Today's From the States features items from:

Kentucky Baptist Convention

Baptist & Reflector (Tennessee)

BaptistLIFE (Maryland)

'Go Metro' Partnerships Help in

Ohio, Pennsylvania and Home

By Danna Prather

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Kentucky Baptist Convention)--Kentucky Baptist associational leaders who have enlisted in Go Metro USA say planting churches in other states can help strengthen congregations in Kentucky.

"We can see the gospel expanding not only in Pittsburgh," said Stan Lowery, director of missions for Nelson Baptist Association. "If the Lord blesses, this initiative could spread into the Northeast. One of the things I'm praying for is it will strengthen our churches and our convention."

Launched in the fall of 2010, Go Metro USA is a church-planting initiative of the Kentucky Baptist Convention that matches partnering associations from the commonwealth with church planters in metropolitan areas where there are few evangelical churches.

Currently Kentucky Baptists are helping plant churches in Cleveland and Pittsburgh. A partnership in West Virginia is in the works, and Elkhorn Baptist Association in Lexington has announced a partnership with Metro Columbus Baptist Association in Ohio.

Through Go Metro USA, the KBC helps associations identify potential partners and facilitates contacts among directors of missions. KBC also assists the Kentucky associations in developing a strategy that will best support church planters and existing evangelical congregations in the partnership areas.

The Pittsburgh partnership was formed by churches in Nelson, Lynn, Severns Valley and Oldham-Trimble associations. The goal is to help start 30 churches in the Steel City over the next three years.

"I think (church planting) is being faithful to our call to spread the gospel to other areas," Lowery said.

In western Kentucky, Bill Patterson expresses similar enthusiasm for a four-association partnership with Greater Cleveland Baptist Association.

"It may open people's eyes to possibilities we may have not seen before," said Patterson, director of missions for Green Valley Baptist Association. "We now see how doing work for other churches opens doors."

The newest partnership involves four associations from eastern Kentucky—Pulaski, Lincoln, Freedom and Wayne.

Malcolm Cheek, director of missions for the Pulaski association, said the four DOMs will recommend to their associations later this year a partnership with West Virginia Baptists and church planters serving the area between Huntington and Charleston.

There are many missions possibilities in the region, Cheek said.

"Basically, we want to try to invite and encourage our people to reach beyond the walls of the church, where the lostness is great and the work is small," he said.

Ray Van Camp, director of church planting and development for Elkhorn Baptist Association, said the Metro Columbus partnership was approved by both associations in January. Some mission trips to Ohio are already scheduled for June.

"This will be a partnership in which we seek not only for Elkhorn churches to minister in Columbus, but for Metro Columbus churches to minister to churches in the Lexington area," he noted.

PLANTING IN THE FOREST CITY

Last December, Kevin Litchfield, director of missions for the Cleveland association, met with his Kentucky counterparts to assess the progress of the first Go Metro partnership.

"Our heartbeat is to see what it's going to take to change the lostness of our city," Litchfield said. "The Kentucky partnership is an extra help with that task."

Congregations in Green Valley, Little Bethel, Daviess-McLean and Ohio Valley associations sent more than 250 volunteers on multiple trips to the Cleveland area in 2011.

Litchfield said Kentucky Baptists have provided prayer and financial support, manpower, and a morale boost for church planters.

This and other partnerships that are developing give Litchfield the hope of seeing 250 new churches started in northern Ohio by 2020.

He said that would lower the ratio of SBC churches from one for every 46,000 residents to one for every 6,000.

News of the assistance that believers in Cleveland are receiving from churches in Kentucky and elsewhere is reaching pastors and recent seminary graduates.

Patterson said that when the Go Metro partnership began, Litchfield reported only two church planters expressing an interest in serving in Cleveland. Today there are 20.

Renovations recently made to a downtown Cleveland church will provide accommodations for up to 100 volunteers at a daily cost of $10 per person. A portion of that fee will help support a coordinator in the local association who will work with visiting partners on a variety of projects similar to those undertaken by Kentucky Baptists.

-- Last year a team from Hyland Baptist of Henderson helped the Cowboy Church in Painesville, Ohio, with building renovations and also hosted sports camps and a vacation Bible school.

