GREENFIELD, Ind. (BP) – Roger Kinion expected to be sent to the mission field. He was, but he also jokes about how God sent him to the corn field.
“It’s been great,” he said of his 20 years as pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. “We’ve been big on leading our church to be missional, taking mission trips, championing missions with our children. We promote the idea of taking the Gospel to the world through the local church, and we’re able to do that through the Cooperative Program.”
A “born-and-bred Southern Baptist,” Kinion grew up mainly in Missouri and North Carolina. He earned an accounting degree at UNC Charlotte that came in handy during his days at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While there, he met his wife and fellow student, Allison. She served as youth minister at First Baptist Garland while he finished school and worked as an accountant.
“The North Carolina Baptist Convention paid for my ministry. My local church paid for my room and board [at SWBTS]. I’m a product of the Cooperative Program,” he said.
His first pastorate took them to South Carolina before the call to Indiana. Allison served as women’s ministry and WMU director for the state convention for 15 years before becoming Calvary’s Next Gen director, focusing on youth and children.
Kinion, 52, was just elected president of Crossroads Baptist Association and has served in vice presidential roles with the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana. CP’s role in his and his wife’s ministry has paved the way for them to make missions a priority for Calvary, a church started in the 1960s that has maintained a tradition of supporting Southern Baptist work.
“It’s been a passion for lives to serve,” he said. “We can do more together than alone. My wife and I both experienced that as both of us were in the 99th percentile of generosity of churches paying for seminary education. We graduated without any debt because of Southern Baptist churches.”
Calvary – which averages 125 in worship while giving 12 percent through CP – has sent several families to the mission field. The church currently has six students attending Cedarville University, affiliated with Ohio Baptists.
CP-funded events help shape his ministry to greater effectiveness.
“Training and fellowships keep me healthy so I can keep my church healthy,” he said. “Our state has been blessed to host the annual meeting. I was the local Crossover contractor last time, so it helped fund our local mission projects and evangelistic efforts. Our church has been able to directly participate in those and see church growth from that outreach.”
He added that partnerships with the North American Mission Board have led Calvary to be part of six different church starts.
Curriculum from NAMB and Lifeway keep the church connected to Southern Baptist work around the world, placing faces with stories. “We get to pray for them by name, see their work,” said Kinion, whose church has done an annual trip to Ecuador since 2017. “It’s encouraging and strengthens relationships with partner churches.”
In 2008, the church voted to construct a building that was completed two years later. That brought debt. Following COVID, they received a $400,000 payroll tax refund.
Rather than immediately putting it toward the debt, a church member raised the idea of immediately sending 12 percent of the amount to the Cooperative Program. The balance went to pay off the debt, with $40,000 remaining.
They set a goal to pay that off. Within two months, they had gathered $60,000, which will go toward their future building fund.
“Our church felt that was what we needed to do because we’ve been blessed,” Kinion said. “We need to bless others.”
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