Partnerships: Giving and Taking

Partnerships: Giving and Taking
We are all about partnerships here in the Baptist Convention of New York. We are currently aware of partnerships with Mississippi Baptists, Appalachian Regional Ministry, Conservatives of Texas, Georgia Baptists, Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands and many others. These partnerships are often misunderstood as being only receiving. Some critics have even suggested that this is spiritual welfare, since we are always receiving but never giving away our own time, talents, and treasures to see others come to Christ. It has been my experience that when you welcome teams into your church’s ministry, you should encourage your people to work alongside them. Later during the days as they work together, they will undoubtedly express to their guests their amazement that these folk took vacation, paid their own way, in many cases bought materials, and came to help someone they did not even know before. But the desired outcome is that your people catch a vision and see that they too can do this. Today I wish to highlight one of our church planters on Long Island who gets this principle completely. Here is the email I recently received:

We just finished off a fantastic week at our Kidz Camp. We really had the chance to get to know some children and their families throughout this week. There were 52 children who participated in the week, and over 100 people came to our Family Night last night.
I had several parents stop and talk to me, letting me know that this past week was really important to them. They were grateful and appreciative for all that took place throughout the week.
We are grateful as well. We had a great group of students from First Baptist Church of The Woodlands, Texas who came to Long Island to help us with all aspects of our Kidz Camp. There were 28 of them altogether and they served with great hearts and attitudes.
We are also appreciative for those at Crossroads who gave of their time and efforts this week to make this happen. We had a great team of adults from Crossroads to make certain everything ran smoothly. From registration to Family Night, the Kidz Camp was terrific and a whole lot of fun.
Yet, we are completely aware that God blessed us with this amazing week. It was God who provided everything that was needed. It was God that was honored by the efforts that were given this week. I truly felt His presence throughout the week at our Kidz Camp.
Now that this week has past, we are taking our Kidz Camp on the road! I have a friend who is a pastor (some of you may remember Pastor Alan Braun) in Vancouver, British Columbia. I spoke to him a few months ago, and he let me know that they had cancelled their Vacation Bible School because they did not have enough leaders at their church to make it happen.
I told him that I thought that we could bring a team to help lead their Vacation Bible School. They "uncancelled" their Vacation Bible School, and, as of yesterday, there were 93 children sign up to participate in the week!
So, today, there are 11 of us flying to Seattle. Tomorrow, we will be driving into Vancouver. Our team includes me, Jenna, Madison, Emma, Avery, Luis and Jessica Rivera, Fred and his daughter Hannah Zwikelmaier, Jana Jenkins, and Lonnie McLaughlin.
I would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel and lead this week. I really believe that God has provided us with an opportunity to make His name known and to serve this church and community in Vancouver.
At Crossroads, we have been the recipients of close to 20 mission teams over the last two years. God has blessed us by sending each and every group to help with some facet of our ministry here at Crossroads. We know that every contribution has led us to be able to try and accomplish our mission to reach out to people in our community.
Now, God has given us this opportunity to serve this community in Vancouver, where it is estimated that less than 3% of population would consider themselves to be an evangelical Christian.
Pray for us. I will be updating my blog each day that we are gone, starting tomorrow. I would like to keep you posted on things so that you can pray specifically for what is taking place.

Your prayers and support mean so much.

Sterling Edwards
Lead Pastor
Crossroads Church of Long Island
610 Carmans Road
Farmingdale, New York 11735
(516) 249-0110
Follow Sterling’s blog for even more exciting stories!

Connections

I suppose that everyone who attends the Southern Baptist Convention has a different priority for going. It was my privilege to attend such a meeting last month. In fact, it was as I reflected upon this trip that I was inspired to begin to blog. I wanted a venue to share my “connections” story and other similar ones. As a pastor, I had face time weekly, if not many times during the week, to share with my congregation. As an Associational Missionary, I had face time, or at least a newsletter, to share thoughts along the way. Now I have a blog for this purpose.
I go to the convention for the networking or “connections”. I don’t wish to demean the importance of what goes on during the sessions, conferences, etc. However, it seems that I always get more done in the halls, at restaurants, and in the exhibit areas while renewing old acquaintances and listening and sharing thoughts through conversations. This year was no exception. I had opportunities to spend quality time with elected leaders of our convention, agency heads, fellow NAMB and IMB missionaries. I even had a great conversation with many pastors with whom I have served throughout the past thirty-eight years in various parts of the United States. I even had some wonderful conversations with pastors from my own home county (Cullman, Alabama). In fact, I will be privileged to speak at one of those churches in a few weeks while on vacation there.
But, by far and away, the best “connection” of my 2009 convention experience was, strangely enough in the men’s room at the Expo Center. While washing my hands at the lavatory, I noticed a young man cleaning nearby. I was led of the Holy Spirit to speak to him. I asked him how he thought a person could get to go to heaven. He honestly said he did not know. I asked him if he’d ever thought much about the question. He replied that he had thought about it. I proceeded to share with him what the Bible says on the subject and within about three minutes, he prayed to receive Christ as his personal Savior. After directing him to go to a local church with whom he was already familiar, I did what any good networker would do, I gave him my business card. I told him that he should go and tell the pastor what had happened to him today and he would guide him in the next steps to take. In closing, I told him if God called him to preach and he felt led to plant churches, contact me we need you in New York.
I would not be at all surprised to get a call from a young African American man in a few years who says he is ready to come to do church planting in New York. Dion just may be one of the ways the Lord of the harvest answers my Luke 10:2 prayer, “The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Pray the Lord of the harvest to send laborers.”

Thoughts of a Fellow Boat Rocker

Thoughts of a Fellow Boat Rocker…

During the late eighties and early nineties, my family and I served in ministry near Atlantic City, NJ. Immediately behind our house was beautiful Absecon Bay.

While spending countless hours enjoying the view over the bay and watching vessels of all shapes and sizes navigate their way by, I learned a valuable lesson:

It's easy to get off the ship and try to steer it by

throwing rocks at it, but it’s more effective to

stay onboard and try to turn the rudder

I have spent the past thirty-eight years of ministry as a “rudder-grabber”. This story has epitomized my ministry and still does to this day.

I have chosen to get into the boat of the Church and the Southern Baptist Convention, grab the rudder, and pull with all my strength to see the direction change toward a more true Christ-centered direction.

Many of my friends have jumped ship and decided they could make a greater impact outside and I certainly don’t hold that against them. My calling, however, continues to place me in a system that sometimes appears to be broken. In spite of everything, I believe the Lord still works through His Church and yes, even through the Southern Baptist Convention.

Do we have problems? Yes, but we will never get it right while swimming around in the bay throwing rocks at it. The hope of our denomination being a real player in the kingdom of God during this century is for more of us to grab the rudder and move this ship to the center of God’s channel and sell out to reaching this world with the Good News of Jesus Christ!

Many years ago, I uttered a prayer that has cost me dearly. That prayer was and is that my life would be lived in such a way as to make the Devil uncomfortable.

A “boat rocker” is someone who is unafraid to do whatever it takes to move the ship of the Church and denomination toward making Satan uncomfortable.

If you’d like to hear the thoughts of a fellow “boat rocker”, stay tuned.