December 2013Vol. 43, No. 6

in this issue

Moving? See page 2 (1203)

Churches in the Pacific impacting the world B a p t i s t

See Annual meeting ... Page 4

See VBS ... Page 5

AlohaVeryl Henderson bids farewell to his Hawaii Baptist family after 42 years as HPBC’s executive director.Page 2.

DR updateDarrell McCain encourages churches to participate in Ready Church, a disaster assistance ministry created by the International Mission Board.Page 3

‘Like family’Church planter John Endriss writes about what God is doing at Engage Church in Hilo.Page 6

Honolulu—Hawaii Pacific Baptists celebrated their 71st annual meeting at the Hawaii Bap-tist Academy in Honolulu, Nov. 7-8.

The theme was “Cloud of Witness” based on Hebrews 12:1-2. The HBA band performed the theme interpretation in song and Bible readings.

There were 251 registered messengers from 73 churches and 227 guests at the two-day meeting. The proceedings of the annual meeting were broadcast live via the Internet. About 961 people had viewed the proceedings during the annual meeting. Comments ranged from, “Enjoying watching the meeting online” to “thank you for putting this online.”

Comments came as far away as England and New Jersey to friends from the U.S. main-land. Videos from the annual meeting can still be viewed by going to ustream.tv/ channel/hpbc-hawaii.

Two new congregations requesting affilia-tion and were approved by the messengers—Hawaii Sinai Korean Baptist Church, Oahu and Ocean View Baptist Church, Big Island.

Messengers to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention approved an overall budget of $3,168,898 million for 2014 reflecting a small

Hawaii Baptists celebrate 71st annual meetingMore than 1,400 ‘Witness’ meeting in person, online

Frank Page, president of th Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, presents a plaque with a resolu-tion from the Executive Committee on Veryl’s retirement as HPBC executive director.

increase. Giving to world missions through the Cooperative Program increased slightly from the previous year with an anticipated offering of $1,213,000. Funding from the North American Mission Board and LifeWay

Christian Resources remains the same. The convention will continue to allocate 31.5 per-cent of Cooperative Program receipts to national and international missions and

Missionaries offer hope to Burmese immigrantsLottie Moon Offering helps support Southern Baptist missionaries overseas

By Susan O’Hara and Evelyn Adamson

Ranong, Thailand—It rains eight months out of the year in the Thai province Scott and Alyssa Branding* call home.

For many of the country’s 2.5 million Burmese living in the southern part of Thailand, monsoon rain is their only dependable water source. But drinking the rainwater can make them sick.

So, the Brandings give them small clay water pots lined with rice husks to filter impurities from the rainwater. Then, they tell them about Jesus, the source of “living water:” “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).

The Brandings, from Calvary Baptist Church in Maysville, Ky., have been shar-ing the gospel with Burmese migrant workers for more than 10 years.

Many of these migrant workers live in remote areas without electricity or

2013 LMCO goal: $175 million

See Burmese ... Page 5

Scott Branding (name changed), an IMB mis-sionary, teaches scripture at a Burmese believer’s home on a rubber tree plantation. The group of Burmese workers, who gather from various iso-lated farms in the area, has formed churches from Branding’s efforts. (IMB)

2 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013

This is my final editorial in the Hawaii Pacific Baptist as the executive director-trea-surer of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. I want to express my gratitude to the readers of this article for allowing me the privilege of sharing with you my thoughts and impressions from my readings of the word of God. The joy of the Lord Jesus has accompanied all of

us along our journey of faith. My word for the day is gratitude. Gratitude

for the ways you have given encouragement and affirmations along the way. Cheryl and I were called into ministry when we were very young, at different times and in different places. Somehow God arranged for us to dis-cover each other. He allowed us to be on mis-sion together. After we both graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, He introduced us to a ministry in Hawaii, then to Colorado and back to Hawaii. The journey is not yet complete because He may have plans that we know not of. But in the meantime, we

will enjoy the fellowship of His people.By way of articulating our gratitude, Cheryl

and I want you to know we were and are over-whelmed with the expressions of love extended to us. We are appreciative of the affirmations you have voiced and the words you have written. We thank you for sharing how God has blessed your lives through us as our lives intersected with yours through the years.

Thank you for the retirement celebration at the Hale Koa Hotel on Nov. 9. Thank you who were able to share the day with us. The gifts of music, video, hula, plaques, clock, art work and cards in abundance were received with deep gratitude. Our emotions keep bubbling up from within us every time we revisit the experience. We are overwhelmed with the time and energy that went into making this a very special day. The words “thank you” are inadequate to express our gratitude for all that was done for us. Our family wants every-one to know, we are grateful for the privilege of serving among you in the Pacific Islands.

I want to express gratitude to the planning team for their efforts in planning and imple-menting the retirement celebration. The team

deserving recognition are: Alice Newman, Deanna Aoki, Faith McFatridge, Walt and Kay Agena. I was impressed they kept the program a secret from me through all the preparations.

For those not able to attend the celebration event, but have expressed words of affirma-tions, we want you to know of our deep grati-tude for you, too. We are blessed to be linked with caring disciples of the Lord Jesus who share the passion of expanding the kingdom of God.

I am aware that we serve the Lord Jesus, because He is Lord. That has been our desire all along. We needed encouragement along the way and we needed affirmations that what we were doing was leading others in the right direction. So, having the public display cel-ebrating our ministry in the islands has been an emotional experience. We thank the Bap-tist family for the tribute of our ministry. But we want you to know that we are still lifelong students of Jesus seeking to know more about Him everyday.

HAWAII PACIFIC BAPTIST2042 Vancouver DriveHonolulu, Hawaii 96822(USPS 237-540)

VERyl HEndERSOnEditor

FAITH McFATRIdGEAssociate Editor

The Hawaii Pacific Baptist is published bi-monthly by the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. For general information, call (808) 946-9581. Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii, and additional mailing office.

To subscribe: Send request to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist at the above address. Subscriptions for non-resident members of the HPBC are $12 annually.To register a change of address: Send the mailing label from page 1, along with your new address, to The Hawaii Pacific Baptist at the above address.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to HAWAII Pacific BAPTIST, 2042 Vancouver Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822-2491To give news tips: Call the editor at (808) 946-9581.To submit a letter: Letters on any subject will be considered for publication if sent to the above address, provided they do not make a personal attack on anyone. Letters are limited to 250 words and may be edited for length.Publishing services provided by Western Recorder Inc., Box 43969, Louisville, KY 40253. Robin Bass, partnership editions director.

Veryl Henderson

FROM THE WORD

Join us on FacebookBe part of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention via Facebook. Already have an account? Simply type “Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention” in the search box.Then click the “Like” box on the right side of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention header. It’s that easy. Followers of HPBC will receive all the updates and be current with the events and activities as they are posted. Let’s keep connected. For more information, contact Faith McFatridge at faith@hpbaptist.net.

Goodbye & thank you, Baptist family

Veryl Henderson is the executive director of Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. Email: veryl@hpbaptist.net.

GuEST cOluMn by Tom Elliff

Years ago, a pastor received an unusual call on Sunday after-noon from the chairman of the church’s finance committee. That morning, the church had begun collecting its annual Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions. As they were tallying the results, the committee found an interesting response in one enve-lope. The envelope had been turned inside out, and the names of

a couple from the congregation were printed inside.

Thinking that an offering had fallen out, the chairman asked the pastor to phone the givers.

“Yes, that was our offering,” said the husband when the pastor called, “and we meant it.”

When asked by the pastor what they meant, the husband responded, “We couldn’t think of anything better to give the Lord than ourselves. This is our decision to surrender everything to the Lord.”

“Totally His!” Now that is the kind of commitment Christ expects, honors and blesses! Once it is settled that we are His … heart, hands, voice … the Lord then moves us into places of incred-ible effectiveness.

Paul commended the churches of Macedonia by saying that, in spite of their affliction and deep poverty, they were noted for their generosity. “For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord,” he wrote.

How were these churches able to give so generously? “They first gave themselves to the Lord,” Paul said. In other words, their remarkable generosity sprung from hearts that were totally His!

During this year’s Lottie Moon Offering, you will have the opportunity to hear about individuals from around the globe who have determined that Christ is worthy of their all. They are work-ing together with Southern Baptist churches. God is using their efforts in some of the darkest corners. Together they are touching others with the gospel in remarkable ways.

IMB’s role is to assist you and your church in the fulfillment of the Great Commission. When you give to Lottie Moon, you are ensuring that you have people “on the ground” in some of the most broken and lost communities of the world. These are mis-sionary personnel placed to assist your church in fulfilling its mission.

Please join in praying that this year’s emphasis will be, first and foremost, about offering ourselves to the Lord. And once that is in place, the stage is set for an offering that reflects the kind of generosity only God inspires.

