spiritual harvest through Bible study, evangelism-focused sermons and intentional outreach to community members. Prayer undergirded the entire event. Greene said, “It all begins with prayer.” To read more, click here.
Kentucky
Four years ago, Flemingsburg Baptist Church invested in an abandoned building located beside the Dairy Queen near the local middle school. Bobby Carr, the church’s youth pastor, thought the spot would provide the perfect opportunity for a ministry site to reach youth in the community since middle school kids were flocking there every day, he said.
The church equipped the building with ping-pong tables, televisions, video games and, of course, food. The Refuge, as it’s called, opens for two hours after school, Monday through Thursday. Students, many of whom have never heard of Jesus or the Bible, grab a bite to eat and hang out in a safe place. The Refuge has become a place where relationships are developed and the gospel is shared. Simply put, it has worked, Carr said.
The gospel, he said, has its own draw to the students. “It has been unreal how God is working,” Carr said. “We have the gospel to share with them and there’s nothing better for them to hear,” he said. To read more of this story, click here.
Louisiana
Trinity Baptist Church has served as a hub for hurricane relief in Lake Charles the last two years, but the church recently stepped up to serve as a centralized collection site for medical supplies and financial gifts for Ukrainian refugees. Since mid-March, the church has collected more than $90,000 that will be forwarded to Louisiana Baptist Disaster Relief. In cooperation with Send Relief, LBDR will use the funds to purchase emergency food supplies, shelter, transportation, medical care and hygiene kits for displaced Ukrainians.
The church has two members from Ukraine, who have helped put names and faces with the conflict. One of the members, Irina Moss, has been a member of Trinity Baptist since 2006. Before that, she lived in the city of Zaporizhzhia, a city in southern Ukraine. Moss has spearheaded efforts to collect supplies for Ukraine. “I am very grateful for [the church’s] encouragement and support,” Moss said. To those who want to help, she says, “Just do something. There are many ways people can help.” To read more, click here.
North Carolina
Parkwood Baptist Church in Gastonia has spent the last five years investing in and committing to ministry in Central Asia through partnerships with International Mission Board teams. Church leaders say this intentional focus has allowed them to raise the ceiling on the help and encouragement they can provide to ministry partners there. The church focuses on that region in several ways.
Under pastor Jeff Long’s leadership, global disciple making pastor Andrew Brafford met and connected with Winfield Scott, an IMB leader among those reaching Central Asian people groups. The church began by providing child care for meetings of IMB workers and expanded to missionary kid retreats and conversational English camps.
This missional focus is kept alive in the hearts of church members because “the gospel has fostered a heart for the nations,” Brafford said. To read more, click here.
South Carolina
Burnsview Baptist Church in Greer set a Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal of $20,000 for 2021 and exceeded that total by 600% — reaching a grand total of $122,000 by the end of the year. The church averages 325 in worship with annual giving at a little more than $1 million.
Since its founding in 1921, Burnsview has seen steady growth. Tim Huckaby, pastor since 2002, said the church was once called “God’s little secret,” but it now has an active ministry presence in the community. “Our prayer is that God will be glorified, the church will be edified, and souls will be won to the Kingdom for such a time as this,” Huckaby said. To read more, click here.
