From May 20-22 church planters and pastors from across the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist  Convention gathered together at Transformation Church in Sun Prairie to learn about putting together a plan for church planting.    The theme of the three day training was taken from Luke 14:28 when Jesus talked about the importance of counting the cost before building a tower.    The teaching emphasized the importance of making plans and counting the costs before starting a church.

Bill Agee is the Director of Church Planting for First Baptist Woodstock, Georgia and he is the author of the material that was presented.   Two other leaders joined Agee for the training who have successfully planted churches.   Jeremy Westbrook of Living Hope Church in the Columbus, Ohio  and Monty Patton of Mountain Ridge Church in Phoenix, Arizona were the other presenters.   All three presents have planted churches and they shared out of their own experiences the value of putting a plan together.

Twenty church planters and pastors  from Duluth to Madison came together for this event.   Participants included Hmong, Kenyan, Nigerian, African American, and Anglo pastors.  The diversity gave a lot of rich flavor for the training.  Agee shared that vision is crucial for church planters.   Planters must see into the future and know the action steps they need to take to get there.   For more information on this training you can find out more at www.markivchurchsolutions.com.

 

 

From May 20-22 we are going to have a top flight Church Planting School with Bill Agee, Director of Church Planting at First Baptist Woodstock.   Bill has planted a church in South Dakota and is very experienced in equipping churches.   The conference will be held at Transformation Church in Sun Prairie.   Register online at the following link:

http://churchplantingschool101.eventbrite.com

A practical, hands-on workshop covering the following topics:

The Call, Character, and Passion
An examination of the leadership of the church planter as Pastor Johnny Hunt teaches one of his most powerful studies

The Underserved
Places designated as the “underserved areas” will be highlighted and the need for churches in this area will be emphasized

The Future Picture
Elements of an all-inclusive Business and Ministry Plan will be shared and each attendee will utilize their unique contextual data to design their own plan that allows them to start in strength and see the journey they are on to its conclusion

The Importance of Partnerships
A discussion of how to identify, enlist, engage, and utilize partnerships

Lodging Information:
There is a block of rooms at Quality Inn and Suites, 105 Business Park Dr, Sun Prairie, WI. Please call 608.834.9889 or 1.800.434.5800 to make your reservation under Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association before May 10, 2013.

God has been sending leaders to us in the Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association.   One of these leaders God has sent our way is Pastor Moises Rodriguez.   Moises is the pastor of the newly formed Hispanic Baptist Mission meeting in Whitehall, Wisconsin.     The members of his church primarily live in the villages of Arcadia and Independence.

There is a group of about 30 Hispanic people meeting every Sunday since June 2012.   This work came about when some members of Moises’ church in Austin, Minnesota moved to the Arcadia area.    A major reason people are moving to Arcadia is the world headquarters for Ashley Furniture is located there.

Moises invests a lot of his time equipping leaders.   Right now there are three mid week bible studies taking place in homes.    These groups are reaching out to those who do not have a relationship with the Savior.   Sunday School and worship services take place in the afternoon at First Baptist Whitehall, a Conservative Baptist church who has kindly opened their doors to this new church plant.

In the picture above a recent meeting took place with Moises.  Crystal Persons of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention served as the interpreter.      Both Steve Melvin and Mark Millman also were part of the meeting talking about how there can be a beneficial relationship between Hispanic Baptist Mission and the SWBA.  Please be in prayer for this body of believes as they share the gospel with the increasing number of Hispanics coming to Wisconsin.