Totally His! That should be our goal at any season of the year!Give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International

Missions through your local Southern Baptist church or online at imb.org/offering, where there are resources for church leaders to promote the offering.Tom Elliff is president of the International Mission Board.

Christ is worthy of your allGuEST cOluMn by Erich Bridges

Contracts these days are short-term, with plenty of qualifiers and escape clauses. Jobs are temporary. Relationships are the same. “Till death do us part” sounds quaint. If it doesn’t work out, move on. Keep your options open.

But God doesn’t play that half-hearted game. It’s all or nothing with Him. He gives all, even His own Son, to those who come to Him. In return, He expects all.

They asked Jesus, “Teacher, which command in the law is the greatest? He said to him, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36-39).

Loving Him, unconditionally, comes first. Then He gives us His unconditional love for our neigh-bors—and even people we have never seen.

That’s the kind of love demon-strated by folks at First Baptist Cen-terton, Ark. They committed to reach a people group in need of the gospel in a Hindu area overseas, but could make no contact with them when persecution in the area stopped missions work. But they kept praying for the people—for five years. When a team from First Bap-tist finally was able to visit their people group, meet the first bap-tized believer and worship with the first infant church, they wept tears of joy.

That’s the kind of love shown by Warren Baptist Church in Augusta, Ga. They committed to share the Gospel with the Deaf in Madagas-car, where less than 1 percent of the nation’s 110,000 Deaf are

Christian. That involves sending multiple teams each year, learning the Malagasy sign language and making a major financial invest-ment. But the church has vowed it won’t cut its giving to the Lottie

Moon Christmas Offering. The offering supports Southern Baptist workers like Matt Spann, who leads IMB’s Madagascar team and helps Warren Baptist in its work there.

That’s the kind of love lived daily by IMB mission-ary Gena Wilson, who has spent years walking the

gritty streets of Glasgow, Scotland, to befriend students skipping school, drug addicts, young people searching for a reason to live.

“God calls us as believers to get alongside folks who don’t know Him ... so that we show them Jesus, so that we can show them the cross is enough,” says Gena.

She’s determined to continue her work, even as she struggles to survive the cancer that has ravaged her own body. Gifts to the Lottie Moon Offering make Gena’s minis-try possible, as well as the ministry of another missionary couple that has joined her team in Glasgow.

Frances J. Roberts, author of “Come Away My Beloved” and other devotional works, imagined what the Lord might say to us about being totally His:

“Be done with petty things. Be done with small dreams. Give Me all that you have and are; and I will share with you abundantly all that I have and all that I am.”

When we love God with our whole hearts—and without condi-tions—He will do wonderful things through us.

Be done with small dreams and conditional commitment. Be totally His.Erich Bridges is IMB’s global correspondent.

Tom Elliff

Erich Bridges

Worldview: Unconditional

HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013 3

By darrell Mccain

Honolulu—Hawaii has been very blessed in the past several years in relation to disasters. Unlike the mainland that has been hit hard with hurricanes, torna-does, flooding, fires, and man-made disasters, like mass shootings.

However, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands do have their share of small and large disasters. There was the American Samoa Tsunami in 2009, and the Big Island earthquake in 2006, just to name a few.

We, as Southern Baptist Convention of churches and Hawaii Pacific Baptist Con-vention of churches, need to have our churches ready. North American Mission Board Disaster Relief has put together a Ready Church manual to help churches get ready to help survivors. Church resources can be found at namb.net.

One of our churches, Mililani Baptist Church, has moved toward being a Ready Church. Mililani participated in a church wide disaster relief training in February that included Southern Baptist Convention basic training, mass feeding and mudout training. Mililani Baptist Church also is now an American Red Cross shelter after training from ARC.

University Avenue Baptist Church also has trained and is an ARC-approved shelter.

We need more of our churches to be a Ready Church and open their doors for our disaster relief volunteers and pos-sibly for survivors in a time of need.

In the event of a disaster, SBC disaster relief volunteers will come in and set up feeding units and start helping families clean up their homes.

To train with us you must be a SBC church member, 18 years old or older, and pass a background check.

HPBC Disaster Relief Coordinator Dar-rell McCain has set up DR training dates for 2014, Oahu on March 1, Maui, April 5, and Big Island,April 12. If your church would like to offer church training, con-tact Darrell McCain at 356-8343, or email him at darrell@hpbaptist.net.

To find out more about Ready Church go to namb.net/readychurch. Teresa McCain trains OSFA in chaplain training.

Darrell McCain leads a disaster relief training, Evangelism Block Party training, and spoke in three churches and gave greetings to the Guam Baptist Association Annual Meeting.

Hawaii disaster relief leaders give an orientation and shared testimony with Saipan Good Baptist Church in Saipan.

Disasters happen, are churches ready?

Honolulu—The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention received an offering of $3,017.84 toward relief efforts in the Philippians after a devastating typhoon obliterated entire towns Nov. 8.

The official death toll of Typhoon Haiyan stands at 5,240, reported the Wall Street Journal Nov. 26, and is expected to rise. The typhoon—known locally as Yolanda—is the deadliest storm in Southeast Asia’s modern history, cites the New York newspaper.

HPBC has forwarded the offering to Global Baptist Response, the Southern Baptist agency coordinating Baptist relief efforts in the Philip-pines. More information about relief efforts can be found at hpbaptist.net/dr.

“The devastation in the Philippines is huge,” said Darrell McCain, HPBC disaster response coordinator.

“BGR along with the IMB (Inter- national Mission Board) is working to get the foundation set for the long term response. We will form teams as soon as BGR is ready for us.”

McCain said that Southern Baptist Disaster Relief is expected to assist in the region for six months or longer.

“We need to be patient and give monetary offerings to this response,” McCain said. He encouraged Hawaii Baptist to give to their local church signifying their intent of the offering.

Churches receiving donations for the disaster relief effort in the Philippians can send offerings to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention at 2042 Vancouver Drive, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822.

HPBC will forward the offering directly to Bap-tist Global Response.

“Above all, please pray for the people and the disaster relief volunteers,” McCain said.

Hawaii Baptists give $3,000 to Philippines

Honolulu—The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Conven-tion has restructured ministry responsibilities in response to recent downsizing of staff positions. The following is a list to help churches find the proper staff member to offer assistance.

Church Growth and Leadership Development Clyde Kakiuchi will lead all aspects of family

ministry, including the care of pastors’ families, the “Wives in Ministry Retreat,” and ministry for children and senior adults.

Ministry Evangelism and Missions Education Faith McFatridge will lead Ministry Evange-

lism and Missions Education, a newly-created position combined from two former positions.

McFatridge will oversee the North American Mission Board LoveLoud position, which is designed to help churches reach out to their com-munity. She also will serve as the Woman’s Mission- ary Union leader by providing opportunities for mission’s education for all age levels and encour-aging churches to be involved in their commu-nity. Other responsibilities include oversight of ministries related to seafarers, multi-housing, community block parties, resort activities and all things that impact communities. She will remain associate editor of the convention newspaper.

Prayer, Evangelism and WorshipMichael “Bong” Abagon will oversee website

management, Internet communication, evange-lism training and equipping churches. The com-munity outreach aspects of evangelism has been shifted to the Ministry Evangelism position.

The Executive Director-TreasurerIn addition to the executive director-treasur-

er’s current list of responsibilities, he now will be responsible for oversight of partnerships and vol-unteer mobilization.

Restructuring at HPBC

4 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013

Continued from page 1

Annual meeting

65 and six salvation decisions, and Song-tan Central Baptist Church for total enrollment of 110 and 30 Sunday School prospects.

Chris Martin, pastor of Lahaina Bap-tist Church in Lahaina, Maui, was elected president. Denver Copeland, pas-tor for Waikoloa Baptist Church, was elected first vice president. Alberto Camacho, pastor of Filipino Interna-tional Baptist Church, was elected sec-ond vice president. Connie Landry, a member of Ocean View Baptist Church on Hawaii, was re-elected as recording secretary.

A resolution was approved thanking the volunteer leadership of those ending

their terms of service to the Executive Board and Convention Committees. A resolution recognizing the SBC agencies was approved.

A resolution on “marriage equality” was approved by the messengers. The resolution called for messengers at the 2013 annual meeting to “stand against same-sex marriage or ‘marriage equal-ity’ as defined by the Hawaii State Legis-lature. The resolution also urged HPBC members to stand and do all that is pos-sible to uphold biblical marriage in their private and public lives, and to commit to pray for all people “to know God’s will and grace through the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.”

A resolution was approved affirming Henderson’s leadership in light of his retirement on Dec.31 as Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention’s executive director. It extended to Henderson “their warmest aloha and deepest appreciation for his service to the convention and for his invaluable contribution to the kingdom work of the convention and church span-ning over 42 years of ministry.”

Frant Page, SBC Executive Committee CEO, preached the annual sermon on the final night of the annual meeting.

