Viola Webb Missions Offering
Huebner Brings Passion for Students to Emporia Campus
By Eva Wilson
On a Thursday night in a theater-type classroom at Emporia State University, Jason Huebner is running through a PowerPoint presentation. Nearby, his wife, Lisa, watches Olivia, their 13-month old daughter who is alternating between crawling and running on her little legs. Students begin filtering in, backpacks slung over their shoulders. Immediately, the young women gather around Olivia, who is happy to soak up all of the attention.
Soon, the worship band returns from praying in a side room, and the lights dim as everyone finds a seat. Another weekly session of Christian Challenge, the Southern Baptist ministry at ESU, is underway.
More »KNEF: Combines Love of Jesus With Love of Horses
By Beverly Jackson
Don Mayberry has a passion to share the gospel with the lost. KNEF provides him with a great platform to share the gospel with those who might not otherwise hear.
In 2003 Bob Mills, KNCSB State Missions Director realized that there were many people gathering at horse events in KNCSB with no organized gospel-centered outreach. Bob knew Don Mayberry (pastor of Pleasantview, Derby) from his work in Illinois as the State Missions Director. He also knew of his love for horses and his activity with Equestrian Ministries International (EMI) in Illinois.
Early 2003 they began to meet and pray about the ministry needs in this people group. Bob told Don there were more horses in Kansas than in Illinois. Don responded, “Let’s do it.”
More »Goombi’s Work on Potawatomi Reservation Represents a Three-Generation Commitment to the Gospel
By Eva Wilson
It is a sticky summer morning outside of the Boys & Girls Club on the Pottawatomi Indian Reservation north of Topeka, Kan.
Inside the spacious building, volunteers are busily preparing for the first day of a mission Vacation Bible School. Robert and Katharine Goombi are sitting off to the side in padded lawn chairs—his studying the Bible lesson that he will teach during the VBS class for adults. Katharine is watching Elizabeth Anne, their 9-month-old great-granddaughter who is asleep in her stroller.
For Robert and Katharine, this is an opportunity to see their family’s legacy of faith in action.
“We plant seeds in the lives of our children,” Katharine says of faith in Jesus Christ and serving Him.
One of those seeds was planted in the life of their son, Ron. He and his wife, Alpha, are well known for their work on Indian reservations in Nebraska.
More »Dawn Wilder Calls Churches to Reach Out to the Hard Places to Reach in Kansas City Kansas
By Tim Boyd
My first impression of Dawn Wilder was that of enthusiasm and passion for her work. I was aware that she had been dealing with serious health issues, but it did not seem to be dampening her spirit. She is fully focused on her work with the Southern Baptist Ministries in the Kansas City Kansas Baptist Association (KCKBA).
Wilder grew up in a non-churched family. At the age of 10 she was visited by the GAs from a nearby church plant. Their leader, Beulah Cox, invited her to attend the new church. Her mother, then Dawn and, then her family came to Christ. They were baptized and took seriously their new faith in Christ.
At the age of 12, Wilder came to understand that God was placing a call upon her life. “I loved missions education. We studied about the missionaries . . . between missions education and church training” she understood her calling. Evangelism became an early passion “I have never been afraid of evangelism.”
More »McDonald Brings Planting Passion to Kearney, Nebraska
By Carolyn Gibbs
Planting seeds for David McDonald means planting churches. From being a youth Pastor in Texas, to a multi-housing ministry in California, God took him into Church Planting. He and his wife Pam surrendered to God’s leading and after helping start rural churches in Colorado and Nebraska, they came to Kearny in 2004.
In Kearny, Crossroads Church was planted and is growing. “We now have services, but we’re still doing a lot of outreach programs to get people informed,” McDonald said. The church currently meets in a store front, but does many off site activities to involve the community. McDonald has also started another “Place of Light” that meets in the Y.W.C.A. in Grand Island. They have a Bible Study and also do Sportscast Kid’s Clubs in that area.
More »Hispanic Church Planting Key in Western Kansas Strategy
By Tim Boyd
Plains is a small town in southwest Kansas. It has an old-fashioned downtown area. There is a concrete factory in the town. The first thing I noticed when Randy Caddell, Enrique Bluvan, and I drove into town was how neat and clean the town was. The homes were well maintained and the yards were neat. What was not apparent was the number of Hispanics that have settled into this little town. According to one lady that we talked with, the town is now about sixty percent Hispanic.
