Penetrating the Lostness
Penetrating the
Lostness
By
Jack Kwok
The
57th annual meeting of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio
convened in Cambridge, Ohio November 3-4, 2010 under the leadership of
President Ron Hopkins. The Program
Committee led by President Hopkins and Chair Tim Carr engaged the Penetrating
the Lostness Report voted upon by the messengers to the June 15-16, 2010
Southern Baptist Convention in Orlando, Florida by utilizing the title as the
theme for the 57th annual meeting of Ohio Southern Baptists.
This theme
guided each of the four sessions by concentrating on a crucial aspect of the
Penetrating the Lostness report: Spiritual Renewal, Cooperative Mission
Program, Church Planting, and Evangelism.
Pastors and Laity led messengers and guests in each session to celebrate
what God is doing through Southern Baptists in Ohio and around the world to
Penetrate the Lostness and challenged the messengers to commit to specific
decisions to increase our witness and obedience to the Great Commission. Messengers and guests responded through
specific commitment cards and a public invitation for each session.
Susie Emery, WMU
leader from Woodsfield First Baptist Church, led the session on Spiritual
Renewal. She highlighted the prayer
walking and driving across Ohio and then challenged messengers and guests to
commit to personal spiritual renewal and other actions requested by the
Penetrating the Lostness report.
Tom
Pendergrass, pastor of Urbancrest Baptist Church, led the messengers and guests
in the session on Penetrating the Lostness through the Cooperative Mission
Program. Pastor Pendergrass celebrated
and commended Ohio Southern Baptist churches for their faithful and sacrificial
support of the Southern Baptists Cooperative Mission Program that supports
state missions, North American missions, and international missions. Furthermore, he challenged Ohio Southern
Baptist churches who are giving little or nothing to become full partners in
our Southern Baptist Cooperative Mission Program. Additionally, he confessed that he hadn’t led
his church to support the Cooperative Mission Program as strongly as they
could. He pledged to lead his church to
do so as he challenged all Southern Baptists to support our Cooperative Mission
Program.
Randy
Chestnut, first vice-president, Gary Odom, Mission Ohio Church Planting
Resource Group Leader, and Danny Rollins, pastor of Rolling Hills Baptist
Church, led the next session emphasis on Penetrating the Lostness through church
planting. They celebrated 27 new starts
and 3 additions this last year, and challenged every Ohio Southern Baptist
church to sponsor a new start next year.
James Edwards, pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, Billy Barbo, pastor
of Circleville First Baptist Church, and Tim Carr, pastor of Northside Baptist Church
stepped forward to announce that their churches will sponsor a new work.
Penetrating
the Lostness through Evangelism guided the theme for the final session. Travis Smalley, pastor of Lakota Hills
Baptist Church, introduced Thing 1 (Jack Helton) and Thing 2 (Brian Frye) as
they employed a humorous skit to emphasize the main thing is to share Jesus
with lost people. They celebrated an 18%
increase in baptisms reported on the last Annual Church Profile and an award
from the North American Mission Board for Excellence in Evangelism.
Messengers
and guests responded enthusiastically to the challenges from each session. They submitted their decision cards, and many
came forward during the public invitation.
Several messengers commented on the moving of the Holy Spirit and how He
used the speakers and musicians for each session to speak to messengers and
guests. Dwayne Lee enlisted and directed
gifted musicians who ably provided worshipful music for each session.
Jack
Kwok, Executive Director of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio, addressed
the need for spiritual renewal in session one: Penetrating the Lostness through
Spiritual Renewal. He celebrated the
blessings of God upon Mission Ohio. Kwok
challenged messengers and guests to seek spiritual renewal in order to
Penetrate the Lostness and realize the Mission Ohio Vision of 1,000,000
believers in 2,020 congregations by the end of 2020.
The
new president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Executive
Committee Frank Page preached from Philippians 1:12-20 in session two:
Penetrating the Lostness through the Cooperative Mission Program. He challenged Ohio Southern Baptists to check
our mindset, motives, and methodology.
Page urged messengers and guests to give their first-rate loyalty to the
first-rate cause of Christ. He declared
that the Cooperative Mission Program will grow where there is Christ-like
selflessness.