Next year’s annual meeting will be held at the Kihei Baptist Church, Maui, Nov. 6-7, 2014.

ministries. Messengers also approved the calendar of activities for 2014 and reports of the executive director-trea-surer and the Executive Board contain-ing information on administrative ser-vices and division programs.

Elected to serve on the Executive Board were: Blane DeLoach (Palisades), Mike Inouye (Kaunakakai), Annie Lam (Hawaii Chinese), Andrew Large (Waikiki), Beverly Nagano (Lihue), and Martin Zialcita (Olivet). Elected to serve on the Convention Committees were: Arrangements, Gary Appel (Eleele), Lanny Green (Ocean View), and Shirley Matsumura (Pearl City); Credentials, Hazel Capinpin (Filipino International), Mike Landry (Ocean View), and Michelle Metcalf (Lihue); Historical, June Duffer (Cornerstone Fellowship).

Ten HPBC churches were recognized by Henderson for Excellence in Ministry and Cooperative Program giving: Olivet Baptist Church, Oahu; Mililani Baptist Church, Oahu; Nuuanu Baptist Church, Oahu; Hawaii Kai Church, Oahu; First Baptist Church, Pearl City, Oahu; Corner-stone Fellowship of Mililani Mauka; Uni-versity Avenue Baptist Church, Oahu; Waialae Baptist Church, Oahu; First Bap-tist Church, Wahiawa Oahu, and Valley Isle Fellowship, Maui.

Henderson also recognized 10 churches for increasing their CP giving in 2012-2013: Olivet Baptist Church, Oahu; Hawaii Kai Church, Oahu; Hilo Baptist Church, Hawaii; Palisades Baptist Church, Oahu; First Southern Baptist Church, Pearl Harbor, Oahu; Puna Bap-tist Church, Hawaii; Cornerstone Fellow-ship in Mililani Mauka; First Baptist Church, Pearl Ciy; Waiakea Uka Bible Church, Hawaii; Eleele Baptist Church, Kauai.

Steven Kang awarded certificates for the churches participating in the Acts 1:8 Challenge: All four quadrants: Hawaii Kai Church, Waikiki Baptist Church, Pawa’a Community Church, Kaunakakai Baptist Church, Pukalani Baptist Church, Mililani Baptist Church; three quadrants: Filipino International Baptist Church, Yokohama International Baptist Church, Lihue Baptist Church, Waikoloa Baptist Church, one to two quadrants: New Covenant Baptist Church, First Bap-tist Church of Wahiawa, Waipahu Com-munity Church and Village Park Baptist Church.

Michael Abagon presented certificates to the top churches in baptism: Member-ship of 150+: Koza Baptist Church (129), Cornerstone Fellowship at Mililani Mauka (33), and Valley Isle Fellowship (28); membership of 101-150: Maui Philip-pine Baptist Church (25), Waikoloa Bap-tist Church (15), and Waikiki Baptist Church (14); membership of 51-100: Waianae Baptist Church (56), Ocean View Baptist Church (27), and Kona Baptist church (18); membership of 50 and under: Chinese First Baptist Church (13), All Nations Fellowship (12), and All Peo-ples Mission Church (10).

Clyde Kakiuchi, presented Certificates of Excellence in Vacation Bible School to: Lihue Baptist Church for five weeks of VBS and 62 salvation decisions, Sonshine Ministry with Darla Richardson for eight weeks of VBS, Fellowship Baptist Church for 110 total enrollment and 16 salvation dedications, Kaunakakai Baptist Church for total enrollment of 94, Aloha Com-munity Church for total enrollment of

Veryl and Cheryl Henderson were showered with many lei in honor of his retirement.

Ken and Alice Newman were presented with the “Pono” Award from Paul Oyer, president of the Hawaii Baptist Foundation for excellence in ministry. The Newmans are the fifth recipients of the the Pono Award which was started in 2009.

Officers elected at the HPBC 71st annual meeting were (from left) Connie Landry, recording secre-tary; Alberto Camacho, 2nd vice president, Denver Copeland, 1st vice president and Chris Martin, president. With the officers is outgoing president, Steve Irvin.

The Disaster Relief Team provided about 350 lunches to the messengers and guests on Friday at the HPBC annual meeting. It was an opportunity to provide hands-on training for the volunteers and to provide a lunch for the annual meeting participants.

HPBC annual meeting participants heard The Soldiers of Light under the direction of Todd Yokotake with hula from the school’s hula team.

HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013 5

OBN open position The Oahu Baptist Network,

a voluntary association of Bap-tist churches on the island of Oahu, announces an opening for the position of facilitator (administrative leader of the organization). As the title implies, this leader will facili-tate ministry among and between Baptist churches with attention given to three spe-cific areas: improving church health, developing effective leadership, and facilitating the development of ministry part-nerships. The full-time posi-tion will provide salary, hous-ing allowance, medical and retirement benefits, and vehicle.

Because the 82 Baptist churches and missions on Oahu comprise a variety of cul-tural, language, and ethnic constituents, the best qualified candidate will have had experi-ence in cross-cultural ministry and will have considerable administrative experience. Since developing effective church and ministry leader-ship is a significant aspect of this position, pastoral and/or mentoring experience is desir-able. Familiarity with Baptist processes is required.

Email resumes to the Oahu Baptist Network Search Team at oahubaptists@gmail.com.

The ideal timing for start-ing in the position is the begin-ning of March 2014.

National Adoption MonthNews via Brad McDaniel;

Harvest Family Ministries is hosting a celebration event on the occasion of November being National Adoption Month. The celebration will feature “When Love Takes You In” and it will be on Wednes-day, Nov. 27, 7 p.m.-9 p.m. A dinner is scheduled at 5:30. The greater Baptist family is invited to both. The location is Calvary Chapel Pearl Harbor, 94-1044 Waipio Uka Street, Waipahu, Hawaii. A love offer-ing will be received for Harvest Family Life Ministries. For more information contact, Brad McDaniel at hflmhawaii@hawaiiantel.net.

IMB mission studyThe International Mission

Board’s mission study empha-sis is focused on Peru this year. Churches may purchase study materials online at wmustore.com, or at (800) 968-7301. The materials are prepared for each age group: preschool, children, youth and adults. It is possible to get a complete set of all the materials for each age group in one bundle. For more information, call Faith McFatridge at (808) 946-9581, ext. 326.

news briefs

Honolulu—Veryl and Cheryl Henderson were honored at a retirement breakfast at the Hale Koa Hotel on Nov. 9. More than 300 people gathered to say “mahalo and aloha” to the Hendersons.

The program included remembrances for the Lahaina Years, Resort Ministries, HPBC Missions and as executive director.

A painting of the Koolau Mountains by Lance Fairly was given to the Hendersons from those who came to the breakfast and other donors.

Entertainment included Masters Touch hula ministry from Olivet Baptist Church and a musical parody by John Hom.

Henderson notes in his Enews, “Cheryl and I say thank you for every kindness expressed to us. We are blessed to have so many friends in so many places.

“Thank you for allowing us to serve our Lord Jesus in your midst. We are grateful to you and to the Southern

Baptist family for teaching us the way of Jesus from the beginning until now.

“God called us to serve Him,” contin-ues Veryl Henderson Southern Baptists provided the education, the resources, the

partnerships, and the encouragement to expand the mission whenever possible. The Pacific Islands provided the venue to live out that calling.

“We thank you for your support.”

Veryl and Cheryl Henderson (at left) are presented a gift by Alice Newman, chair of the planning com-mittee, at Veryl’s retirement breakfast. Also pictured is Lance Fairly (second from the right), artist of the painting.

‘Aloha’ Henderson honored at retirement breakfast

running water. They work on rubber and palm oil plantations or are undocu-mented immigrants living in the jungle to avoid detection by local immigration police.

Living in fearFamilies there build spirit houses in

their yards, setting out food every day to appease spirits — even when there is not enough food left to feed their families.

Fear of angering spirits is so deep-seated that new Christians often do not immediately throw out their idols.

“When we go into a home and we see their altar being totally clean, we just praise God because we know they’ve made that final step, they have totally committed their whole selves to the Lord,” Alyssa said.

When a small group of believers formed among the plantation workers, one of the first things they prayed for was time each week to meet together, said the congregation’s pastor Ye Htoelt. With no means of transportation, walking six miles or more to another plantation can take more than an hour each way.

Htoelt’s hands are cracked and cal-loused from years of working on palm oil plantations. On the first plantation Htoelt worked in Thailand, there had been run-ning water and electricity, but the land-owner was “wicked” and overworked his employees, Htoelt recalls.

He and his wife eventually found work at a different plantation. It didn’t have running water or electricity, but the land-owner was a believer. Not only did he give the couple Sundays off from work, he sent Htoelt home every Saturday afternoon so he could prepare to teach his small con-gregation the following day.

Htoelt was unsure he had the ability to lead the congregation, so Scott trained him in discipleship for two years.

