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GRAPEVINE—The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention’s multi-year partnerships in four regions—Montreal, Boston, Utah and Turkey—will formally end in 2015, and “There is cause to celebrate all that has been accomplished,” says Barry Calhoun, SBTC director of mobilization and fellowships.
Montreal
In April 2015, the executive board of the SBTC approved a $150,000 grant to the North American Mission Board to assist missionary volunteer Woody Wilson in coaching church planters and student missionaries in Montreal, Calhoun said. The board also re-designated a $250,000 grant for use in the development of a church planting center located at La Chapelle Church, a 2013 church plant that grew to more than 900 attendees, with more than 80 baptisms and 200 decisions for Christ, by 2014.
“Thanks to the generous partnership of the SBTC and the faithful leadership of pastor David Pothier, La Chapelle is now on track to plant one church per year until 2045,” NAMB Regional Mobilization Specialist for Canada Chad Vandiver said.
“They are redefining church for their culture” and are eager to be trained to transform their generation through the gospel, Vandiver added.
“Montreal has been incredible,” Calhoun affirmed, noting the ongoing support of church planter Michael Akinpelu by North Garland Baptist Fellowship as another result of the SBTC’s partnership in Montreal.
“We have only just begun to send out church planters. We need more SBTC churches to partner with us,” said Vandiver, noting that Send Montreal will host vision tours Sept. 7-9 and Nov. 9-11 at the La Chapelle Church Multiplication Centre.
More information is available at namb.net/montreal.
“I am very grateful to Dr. Richards for traveling to Montreal and sharing his wisdom and experience with our team of church planters. His friendship on the field and his investment in the lives of the Québécois believers has been a tremendous encouragement to us,” Vandiver said.
Utah-Idaho
In the United States, much has been accomplished through the SBTC’s partnership with the Utah-Idaho convention along the Wasatch Front, a 100-mile strip of land containing Utah’s major metropolitan areas: Salt Lake City, Provo and Ogden.
The Wasatch Front is home to 2.8 million people, more than 80 percent of the state’s population.
“The SBTC partnership … has been an incredible blessing in our church planting work,” said Rob Lee, UISBC director. “SBTC churches have assisted our church plants in providing funding, personnel, mission teams to help start new plants and assist in outreach events, even church plant team members who have moved here.” Several new church plants this year were made possible by the support and prayers of SBTC churches and members, Lee added.
“Partnering with the SBTC has been like doubling the size of our state convention missionary staff,” Lee said, emphasizing the SBTC’s crucial role in assisting the UISBC’s priorities of sharing Christ, starting churches and strengthening churches.
Among the most successful church plants is Lifestone in Herriman, Utah, started by Texas church planter Ben Helton and a team from Weatherford’s StoneWater Church.
“The SBTC has always been ready, willing and able to discuss any needs we may have when I’ve contacted them. Jim Richards has been a good friend to me personally and has gone out of his way to speak to and pray for me when we see each other at various meetings,” added Send Salt Lake missionary Travis Kerns.
Boston and Turkey
Other SBTC partnerships concluding in 2015 include those with Send Boston and Turkey.
In Boston, SBTC involvement has served mostly to “maintain and strengthen churches,” Calhoun said.
“We’ve seen an increasing quality and health of the church plants, what we believe are going to be sustainable, ongoing, reproducing plants,” said Curtis Cook, pastor of Hope Fellowship in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and city coordinator for Send Boston. Plano’s Prestonwood Baptist Church has supported Hope Fellowship since the church plant began in 2003 and continues to be involved in supporting area church plants financially and through mission teams.
Regarding Turkey, SBTC missions consultant Terry Coy said a SBTC church planter attending an initial vision trip there felt called to relocate to the region and has done so with his family. El Paso’s Cielo Vista Church has come alongside the ministry to Turkey to provide support, Coy added.
Ongoing and Future Partnerships
As for the future, an SBTC partnership in Bangalore, India, will continue through 2016. Calhoun called this a “five-year plan to mobilize churches, help with IT infrastructure and encourage home churches.”
Bangalore missionary Donald McKinney (name changed), reported that the SBTC has helped by providing mission teams and training for nationals.
“SBTC volunteers went where almost no one else is willing to go!” McKinney said, noting that Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth provided assistance in the construction of a second floor training hall for the Indian Baptist Society. When construction costs unexpectedly escalated, the SBTC provided funds or its completion and furnishing, McKinney said, noting, “The facility is used three to five days per week to teach evangelism, doctrine and church ministry to laymen and pastors.”
A one-time SBTC grant of $100,000 to fund expansion of training into remote areas will bear longterm results as the Indian Baptist Society leadership has put that money into a “guaranteed perpetual endowment that is drawing 9.5 percent annual interest,” McKinney said.
“When Barry Calhoun and a team of pastors came to our city to visit and serve … they ‘jumped right in’ and joined in our labors,” McKinney said.
“Most of all, they left us with the assurance that lots of prayer would be coming for us. We are indebted, grateful and joyful for all that the SBTC has invested in our work.”
As for this hemisphere, Calhoun identified two mission trips to Ecuador planned for August and November 2015 to be led by Tony Mathews, pastor of North Garland Baptist Fellowship. In anticipation of these, in February 2015, the SBTC sponsored an Ecuadorian summit in Arlington, Texas.
The mission target will be Afro-Ecuadorians, Spanish-speaking descendants of former slaves. As SBTC partnerships end in Montreal, Boston, Utah and Turkey, new partnerships have been established with Australia and Send Seattle.
