SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 STUDENTS TARGET CHILDREN MINISTRY GOSPEL MESSAGE “STARSTRUCK” OPPORTUNITY THROUGH VBS SHINES Page 4 Page 6 Page 16 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 Northwest Baptist Witness 1 VIEWPOINT Ready in season and out of season Each day brings new opportunities west. Led by Pastor Richard Bryson, for God’s people in the Northwest to they came to see that new, young bless God and serve Him. Hurricanes churches reach young families. The raged in Texas and Florida, and NWBC senior saints at Grace Baptist, with Disaster Relief volunteers are respond- the humility and grace their name ing to the tremendous need of our implies, have shifted their vision of neighbors there. We have had multiple owning a building to that of building teams in Texas. We will probably have churches that will prayerfully fulfill NWBC disaster teams in Florida. We the original dream of the church to are awaiting the call to send chaplains, reach young families for Jesus Christ. ash-out teams and others into the fire- An amazing group of people at Grace Randy Adams ravaged areas of the Northwest. No Baptist! Executive Director ministry of Northwest Baptists reveals the power of our cooperative work In a few weeks we will gather in quite like Disaster Relief. And wher- Eugene, OR for the annual meeting ever our DR volunteers go, they share of the NWBC. Blessing is the theme Jesus. of our meeting and I hope you plan to attend. Additional information is Thankfully September has involved included in this publication, but I want more than ministry in the aftermath to express my personal desire that of natural disasters. Five new NWBC your church be represented. We will churches began meeting in September. conduct the necessary business, but These new churches are in rural, urban, perhaps the most important thing we suburban and college communities. will do is encourage each other in Praise God! the Lord’s work. I’ve been blessed in years past by the large number of One of the stories you will read in this young leaders and language church publication is that of Grace Baptist pastors and leaders that attend. Church in McMinnville, OR. This small church with big hearts meets in a re- Without question the divisions in tirement facility. At one time they had our nation have deepened. In the the dream of owning their own build- Northwest we are experiencing open ing, but God redirected their dream hostility toward Christian values. to that of encouraging people in our Our state governments, and many churches to become foster parents. of our city governments, are openly Their dream is that foster children in hostile to those who hold to biblical the Northwest will have Christian fos- teaching on the most fundamental ter parents from our NWBC churches, institution in the world, the fam- and that these children will come to ily. In times like these God’s people know Jesus. The dear saints at Grace need to pray, worship, witness and Baptist have given $50,000 through stand together. Isolated believers, the NWBC to help make this happen. and isolated churches, will lack the necessary strength to stand when Additionally, Grace Baptist has given the storm comes. It is always a good $110,000 from their building fund to day to serve the Lord together in the help start new churches in the North- Northwest. 2 Northwest Baptist Witness SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 TABLE OF CONTENTS FEATURES 4 Students Target Gospel 12 NW Teens Minister in Message Cuba NORTHWEST BAPTIST WITNESS 6 Children “Starstruck” 14 Trained to Shepherd 3200 NE 109th Avenue Through VBS Change Vancouver, WA 98682 360.882.2100 8 Teens Serve, Learn, Grow SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 16 Ministry Opportunity Official news magazine of the Shines Northwest Baptist Convention 10 2017 NWBC Annual Meeting 22 Disaster Relief Editor 11 Sacrificial Church Cameron Crabtree Blesses Others Managing Editor VIEWPOINT Sheila Allen Graphic Designer Ready in season and out of season Jennifer Logue 2 Circulation Services Denise Harvey Executive Director-Treasurer ON THE COVER Randy Adams Cover Photo - NWBC Youth Ministry Strategist Danny Kuykendall led a student mission team to serve in Bayamo, Cuba. Subscriptions/Address Changes [email protected] Article ideas CALENDAR OF EVENTS [email protected] October 2017 6 NWBC Executive Board 5-6 New Challenge Seminar 7 Resolutions Committee Periodicals’ postage is paid at 7 Leadership Summit, Vancouver, Wash., and additional 7-8 Northwest Baptist mailing offices. Region 5 (Tri-Cities) Convention (Eugene Hilton, 11-13 Church Planting Eugene, OR) Postmaster: Please send address Assessment Center changes to: Northwest Baptist Witness 23-25 Senior Adult Retreat, December 2017 3200 NE 109th Ave. Cannon Beach 3-10 Week of Prayer for Int’l Vancouver, WA 98682-7749 24-27 Church Planting Basic Missions/Lottie Moon Training Christmas Offering Published bi-monthly 18 Last day of classes, PNW Northwest Baptist Convention November 2017 campus Phone: 360.882.2100 6 Missions Celebration Fax: 360.882.2295 Email: [email protected] 6 Pastor/Layman Web: www.gonbw.org Conference SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 Northwest Baptist Witness 3 STUDENTS TARGET GOSPEL MESSAGE cott Gentry moved to the Tri-Cities region of central Washington Slooking for a large church where he could just remain uninvolved in the background. Instead, he found Hillview Baptist Church in Kennewick, a smaller congregation that allowed his leadership skills to flourish. 