Follow His Lead

Master Article for 2005 Kentucky State Missions Emphasis

Throughout His ministry, Jesus often challenged people to “Come, follow me.”  Perhaps there is no greater challenge than “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23 NIV).  As we study scripture, and listen to the call of Jesus in different settings, there is much to learn as we Follow His Lead.

Imagine the day Jesus walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee where Peter and Andrew were casting their nets and beckoned to them. ‘“Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him” (Matt. 4:19-20, NIV).  Today, every Christian has the same calling - to follow His lead. If we follow, our daily lives are transformed into an exciting adventure.  If we follow His lead, His love and compassion flows through us to all mankind. 

Kentucky Baptists are following His lead to missions throughout the state. Followers of Christ are leaving the comfort of their homes and responding to the needs of others during disasters. They are working countless hours to share compassion and mercy with people who are often traumatized and homeless.  They are also mobilizing volunteers and church mission teams to meet the spiritual and physical needs of hundreds of thousands of people during a summer raceway season.  In our Baptist churches, WMU challenges everyone to understand and be radically involved in the mission of God. Through WMU, men and women are following His lead by devoting their time to teach children and teens about missions and involve them in ministry to others. 

During the 2005 Season of Prayer for State Missions, you can follow His lead through prayer. Pray for God to stir the hearts of Christians toward missions in Kentucky.  Pray that God will teach us new ways to honor and glorify Him through missions. Follow His lead by supporting missions work of Kentucky Baptists through your financial gifts to the Eliza Broadus Offering.  Praise God for the opportunity to present your offering as an act of worship.  Pray that God will reveal His purpose for your life. Like Peter and Andrew, step out behind Him and experience a deeper relationship with the Master.  As we join hands across our state to pray, give to the Eliza Broadus Offering and minister to others, Follow His Lead  becomes a compelling challenge. 

Disaster Relief

Disaster.  The word creates mental images of rolling floodwaters, destroyed homes and faces of grieving and misplaced families. When disaster strikes in Kentucky, approximately 3,000 volunteers are trained to respond.  These volunteers perform countless acts of mercy for days, weeks or months as they minister to the needs of  disaster victims.

“Disaster relief is basically following the lead Christ has set for us,” said Larry Koch, Disaster Relief Associate in the Baptist Men on Mission Department of the Kentucky Baptist Convention.  “We help them get their feet on the ground after a crisis situation. It is a ministry to try to get people back into their homes, get them back into their lifestyles and in the process, share the love of Jesus Christ.”

Disaster Relief teams are activated, Koch said, when a pastor or Director of Missions calls him to report that a disaster has occurred.  “Sometimes, we hear about a situation over the radio or television and call to see if there is a need for a team.  We do not go out of the state unless we are invited. Kentucky Baptists have been responsive here in the state and around the world,” he said.

The teams provide assistance for disaster victims through:
•    Mass care - providing hot nourishing meals to victims.
•    Chainsaw work following ice storms, tornados or hurricanes.
•    Mud-outs - cleaning homes after flood situations  which  includes tearing out drywall, ripping up floors, taking out ceilings and sanitizing the house after cleaning. A house must dry 3-6 weeks before families can move back in.

Teams also provide care kits with personal care items. A care kit, enclosed in a zip-lock bag, contains a washcloth, hand towel, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, feminine items for women, shaving kits for men, and toys for children. 

Sometimes, during an ice storm, flooding or tornado, all electric and power lines are temporarily out of service and families are hungry.  “We work side-by-side with the Red Cross,” said Harold Moore, 78,  State Volunteer Coordinator. “They furnish food, we prepare it and they deliver it into the community.” Southern Baptist Disaster Relief also has a national agreement with the Salvation Army.  Salvation Army purchases the food which the teams prepare and serve over a feeding line, or Salvation Army delivers the prepared food in their trucks.

