Dionne's Blog
(The opinions stated within this blog are expressly those of the author. But we do agree with her!)
From time to time Dr. Steve Mooneyham will give me a book that he would like for me to read. To be honest, sometimes I read all the words and then other times I will read one or two sentences from a paragraph. Being the flower person that I am, the title of the book by Dr. Ken Hemphill, “Bonsai Theory of Church Growth”, intrigued me so I ask to read the book. I read all the words in this book because comparing church to a Bonsai Tree is perfect analogy. The more I read, the more I could see the relationship.
Now I will probably get in trouble here (then when am I not in trouble) but at least I will know who reads the article. I could see some of our churches in this book. We wonder why we are not growing and reaching people for the Lord when what we are really doing is trimming the roots by not letting the Lord lead. The older I get, the more I find that things change! This happens with or without my approval so I am learning to adapt. If we could just realize saying “if we build it they will come” will not always work. Most of the time we “build” it the way we want it. When I say build it, I don’t refer to just the physical building itself. It could be Sunday school, worship, discipleship training, fellowship, missions, etc. We must study the soil to see what kind of seed or tree it will grow, and then we must prepare both the container and the soil. Many times we say we can’t do anything more or different because we do not have the leaders or the money. That is trimming the roots and making a bonsai ministry. Some of our churches find themselves in an area that has changed. The people in the area may have gotten younger. If so, a traditional church may not meet the needs anymore. Or the opposite could be true. We must never lose sight of our vision of reaching the lost and we should always be willing to say “whatever the cost.” When we forget our goal of growing a healthily, thriving plant it dies. The same goes if we lose our vision of reaching the lost. God did not say build it then sit down and wait. He said “go out and bring them in”. (Linda translation)
To my way of thinking, this book should be taught in every church on the Gulf Coast. When we think about the Coast being 85% unchurched, we must realize that just maybe we are doing something wrong. I guess what we really need to be asking ourselves is… do we truly want to reach the unchurched or do we just want to be able to say, ”Well, we tried! “
Let me encourage you to read the Sun Herald article on the flooding expected in the Mississippi Delta (click here for the article). My heart goes out to those folks who are evacuating and have to endure the long process of watching the water rise, soak their homes for days and weeks only to face the nasty, nasty job of clean-up. Just as the tornado victims need our help now, the flooding victims will need us in the days to come. We need to be preparing to help NOW so when the waters recede we are ready to respond.
On Thursday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. at the Gulf Coast Baptist Association Training Center, our association will offer mud out training to those interested in helping flood victimes reclaim their homes. Mud out of flooded homes is one of the more demanding and possibly one of the most dangerous disaster relief jobs. Because of the Mississippi heat, mold will become an immediate problem requiring special clothing and treatment. Because of the same heat, exhaustion during clean up becomes a factor. What do you do about snakes and other creatures left behind by the receding waters? Harmful bacteria is rampant. It is best to known how to deal with these situations and mud out training will provide that information.
This training is not only available to members of Southern Baptist churches but also to anyone interested in learning how to minister through mud out. We do ask that if you are interested in learning these processes, please call the GCBA office at 228-832-4311 to register. This will help insure that we have adequate space for the training event.
All Gulf Coast Baptist Association trained mud out team members are encouraged to attend as a refresher. This call out will be along the same lines as the Iowa flooding of 2008.
There is a real pain in my heart when I see the images of the destruction in Smithville, Tuscaloosa and other places. After losing my home in Katrina, it brings back the feelings of loss and helplessness that I experienced in those days following August 29, 2005. I find myself wanting to help but how? From my viewpoint as an associational employee and as one who lost everything, let me share some ideas.
On Sunday, May 1, 2011, Gulf Coast Baptist Assocation churches will be taking a special offering that wil be divided between the Monroe Baptist Association (where Smithville is located) and the association in Tuscaloosa. As one who directed relief teams after Katrina, I can testify that it was better for someone to give GCBA a check to use to aid victims than it was to drive up with a load of clothes or shoes. It caused us to stop what we were doing and unload or find someone to unload the truck. We also had to find a place to put whatever was donated. We also have to be careful when donating "stuff" that we do not get the idea that since a person has nothing, they will accept anything (no matter how soiled, tore or in bad condition.) Let's all dig deeply to give to this offering. Others did for us six years ago.
What can we do physically to help? You may want to go to the areas and help. I want to go but there is a right way and wrong way to do it. On the next few days, law enforcement and fire departments will be doing search and rescue. They are trained to do that. They do not need well meaning folks in their way. You might say, " We can go cut trees or do clean up." Rest assured our state Baptist Disaster Relief teams are assessing the needs and preparing to mobilize teams to work. A lesson learned from Katrina was that uninvited and unannounced teams caused more difficulty for the mobilized DR teams and the people coordinating them. They must be ready to feed and sleep the teams that are mobilized. Arriving uninvited adds to their burden. Trust me. I know this for a fact.
So, how can you best help? First, pray for the surviving victims and the families of those who died in this tragedy. Remember to pray for those doing search and rescue, those coordinating relief efforts and teams that have already been called up to work. Second, encourage your church to take the special offering Sunday morning and get it to the GCBA office on Monday so we can get the money to those in need. Third, be ready to go when called upon by our state Disaster Relief team.
The evening of May 10th we will hold our Associational VBS traning at New Hope Baptist Church beginning at 6:30 p.m. We will have training for churches using either the LifeWay or Group VBS material. Each curriculum will have a conference for directors and pastors, children's teachers and workers plus preschool teachers and workers.
Why train for Vacation Bible School? Some may say "Our folks have taught for so long they know how to do it." Yes, this is true. Our association has some very fine people who have committed themselves to VBS for years and could probably lead a conference just from their experience. I truly understand that because I have either attended VBS, taught in VBS or been directly responsible for it for fifty years. So why train?
Statistics have shown consistently that the number of professions of faith in a Vacation Bible School is DIRECTLY related to the number of trained workers. For every worker that is trained, there will be 1.1 professions of faith. For the mathematically challenged, that means if you train 10 workers, there will be 11 children who will come to know Christ. Some of us have credit cards and discount cards that do not pay dividends that good!
So the BIG question is not will you train, but how many will you bring? See you at New Hope on the 10th of May!
The Sunday School Revolutionary is a blog posted by someone in the Kentucky Baptist Convention. There have been several helpful articles posted in recent months. I receive them via e-mail from our state Sunday School department and with our new website, I am now able to share these blogs with you. I suggest that you make their site, http://www.kybaptist.org/revolutionary, one of your favorites. All the articles support one truth: We grow our churches through Sunday School and small groups. Check it out and enjoy!
CHRISTIAN ETHICS SEMINAR
April 14
6:30 p.m.
Grace Memorial Baptist Church
Led by
Dr. Jimmy Porter
Exec. Dir., Christian Action Commission, MBCB
Learn how to be involved correctly and effectively in politics
Hear about the issues facing Mississippi Baptists
We hope you are as excited about our new website as we are. The staff at GCBA looks forward to serving you better this this updated design. If you have trouble navigating, please feel free to contact us and we will be glad to help.