Church Planting

MT. STERLING, Ill. (BP) – Don Hannel had no plans for change. He had pastored his hometown church of Pleasant Hill in west-central Illinois for nearly 19 years. The church was growing. He had a secure ministry. There was no reason to leave.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (BP) – From the moment the lights went down for the opening worship set to the final prayer that wrapped up the event, the Send Network Gathering in Long Beach Aug. 26-27 drove attendees toward the conference theme: “Multiplication for Movement.”

MARRERO, La. (BP) – When Troy Gause sat in the small, one-person suicide watch cell – with no windows or light from the outside world – at Plaquemines Parish Detention Center, he never could have imagined one day being a pastor of a thriving church.

DALLAS (BP) – Baptist General Convention of Texas and North American Mission Board representatives met at the BGCT offices Aug. 15.

IRVINE, Calif. (BP) -- Bogdan Kipko immigrated to the United States, arriving in Seattle with his parents in 1992 where a Baptist church provided space for his family and others to worship. Thirty years later, God has used Kipko to launch a church planting movement among Slavs who are dispersed throughout North America.

ST. LOUIS – You never know who might be praying for you. Just ask Michael Byrd, pastor of Faith Community Bible Church in north St. Louis.

TORONTO – Kesevan Balasingham knows firsthand that he doesn’t have to look far from his Toronto home to find a mission field. It’s because he was once part of the mission field.

ODESSA, Texas (BP) – Erika Meza had been praying for her husband Luis to come to faith in Jesus for nine years. But spiritual conversations with Luis could feel tense and he would tell Erika he did not want to feel pressured to walk away from the Catholic religion he had always known.

QUINCY, Mass. (BP) – Growing up during the final decade of the Vietnam War, Hồng Đức Phạm never dreamed that one day he would leave Vietnam, relocate to the United States and become a Baptist minister.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – A group of more than 60 pastors, wives and other ministry leaders met for a three-day Arabic Church Planting Conference at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) July 10-12 to worship, network and encourage one another in the work of planting churches among Arabic-speaking peoples.