“(It is) such a joy now to see him be able to share the gospel and have confidence,” Scott said. “When he starts speaking about the Bible, it’s just like he comes alive because the power of Jesus Christ (is) in him.”

Living in joyThe Brandings also have helped start

Bible studies among factory workers.For WinWin Ma, a young woman who

works in a squid processing plant, times of worship allow her to claim joy in life through Christ. She is the only Christian in her workroom of 30 laborers.

“I work 10 hours a day and sometimes face problems at work,” she said, “but when I worship, the worry and stress fall away. I feel joy.”

She also has learned the joy of giving what she can to help others in need. For the past two years, the small migrant con-gregation has hosted a Christmas pro-gram for AIDS patients in the community, said its pastor Simon David, a Burmese immigrant Scott has mentored.

“We go and distribute everything from food, medicine and clothes. We also pray and have fellowship with them,” David said. “I love that whenever there is some-one in need of counseling or money, they want to give. They don’t have much, but they love to give.”

Migrant work by its nature is transi-tory. David tries to stay in contact with relocated workers, telling them, “Do not be afraid. Trust God all the time.” He often calls ahead to help the family locate a new congregation. If there isn’t one, he stresses the importance of the believers staying grounded in God’s Word and shar-ing it with others.

Living by faithBut it can be especially difficult when

family members don’t share their faith.Alyssa tells about a pregnant woman

whose husband wouldn’t allow her to pray to God when she was sick. “When my hus-band saw me reading the Bible, it didn’t please him at all,” the woman told Alyssa. “He kicked me …, and then took and burned my Bible. … Yet I decide to cling to God.”

Others are eager to hear God’s Word. One day while walking along the docks to distribute rice and share the gospel, Alyssa was invited into a small home. There, she was shown a newborn baby.

“Will you name the baby?” the strang-ers asked—much to Alyssa’s surprise.

Alyssa prayed for wisdom, looked at the infant and named him after the Bible’s Joshua—a great warrior for the Lord. She prayed that this child, too, would be strong and courageous.

The family began attending church. This year, 7-year-old Joshua sang a Bible verse to the congregation.

The Brandings are serving in Thailand through Southern Baptists’ gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and Cooperative Program, which fund the presence and missions outreach of nearly 5,000 Southern Baptist missionaries internationally.

“The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering helps us stay here, helps us be face-to-face, helps us to show compassion to people when they’re hurting, helps us to be hands and feet when they need specific mentoring, when they need someone to pray for them,” Scott said. (BP)*Name changed

Continued from page 1

Burmese Scott Branding (name changed) prefers to work behind the scenes, teaching nationals to take the gospel to their own people. Branding and his wife, Alyssa, serve as International Mission Board mission-aries to the Burmese people of Thailand. The couple also have started Bible study classes for factory workers in the fishing industry. (IMB)

6 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013

By John Endriss

Hilo—If you had come to me a year or two ago and said that God was going to start a new church in Hilo reaching col-lege students and young families that would start in 2013, launch a second ser-vice after meeting regularly for four weeks, and continue to grow to 80 regu-lar attendees each week ... I might have agreed in the need and possibility, but not that it would be me leading it.

It has been great to see not only my faith grow during this journey, but also the faith of those involved in this work as well. When asking my launch team members for their thoughts they shared the following.

“God has placed the pieces together on his time.”

“It is for each of us to do the small detail that God has called us to do and slowly, but surely the big plan comes into focus.”

Other comments were about how “God provided” at every turn and “how a seed, once planted in the right soil, being fed and watered by the Spirit of God, has now sprouted, is growing, and even though young, has already borne fruit.”

There is no doubt in their minds who has done the work at Engage and I am so excited that God is at work and getting the glory.

On a typical Sunday night, people are excited to be at Engage. Many had given up on church, but they now are coming and joining as members. Members and visitors alike are warmly greeted.

I asked one student why he came and he said, “it just felt like family.”

After a short video, we enter into wor-ship. And it is loud! We have been unashamed of this, since we are trying to reach young people.

This past week an older man came to our service for a second time bringing ear plugs. I’m glad he gave us a second chance.

Twice we’ve had people compare us with a club. I love it. Come to “Club” Engage and hear about and worship Jesus!

The music is done and now we pray. Everyone prays in small groups. Why? Because we believe prayer is for everyone. Then we take a break to get a snack, a drink and connect with more people. We come back and do announcements. It’s generally quick and painless. Then the message. We laugh. We cry. Some sleep. Some respond. God’s word is read and applied and lives are being changed. We have baptized seven people in the last six months and others are interested.

We close with a response song. People write what step God is calling them to take on their connection card. While the tithes and offerings are collected (along with the cards), a final song is played. Its loud again. We celebrate our giving. We celebrate what God has done tonight. We celebrate and leave knowing God is good and will take care of us this week. We leave knowing our call is to engage oth-ers with the good news of Christ.

This season of ministry has been a favorite of mine. I have been able to try some different things that maybe I wouldn’t do normally. Here’s a few that are working. We have used a lot of Face-book advertising. It is not that expensive and it has attracted new people.

I have fun in my message by picking

In the last six months, the church has baptized seven people. Pastor John Endriss of Engage Church is second from the left.

In this photo is most of our launch team of whom 16 adults have joined as members in the last two months.

random people to draw cards from the Apples to Apples game. My challenge is to use the word they draw in my message.

We use connection cards, or response cards, every week and encourage every-one to fill one out. Our churches mission statement is “Moving People Towards Jesus” and we believe God is calling everyone to take a new steps—non-believ-ers, believers and the pastor, too.

Sister churches of Hawaii, we are blessed to have your support and prayers. We wouldn’t be here without you. Many lives would still be disconnected from the body of Christ. Many students would be wandering in their faith on an often dark campus. Many would not have the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and feel it through the

community He meant to communicate it, the church. Thank You.

Engage prayer requestsn Pray that our team and I are always

listening carefully to God’s leading in this process, ready for whatever season (2 Timothy 4:2) and not overwhelmed by the details.

n Pray that we will be effective in engaging the lost, sharing the gospel, connecting people to the body, and disci-pling believers in Hilo, especially with college students and young families.

n Pray that God would provide for our growing need of space. We have two ser-vices now, but believe we may still need more space sometime next year. Join us in praying for God’s leading in this, and

how you might be able to help.n Pray that God will lead churches and

individuals to come along side the vision of reaching college students, young adults and young families by supporting Engage in prayer, acts of service and financially. God has entrusted us with a kingdom-vision and we need the coop-eration of many parts of the body to ful-fill it.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and giving. For those wanting to offer their support, please send checks to: Engage Church, 811 Laukapu St. Bay #5 Hilo, HI 96720.

We are excited for where God is tak-ing us.

John Endriss is pastor at Engage

On Oct. 6, Engage Church launched a new service at 4:30 p.m. to go with their original service at 6:30 p.m. That Sunday they saw 90 people attend! God is continually surpassing their expectations and we are merely trying to keep up.

Engage Church: Where new members, visitors feel like ‘family’

HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013 7

Jim Bob, Michelle Duggar & their kids featured speakers

By Keith collier

Fort Worth, Texas—A seminary chapel service turned into a family affair as Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar and 18 of their 19 children spread across the stage to share Scripture, play instruments and sing hymns.

In addition to the musical perfor-mances, Jim Bob and Michelle recounted their life stories and how their family was selected for the hit cable television show “19 Kids & Counting.” which airs on TLC.

Jim Bob and Michelle, speaking in Southwestern Baptist Theological Semi-nary’s MacGorman Chapel on Oct. 24, began their story by recounting how they came to faith in Jesus Christ. Jim Bob grew up attending church and became a Christian at an early age. Michelle, however, never attended church as a child, but became a Chris-tian in high school after a friend shared with her how she could have a right rela-tionship with the Lord.

Shortly after Michelle became a Chris-tian, Jim Bob and a friend were making neighborhood visits to people from church. As they considered where to visit next, his friend said, “Hey, I know this girl who just became a Christian and she’s a cheerleader.” Jim Bob promptly replied, “Well, let’s go see her!”

“It was love at first sight,” Jim Bob told the chapel audience.

A year later, Jim Bob and Michelle went on their first date to a high school banquet. Afterward, they talked for

hours about spiritual matters, and according to the couple it was the night that God knit their hearts together.

The two married after high school and, like most couples, they were unsure if they wanted to have children right away, so Michelle took birth control pills. Three and a half years later, Michelle stopped birth control, became pregnant and gave birth to their first son, Josh.

“Then, we didn’t want to have them too close together, so she went back on the pill,” Jim Bob said.

“But we did not realize—and this is not something that is really well known —but sometimes the pill can allow you to get pregnant, but can then be abortive. And that’s what happened in our situa-tion. Michelle was on the pill, got preg-nant, and then the pill caused a miscar-riage, and we lost our second child.”

