Dr. Gregg HemmenExecutive Minister

5833 SW 29th St.Topeka, KS 66614

(785) 272-7622Fax: (785) 272-5860

https://abccr.org/

May 2019 Kansas Baptist Convention, Inc. Vol. 37 No. 5

FOCUSGrowing Healthy Churches to Fulfi ll Christ’s Mission

Included in this issue:

* Planned Giving

* Mission Giving

* Camp Christy is Hiring

* Sign Up for Camp

* AB Women’s Ministries

Conference Registration

* Brown vs Board

Celebration

*The Parish Paper

Central Region Updates The end of April brought about closure for receiving applicants for the Associate Executive Minister’s position. I’m excited about working through the applicants, praying over them, and seeking God’s leading for the discernment pro-cess. While we are in this interim period of time, I wanted to give you an update on what’s been happening to help cover the bases. First, I want to thank all of you who have off ered to help in diff erent ways. Joe Kutter has fi lled some gaps as part of his role as Director of Interim Ministries. John Williams, our former Executive Minister, has helped out with an installation of a new pastor. Our interim Camping Coordinator, Olivia Lahman, has done a great job feeling her way through a big job. Jennifer Schneider has taken on two roles – Director of the 4TEN program and the Annual Gathering Coordinator – and is doing a great job. I’m grateful for each of these people. Second, we’ve started to stick our toes in the water with a diff erent model for Region ministry. This diff erent model utilizes what I’m calling Ministry Con-sultants. These are people who have a specialized skill set that we’re asking to do a specifi c job for a defi ned period of time. For example, the Region has contracted with Lyndon Perry (Faith Renewal, Wichita, KS) and John Parsley (First Baptist, Manhattan, KS) to help with a few churches who are looking for a new pastor. They will be the direct contact for these churches and will shepherd the churches through the process. When those churches fi nd pastors, their Ministry Consultant job for those churches will end. We’ve also hired Clarence Newton, Jr. (New Life Baptist, Topeka, KS) to make connections with African American churches in the Region that may not have denominational affi liations to explore ways we might work together. Each of these Ministry Consultants has a job specifi c focus that is just a small piece of what they are doing in their larger ministry focus. As I’ve talked with other Executive Ministers around the denomination, diff erent versions of this model have been implemented quite successfully and we’re exploring this as a model for Region ministry to see if this might be something that would work for us on a larger scale. I’d ask that you keep your eyes open for needs we have in the Region and if there’s an area where we have a need, and this need might be addressed by one of these ministry consultants, I’d love to talk further with you about it.

Thank you for the privilege of serving among you,

FOCUS is a newsletter published for professional church leaders in the Central Region, and it is distributed monthly. It is on the Region website, https://abccr.org/. The deadline for FOCUS is the fi rst of the month of publication. A variation in content and format is required for copy to be printed in two or more successive issues.

American Baptist Churches of the Central Region 5833 S.W. 29th St., Ste. A Topeka, KS 66614-5505 katherine.cunningham@abccr.org

785/272-7622 https://abccr.org/

Follow your Region staff on the ABC Central Region Facebook page as they provide information on resourc-es and services, as well as events and happenings across our Region — https://www.facebook.com/ABC-CRegion/

Check our ABC Central Region Twitter link — https://twitter.com/ABCCRegion

Please like and share the posts made on these Central Region social media accounts to help us spread the news!

May – A Month of Remembrance!

This is the month of high school (and some university) graduations! What an exciting time it is for those who are be-ing honored. Itʼs a time to remember as well as a time of new beginnings. As we remember, sometimes we think those days were some of the best! But for others, they werenʼt very pleas-ant at all when they were bullied or embarrassed. Itʼs a special time to remember to pray for our educators as well as those who are being taught. I have a granddaughter, great grand-daughter and great niece all graduating within a few days! How proud I am of each of them. The last of the month we have a special day of remem-brance for those who lost their lives serving our country. Many of the men in our family, as well as a niece and granddaughter, have served in the military but fortunately all came home alive, although some with disabilities Our grandson just got home safely from a tour in Afghanistan. How we praise God for his safety. But not all were so fortunate. Please thank God for their sacrifice and pray for their families. Our missionary efforts have come full circle. Adoniram Judson became our first missionary in Burma and now decades later we have Burmese coming to the USA and doing a great job of evangelism here. Although we can not all physically reach out to oth-ers, most of us can provide at least some financial resources for those who can. There are many opportunities. Iʼd love to discuss what might work best for you. There is no obligation or charge for my services, so please contact me. Iʼd be glad to come visit you.

Rev. Wilma E. Engle Director of Planned Giving e-mail: wilmaengle@juno.com6745 Interurban, Wichita, KS 67204-1323 home 316-838-3065 cell 316-644-2069

Brown vs Board of Educa on Celebra on