4 4Northwest Baptist Witness SEPTEMBER/OCTOBERJULY/AUGUST 2017 2017 A skilled hunter, fisherman and bow hunter, Gentry “This is not our doing,” Gentry said. “When I saw that STUDENTS TARGET heard about an archery program called Centershot God’s hand was in fully funding this, I had to get Ministries (CsM), an outreach program aimed at involved. The Centershot motto is ‘Make Christ the sharing the gospel message using the life-skill of target of their lives,’ and that is our goal.” GOSPEL MESSAGE archery with children and teenagers. It piqued his interest. Each week, volunteers gather children and teenag- ers ages 7 to 18 and spend time on archery skills After researching the non-denominational program, and Bible study to teach and discipleship their young Gentry first believed the $3,000 set-up costs for charges, although they focus on pre-teens. Gentry all the equipment would be prohibitive for a small has seen men rally around the ministry in remarkable church. But former pastor Ron Stricklan urged ways. Gentry to stay open and they agreed to pray with- out letting hesitation about the cost control them. “Usually you find all women leading Vacation Bible Unexpectedly, Stricklan received a call from a donor School and other children’s programs,” Gentry stated. in Texas that was seeking ways he might fund youth “This draws men to participate in something they outreach. The new ministry was on. already have a passion for from our church and com- munity. I am a certified trainer and I can train others to be certified as well. We use this as an outreach for the kingdom of God.” Continued on page 18 Continued on page 23 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2017 Northwest Baptist Witness 5 CHILDREN “STARSTRUCK” THROUGH VBS onths of planning preceded Vaca- kids,” Stark stated. The convention took 12 people Mtion Bible School in Northwest to the national training event, but the result was over Baptist churches, which then deployed 400 people ultimately being trained for VBS in the scores of volunteers who shared evan- Northwest. gelistic messages with children in atten- “We were able to pull our ministry multipliers from dance, according the Leigh Ann Stark, all five regions and they were evenly disbursed,” said NWBC childhood ministry specialist. Stark. “A great strength of Vacation Bible School is that Studies show direct correlation of children who from top to bottom, it equips people to minister more profess faith in Christ with strong VBS training and effectively to kids,” Stark said. “We began by sending those statistics have held for a very long time, ac- a team of Northwest trainers or ‘ministry multipli- cording to Stark. This year’s focus on God as creator ers,’ to a national training event. That team received laid groundwork for a fundamental understanding of training not only for VBS, but also children’s ministry God. in total.” “The most important part of VBS is evangelistic and When those ministry multipliers returned home, they kids hearing the gospel message,” Stark said. “Time replicated the process by training regional leaders, is spent intentionally discipling kids in a fun way. All who then took the information to local churches at summer children’s ministry, such as summer camp training events held in cities throughout the North- and sports camp should include a strong evangelistic west. effort. Several of our Northwest Baptist associations had camps offering this.” “Because Vacation Bible School is so big, it takes the whole church to pull it off – which gives opportunity Stark and other Northwest leaders first used Life- to train more lay leaders to effectively minister to Way’s “Galatic Starveyor” curriculum in May at a 6 Northwest Baptist Witness SEPTEMBER/OCTOBERJULY/AUGUST 2017 2017 three-day retreat for church planters, which included Beverly Park volunteers provided free community 80 children. This allowed new church planters and dinners before VBS each night. their wives the opportunity for training as a couple and made for a fun family experience. “This turned out amazing and was a great way for us to incorporate our senior members, which also gave “This gave us the opportunity to model a high stan- us time to fellowship and meet some new families dard of kids ministry for them and included good each night,” Ramuta added.