Sunday, Lou Anne and I had the awesome privilege of worshiping with the eight-month-old Crosspoint Church meeting in the Morehead Conference Center. It was a great, upbeat worship that was attended by somewhere between 200 and 300 worshipers. The music was excellent. Daniel Lucas, lead pastor, preached the concluding sermon in a series he called, “Religion Bytes”, based on Paul’s letter to the Galatians. It was an excellent sermon that highlighted the difference between grace and law.
At the end of the service, the congregation moved to the swimming pool at Morehead University where 16 new believers were baptized by Pastor Lucas. I think it was the first baptism service that I’ve ever witnessed that had a lifeguard on duty. What an exciting event!
If my figures are correct, I think that during the short life of this new church, 30 new believers have been baptized. That’s amazing and inspiring!
But, it shouldn’t be surprising. The church is doing everything it can to be inviting and safe for people far from God. Greeters, in their brown Crosspoint t-shirts, were everywhere shaking hands and welcoming everyone with warm smiles and greetings. Jesus was lifted up in the music.
Pastor Daniel Lucas preached a clear message about Jesus and the meaning of salvation. People responded in faith.
One strong emphasis was made during the service: the importance of being baptized as a public profession of faith in Jesus. My impression was that this was a regular feature of Pastor Daniel’s sermons. I also noted he began the invitation with his introduction to the sermon and repeated the invitation to come to Christ throughout his message.
Sometimes, I’m dismayed that we have made something out of baptism that it isn’t. Southern Baptists are right on target in their proclamation that water baptism does not save. In fact, it is heresy to proclaim that baptism does save or is part of salvation.
New Testament baptism isn’t a mark of denominational loyalty, either. New Testament baptism is a public proclamation of the salvation that a new believer has experienced.
It is something a believer can never forget. I still remember going into that lead-lined baptistry (they didn’t know the danger of lead back then) at Second Baptist Church, Hopkinsville, and being baptized when I was 11 years old. I can’t remember the words spoken at that service, but I will never forget the public way I declared my new faith in Jesus Christ!
Planters, make much of baptism! New believers need to be baptized as soon as possible after receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Doubt may creep into the mind of a person who has made a verbal declaration of faith, but it is very difficult to forget the physical experience of baptism and its strong public profession that the individual belongs to Jesus. “. . .go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. . .” Matthew 28:19
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posted by: Larry Baker on September 30th, 2008
When I share reasons for church planting, the number one reason is because of the vast lostness in our country and our world. The terrible truth is that the overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of planet earth do not know the One who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” In order to reach this large number of the “far from God”, we must plant new churches. New church plants are the most effective means of reaching lost people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Another important reason for planting churches is to “save the denomination”. Now, I know that today a favorite sport of many people is to kick the denomination, to malign the denomination, to ignore the denomination, etc. I have heard many young planters who have said the denomination is not relevant to them or their plants.
Oh, how wrong they are! The Southern Baptist convention is relevant and church planting is one of the reasons why.
Do you remember the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart? It is a classic that is shown numerous times during the Christmas season.
In the movie, Stewart played George Bailey. George, who owned and managed a savings and loan institution, came to a place where he didn’t think he mattered anymore. He was on the verge of committing suicide by jumping into an icy river when Clarence, the angel, decided to show him what his town would look like without the influence of George Bailey. So Clarence sent Bailey to George’s hometown as it would have developed if George had never existed. As you remember, the town was a terrible place. He learned that his life was not unimportant.
What would the world look like without the influence of the Southern Baptist Convention and the amazing Cooperative Program? I’m no angel, but I can give you a glimpse. There would not be those 18 churches that Lou Anne and I planted in Ecuador and Peru. There would not be those hundreds of believers that were won and became the nucleus of those new churches. And worse, there would be a vacuum of churches and believers around the world because there was no Southern Baptist Convention.
I thank God that the Southern Baptist Convention was created and the Cooperative Program has been used by God to carry the Gospel throughout the world.
This heritage is in danger. The future is not so clear. We can safely predict that thousands of Southern Baptist Convention churches will close their doors in the next 20 years. Without a strong church planting ethic in our convention, there will not be strong missionary- sending congregations and strong theological seminaries that are funded by the Cooperative Program.