The Kentucky Disaster Relief volunteers, who once cooked 198,000 meals in five weeks in North Carolina, have a reputation for their cooking. “Our cook, Harold Moore, is largely responsible,” Koch said.  Known as “head cook” in Kentucky, Moore trains people to cook several thousand meals at a time but he has done every kind of disaster relief work. His first time out on an operation was during a flood in 1989 in Frankfort.  The team set up a tiny lean-to beside a trailer at the Shively Baptist Church in Louisville and Red Cross delivered the meals.  “I opened cans for the cooks,” Moore said. The second time he turned out for Disaster Relief, the head cook had died a week earlier so he became head cook.  “I told the Lord, ‘You have allowed me to retire early. I have the ability to do this.  If this is what you want me to do, I’m going to follow you,’” he said.

The devastation from a disaster provides work for volunteers that is often hard labor. “We go in and cut the trees up and take them to the front yard to be hauled off by the city or county,” Moore said.  If it is a flood, we take everything out of the house, take the carpet up.  We will take the walls out until we find dry insulation.  People do not realize that the biggest health hazard after a flood is the mold that builds up in a house which causes illness, sometimes even death, when it is breathed into the lungs.”   
 
When rains fall in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, hollows often flood very quickly.  Teams responded to flooding six times in Eastern Kentucky in 2004, once in Martin County and five times in Floyd County.  In Floyd County, Moore worked for thirty-one days, cooking a week with the Salvation Army and doing mud-out work the remainder of the time.  Teams also responded to a tornado in Henry County, a windstorm in Breckenridge County, hurricanes in Florida, Alabama and Georgia and flooding up and down the Ohio River.

“Sometimes we return to the same homes in Floyd County two or three times,” Moore said.  “The people are kind of used to it but each time it puts more pressure on their lives.  For people who are on walkers or handicapped, it puts physical pressure on their lives.  Last year, some of the homes in Floyd County were flooded for the first time in 100 years.  You don’t always know if you live in a safe area.”

“In Eastern Kentucky, 75-80% of the people we help are poor people who may not even own their home. A lot of them live in trailers, which are hard to clean and recondition after they have been in a flood.  Most of the people do not have anything except what is in the house and it has been destroyed.  For every home we help, follow-up work needs to be done.  Few of these people have insurance.”

Disaster Relief efforts provide many opportunities for witnessing.  While working at an abandoned airfield in New York during the 9/ll disaster, the team witnessed to a security policewoman who was assigned to the site.  She accepted Christ and came to Kentucky the following year to share her testimony at the state Baptist Men on Mission Convention.

In 2004, when Kentucky volunteers went to Alabama after a hurricane, they invited a Red Cross kitchen manager to stay with them in a church.  Moore used the opportunity to share his testimony.  About two nights later, a member of the team also witnessed to the man and he accepted Christ.  During another operation, a 16-year old girl volunteered to help with disaster relief while she was out of school and during the week, she accepted Christ. She later took training and is a SBC Disaster Relief worker.

A need exists for both short-term and long-term volunteers. Men and women can serve in disaster relief. In fact,  at least one-half of the volunteers are women who often prefer chainsaw and mud-out work to the kitchen.  “Every home we help needs some follow-up rebuilding and putting back what we have taken out,” Moore said. “There is all kinds of work. Drywall needs to be replaced.  Personal items and clothing are needed.”  A volunteer may donate a  weekend, a couple of days or a week. 

If God is leading you to be a Disaster Relief volunteer, training is available.  If a church has a group of 20 people, KBC will schedule a training session for the church. Please note that youth volunteers must be 17 (or 16 with a parent or responsible adult or guardian).

Training is also offered at different locations throughout the year and during the annual KBC Creative Ministries Festival.  For information, please call the Baptist Men on Mission office  at 502-244-6489  or visit the KBC web site (www.kybaptist.org) and click on Baptist Men on Mission.

You can help support the Kentucky Disaster Relief effort by giving to the Eliza Broadus offering, which provides one-third of its funding. “We have depended on WMU from the very beginning,” Koch said.  “In 1984, WMU gave $35,000 to the Brotherhood Department which helped buy our first equipment. Expenses include gasoline and maintenance for trucks, new equipment and food for volunteers.  Currently, KBC Disaster Relief owns pickup trucks, trailers, chainsaws, pressure washers, pumps for basements and chainsaw sharpeners which are stored in a building in Stanford.  

“This year, we will increase the cooking capacity of our big kitchen by 25-30% and double the capacity for three smaller kitchen units,” Moore said.  “The better equipped we are, the more work we can do and we can do it in an easier fashion.”

