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Two Congregations Meeting 'More for Christ' Challenge
10/19/2011
LOUISVILLE – The “More for Christ” spiritual renewal emphasis is helping two Kentucky Baptist churches step up already-active outreaches to their respective communities.
“We are using More for Christ as our push, especially as we go into the rest of the year,” said Chip Pendleton, pastor of Westport Road Baptist Church in Louisville—which has forged partnerships with several schools in recent years.
“We have a retreat soon and will be talking about how we can do more in the community and how we can put more evangelism into it,” Pendleton said.
In Bowling Green, Eastwood Baptist Church is six months into operating a second site just east of the city. Pastor Tom James speaks there at 8:45 a.m. on Sundays before preaching at the main campus.
Ninety members of Eastwood helped start the congregation, which meets at Plano Elementary School. After drawing 225 to its Easter launch, about 165 people are attending weekly services.
“More for Christ has challenged us to step up in all areas of life, not just in giving but in going,” James said. “Missions is not just about money. We look at Plano as our Jerusalem.”
This year Kentucky Baptists began More for Christ, a three-year emphasis to challenge themselves as individuals and congregations to an increased commitment to Christ and the Great Commission.
Several years ago, Westport Road Baptist initiated its community outreach at Westport Road Middle School by hosting a teachers’ luncheon.
Church/state separation somewhat limits what the congregation can do on school grounds, but Pendleton said members have embraced what they can do.
Members have renovated a resource center and the teacher’s lounge, done landscaping, and provided chaperones for a student field trip.
In addition, last Christmas the church sponsored a gift drive for eight students who otherwise wouldn’t have received presents. It is in the midst of planning a campaign to help raise money for student uniforms.
“Twice they put on their sign, ‘Thank you Westport Road Baptist Church Volunteers,’” Pendleton said. “One year they gave us a whole page in the yearbook and thanked us for our help. Those are all neat things.”
Assistant Principal Angela Newcomb said the assistance has been a huge benefit to a struggling school. Westport Road Baptist’s support—alongside new faculty and leadership at the school—have improved morale, she explained.
“It helps us because once people are in the building and see the classrooms and teachers, it helps the school’s image in the community,” said Newcomb, a 2000 graduate of Campbellsville University.
“Seventy percent of our kids are at-risk,” she said. “Having church people come in and do these projects helps the environment.”
With added impetus from More for Christ, Westport Road Baptist expanded its outreach in 2011. That includes plans to soon buy Christmas gift cards for more than 300 students at two schools—one for teenage parents and the other for girls from abusive backgrounds.
Among its other endeavors are sponsoring community Easter egg hunts and teachers’ luncheons at a nearby elementary school, monthly visits to a retirement home, and working with Habitat for Humanity.
It has sponsored two block parties at a nearby apartment complex and has welcomed new families to the church as a result.
In addition to maintaining its Cooperative Program gifts of 10 percent, Westport Road Baptist is increasing its missions giving.
“We are putting more money into community partnerships, evangelism and missions,” Pendleton said. “More for Christ is where we get people to thinking about church as more than the place you go to on Sunday morning. It’s going to make a difference in their life and their neighbors’ lives.”
Meanwhile, at Eastwood Baptist, helping launch a second site in unincorporated Plano has helped fan the flames of missions involvement.
According to James, more than 100 people will take international missions trips this year, approximately 16 percent of Sunday school attendance. The most recent trip saw 19 people travel to Asia to lead English as a Second Language classes, which led to several college students accepting Christ.
Eastwood also has staff members on the field, including a former youth pastor serving in northern Africa and a former minister of education working in Brazil.
This increased involvement is reflected in its missions offerings as well.
Under its former pastor, the church took an all-encompassing annual offering that generated $16,000 in December of 2003. Last December its Lottie Moon offering for international missions alone generated $101,000.
“I challenged the people that in 10 years we have missions partnerships on six continents,” James said. “We’re now on four continents and are about to add Europe.”
This activity reflects the missions thrust inherent in the Cooperative Program, which More For Christ seeks to boost as well.
Eastwood gives 12.5 percent of its undesignated offerings to support missions through CP. Last year the congregation ranked fifth in per-capita and overall CP giving among Kentucky Baptist churches.
“The Cooperative Program … is the best way to support missions and the Great Commission of anything I know,” James said. “Where else can you support 15,000 missionaries, six seminaries, and a pro-family, pro-Christian lobbying group in Washington, D.C?”
The website, www.moreforchrist.com. has details about the initiative, including testimonies from Kentucky Baptists, news and downloadable resources for children and adults. There is also a place to pledge prayers that, through More for Christ, Kentucky Baptists will experience a new urgency to ensure that everyone in the world has the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.
The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2.400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, disaster relief, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more. For more, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Ken Walker, KBC Communications