Phil
Roberts, president of Mid-Western Baptist Theological Seminary, preached from
Matthew 16:13-20 in session three: Penetrating the Lostness through Church
Planting. He quoted his father Ray
Roberts as saying that a church is backslidden that doesn’t start a church
every year and give 10% to the Cooperative Program. Roberts emphasized that a church of the Lord
Jesus Christ must have converted members and a confessing membership.
During
the final session, Steve Spurgin, pastor of Miamisburg First Baptist Church,
preached the annual sermon from Romans 1:16.
He urged Ohio Southern Baptists “Don’t Be Ashamed of the Gospel” because
of its Divine Source, Dynamic Strength, and Distinguishing Superiority. President Ron Hopkins closed the session with
the President’s Address. Preaching from
Matthew 28:29-30 and Matthew 9:37, he used his personal testimony to champion
Ohio Missions. He pleaded for the
messengers and guests to move from the Great Omission to the Great Commission
in every area of life.
All Southern Baptist entities
presented reports that emphasized the Great Commission and Penetrating the
Lostness. Messengers approved all
resolutions (all resolutions are posted on the SCBO website www.scbo.org as well as
pages
6-7 in this issue) including those affirming Penetrating the Lostness.
The amendment to
the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio Constitution and By-Laws received the
approval of the messengers without any opposition. This amendment permits a constitutional
change by a two-thirds majority of ballots cast by registered messengers
present when the vote is taken.
Messengers
approved the 2010-11 Mission Ohio budget.
While the new budget represents an 8% decrease, it maintains the
59.75/40.25% ratio. For every dollar
given through the Cooperative Mission Program by local churches, 59.75 cents
supports mission work in Ohio and 40.25 cents supports mission work around the
world.
Part of the
mission work in Ohio is the IMPACT Association.
IMPACT is an acronym for Intensive Mission Projects to Affect Community
Transformation. The IMPACT association
this year has been the Muskingum Valley Association. Bob Beike the Associational Missionary
commented about conducting the annual meeting in the Muskingum Valley Association
for the first time, “It provided an opportunity for MVBA to participate at
unprecedented levels. It also provided a
sense of inclusion and connection with the state convention as a whole.” He added further that IMPACT contributed to 3
new church starts, training of 140 laity to live like missionaries, churches
engaging their communities more effectively, and spiritual renewal in several
churches. According to Beike, IMPACT
will add momentum to the advancement of God’s kingdom in the Muskingum Valley
Association.
Mission Ohio
IMPACT concentrates on the West Central Association next year. Dave Snyder is the Associational
Missionary. To learn of mission
opportunities in the West Central Association, email him at wcba@bright.net or call him at
1 937 596 6755.
Darty Stowe
promoted mission work for Mission Ohio throughout the early years. Each year, Georgetown College presents the
Darty and Dot Stowe award to a leader who mirrors the passion of the Stowes to
Penetrate the Lostness. Steve Hopkins
presented the 2010 Darty and Dot Stowe Award to James Edwards. Edwards has served as pastor of the Mt.
Calvary Baptist Church in the Cleveland area since 1994.
The Executive
Director and Team Leader Jack Kwok along with the Church Planting Resource
Group presented Woong Park to the convention in recognition of his sixteen
years of service to Mission Ohio. Park
plans to retire at the end of this calendar year. Known for his deep prayer life, Park has led
Mission Ohio in language church starts and ministries. The messengers and guests expressed their
appreciation with a standing ovation.
Messengers
elected Ron Hopkins, pastor of Briggs Road Baptist Church in Columbus, for the
second term as President of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio. They elected Mike Wilson, pastor of Lincoln
Heights Baptist Church in Mansfield, as first vice-president and Mark Stinson,
pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Cambridge, as second vice-president.
Other
actions of the messengers included choosing Mark Wilson, pastor of North
Fairfield Baptist Church in Hamilton, to preach the 2011 annual sermon and
David Dye, pastor of The Bridge in Little Hocking, as his alternate. Messengers chose to hold the 2011 annual
meeting at Lima Baptist Temple in the West Central Association November 2-3,
2011. Annette Dessecker gave the Mission
Council report, and Travis Smalley gave a report from the Ohio Great Commission
Committee. Messengers elected new
members for the Mission Council. The
website of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio www.scbo.org has more
details of the 57th annual meeting.
Mission Ohio
continues to focus on Penetrating the Lostness.
Let’s press toward that mark.