-- Zion Baptist of Henderson is helping Abundant Life Community Church of North Royalton, Ohio, plant Lifepoint in the nearby suburb of Strongsville. The new congregation is holding monthly preview services prior to its launch in March.

-- First Baptist Church of Henderson has a partnership with Gateway Church, one of the few evangelical congregations in downtown Cleveland. First Baptist has helped plant trees to beautify the downtown area and assisted with two other congregations that the five-year-old Gateway has started in recent months.

"That's one thing that impressed us so much," Patterson said. "Their vision is not just to plant churches, but to plant churches that plant churches."

BUILDING BRIDGES IN THE 'BURGH'

The Pittsburgh partnership was formalized last September at the annual meeting of the Severns Valley Baptist Association.

The ceremony was the second time that leaders from the Baptist Convention of Pennsylvania/South Jersey had visited the commonwealth as part of the partnership. Members from the central Kentucky associations have been to Pittsburgh twice.

Relationships produced by these exchanges are growing, helped along by a Facebook page promoting Kentucky's connection with the Steel City, Lowery said.

"There's an excitement about it," he said. "I definitely see it growing. It's been very easy sharing the need."

Church planters in Pennsylvania express similar enthusiasm, according to Barry Whitworth, multiplying churches team leader for the Penn-Jersey convention.

"At this point this relationship … is affecting (local) churches," Whitworth said. "We feel this has a viable connection. We're getting calls, asking what churches can do here."

There are only 52 Southern Baptist churches in a nine-county area around Pittsburgh, most outside the city. One of the first projects is to renovate a guest house to accommodate the many out-of-town volunteers needed to help support the church-starting effort.

Despite the size of the challenge, Whitworth foresees great progress.

Just as the Kentucky partnership was getting underway, three church planters were making plans to move into the Pittsburgh area.

These days, church planters are contacting the convention. "We don't have to go looking for them," Whitworth said. "I think it's part of the environment God is creating."

After serving 17 years in the Pittsburgh area, Mission Service Corps missionaries Melanie Hart and her husband, Larry, are pleased to see the new partnership.

"There is a huge yearning from established church planters," said Hart, who oversees partnerships for the Baptist Association of Southwestern Pennsylvania.

"We have so many communities and neighborhoods that lack an evangelical presence. We're excited about what God is getting ready to do here."

For information on Go Metro USA, visit www.kybaptist.org/gometro or contact the KBC Missions Growth Team by e-mail at newwork@kybaptist.org or (502) 489-3528 or (866) 489-3528 (toll-free in Kentucky).

Each association mentioned in this story also is making plans to participate in the Kentucky-St. Louis Partnership, a three-year emphasis launched in January to start new churches in the Gateway City.

For details on the St. Louis partnership, visit www.kybaptist.org/stlouis or e-mail partnerships@kybaptist.org or call (502) 489-3529 or (866) 489-3529 (toll-free in Kentucky).

The Kentucky Baptist Convention is a cooperative missions and ministry organization made up of nearly 2,400 autonomous Baptist churches in Kentucky. A variety of state and worldwide ministries are coordinated through its administrative offices in Louisville, including: missions work, ministry training and support, church development, evangelism and more.

For more information, visit the KBC website at www.kybaptist.org find "Kentucky Baptist Convention" on Facebook or follow "kentuckybaptist" on Twitter.

This article was released by the Kentucky Baptist Convention (kybaptist.org). Danna Prather is a marketing and media relations associate for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

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Women Minister

in China

By Connie D. Bushey

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (Baptist & Reflector)--They have served in Iran as short-term missions volunteers so it may not be surprising that recently they served in China, another country which is not completely open to Christianity. In fact Ann Davenport and Carolyn Outland have served in China twice.

They just returned from serving there a couple of months ago.

The duo, long-time friends and ministry partners who are known for their conferences on evangelism, went to China at the invitation of some Baptist missionaries, both times, and returned after the first time because of some amazing Chinese Christian women, they reported.

Though it had been more than a year and their church had been closed by the government, some of those women spent time with Davenport and Outland again. They had nearly begged the Tennesseans with tears to return, explained Outland. "They broke our heart," added Davenport. "We knew in 2010 we would come back in 2011 because of them." Continued...