“We were devastated,” Michelle said. “Here we were, Christians, loving being parents, holding this one baby in our arms and then realizing that with our own hands, our own lack of knowledge, we held out our baby to be destroyed.

“We got on our faces before the Lord,

and we cried out, ‘Father, forgive us and give us a love for children like You love children.’”

Jim Bob and Michelle committed to receive whatever gifts—that is, children—God would give them. Soon thereafter, Michelle gave birth to twins, and the Lord continued to bless them with one child after another.

“Before you know it, we had so many kids running around, we thought, ‘What have we done?!’” Jim Bob joked.

“It was a busy time,” he said, “and we were so overwhelmed that we thought, ‘We don’t know if we can handle it anymore.’”

Providentially, the couple said, the Lord brought encouragers and helpers into their lives as they learned to trust in His strength. One lady they knew, for example, offered to help Michelle with laundry each week, and did so faithfully for 13 years.

Jim Bob admitted they are not a per-fect family nor are he and Michelle per-fect parents.

“I really never had an anger problem until we had started having children,” Jim Bob said. “I realized that when we started having these kids and I started blowing up in anger to correct them, it was building a wall between me and my children.”

Jim Bob said he asked his family to forgive him and requested that they keep him accountable when they noticed him reacting in anger. He encouraged the chapel audience to consider doing likewise.

“You can take your children to church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night,” Jim Bob said, “but if you’re blowing up at home, it will under-mine your whole ministry.”

Additionally, Jim Bob challenged fathers to “be the spiritual leaders of

your family.”“Read the Bible to your children,

explain what the Scriptures mean, give illustrations and make it practical for them.”

The Duggars’ love for children not only extends to their own children and grandchildren, but they also have a pas-sion to support the rights of unborn chil-dren in America. Inspired by a pro-life rally at the Arkansas state capitol, Jim Bob ran for and was elected to the Arkan-sas House of Representatives, where he served from 1999–2003.

During a bid for Congress in 2002, an Associated Press photographer took an image of him and his large family on Election Day. Though he lost the race, the photo appeared the next day in The New York Times, which sparked interest from a writer for a parenting magazine.

A few months later, an executive with Discovery Health Channel saw the par-enting magazine story and contacted them about filming a documentary on their family.

“I really believed that this was an opportunity to share with the world that children are a blessing from the Lord,” Jim Bob said. Eventually, the documen-tary became one of the top shows on cable television.

Jim Bob and Michelle concluded their time in Southwestern’s chapel service with a challenge to seminary students.

“Our challenge to you,” Jim Bob said, “is to follow the Lord wherever He leads you, to do whatever He puts on your heart—maybe to be a missionary overseas or to be a pastor or maybe getting involved in politics.

“Following the Lord is an exciting adventure, and I pray that each one of us will follow that still, small voice of the Lord and watch Him work in our lives in a miraculous way.” (SWBTS/BP)

The Duggars & their‘Exciting advEnturE’

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with 18 of their 19 children, spread across the stage in Southwestern Seminary’s MacGorman Chapel to share Scripture, play instruments and sing hymns.

Members of the Duggar family sign books and speak with families following a chapel service at Southwestern Seminary Oct. 24.

8 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013

By douglas W. Mize

Taylors, S.c.—It has been 50 years since that tragic day in Dallas when bullets from an assassin ended the life of our nation’s 35th President John F. Kennedy. His death remains one of the darkest moments in our nation’s history.

All who were old enough at the time still remember where they were when they heard the news in 1963. But as we pass the 50-year mark of this tragedy, we also recognize another famous figure of the 20th century. Recently, Billy Graham celebrated his 95th birthday. You already know these two men among the biggest historical figures of recent times, but what you may not know is their close association and a certain “irrecoverable moment” they shared before Kennedy’s death.

In the early ‘60s most of our country had a fondness for JFK. He still remains one of the most popular presidents ever. He averaged a 70 percent approval rating during his time in office. These were the days of “Camelot,” and despite some pressing world issues that included the beginning of the conflict in Vietnam, the early ‘60s were viewed as a grand age.

This all changed on Nov. 22, 1963. In fact, this horrific day served as a marker of a much more depressing age in our country with more terrible assassina-tions to come, escalating violence in Viet-nam, the crime rate doubling and the drug age around the corner.

Billy Graham had known JFK before he won the presidency in 1960. After Kennedy’s victory, Graham made it clear that he would do anything to help the new president unify the nation under his leadership. Only a few days before the inauguration, Graham was invited to play golf with the president-elect. The two men enjoyed a conversation about world events and politics, but Graham was most passionate about their discus-sion of Jesus Christ and His pending return to earth for those who follow Him.

Kennedy was so intrigued with their discussion that he requested to meet again with Graham concerning Christ.

They continued to stay in touch through Kennedy’s presidency and were together in February 1963 at the

National Day of Prayer Break-fast. In Billy Graham’s autobi-ography, “Just As I Am,” he

shares his memory of the morning’s events.

After the gathering, Kennedy and Gra-ham walked out together toward the presidential motorcade on this particu-larly cold and snowy day. Suddenly the president stopped in his tracks, turned and invited Graham back to the White House so he could discuss something with him. But Graham was battling the flu. Fearing he’d make the president sick, he declined and asked if they could meet another time.

The president agreed it could wait for a more convenient occasion. But that moment never came. For Graham, this moment will forever stay with him. In his book he wrote, “His hesitation at the car door, and his request, haunt me still.

What was on his mind? Should I have gone with him? It was an irrecoverable moment.”

Today, Billy Graham is still making his life count for the gospel of King Jesus. Earlier this month on the occasion of his 95th birthday he released maybe his final message for the world, titled, “The Cross.”

It is the central part of his campaign called “My Hope America with Billy Gra-ham.” This month thousands, and pos-sibly millions, of people will see his final message on televisions, computers and handheld devices. Billy Graham knows the value of taking advantage of every single moment. It is remarkable that a man so well loved, who dedicated his entire life to spreading the gospel, still remembers this one missed opportunity to discuss Christ.

Fifty years ago the assassination of JFK reminded our nation that evil never takes a sabbatical and time is fleeting. The apostle Paul believed in “making the most of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16 HCSB). What a chal-lenge this is for all of us. As followers of

Christ we dare not be satisfied until we take every opportunity to share the love of Christ. So who are the family mem-bers, friends or acquaintances in each of our lives who seem open to discuss Christ? For indeed today is an irrecover-able moment for all of us. (BP)Douglas W. Mize is minister of evangelism and discipleship at Taylors (S.C.) First Baptist Church.

Irrecoverable moments of

GrahamJFK&

A missed opportunity to meet with John F. Kennedy before the president’s tragic death in 1963 left famed evangelist Billy Graham wondering what might have been if the two had met one last time.

Billy Graham with President John F. Kennedy at the National Prayer Breakfast. (Photo courtesy of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association archives)

FIRST PERSON

Pastor to presidents“Every U.S. President since World

War II has met with Billy Graham,” states the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association website. “Both Johnson and Nixon, the two who probably sought him the most, offered him high positions in government—which he quickly and politely refused.”

Below are what some of what Commander-in-Chiefs had to say about Graham.

“Billy Graham is one of the best ambassadors our country has but he told me, ‘I am an ambassador of heaven.’” —dwight d. Eisenhower

“My mind went back to those lonely occasions at the White House when your friendship helped to sustain a President in an hour of trial.” —lyndon Johnson in a letter to Billy Graham.

“It was through Billy Graham that I found myself praying even more than on a daily basis ... and that in the position I held, that my prayers more and more were to give me the wisdom to make decisions that would serve God and be pleasing to Him.” —Ronald Reagan

“Billy and Ruth Graham have practiced the ministry of ... being friends with Presidents of both parties ... always completely private, always completely genuine.” —Bill clinton

(Source: billygraham.org)

HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013 9

GEoRGIA CHURCH

Embracing a colorful community

By Karen Willoughby

lilburn, Ga.—Locals say the once-cozy country town of Lilburn, Ga., began to attract immigrants and experience “white flight” after the 1996 Olympics.

The majority of Lilburn’s First Baptist Church members—despite being faced with a drastically changing community and the decision of other local churches to relocate—chose to stand firm where God had planted them in 1840.

By the time Ken Hall was called as pastor in 2003, the congregation had determined its God-given responsibility for reaching whomever God brought to their community northeast of Atlanta’s I-285 beltway.

Many congregations, one churchFirst Baptist Church has become a

microcosm of the multicultural SBC, with 15 distinct congregations, three of which worship in English. Together, the various congregations reported 1,091 in Sunday morning worship, 94 baptisms and a bit more than 10 percent of undes-ignated receipts given through Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program in the SBC’s 2012 Annual Church Profile.

