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.
