by Wayne Guinn
Jason just returned from a visit to one of our new church plants in Saginaw, Michigan. Guiding Light Bible Baptist Church, pastored by John Franzel, called the National Church Planting Office with the opportunity to purchase a Presbyterian church that had merged with another one further into town.
The building can seat 200 in the auditorium, and it has a nice fellowship hall with full kitchen and plenty of office and Sunday school space. After the NCPO helped the church negotiate with the Presbyterian Church, an agreement was reached to purchase the building and property for $45,000. Jason was shocked to find that the building is bigger than he originally thought and in move-in condition. Only God can open up an opportunity like this and place the NCPO in a position to help a church that is only two years old.
With the help and support of Capitol City Baptist Church in Holt, Michigan, where John’s son, Daryl Franzel, is the pastor, as well as the Michigan Baptist Bible Fellowship, this opportunity could turn into a reality after approval from the NCPO loan committee.
Thanks to support from BBFI churches across the country to the National Church Planting Office, we can help young and infant churches just like Guiding Light Bible Baptist Church jump through a door that God has opened. Would you consider supporting the NCPO as we help state fellowships and churches start and establish new churches all across the country?
The events of the past month and a half have greatly encouraged me about the future of church planting in the BBFI. Our church planting conference at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, received high marks from the students, college administration, and all the guest lecturers. Boston Baptist College was alive with excitement about church planting. Ken Gillming, of the college administration, tells me about 60 percent of all the students in Boston are actually attending and serving in new church plants. Working with several state fellowships, we were able to recruit many students for summer internship positions this next summer. Texas, Ohio, Oklahoma, Virginia, New Hampshire, New York, and Massachusetts, as well as others will be working with these students this next summer to keep the church-planting fire burning.
Building Toward the Future
We here at the NCPO have embarked on a big endeavor. Staying strong and advancing our capabilities to continue to make loans in these economic conditions is a real challenge. Therefore, we have launched a campaign to begin to raise $3 million to broaden our financial base. Our strategy is to get as many ncpo directo r churches as possible to join with us in getting their people to use a bank in the shape of a church and drop in their pocket change at the end of the day to help us help church planters. This will not put any pressure on the churches’ regular or mission budget. Several churches have already gotten involved and the results are exciting. One church in Georgia has been averaging $900 a month, a North Carolina church $500 a month, a small church in Ohio $300 a month, just to name a few. For information call 417.889.1017 or email bbfincpo@aol.com. If only 300 churches would respond we could reach our $3 million goal in the next four to five years. Would you be one of the 300? We need your help. God is doing great things with our new church plants. Don’t miss out on being part of the team!