Through the church’s ethnic congre-gations, it is able to reach the world God has sent to its town. Between 1990 and 2010, Lilburn’s Anglo population declined from 95.2 percent in 1990 to 69.1 percent in 2000, to only 52.7 percent in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Today First Lilburn’s congregations include Hispanic and Asian Indian, both with services in the “heart language” (for first- and second-generation immigrants) and English (to reach the younger gen-erations). Other ethnic congregations are Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Vietnamese, Hmong, Haitian, Ethiopian, Bhutanese, Arabic and Persian (Farsi-speaking) as well as English.

“I’m from this area so I knew the changes,” Hall said. “Gwinnett County was a white, middle- to upper-middle-class area. The world came to Atlanta for the Olympics, liked what they saw, and came back. Now Lilburn has a larger majority of ethnics than Caucasians.... We just began to pray and God began to systematically open doors to reach differ-ent groups.”

Initially, Lilburn tried to become a truly international congregation.

“It totally flopped,” Hall said. “We were quite puzzled about that because we felt it was a great need. But we came to realize every group wants to worship in their own heart language and culture.

“If we were going to reach them, we would have to focus on language-specific groups,” the pastor said. “When we first began the process, we were focusing on first- and second-generation, so we needed someone who could speak the language. For that reason, we decided to not start a congregation if we don’t have

leadership for it.”Hall said he and the ethnic pastors

have learned that most first- and second-generation immigrants want to worship in their own language. On the other hand, many third- and fourth-generation Americans want to worship in English, but in their parents’ cultural context. Fifth- and sixth-generation immigrants are usually fully “Americanized” and often are more comfortable in an Eng-lish-speaking congregation.

How First Baptist worksHosting so many groups is not with-

out challenges. Refrigerator storage space is one example. Just as many Amer-icans keep ketchup, mustard, mayon-naise and a variety of pickles on hand, every culture has its favorite “keepers.” Sharing the space for this is manageable; the amount of forgotten leftovers isn’t. “We sometimes have to remind the con-gregations to keep refrigerators cleaned out,” said Elaine Brown, missions coordinator.

Children’s behavior also can be a chal-lenge, when standards vary among dif-ferent cultures. Like the refrigerator, that issue too was addressed and resolved during a regular Tuesday morn-ing staff meeting of all the vocational staff.

“We deal with issues straightfor-wardly,” Hall said. “We try to be under-standing; we also understand everybody has to be considerate of everybody.”

Twice each year the church gathers for worship as one body: the last Sunday in April for the Festival of Nations and a Lord’s Supper service in September. Also, the ethnic congregations often baptize during the Anglo service.

A respect by everyone involved for people individually, for cultures and for the facilities enables First Baptist to han-dle the logistical challenges of meeting the needs of the various congregations.

“We do have a large facility and we do have a number of places that can accom-modate larger groups, up to 50, 60 or 70,” Hall said. “We do not charge rent; we do

not see these as outside groups. We con-sider each language pastor an associate pastor of Lilburn First in addition to being senior pastor of their respective congregations. With every congregation that comes in, we sit down and explain our philosophy, both what we do and how they relate to the church as a whole.

“They come in as a ministry to the church, just like youth or music,” Hall added. “They have full access to the facil-ities, go through the same process to reserve the facilities, and it is first-come, first-served. If the youth want the gym and another group has reserved it, the youth just find someplace else.

“I’ve seen afresh and anew that when we look at the Scriptures, God has a heart for the nations,” Hall reflected. “God loves all people—not just us white bubbas. I’ve seen God’s love for all people, regardless of who they are.”

Committed to cooperationWhile primarily focused on reaching

its community, the church has main-tained an aggressive vision of funding missions through the Cooperative Pro-gram to share in Southern Baptists’ part of the Great Commission.

“I’ve been a Southern Baptist all my life—saved and called to ministry as a Southern Baptist—and I have come to a deeper and deeper appreciation of the fact we can do more together than we can separately,” Hall said. “One of the greatest—if not the greatest—things about the Cooperative Program is that we work together to be able to accom-plish more than we are able to accom-plish just by ourselves.

“I think the greatest benefit to what we’re doing—what God is doing through us—is that we’re able to reach people here who come to America for school, work and freedom,” Hall said. “They come for that, and find Christ. ... We’re reaching people we’d never be reaching otherwise if we didn’t have the language congregations. As God leads, more ethnic congregations could be in the church’s future.” (BP)

Children sing during the Festival of Nations celebration held at First Baptist Church in Lilburn, Ga., each April. First Baptist has become a microcosm of the multicultural Southern Baptist Convention, with 15 distinct congregations, only three of which worship in English. (Photos courtesy of First Baptist Church, Lilburn.)

An Ethiopian believer is baptized at First Baptist Church in Lilburn, Ga. An Ethiopian congregation is one of 15 distinct congregations at First Baptist, only three of which worship in English.

10 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013

By Tim Tune

nashville, Tenn.—Football has become one of the Baptist blogosphere’s dividing lines this fall with the debate focusing on football’s aggressive nature and Christians’ response to its frequent vio-lent hits and its effect on players.

A bit of common ground, however, emerges regarding football’s appeal and its character-building qualities.

Football’s “grace, precision and the crushing of bone,” as Owen Strachan puts it, make the game appealing.

“There is nothing quite like a hit over the middle. A ballet-graceful wide receiver at full extension grabs a tightly thrown pass only to be smacked down like a rag doll by a heat-seeking safety,” Strachan, assistant professor of church history and Christian theology at Boyce College in Louisville wrote in a post titled “Our Shaken Faith in Football” at ChristianityToday.com in early September.

Two other Baptists in the blog-osphere, David Prince and Jimmy Scrog-gins, also noted football’s appeal in a joint post titled “Is football too violent for Christians?” at the SBC Ethics & Reli-gious Liberty Commission’s website.

“No other game combines brute force and elegant choreography the way foot-ball does,” Prince and Scroggins wrote in late September.

Prince is pastor of preaching and vision at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Lexington, and an assistant professor of Christian preaching at Southern Seminary. Scroggins is senior pastor of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Strachan, Prince and Scroggins noted football’s appeal of providing “a place for people of wildly different back-grounds to come together,” Strachan wrote, and serves “a profound commu-nal and civic function.” As Prince and Scroggins put it, “the atmosphere and pageantry of football attracts countless people who are fans of the spectacle more than” the actual game.

Among numerous character-building qualities of the sport, the trio agreed it calls for discipline, determination, cour-age, teamwork and self-sacrifice.

“Many of these virtues,” Strachan

noted, “line up nicely with biblical char-acter (1 Cor. 9:27, for example),” while Prince and Scroggins suggested that the Bible “draws a relationship between sport and war” and that “the lessons learned from agonizing and struggling in one can readily prove instructive for the other (Heb. 12:1-4, 1 Cor. 9:24-27, Eph. 6:12, Phil. 3:13-14).”

Risks & downsidesThen, however, comes the debate

over how Christians should respond to the game’s inherent risks as well as its potential cultural downsides.

For Strachan, the harmful physical effects that full-contact football has on players and its brutal nature raise “con-cerns for Christians, who of all people have the most stake in human flourish-ing based on the imago dei, the likeness of man to God (Gen. 1:26-27).”

Referring to the National Football League’s deliberations over players with concussion-related injuries, Strachan asked, “Does it behoove Christians to reconsider the game’s violence? I think it does.”

“Concussions are the scariest part of the game” and “are under-reported and under-diagnosed in youth sports,” Stra-chan wrote. Despite millions of children playing football nationwide, he pointed out that, “there are almost no studies of the effects of youth football on the human brain.”

Also, the “culture of football should concern Christians,” Strachan wrote, and “football-related arrests, assaults on women and tiny children, murders, drug charges, and more should not glance off the evangelical conscience.

“Christians should think hard about involving their children in such a vio-lent game,” he wrote, acknowledging that “I would have a hard time sending my son into a sport that is leaving 40-year-old men with dementia.”

Safer than the playground“Nevertheless it is wrongheaded to

use data from NFL football players who have made the game their career at the highest level and attribute it to everyone who plays football,” wrote Prince and Scroggins.

According to Price and Scroggins,

many American parents are keeping their children out of youth football. They cite a survey that 25,000 fewer kids played football in the U.S. in 2012 than only four years before. From a news arti-cle they quote a pediatric surgeon who said, “I tell parents that it’s safer to send their children to Pop Warner (football) than to the playground.”

“As Christians,” Prince and Scroggins wrote, “we believe that it is our respon-sibility to take every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor. 10:5). This means that followers of Jesus are right to question their participation in any activity, including football.”

They lauded attempts to reform cor-ruption and cheating in the game and “are saddened every time a player gets injured on the football field, but no more so than when one is injured in a cycling or skateboarding accident.”

Nevertheless, Prince and Scoggins wrote, the “rugged, physically demand-ing, purposeful aggression of football is an asset, not a liability” on the gridiron, providing “a consistent and valuable metaphor for contemporary churches that need to remember that the Great Commission is not a public relations campaign, but rather a war cry that demands self-sacrifice.”