According to Caddell, none of the churches in the town have done much to reach these new ethnic families. We had come to town to explore the possibilities of starting an evangelistic outreach in Plains. In the course of a couple of hours, we had discovered several families that might be interested in a Bible study. We had also met the new owner of a mobile home park which was predominantly Hispanic. He indicated that he was willing to make available a lot on which to place a trailer to establish this Bible study. He also made available an open area to set up a tent to do a mission vacation Bible school.
An evening like this is business as usual for Caddell, who serves as the Director of Missions for Western Kansas Baptist Association.
More »Bob and Rhonda Besco Reach to Inner City Omaha, Neb.
By Carolyn Gibbs
Missionaries aren’t always found in far away places. The Omaha Baptist Center is a hub of mission activity in the inner city of Omaha. Bob Besco and his wife Rhonda see their mission field ever expanding. The Bescos originally came to Omaha to start New Hope in Midtown, but ended up at the Baptist Center.
The Baptist Center “is a resource either for needs of the association or other churches for people with needs in the inner city,” Besco said. He further explained that the Omaha Baptist Center is a resource for mission training. “We can train in house without having to go out of the state. It is a place where people can do a small or close mission to see if missions is something they want to do.” he said.
More »Mayfield Brings Gospel To Santees
By Carolyn Gibbs
It seems God wanted Jennifer Mayfield in Nebraska. If left to her own choices, Mayfield said she would have picked anywhere but Nebraska. “I thought I wanted New Mexico, but every call I got had nothing to do with the population I wanted to work in,” Mayfield said. Several times she got on the computer to search for jobs in the Extension Service. It showed three jobs, but each time she tried to check them out, the computer would freeze up so she couldn’t get through. “Or I’d get through and find positions available, but it wouldn’t let me go any further,” she said.
Dale Committed To Planting New Works In NEBA
By Carolyn Gibbs
When the Director of Missions for Northeast Nebraska Baptist Association, Cecil Dale landed on the scene, he admits he was lost. Now after two and a half years, it’s a world of difference. “I’ve met the people, I’ve built relationships with them, and I’ve learned the job,” Dale said. From a slow start, the NEBA is seeing growth and new exciting things. Ron Goombi starting a church on the Omaha Reservation, a new church in Fremont, and a Hispanic church plant in Columbus are a few of those things. “I look forward to our churches growing stronger,” Dale said.
Phippen Has Passion For Evangelism
By Bev Jackson
Loren Phippen is the Director of Evangelism/Nehemiah Church Planter for the Heart of Kansas Association. His ministry in Christian Ministry to Offenders (CMO) is our Southern Baptist spearhead there. Phippen works to recruit others to reach out through the jail ministry, too.
Cordells Excited About Church Planting In Omaha
By Carolyn Gibbs
Reaching un-churched people is best done by starting new churches, according to Lee Cordell, Pastor of Redeemer Church, a new church start in South West Omaha. Cordell spent a year re-starting a church in New Hampshire, and had been pastoring a small church in Florida that had split from another church. Over the course of several years, God was teaching him how He had put him together, and where he was effective in ministry. “He showed me there was another step out there in the future, but not yet,” Cordell said. “He did a work first in that we reconciled the church we split from and joined the two groups back together. That opened an opportunity for me to look at other things.”
Forsythe Reaches Out To Internationals
By Eva Wilson
Many of the students in this Sunday School class at Twelfth Avenue Baptist Church in Emporia, Kan., are attired in typical student fashion—blue jeans and T shirts. Bright smiles light up their faces and the room hums with enthusiastic chatter. A second glance reveals these young people aren’t the typical small-town Kansas students commonly found at Emporia State University. Instead, many of them are from China, Japan and Korea. Soon a smiling man with a gentle manner enters the room. The students gradually take their seats and another Sunday class for international students is underway.
Feagins Planting New Church in Redfield, KS
By Tim Boyd
Redfield is a typical small town in southeast Kansas. There are not many stores and only one church. There are some recreation areas and a community center. Most of the people make their living in other nearby towns. Basically, it is a family-centered rural community.
More »Arevalos Desire To Reach Hispanics
By Eva Wilson
Pastor Abraham Arevalo tunes his guitar while the praise team gathers on the platform. Ester Arevalo takes her place behind the microphone on the opposite of the stage from her husband. A bright smile illuminates her face. The Sunday worship service is about to begin at Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida in Wichita, Kan. It shares the facility of South City Southern Baptist Church.