Ohio Church Planters Learn and Celebrate Together!

The
second annual Church Planters Forum was a great event attended by 43 of our SBC
planters, 24 church planter wives and several church planter catalysts from
around the state.  There were over 80 in attendance.  

The event
started Thursday morning, May 19, with everyone gathering for a tremendous time
of worship, testimonies and fellowship.   North American Mission
Board President, Kevin Ezell, and the Midwest Region Vice President, Steve
Davis, were able to attend and give words of encouragement to the planters.
 State Executive Director, Jack Kwok and SCBO President, Ron Hopkins, also
participated.  Dublin Baptist Church in the Metro Columbus Association
once again hosted this event. Facilitators led the opening sessions each
morning and the afternoon breakouts. However, the real leaders were the
planters themselves, as many shared testimonies, struggles, and praises as to what
God is doing in the various church plants.  After each large group session, the planters
rotated to four different breakout conferences which were facilitated by Steve
Long, Jonathan Newman, Kevin Litchfield, and Steve Hopkins.  This was a
format where the planters were the teachers to each other as well as the
learners from each other.   

Cathy Pound, Terrie Odom and Karen Jones
facilitated the breakouts for the planter’s wives. After the Thursday afternoon
session most of the group met for a banquet meal in a nearby hotel.  The
next morning continued on a high spiritual note with more worship, testimonies
and prayer sessions.  The event ended on an even higher spiritual high
note which was evidenced by openly praying for each other, singing, and praises
to God.

The forum created a
visual of the broad spectrum of church plants we have in Ohio.
  Church planters from the suburbs, inner cities, small rural towns,
and midsize towns were represented.  Various age groups were present
as some planters were in their twenties and others in their sixties.  Representation from different ethnic groups
was also evident, as African American, Anglo, Filipino, and Hispanic planters
were present. The excitement about what God is doing in church planting in
Ohio, and the desire to repeat this event next year was obvious.  

NEXT
YEAR’S CHURCH PLANTER FORUM WILL BE THE MAY 3rd and 4th, SO PLANTERS AND WIVES
MARK YOUR CALENDAR’S NOW! Church planting is one of the most effective ways of
reaching great numbers of people for Jesus Christ.

During this last
reporting year of total baptisms in our state convention 27% of the baptisms
came from churches that have been started in the last 15 years.  115 of
the congregations in our state convention have been started within the last
five years.  God is calling out more and more church planters.  What
is equally exciting is that He is now moving and calling out more and more
churches to be sponsors for these new church plants.   Continue to
pray that God will call out more church planters and more sponsor churches in
Ohio. Thanks to all of our State Convention Churches for participating in the
Ray Roberts State Missions Offerings and the Cooperative Program.  These
funds made this event possible.  These funds also provide monthly income
supplements to many of our planters as well as start up funds for each new
church plant.  Thanks to all planters, wives, Church Planting Resource
Group members (Quinton Moss and Charlotte Barbo), SCBO staff, and Associational
Missionary/Church Planting Catalysts who attended and supported this event.