Sacrifice and calculated risk “are good things that ought to be cultivated on a pathway from boyhood to Chris-tian manhood,” Prince and Scroggins wrote.

“Sadly,” they noted, “evangelicals seem to be leading the movement to train bravery and adventure out of our children in favor of a cult of safety.” (BP)

Why my sons aren’t in football (this year)

By Jason Allen

Kansas city—I grew up in a family with all boys, that fostered competition, and valued athletic achievement. Athletic participation was presumed, and sports came as natural as life itself.

This year, though, a funny thing hap-pened—I chose for my sons not to play football, and it wasn’t because the sport is too violent. Three reasons in particular persuaded me to take a pass on football —this year.

Time commitmentsFirst, the time commitment was sim-

ply too much. Combined, my sons (ages 6 and 8)—and me or my wife—would have been out of the house nearly seven nights a week for more than three months.

Some may protest that not commit-ting the time means I’m not a good father. I say, given the ages of my three daughters and two sons (ages 10 through 5), to be a good father necessitates I not yield our family structure to a peewee football league. Unapologetically, I hoard our family time like a miser, gripping it tightly and intuitively swatting away opportunities and expectations that would compromise it. This fall, football was poised to do just that.

Corrupting influenceSecond, the corrupting influence

seemed too intense. The words and actions of the team leaders and the gen-eral tenor of the league itself, troubled me. Daily subjecting two young boys to full-throttled immorality seemed unwise.

I am not willing to permit such an unhealthy influence over my sons at such an impressionable age. Priority one is to shepherd my children’s hearts. I can live without hearing my 6-year-old son’s

name called on the loudspeaker, but I can’t live with myself if I lose his heart along the way.

Boys tackling girlsFinally, any remaining indeci-

sion evaporated when I realized my sons’ league—for tackle football—was coed.

Though I’m concerned for the girls, I’m more concerned about what tackling girls might do to my sons. The boy who learns it is appro-priate to pulverize the girl on the field might well become the man who’s OK with degrading women in other contexts.

This is more than an appeal to chiv-alry. It is a reminder that God created us male and female—boy and girl—and to undermine or confuse those distinctions is wrong. Our children are confronted with enough gender confusion without it being introduced on the gridiron.

I love sports, but like other life utili-ties, sports are only as good as our stew-ardship thereof. As a Christian father, I want to redeem the sport and channel it to cultivate maturity, self-discipline and virtue. I want to be judged not by my sons’ batting averages or varsity letters, but by whether I shepherded their hearts toward Christ. (BP)

Jason Allen is president of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

FIRST PERSON

Bloggers weigh in on the topic

Debating football’s virtues & violence

Photo by Jordan Thompson

HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013 11

Seminary grad, senior saints birth a church plantBy Tobin Perry

new Orleans—The 16 or so remaining lay members of Lakeview Baptist Church in New Orleans didn’t fit the bill of a church planting core team. All senior saints, none younger than 70, they lacked youthful energy, but compen-sated with experience and vision.

When they met church planter James Welch in 2008, they were still grieving Hurricane Katrina and the loss of their homes, community and what had been their church. The congregation dreamed of one last selfless act that would con-tinue the church’s rich legacy long into the future.

“If we want to reach the world, we have to be willing to change,” said Phyl-lis Dixon, a member of Lakeview Baptist since 1960, when she joined with her husband Ed. “Those who aren’t willing to change won’t go anywhere.”

Greiving a dying churchIn the coming months these Lake-

view members offered Welch—a gradu-ate of Southern Baptist Theological Semi-nary in Louisville—their church building and merged with the young church he had been forming. To help Lakeview with this grieving process, Welch brought in a grief counselor to walk them through the next stages. Though merging a young church plant with an aging congregation wasn’t always easy, Welch said they’ve tried to do it in a healthy way.

“We gave (the grieving process) about a year just to help Lakeview through it,” Welch said. “It’s been cool because it gave them a group of young people who love them. Many of them have gone home to be with Jesus, so we got to celebrate with them at their funerals. Some of them, once it was all complete, decided to be a part of churches like they were a part of in the ‘70s and ‘80s. And there are four of them who have remained a part of our church and have gotten connected with community groups.”

Welch and a core team of leaders launched a new congregation, Harbor Community Church, in 2011. The new church has grown to more than 200 in attendance, most of whom have come to faith in Christ there, Welch said.

Help from churchesJames and Amy Welch’s hearts broke,

as did those of many Southern Baptists, as they learned about Hurricane Katrina’s damage to New Orleans in August of 2005. After they expressed their intense call by God to help the

beleaguered city, Sojourn Community Church and Crossings Community Church, both in Louisville, sent the cou-ple to New Orleans in March 2006.

“We wanted to put our faith in action,” Welch said. “We really wanted to be a part of gospel renewal in an area, and New Orleans just seemed like a place where we could practically live out our faith.”

For the first few years, Welch simply focused on helping the city get back on its feet, doing everything from cleaning up damaged houses to rebuilding new ones. As the rebuilding work became more specialized, the couple switched gears and started an arts center in the community in partnership with some friends.

Through the arts center Welch contin-ued building relationships with the diverse lot of artists who were returning to the city. As people came to faith in Christ, he formed small groups to help disciple them and continued to dream about starting a church once the city was back on its feet.

About three and a half years after Katrina, Welch realized he needed a physical building to begin consistent

Church planter James Welch teaches during a worship service at Harbor Community Church in New Orleans. The graduate of Southern Baptist Theo-logical Seminary in Louisville, started the church in 2010 with a strong desire to share the gospel with people who would likely not visit a traditional church. (Photos courtesy of James Welch)

James and Amy Welch moved to New Orleans to

help with Hurricane Katrina recovery and cleanup and stayed to start a

church. The couple considered planting

a church in Van-couver, Wash., but after Katrina, they

felt the Big Easy would afford gospel renewal in an urban environment. They

planted Harbor Community Church

in 2010.

worship services. That’s when the New Orleans Baptist Association connected Welch with Lakeview. The partnership helped both churches. Lakeview mem-bers were able to once again invest their resources into a growing church. Welch and his team received a building and a team of New Orleans tutors.

Churches do more together“God gave them to us,” Welch said.

“They coached us a lot in terms of what it means to live in New Orleans. Mr. Wheeler (one of the Lakeview members) knew how every neighborhood had changed in the city, literally, over 85 years—what the demographics were and what the psychographics were.”

The Dixons have remained an active part of Harbor throughout the changes. Dixon says she and her husband appreci-ate that Harbor’s younger people have treated them like family and have wel-comed and appreciated their involve-ment. The Dixons have even been “stand-in” grandparents for the Welches chil-dren during “Grandparents Day” at school.

“It has been a thrill for my husband and I to see the church grow,” Dixon said. “All the young people and the chil-dren are there. It has been a great bless-ing to have joined with them and have them working with us now.”

As Harbor Community Church looks toward the future, Welch says the church plans to launch new church plants throughout New Orleans and North America. Giving to missions through the Cooperative Program and being a part of a Southern Baptist net-work of churches remains an important part of that future.

“I would say one reason we’re a part of the (Southern Baptist Convention) is because we can do more together than we can alone,” Welch said. “By uniting a portion of our individual resources, it allows us to make a big impact. From education to disaster relief, we are able to do things no one congregation could do. At Harbor our mission is to lead peo-ple into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Partnership with others across the convention allows us to do this around the globe.” (NAMB/BP)

Harbor Community Church volunteers Aaron and Jessica Vicknair and Mandi Wallis (left to far right in “verb” T-shirts), assist at the Duck Derby, an event sponsored by the Second Harvest Food Bank to fight hunger in New Orleans.