“The most important thing we need is prayer,” say both Moore and Koch.  Please pray for families affected by disasters. Pray for the safety of disaster relief volunteers while they are traveling and on the job.  Pray for more volunteers.   

When the work of the Disaster Relief teams is finished, the love and gratitude they receive is ample reward for their labor. “After we have worked on a project and are putting our tools away, we get a lot of hugs and thank yous,” Moore said.  “Sometimes we shed a few tears. We always have prayer before we leave.  We thank God we were able to come  and pray for Him to meet their needs day-by-day.” 

Kentucky Raceway Ministries

What is the fastest growing sport in America today, one that involves one-sixth of the world’s population?  The answer is NASCAR-type automotive racing and at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, fans are enjoying the thrill and excitement of racing each season from May through September.

During a race, approximately 10,000 racing fans who enter the Kentucky Speedway campground are greeted by smiling volunteers from Kentucky Raceway Ministries. Fans are handed an information packet containing a racing schedule and driver lineup, along with information about Kentucky Raceway Ministries’ activities, Steps of Salvation (presented with pit stops and colors of flags), and other Christian literature.      

Kentucky Raceway Ministry’s mission is to “share the love of Jesus Christ with the racing community, as well as provide an opportunity for worship and fellowship for Christians attending racing and other events at the Kentucky Speedway.” Throughout all racing events and a four-day musical festival at Kentucky Speedway, ministry volunteers provide campers with free biscuits and gravy breakfasts, free coffee, cold water, cold lemonade, homemade cookies, horseshoe tournaments, handicapped transportation, gospel concerts and worship services.

God prepared Roberts’ heart for raceway ministry through a personal experience. A few months after he rededicated his life several years ago, he attended a racing event in Bristol, Tennessee. “I knew there would be drinking and language, all kinds of sin,” he said. “When I arrived at the race, Satan kept saying, ‘Go ahead, John.  Nobody will know.”’

To escape temptation, he left his friends and went for a walk through the campground and found a ministry tent. “It was a refuge,” he said.  A team of volunteers offered him refreshments, prayed with him and invited him to worship services the next morning.  He attended the services and later told his wife that he spent the weekend in church.  Just one year later, Roberts heard Kentucky Speedway was coming to Gallatin County.  He said he viewed the new raceway as “a chance for me to make some big money.”

“But God knocked on my heart,” he said, “leading me to begin a raceway ministry.”  The ministry at the Kentucky Speedway began during the first racing season in 2000 with John and one volunteer. “Five minutes before worship services, no one had arrived,” he said. “We decided if only one person came to the service, it would be all right.  Just then, thirty-five people got off a shuttle bus.”  At the next race, seven or eight people volunteered and 75 people attended the worship service. “That was the end of the season and we were ecstatic,” he said. “We knew we were doing what God wanted us to do.”

From the beginning, Ten Mile Baptist Association has sponsored the Kentucky Raceway Ministry.  For the past three years, however, Whites Run and Owen Associations have formed a covenant agreement with the Ten-Mile Association to give support to the ministry through prayer, financial gifts and volunteers.  Association members serve on a board that gives direction to the ministry.  Roberts said he has also reached out to the Long Run and Northern Kentucky associations for ministry support.

“We are trying to fulfill the Great Commission,” said Bob Young, Director of Missions of the Whites Run Baptist Association. “I heard about a man who started a ministry seventeen miles away who needed help.  Anything that can happen in a town or community of 10,000 on a weekend can happen in the campground.  The stadium seats nearly 70,000 people. We are their pastor, their counselors, while they are there.”

“I think the greatest impact on our association is that they can see a ministry on site.  This is their Jerusalem, this is their Judea. These are people from Samaria, people who are very different from us.  This gives them an opportunity to volunteer, to give of their money to help buy Bibles and other supplies,” says Young.

Kentucky Raceway Ministries also has a great impact on WMU groups, who baked almost 5,000 cookies for the ministry last year. “Through our adult activities, men come to the ministry tent and get as many as forty bags of cookies and take them back to the campground,” Young said.  Inside each bag is a scripture verse-John 3:16. WMU groups also provide Bibles, supplies, water and volunteers.  In fact, women volunteers outnumber men, ten-to-one.  “One woman who volunteers is 72 years old,” Young said.  “She comes faithfully to give information and organize materials.”

