The Columbia Metro Connection eNewsletter — June 6, 2018

A Message from George Bullard, Director

This past Sunday I had a great opportunity to be with two churches meeting for a joint worship service, baptism, and fellowship lunch. Willow Lake Church on Farrow Road between the Killian area and Blythewood, hosted Rockton Baptist Church from Winnsboro. Both congregations are smaller membership churches. Their church facilities are 17 miles apart and in different counties.

What brought them together?

Kenny Cole, pastor of Rockton, felt led of God to launch a new church campus at Scottie’s Café in the Blythewood area. In talking with Kenny, I asked him if he realized that one of our CMBA churches was a mile away on Farrow Road. He did not.

I introduced Kenny to Jeff Benson, pastor of Willow Lake Church. They developed a relationship with one another as pastors. This past Sunday their congregations came together for worship and fellowship. The two pastors shared the sermon time with Kenny preaching the first half and Jeff the second half on the topic “Being Real and Risking Change.”

Later this summer they will provide joint leadership for Vacation Bible School at Willow Lake. Where is this relationship headed? The hope is that it is headed in God’s desired direction for these churches. Will you pray with me, Kenny, and Jeff—as well as the leadership of their churches—for a clear focus for their next steps?

Midtown Fellowship–Two Notch: A Church Plant in the Inner City to Reach into Poverty

You may have read the article on Midtown Fellowship—Two Notch that was posted to our web site earlier this year. If not, or to refresh your memory, click HERE to read the story.

Now you can listen to pastor Ant Frederick talk about his passion for the ministry of this congregation by checking out our latest podcast on urban ministry HERE. We are sure you will be impacted by the spiritual and strategic passion in the heart, soul, mind, and strength of Ant’s life and ministry.

Our One Priority is About Telling Your Story of Planting a New Congregation

As a reminder, Our One Priority as CMBA is Starting and Strengthening Congregations to Serve as Vital and Vibrant Missional Communities. As part of giving priority to starting new congregations, we are beginning a series of podcasts that tell the stories of people who have planted a new congregation or sponsored or partnered with a new congregation.

We are putting together a list of people with whom to record a podcast about their experience, but we do not want to leave anyone out. If you have been part of starting or sponsoring a new congregation, let us know about you so we can talk with you. Call George Bullard at 803.622.0923 or send an e-mail to GeorgeBullard@ColumbiaMetro.org. We will start recording and posting these podcasts this summer.

Our Important Dates

We covet your prayers for these experiences and the congregations and leaders who will be involved. To see logistical details about each of these, go to the calendarpage of the web site.

  • Tuesday, June 19th at noon is our next Vision Tuesday on Building a Financial Legacy for Your Congregation. The location is the SC Baptist Convention building at 190 Stoneridge Drive in Columbia. The lunch will be by Blue Marlin Signature Caterer. The speaker will be Nathan McCarthy of the Baptist Foundation of South Carolina. The sponsor is the South Carolina Baptist Ministries of Aging. Register HERE.
  • Saturday, June 23rd 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. is Region II Associational WMU Leadership Training at Trinity Baptist Church, 112 Chester Avenue, Great Falls, SC. This training is free. Please register by Thursday, June 14th by contacting donnabritt@scbaptist.org or calling 803.227.6210.
  • Monday – Wednesday, August 27th-29th is the next Congregational Champions “Retreat” held in the office of the association. It is three days where participants learn a process for leading their congregation through transitions and changes to transform for the next chapter in the life of their congregation. It starts at 1:00 p.m. on the first day and ends at 1:00 p.m. on the third day with no evening sessions. For more information contact George Bullard directly at 803.622.0923 or GeorgeBullard@ColumbiaMetro.org.
  • Saturdays September 22nd and 29th – Inasmuch Days in CMBA. Our prayer is to see many churches in our association serving their communities. The Operation Inasmuch ministry has developed helpful tools and approaches to assist churches in conducting successful ministry experiences. Quarters for Jesus is a sample story of how a little girl in a congregation sprang into action to support a compassion revolution through her church. If your church wants to be involved in one of these Saturdays, contact Cathy Locklear at 803.622.0303 or CathyLocklear@ColumbiaMetro.org. She has a training kit and will also personally help your church get ready.

Conversations around our family of congregations

Need a Printer? First Baptist Church of Columbia would like to donate an HP 8100 printer to someone who needs this capacity. The cartridge for this printer costs around $100 and has the capacity to print 20,000 pages. It has not been in used in some years. It is a large printer on a rolling stand.  It was working very well when they discontinued using it.

Pray for Congregations Seeking a New Pastor:Columbia First Baptist Church, Stephen Greene Baptist Church, Hope Baptist Church, and Calvary Baptist Church.

Several of our churches need music and worship leaders. If you know of people who desire to serve part-time in this area of ministry in a church, please have them send a resume to George Bullard at GeorgeBullard@ColumbiaMetro.org.

In each issue of the newsletter, this space is reserved for the needs, wants, and announcements of our Columbia Metro Association family of churches. Please send contributions by email to CMBA@ColumbiaMetro.org

About the author 

Kyndra Bremer