Let’s “save the denomination” because it is relevant to reaching our world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Let’s “save the denomination” by planting strong Acts 1:8 reproducing Bible-believing cooperating new churches!
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posted by: Larry Baker on September 16th, 2008
Each year around this time, Southern Baptist churches all over Kentucky are filling out a form called the Annual Church Profile (ACP). What does this ACP have to do with church planting?
It has much to do with church planting. Statistics that indicate important church growth information are gleamed from these reports, and are used by SBC, KBC, associations, and churches to discover trends and issues that need to be addressed by church leadership. It is a way, also, to statistically demonstrate the effectiveness of church planting as a key evangelism component for reaching the lost.
Yesterday, I received the Elkhorn Baptist Association newsletter. The DOM of Elkhorn, Don Reed, wrote an insightful article in the newsletter about the ACP. With his permission, here is the article:
August is the start of a new school year and is the time most churches begin their fall programs. It is also the time for the Annual Church Profile (ACP). We have mailed the ACPs to our churches and ask that you will take time to fill it out and return it to our office by October 6th.
Why do we have an Annual Church Profile? It is good to report the success of our churches. We send a copy to the Kentucky Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. It allows all of us to plan our programs for the future. We are your association and we exist to serve each and all of our churches. We are a family of churches. As a part of our family our association has a responsibility to serve and support our churches. As part of our family each of our churches has a responsibility to the association.
Let’s reflect on the information that we receive on the ACPs. The first part of the ACP asks for a report on evangelism. It specifically asks about the number of baptisms, age groups and other additions. The main goal of all our churches is to see people come to know Jesus Christ as God’s Son and our Savior. I realize that we are talking about numbers and you may see that as unimportant. I hope you note that at Pentecost the Bible records 3,000 people who were saved. Also, it is not just a large number of baptisms, for each baptism is one more person for the kingdom. Last year we reported 638 baptisms, which is much less than the previous year. However, 14 of our family of churches did not submit an ACP. Again, it is important for each church to submit an ACP.
The ACP also asks for Sunday School enrollment for each age group and average Sunday School
attendance. Why are these numbers important? Sunday School remains the single most important way for people to come to know Jesus Christ. It also provides a good way to assimilate people into the life of the church and a means of group Bible study. This, too, does not just represent numbers, but each person is an important part of the kingdom.
The ACP asks worship attendance VBS enrollment, Discipleship, music ministry, WMU, and men and
boys mission involvement. The ACP also asks for financial information. You may report the offerings your church receives through the year. You also report the gifts to mission support. You will find a place to report the support to our associational missions. We depend on the support of each church in our Association to fulfill our ministries. We are asking each church to contribute 2% to our association. At the time you complete the ACP it is easy to assess your support of our association. I hope and pray that every church will make a contribution and that you will prayerfully consider increasing your gifts to
our minist ries.
Thanks, Don. DOMs like Don are key in the motivating and collecting of ACPs. When I was a DOM, I worked hard to always have 100% of ACPs filled out and collected. I made calls, visited pastors and sometimes helped churches fill them out. Most of the churches were prompt in submitting this document.
This was important to me as a DOM because much of our associational strategy was based on the findings of the reports. Committees used the findings to map out their plans. And churches were able to track their progress. Now as a denominational worker, I am able to utilize these reports to develop strategy for my department.
I pray every new church and existing church will submit their ACPs in order that those who develop strategy on the local and national levels will have key information necessary to make good decisions.
One last word: several weeks ago I recorded a podcast with my counterpart at the Maryland/Delaware Convention, David Jackson. He just sent me an e-mail letting me know that the podcast is now up and running. It is posted at
http://www.bcmd.org/cm_podcast It is related to the Kentucky—Maryland/Delaware partnership. I hope you will listen in.
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posted by: Larry Baker on August 29th, 2008
Last week, our Kentucky network of High Impact church planters met for a meeting and meal at the Kentucky Baptist Building in Louisville. It was a great time of fellowship and exchanging ideas. There was also a discussion of the Lifeway-conducted “Church Planting Health and Survivability Study”, an internal survey of Kentucky High Impact churches, reviewing of two books (Andy Stanley’s
Making Vision Stick and Jeff Iorg’s
Characteristics of Leadership—which were read in advance of the meeting) and a sharing time from each planter about a life that had been transformed through the ministry of the planter’s church.
