The Ohio Independent Baptist, June 1999

Th.~<> The Newsletter of the Ohio Association of Regular Baptis t Churches Vol. 72 No. 3 P lanti ng Churc h es Ac ross Ohi o The time has come for us as an Associa– tion of churches to launch a f resh church planting effo rt , one that will "stretch" us sp1ntually and motivate us to "sow" strate– gtcally across our state. We will need every church in our fellowship to rally to thts cause as we put a second man on full – t1me to coordinate our church planting eff orts across Ohio. This church planting coordinator wi ll lead us 1n strateg1zing and 1mplement1ng plans for planting new churches. He will serve as coach and he title .. SlJ rtLh and ~O\A" \.'. .tlllL' l o n1e one evening a~ J followed lJ\ 42's w1nd1ng p.1th th,ough J<11n1 Lounty heading back co ( 'c.:da , vill e. Jt ~..:cntl.:d parltLula,ly upprop, htll' tn view o f the hard ~ 1 ork 1 ,.flll:Scntcd tn hc>tll "~Lret<.htng " ,u1d "1i11\\ 1ng:· It has a bthlic.,ll 11ng a\ well , 111 rite la111tl1 i1J 11nagc1y c>f \owing the ~ced JJ' the \\' ord 1n lht ~o il of people 's heart s (1\1 :llt 11). I lit· plaru truth 1s that while strt:tLlung hu 1t ~. JI help.!) ' J hell' 1.S pain :.lSSlll.lil lcd v.1tia ~trclcl11ng .u,J )Cl we all ,ea l11c thL catalyst to spark us to move ahead to– gether in a fresh and united effort . Church planting is important enough to warrant the hiring of a second, full-time person to "lead the charge" into fresh territory. It is impor– tant enough for us to add Stretch and Sow to our church budgets and to our prayer lists. It is important enough for us to open up a whole new position in our State fellow– ship and unite behind this common cause. truthfulncs~ of the 1notlo, ' 'No pain . no gain ." In this .\'tretch (1 11d ,\'oH· proposal. the "'ounc il of 12 and I arc a~king al I our churches to stretch then1sclvcs 10 a new level. We undcr\ tand th1 \ will he .1 ''tea l 'i trclch" and that ... 011\t.: pau1 will he a\1.,ocia tcd wuh it ; we also understand the gain -.; arc worth the , uctchan g c fft, rl. What I \ Jl thitt we need to \ tretch? We:, wlll need to \ lrct<:h, our thinl-..ing and v1s1on ahoul wh,H could he . our <..u1nfo1t ,one 1n the 111.1.tt er nf l crr1lo r1dlt 'in1. anu our huJgt' (\ ll) hn4111\:C the tO\l o t Iha , Ill:\\ C IHh.. ·dV\)r \Ve \,ill ll\.'cd tll ... tn.:t l: h uu1 burd'-'n h11 June 1999 los t people , ex tending it to folks in o ther towns around us. In some cases we will need to stretch our people, challenging them to rea l involvement-even beyond fin ances. We wi ll need to stretch and chnllcnge the status quo of our sleepy passivity and become proac ti ve in es tablishing new work . We will need to tretch our appli cation of the Great Comm1s ion to the citizens of Ohio. Ye , church planting wit I chal lengc us at every level, and ye t we know that in the end it wi 11 be the best thing for us. People will be saved , new believer · will be baptized and . trcngth– cned , our current churches will he enli vened and enriched. We will exercise n1usclc s we never knew we had and be the better for 1t. Stretch ing and sowing will do as much good for our current churchc, as it will for the new churches that conic into hei ng . John Greening 's motto applies very well : ' 'Together we can accon1phsh rnore." This venture will tes t our togcLhcrncs ·. Le t ·s pass the tC\l I . .J) \' In This Issue • Can you say the Ohio State Motto? page 2 • Helen Hare & Ralph Hill have been promoted to heaven page 3 • We're taking a big step forward page 4·5 • Abbe Road quiz tearn wins Hebron league page 7 • Ohio worr,cn w< nt to buy , 1nule page 8