Sometimes God uses WMU volunteers to touch hearts. “A little girl came to the ministry tent and the WMU women developed a relationship with her. The third time she came, she gave her heart to Christ,” Young said. The ministry also witnessed to a woman who was divorced and angry with God for several years.  Eventually, she rededicated her life and became active in church.  When she remarried, the ministry team led her husband to Christ. “Physically, Jesus would have been with crowds of people,” Young said. “I think that is the direction our churches need to take.

In addition to the large tent at the camp entrance, the ministry operates an information tent in the vendor’s area. “In the vendor’s area, we greet 50,000-60,000 people who drive to the race for the day,” said John Roberts, Director of Kentucky Raceway Ministries. “We give the fans a list of racing and ministry activities, along with homemade cookies, free cups of water and Bibles with colorful racing logos on the cover. We have the opportunity to minister to fans, employees, vendors, parking attendants and fire and safety teams, and State Police. We are there to share the love of Jesus Christ.”

The ministry also provides a trauma response team to minister to injuries, illnesses or other traumatic situations in seven sections of grandstands.  Care centers to handle minor injuries to children or fans are also available. “We have been very fortunate to have no multiple injuries,” Roberts said.  “It is a possibility when we have people driving cars 200 miles per hour.”

When a driver hit the wall during a race last year, his wife, who saw the accident, had a massive heart attack and went into cardiac arrest.  For the next ten days, the trauma response team ministered to the family’s needs by providing meals, lodging and baked goods for snacks.

Kentucky Raceway Ministries also provides organized activities for children by setting up stations for face painting, puppet shows, clowning, games and crafts.  “Many times 400-500 children are there at the campground for three days,” Roberts said.  “They ride their bikes to the ministry tent. We sometimes ask the Kentucky Speedway mascot (a person dressed as a horse with sparkplug ears) to join us.  The children love it when he comes out. After the children are there for an hour or two, their parents come and by the end of the day, more parents have made salvation bracelets than children.”

Along with NASCAR crayons and coloring books, the team gives Bibles to the children.  “So often, we have children who have never heard of Jesus Christ,” Roberts said. “They don’t know what a Bible is.  We ask, ‘Do you go to church on a regular basis?’ So many times, the kids say, ‘The only time we go to church is when we come to the raceway.’  We want to tell them the story of Jesus.”

Perhaps the most exciting activity for the children is the “Timothy Cup,” a Hot-Wheels Race, (based on II Timothy), which is conducted by a man from Alabama.  “We buy Hot Wheels (miniature cars) to give kids before the race,” Roberts said. The children compete in different age groups before a final race for 1st-4th place trophies.  Prizes are also awarded for first place. “The children bring their parents back for the final race and the ministry team gives a five-minute gospel presentation about how Jesus can change their lives,” he said.

For the past two years, your gifts to the Eliza Broadus Offering have provided financial support for Kentucky Raceway Ministries. “The first year, we purchased a large trailer to haul and store equipment that we had been hauling in our cars and trucks,” Roberts said. “The second year, we purchased a large tent. We have also purchased Bibles and brochures with the Eliza Broadus grant.”

Volunteers are crucial for the Kentucky Raceway Ministry.  Adult and youth missions groups are encouraged to share creative ministries or other ministry gifts. Ordained pastors are needed for the trauma team.   Volunteers can come for several hours, one day, or for three days at a time.

Roberts’ dream of a similar ministry in two other campgrounds on Kentucky Speedway property has not materialized because more volunteers are needed to expand the ministry.  If God is leading you to be involved in Kentucky Raceway Ministries, please contact John Roberts by phone (859-991-1239) or email (John_15933@msn.com). Visit the  Kentucky Raceway Ministries web site at www.go2krm.com.
 
Please pray for volunteers to help share the gospel of Jesus Christ at Kentucky Speedway.  Pray that God will open doors to share the gospel.  Pray for the safety of volunteers, drivers, crews and spectators.  Pray for God to lead the volunteers to people who need Him. Pray for boldness in verbal witnessing.  Pray  when volunteers return home, they will share with their own church how God has changed them through this experience.