During the look at the internal survey of High Impact churches in Kentucky, we had a time of discussion about the offering and its place in worship. It was noted that in a recent white paper that in a 2007 NAMB study, church plants that have a proactive stewardship plan enjoy a
178% greater chance of surviving beyond five years than their non-proactive counterparts. It was also noted that the handling of finances and other aspects of stewardship are key elements of discipleship.
Planters often neglect stewardship because they are afraid that if they place emphasis on giving, that the surrounding community will view them as money-hungry charlatans. But, because giving and stewardship issues are so important to the development of disciples, because giving is an important part of authentic worship, and because so many people are struggling with debt and how to manage their finances---it is essential that planters and all churches help their members and prospective members understand God’s will in the area of stewardship.
The white paper poses this challenge: “How can I (the church planter or pastor) teach God’s plan for stewardship and giving without making prospects or new members feel like they are being manipulated for their money?”
The white paper entitled,
The Stewardship Challenge. . ., provides four keys to developing a stewardship plan for the congregation:
· Be straightforward about the costs of ministry.
· Teach the scriptural approach to money management.
· Model giving as a congregation.
· Model stewardship to your congregation.
This white paper referenced in this blog can be found on the NAMB website under
The Church Planting Village
www.churchplantingvillage.net.
A final question: What are you doing to develop stewardship in your church plant or church? I would like to hear your plan. A short description in the comments section may help many church planters.
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posted by: Larry Baker on August 25th, 2008
A key element in the planting of churches is the partnership between local churches and the church plant/planter. This means that many existing churches are needed to step up and plant new churches.
Why? 1) The United State is a great mission field. I remember as a young pastor (long time ago when young was last used for me), I heard a number of people say that "if we don't get busy evangelizing and discipling, it won't be long before we will need missionaries to come to the US." Those days are here! Every study that defines being a Christian as a personal believer committed to follow Jesus Christ, is telling us that the vast majority of people in the US are not Christ followers. To put it bluntly, the majority of the US population is lost. New churches are needed to reach the lost.
2) The US, for many reasons, has become a huge magnet for a tremendous number of immigrants. A little over a week ago, the Kentucky Baptist Convention hosted a prayer dinner for people who were working with ethnic people groups in Louisville. 32 individuals came representing work with 19 different ethnic goups. And this was less than 1/3 of the known ethnic groups that are represented in Louisville. The ethnic groups desperately need new churches.
3) The US population is gravitating to urban areas. 50% of Americans now live in urban cities and counties. In most of these urban settings the ratio of population to church has widened tremendously. The urban areas need new churches.
4) Areas that used to be strongholds for evangelical Bible-believing churches have experienced huge culture shifts. Even in places where Southern Baptists have been traditionally strong the population-to-church ratio has risen markedly. New churches are needed to handle this demographic shift.
5) The greying of the church is another reason for planting new churches. Most of our traditional churches are made up of people 40+ years or older. We have left several generations behind. New churches are needed that can connect with the younger generations that are only found in small precentages in our existing churches. To compound the problem, many of our existing churches, who are generally not happy with the dwindling number of young adults in their congregations, either will not make changes to attract these generations or are unable to do so. The answer, new churches that will target the young adults that are far from God.
I could go on...but it should be clear that new churches are needed. And it is the responsibility of existing churches to plant, partner and sponsor these new churches.
What about your church? Has it planted, sponsored or partnered with a new church in the last twenty years? For the majority of our churches the answer is "no". In fact, most churches have not even thought about planting a new church.
Maybe now is the time to begin discussions on planting a new church.
This Saturday, August 16, at Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, a Super Saturday Event will be conducted. Many conferences will be held during the day. One of the conferences that will be offered is entitled Partners in Planting. This will be a conference that will look at the why's of church planting and the different ways a local church can sponsor or partner with a church plant. If you would like to attend Super Saturday in Lexington or in any of the other locations on August 23, September 6 and 13, you can call 502 4 89-3572 or email supersaturday@kybaptist.org and register or find out a list of conference offerings.
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posted by: Larry Baker on August 13th, 2008
