The Ohio Independent Baptist, December 1999

Use pencil, emall or phone but get your nc to us by January 15 for the February OIBI Please note the new ema ll address: ...___II&':.~ dandlthomas@glassclty.net Dave and Pat Warren L ooking Back: \\,'c than!-.. the Lord {()r the \\ .1\ He ha. gui ded our . .... f1J() (-.tc ~ ~ n\ er the pa · t ) ear and a half. ~ l.111, t1n1cs He ha. arra nged fo r u to be . ~ 1.'n ~ 1.)Ur dt)Or tep or 1n ) our church at JU ,t the .1ppropr1,1te 1110,nent, out of the r Jnge ot n1ere human plann ing. We rcn1cn1bcr trying for three day lo vi it a '-h:k pastor. be 'Oming . lightl y fru trated \\ 1th our O\\ n neg!igence in getting ·onlrol of our chedule. But on the third <la). \\ e decided to delay dinner unu I after \,\ c ·copped at the pa tor ' hon1e . Ju ta · \Ve drove into the dri, e\\ a). \VC \ \ ere followed by another c .ir and joi ned at the front door by a 0 n11,, ions here and around the world . Looking Al1ead: As a fell owship, our prin1ary goal \vill be lo fund the po ' iti on of hurch-Planting Coordinator. We will be thrill ed ir the fund · materiali ze 1n a time ly fa, hi on, ·o that an acti vc carch can begin and a candidate for the po · iti on be presented to our fe llowship by the nex t annual conference in Toledo, Oct.23-24, 2000. Other goal · inc lude: 1) We want to continue to have Leader hip Team Mee ting with deacon and wive in n1ore of our churche , a we have onl y begun to get to know you. Some of our contacts were very brief and only with pa tor and wife. Feel free to e-1nail and ugge t time · that would work best for you. 2) To he lp u build bridge of The 1999-2000 OWMU proJect video 1s available by contacting Sue Miller at 614-875-41 28. fri endship in areas where !)CVeral churche arc clu tered togclher, we would like to arrange fo r fell ows hip with all tho c pastors and wives . 3) Through our Care and Concern committee, we would like to connec t older pa tor with younger in a mentor relation hip. 4) Fourthl y, we would like to encourage further deve lopment of our Area Fellow hips. Since most already have pastor ·and wive , fell owships or ladies· miss ionary group , we would like to concentrate our effort thi year on helping those who still do not. In ensuing year , we hope to see our areas develop other ministrie : men's program , youth programs. a well a occas ional joint Jay conferences. Until Je u comes, we want to be bu y about Hi busine . de.1 'on and v.·i fe. oon to be joined by the other deacon and wi ve -ju t in un1e for a Chri tma dinner. When we learned that the deacon had actuall y heen tr\ 1ng to contact u . we knew that , " God had planned thi very moment of t1ur arr1 val. On another afternoon, v.'hen we 'a iled a pa tor to arrange a vi it we lct.1rned that membe r of the ir church– fr1end of our. - had lo t a son the pre\ 1ou · ,veek. We knew God had "Together We Can," Illustrated By New Comtnunity Baptist \_) r he trated that vi it. And when we copped b) another pa tor ' home we learned that hi v:ife had j u t uffered a ,eri ou fall that afternoon. On the e and other occa ion . we j ust "happened" to -.ho \.\ up at the right time. Looking ,.\round: What a joy it wa for u'-) to recognize o man 1 of your face at ..1ur .l\nnual Conference in Port ·mouth , bcLau-.e ) ou had taken the time to help u ~et acquainted with you . You have hccome our frie nds. We love you and thank lhe Lord fo r you~ We were glad \\ e ha\ e had a part In prayi ng for you as ~ ou hared ho\.\ the Lord is working in :, our 11 \ e and In your churches. Frcm our conference "missions" theme. v. c learned together that as we \lrenQthen the tie that binds us, we al o .... -,trcn 2:then the cords that tie us to ... N ew Community Bapti t in Avon, Ohio, he ld its fir t service on October 10. God ble ed with nearly 150 in attendance; l00 of which were people from the com,nunity . From tho e who attended there were fi ve indicati on of sal vati on, 14 reque ts for information, l O expre sions of interes t in a smal l group Bible tudy, 8 were interested in a "Church Chat' ' in formati on meeti ng and 12 identified themselve a " eekers." The work began with 6-8 month of dern ograph– ics, survey ing and ne tworking with community people. A core group of 12 adults who were comm itted to being part of an outreach-focused church plant me t for four month . For IO weeks prior to the first service there were every-other-week outreach event (li ght touch, high vi ibility, focu ing on the unconditi onal love of God). About 25 ,000 touche were made through the core group and he lp from area churches. These out– reache climaxed at the same tjme two mailings (25 ,000 pieces) went out 14 and 7 days before the first service. Brian Gardiner (Bapti st Mid-Missions) i the lead church planter and Dan Sim,non , a ociate. The new church has the fl avor of a regional church plant with 15 area churches in the Hebron Fell owship helping in one way or another. The key local upport has been through the mini try of First Baptist Church of Elyria under the leadersrup of Pastor Brad Quick. First Baptist has shared families , support staff, finances, equipment and almo t anything el e needed . Thi new church really i a te timony that together we can do more. --sub,nitted b)· Dan Sinzn1011s