Missions Education in African-American Churches

If you visit New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Radcliff, Kentucky on the first Monday of the month, you will probably find Annette Neblett teaching an in-depth Bible study to an energetic group of young Acteens, a missions group for girls in grades 7-12.  Annette, who has led Acteens groups for the past eight years, will probably be smiling because she enjoys spending time with the girls and she realizes that teaching missions is God’s calling for her life.

On the second Monday of each month, Annette leads the Acteens in projects that go along with the mission study.  “The third week, we visit the nursing home or do other missions,” she said.  “I try to teach them as much as I can inside.  Then, we go out and put this into action.” 

Through missions activities in their community, the girls are beginning to understand the importance of giving their time to others. “I see the impact on the girls when the adults come back to ask, ‘When are you coming back to my house again? Did you forget about me?’  The girls see they are doing the right thing,” she said. “God is calling us to follow His lead by cleaning for the elderly and making and delivering care packages to patients in the nursing home.  The girls appreciate the elderly.”

As Acteens leader, Annette does not overlook the importance of fun and fellowship for a group of teenagers, so the fourth meeting of each month the Acteens just “hang out.”

Annette’s first exposure to missions education was when her daughter, Gwen, joined Girls in Action (GA), a missions group for girls in grades 1-6, and the leader invited the parents to attend the meetings. “The more I sat in the missions meetings, the more God dealt with me about getting involved,” she said.  “I started helping out and when the GA leader left, I gladly accepted her position.”

After Annette led the GA group for a couple of years, the church’s Acteens leader returned to college.  “Instead of letting Acteens fall by the wayside, I began to lead the group,” she said.  “I fell in love and have been there ever since.  I realized that Acteens is my real calling.”

In 2003, Annette took the Acteens group to the National Acteens Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. “The girls had so much fun meeting Acteens from around the world,” she said. “We have scrapbooks and pictures that we shared with the church.” One session of the national conference was devoted to a mission project.  “We worked in a school that was 150 years old, moving books and cleaning rooms.” she said.  “The girls are looking forward to the next NAC.”

The group also attends Acteens camp at Cedar Crest in the summer.  “The camp director always gives me positive feedback about our girls,” Annette said.  “They are positive role models.”

New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, which is pastored by O. C. Jones, Sr., often partners with a local agency, North Hardin Hope. The second Tuesday of each month, the Acteens assist the group in a clothes drive and later help with clothing distribution.

 “At Christmas, North Hardin Hope has a Christmas Angel Tree,” Annette said.  “We sit in the mall and collect gifts for needy children in the community.  Our pastor really appreciates what we do because he believes in the Great Commission.” 

Annette refers to her church as “a transient church” because a high percentage of the congregation is military personnel who come and go.  “There are also lots of retired military families in our church,” she said.

Her zeal for leading Acteens continues to increase because Annette has witnessed the positive effects of missions education firsthand through the life of her daughter, Gwen, a high school senior.  “Missions education has helped her open up to understand God’s Word,” she said. “She was shy and withdrawn and now she will speak out.  She is more focused and has high expectations.”

Teaching missions and missions involvement has helped Annette recognize the eternal impact God is making on the hearts of the girls as they participate.  “What keeps me going is that maybe, one day, a spark will ignite and one of my Acteens may become a missionary,” she said. “I pray constantly that will happen.  The reward for me is just to see the expressions on the girls’ faces when they can actually do something.  Just the joy in their faces is the reward for me.”
                    
Miles away, at First Baptist Church of Georgetown in Georgetown, Kentucky, other Acteens and GA groups meet the first and third Wednesday of each month from 6-8 p.m., while the rest of the congregation is having Bible study, prayer and praise.

The church’s Acteens group has completed projects with a Special Olympics group in Georgetown and they also served as hostesses for Exalt 2005, the State Acteens Conference, held at Georgetown College. Renea Houston, wife of the church’s pastor, Frank Houston, attributes the girls’ enthusiasm for missions to their leader, Sandy Williams.  “Sandy enjoys teaching and learning,” she said. “She is very creative so she is always looking for something new and different to share.  She gets the girls fired up because she has a passion for what she does and a passion for God.”