12 HAWAII PACIFIC DECEMBER 2013AROUND THESE ISLANDS

prayer calendar

sympathy

DECEMBER1 Caroline Kitagawa - Chaplaincy1 Khristine Pratt - Cornerstone, Big

Island3 Paula Vincent - Puu Kahea, Oahu4 Tony Vincent - Puu Kahea, Oahu5 Dan Van Alstine - Retired, Oahu6 Guy Lashlee - Kohala, Big Island6 Michelle Metcalf - Lihue, Kauai7 Sarah Young - Retired, Kauai8 Dlorah Puckett - Calvary, Guam10 Joyce Wheeler - Retired, Oahu13 Catherine Inouye - Kaunakakai,

Molokai13 Ramona Stevens - Puu Kahea, Oahu16 Mi Ok Chang - Emmanuel, Oahu16 Karen Hazlett - HPBC, Oahu17 Yumi Hedlund - Kohala, Big Island18 Kristen Kawachi - University Ave.,

Oahu18 Chang Sik Lee - Samoa Korean,

Samoa18 Ju Seong Suh - Retired, Maui19 Tara Gruspe - Pawa’a Community,

Oahu19 Pia Pak - Bethel Korean20 Emory Gaskins - University Ave.,

Oahu20 Chris Martin - Lahaina, Maui21 Carl Kinoshita - Retired, Oahu22 Mark Haley - Chaplaincy, Oahu23 Lola Irvin - Pali View, Oahu24 Vera Tong - Hawaii Chinese, Oahu25 Muoi Nguyen Bui - Dong Tam, Oahu27 Trisha Lashlee - Kohala, Big Island28 Jung Ku Suh - Retired, Maui29 Pong Suk Beaucond - Pearl Harbor,

Oahu30 Brad Barshaw - Faith BC, Oahu31 Ian Sakai - Waiakea Uka, Big IslandJANUARy1 Christina Abagon - HPBC, Oahu1 Debbie Copeland - Waikoloa, Big

Island1 Hong Ly Khuy - Khemaras, Oahu2 Gary Yafuso - Aina Haina, Oahu4 Robert Gross - Mountain View Com,

Oahu5 Kyung Won Lee - Agape, Oahu5 James Merritt - Waimea, Kauai7 Mori Hiratani - Retired, Oahu8 Phillip Kim - Guam FBC, Guam8 Soon Gap Kim - Guam FBC, Guam

9 George Watanabe - Retired, Oahu10 George Maeda - Retired, Kauai10 Hannah Nam - Saipan Good, Saipan11 Laura Itokazu - Retired, Oahu12 Jate Bennet - BCM Hilo, Big Island13 Veryl Henderson - Retired, Oahu13 Nam Soo Lee - Korean Waikiki, Oahu14 Paula Martinez - Iglesia Bautista, Big

Island14 Faith McFatridge - HPBC, Oahu14 Stella Saludez - Waipio Community,

Oahu14 Sherry Reimer - Koza BC, Okinawa,

Japan15 Samuel Choi - Hawaii Bhansok, Oahu15 Bo Russell - Retired, Okinawa 16 Darren Sarmiento - Valley Isle, Maui22 Young Chan Bong - All Nations, Oahu22 Barbara Gross - Mountain View Com,

Oahu23 Tullos Jones - Kona, Big Island24 Sungho “Steven” Kang - HPBC, Oahu25 Yong Kang - Retired, Oahu30 Amy Watanabe - Retired, Oahu31 Raye Bosi - Lighthouse, Guam

FEBRUARy1 Helen Taura - Retired, Oahu 2 Betty Russell - Retired, Okinawa3 David Whitehead - Assoc., Big Island7 Jerrell Tate - Abundant Life, Oahu8 Sunny Chung - Chaplaincy, Oahu8 Doug Phillips - Chaplaincy, Oahu10 Vailua Simi - Fagalii, Samoa12 Jay Armstrong - Kihei, Maui12 Amy Kaneshiro - Valley Isle, Maui14 Todd Morikawa - Kailua, Oahu14 Danielle Reagan - Waipahu, Oahu14 Emiko Takaki - FBC Haleiwa, Oahu15 Vhee Bosi - Lighthouse, Guam15 Tim Morita - Olivet, Oahu 16 Jon Elliff - Makakilo, Oahu16 Chris Metcalf - Lihue, Kauai17 Somporn Kool - Laotian, Oahu21 Joo Huyn Son Lee - Olive, Oahu23 David Park - New Community, Oahu23 Masue Uejo - Retired, Big Island24 Joanne Moses - Chaplaincy, Oahu27 Yun Seok Jeong - Global Revival,

Oahu27 Andrew Tong - Hawaii Chinese, Oahu27 Diana Ventura - Waikiki, Oahu

HPBC sponsored events in bold

January 27-30, 2014Lihue Baptist Church, Kauai

Lodging at Aloha Beach ResortMonday 2:30pm; ends Thursday 12:30pm

Cost:$400 Lodging for 3 nights, 4 meals, conference fee, and workbook

$250 (dbl occupancy) Lodging for 3 nights, 4 meals, conference fee, and workbook

$85 Commuter Plus Meals - Conference fee, workbook, and 4 meals $35 Commuter per day - Conf fee ONLY (No lodging, no meals, no

workbook)

Brad (otherwise known as B-Rad) was raised in Southern California and blessed with godly parents. He attended California State University at Northridge and earned his Master's of Divinity at Talbot Theological Seminary. He has served four churches as Senior Pastor, including Faith from 1981-1995. In 1995, Brad accepted a position on the National Ministry Team for the Evangelical Free Church of America as the Pacific Northwest District Superintendent (Western Washington, Oregon, and Alaska). There he served as a "pastor to pastors," providing church health and mediation services. In 2001, he returned to Hawaii to pastor a church planted by Faith in the early 90's. In 2004, Brad was asked to return to Faith as Senior Pastor.

Register by December 27, 2013 Questions? Contact Clyde at 356-8331 or clyde@hpbaptist.net

Mobilizing Trained Leaders to Transform Community

Speaker: Brad Barshaw

DECEMBER1-8 SBC - Week of Prayer for International Missions & the Lottie Moon Christmas offering25 Christmas Holiday

JANUARy1 New Year’s Day1-31 January Bible Study1-31 Call to Prayer Month4 Convention Committees Orientation18 Executive Board19 Sanctity of Human Life Sunday

20 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day27-30 Continuing Education Conference-Kauai

FEBRUARy1-28 “True Love Waits” Emphasis Month7-8 WMU Annual Meeting9 Racial Reconciliation Sunday10-16 Focus on WMU15 Chaplains & Church Planters Family Picnic15 Children’s Ministry Day17 President’s Day21-23 The Gathering23 Connect

hpbc calendar

n Paul Orman resigned as pastor of the First Baptist Church of Nanakuli Sept. 1. Orman has been serving as a bi-vocational pastor at the church since June 2012. He is on the wait list for his next duty station with the U.S. Military. Remember Paul and Lyn Orman as they make plans for their next assignment. He can be reached at peorman@hawaiian-tel.net.

n Ua Taunuu Baptist Church in Fagaima, American Samoa, was received into the fellowship of the South Pacific Baptist

Association at their annual meeting on Oct. 27. Roliko Galu-vao is pastor.

n Kim Noble accepted the call to pastor First Baptist Church of Nanakuli Sept. 15, where he has previously served as pastor. Noble and his wife, Elma, moved to Pittsburgh, Penn., in 2010 to assist with the care of their grandchildren while both parents were deployed. Please keep the Nobles on your prayer encourager list as they re-enter pastoral care in Hawaii. They can be reached at knoble10@juno.com.

n Randy Pauley accepted the call to pastor Kahului Baptist Church on Maui Nov. 1. Pauley was ordained and installed as pastor on Oct. 27. Please add Pauley and his wife, Brittney, to your prayer encourager list as they begin their new ministry. The couple have been members of the Kahului Baptist Church for more than three years. Pau-ley can be reached at RandyPauley@yahoo.com.

n Shawn Peoples, pastor of Church at Kapolei, announced that after much prayer, counsel and seeking the mind of God, the church has merged with Aloha Community Church in

Ewa Town. Peoples and his fam-ily have returned to Ohio. Please keep Peoples and his wife, Michelle, on your prayer encourager list during this tran-sition. He may be reached at Keonepeoples@gmail.com.

n Joo Yong Jang has accepted the call to pastor Korean Baptist Church of Waikiki. Jang is joined in this ministry with his wife, Aelee. Please add the cou-ple to your prayer encourager list. Jang may be reached at jyjang2061@hotmail.com.

n Joyful Korean Baptist Church in Honolulu, was launched in October. Church planter Nam Soo Lee is pastor.

The church is located at 1130 North Nimitz Highway, C-100. Please keep Lee and his wife, Kyung Won, on your prayer encourager list. He may be reached at hichristian9@gmail.com.

n Bethel Korean Baptist Church in Hololulu is looking for new home. Beginning Jan. 1, the space they have been utiliz-ing will be used to start an Epis-copal Korean Church. Pastor David Pak is interested in visit-ing with any church in the Honolulu area open to sharing their facilities with his growing Korean congregation. Pak may be reached at (808) 234-9134, or by email at pakdavid@hotmail.com.

n Mount Kaala Baptist Church’s phone number is listed incorrectly in the directory. The correct number is (808) 695-5725. Bill Duncan is interim pas-tor. He may be reached at Cynthia.duncan119@gmail.com.

Ken Brooks (left) is presented the Kokua Award by the Oahu Baptist Net-work. Brooks was honored with a plaque and koa paddle by Steve Grey, a member of the OBN Executive Board. Shirley Brooks (right) was also recognized. Ken Brooks will retire as OBN Facilitator of Missions in March.

HPBC extends sympathy to the family of Aiko Taira, retired Minister of Education for the First Baptist Church of Pearl City and long time encourager for the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. She died Nov. 2.

Visitation will be held at the Mililani Cemetery on Dec. 14, 9 a.m., with a memorial service at 10 a.m. Taira was a faithful ser-vant and supporter of missions.