This column is by Matt Black

I was first introduced to Clear Creek in 2008 when I answered God’s call on my life into the pastoral ministry. As a non-traditional student, I was 25 when I answered the call into the ministry. Clear Creek provided me with the biblical knowledge that I needed in order to prepare me for the ministry. My course work focused on much more than the lectures every week, it focused on practical, hands-on ministry training. Clear Creek’s faculty and staff are not only committed to teaching God’s Word, they put as much emphasis on practical ministry as classroom learning.

During my final semester of my senior year at Clear Creek, God called me to Wilmington, Ohio, to pastor Immanuel Baptist Church. After serving in Ohio for over six years, God called me back to Clear Creek, this time to serve as the dean of Institutional Advancement.

The mission of preparing Baptist preachers to share the gospel is vitally important to Clear Creek today especially in light of some of the statistics we have been seeing regarding spiritual darkness in the Appalachian region. By some estimates, fewer than 10 percent of residents in some parts of the region go to church.

Pike County, located in extreme Eastern Kentucky, is one of these counties. According to Jason Lowe, associational missions strategist for the Pike Association, Elliott County is greatly unchurched to the point that they would be considered an unreached people group by the International Mission Board. With God’s help, we are doing all we can to change that.

Clear Creek’s mission drives us to train pastors and church planters that are prepared to penetrate the lost and dying world with the “Light of the World.”Recently, our students participated in the Crossover event held the day before Hope for the Mountains, in conjunction with Creekside Church and their pastor Jason Johnson. Clear Creek students spent the morning going door to door and inviting people to the crusade.

The Wednesday night following the crusade, Johnson said: “Praise God! Five guests Wednesday night at Creekside Church as a direct result of the Crossover visitation Saturday. One baptism scheduled for a young lady that came to Christ at the Hope for the Mountains crusade. All five were visited by Clear Creek Baptist Bible College students.”

Clear Creek is proud to be the Bible College of the Kentucky Baptist Convention since 1946. Thanks for your Cooperative Program support that enables us to fulfill our mission of equipping those called of God to Christian service.

Matt Black is dean of Institutional Advancement at Clear Creek Baptist Bible School.