Missions education at First Baptist in Georgetown also includes a GA group that studies about different types of ministries and actively participates in mission work. “Recently, our GAs worked with girls from the Elkhorn Association in Lexington to make hygiene kits for migrant workers,” Renea said.  “On the third Wednesday, the girls cook a food that is related to their study or do a missions project. We try to help them identify with the area they are studying through cooking and missions projects.”

The lasting effect of missions education on the lives of the girls is evidenced by their participation in activities and their caring attitude toward others. “Missions education helps the girls think outside themselves to their relationship with God and people,” Renea said. “We try to encourage them to study the Bible and learn their scripture verses, but we also try to encourage them to pray for other people and think about what is going on in the world around them.  We all have a tendency to think about ourselves and what is going on in our little space.  I have seen a lot of growth and caring from our girls.  We use to have to ask them to participate in things.  Now, the girls are asking us if they can do things.”

Frank Houston became interim pastor at First Baptist Church of Georgetown while he was finishing a PhD at Southern Seminary.  In 200l, he was called to pastor the congregation, which averages 200-225 in attendance.  The church was already actively involved in missions at the Amen House, a local food and clothing ministry.  When Houston became the church’s pastor, however, both he and Renea wanted to expand the ministry role to include state and world missions.

“So many times in the past,” Renea said, “I didn’t think I had the time when people were doing missions projects.  I thought it was more important to give my money and let other people do the work but it is important that I do some things myself.”

One important step the couple took to expand the missions vision of the church was a visit to the Kentucky WMU office in Louisville where Renea discovered the WMU Women on Mission magazine, Missions Mosaic. 

“After I subscribed, I showed it to my husband and we subscribed for the women’s groups in our church,” she said. “We all compare articles in the magazine.”  Renea also expanded her missions vision by attending a training conference at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. “Since the conference at Ridgecrest, I haven’t looked back,” she said.

 As a pastor’s wife, Renea has gladly accepted a leadership role in missions.  “The congregation sees I am excited about missions and missions education,” she said.  “The church has an active Women on Mission group that meets monthly.  In November and December, this group involves the entire congregation in collecting cans for a food drive for the community.”

The Women’s Sunday School Class, which also includes many of the Women on Mission members, holds a free yard  give-away each year.  “The community donates items and receives items free-of-charge,” she said.  “The free yard sale helped us communicate with other congregations.” One congregation saw an article about the yard sale in the paper and wanted to copy the idea. They later called the church for information. “We enjoyed the yard sale and got a real blessing from it,” Renea said. “I saw the women getting excited about what they were doing together and for other people.”

The church is just beginning to form an active Sisters Who Care missions group, which is part of Women on Mission.  According to the national WMU web site, “The word sister resonates in the African American Community, where Christian women are sisters through their mutual faith in Christ, ethnic heritage and as members of God’s creation.”

“This group will do more hands-on projects in the community and the state,” said Renea, who first heard about the unique mission group at the Ridgecrest Conference.  “We hope this will involve women who are not involved in other missions groups and extend missions education to the congregation.”

Renea views her role of missions encourager as one that is strongly connected to the church’s role of building relationships. “When I think of following God’s lead, I think of our church’s plan to build a new facility,” she says. “I am reminded that Jesus was always with people that others left out, had given up on or didn’t want to be bothered with. These are the people who need Christ. As we have thought about building a new facility, we have given more thought to our relationship with Christ and what He has called us to do.  Missions gives us an opportunity to think about that and put it into practice.”

Follow His Lead

During the 2005 Season of Prayer, you have an opportunity to follow His lead by praying for missions, giving to the Eliza Broadus Offering, and becoming personally involved in Kentucky missions. 

Will you Follow His Lead?  Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Will you Follow His Lead on your knees in prayer for the lost and for missions in Kentucky?  Will you Follow His Lead through sacrificial giving?  Will you Follow His Lead in ministry to others?

Follow His Lead!  Accept the challenge and you will experience the unspeakable joy of servanthood.  Follow His Lead!  The Lord will transform your life into an exciting spiritual journey that touches others in ways you cannot even imagine.