Sunday, June 6

This morning we went to Stanley Heights Baptist Church with the Leonard family. We met many people from BIMI there that we have not seen in many years. There were two families from Japan there also, as well as some of the people from BIMI HQ.

The Pastor had a time of Children's Worship with the kids from 4-11. He called all the kids down front and they sat on the steps of the platform. One brought a brightly wrapped box in which was an item that Pastor did not know. He took out the item, which was a ticket stub, and related it to the Bible. Sorry to say, I do not remember what he said. ;-(    Every week there is a different object in the box and the kids try to stump the Pastor, but so far have not. This was a new thing for me, but I can see how it would help young kids to relate to the pastor. So often children have their separate classes and do not get to know the Pastor through the preaching.


In the evening service a Japanese man gave his testimony of how he got saved years ago in Chattanooga as an exchange student. He went back to Japan and worked in a local Baptist church. He wants to start a new work there. He said that out of 1,000 people in Japan, only 4 claim to be Christian. Now, that is a sobering statistic. His wife sang in English and Japanese.

 
Then there was a church planter in Connecticut who preached the evening service. He is starting a church in a town that has no Baptist churches. They were able to purchase an abandoned building that used to be a bar. With the approval of the community, they can now start on the renovations. God is good.

Church planting is God's plan for the Great Commission. Go and preach the gospel, baptize believers as their first step of obedience; and teach them so they can in turn teach others. The process still works.