DBC Hosts Two Evangelism Workshops
More than 70 Dakota Baptists took part in two evangelism workshops last month. The first was in Rapid City, SD. The second was in Fargo, ND. The theme for both events was, “What is the Gospel?” Two guest keynote speakers and breakout leaders from around the Dakotas helped Dakota pastors and church leaders remember and recommit themselves to a biblical understanding and sharing of the gospel.
The keynote speaker for the Rapid City event, which was held at Hills of Grace Fellowship, was Shawn Parker. Parker is the Executive Director for the Mississippi Baptist Convention. The Fargo event featured J. J. Washington, who is the new National Director for Personal Evangelism with NAMB. The Fargo participants met at Journey Church.
The men’s breakout conferences focused on the foundational aspects of the gospel: 1) God: the Holy and Righteous Creator; 2) The Human Condition; 3) Jesus: the Way, the Truth, and the Life; and 4) the Gospel Conversation. Leaders at the Rapid City workshop were Garvon Golden (Rapid City: Christ Church), Chad McCord (Belle Fourche: Connection Church), Matt Hadden (Porcupine: Creator’s Fellowship), and DBC Executive Director Fred MacDonald.
The Fargo breakout leaders were George Crawley (Lincoln: Love Church), John Flowers (West Fargo: Living Hope), Jeffrey Robison (Harvey: New Life on Main), and MacDonald.
Two special guests were invited to lead the women’s breakout sessions. Mona McDonald, a vice president with the Arizona Baptist Children’s Services came to Rapid City. Catherine Renfro, an evangelism director with NAMB, led the Fargo session.
Six Dakota pastors led worship and shared devotional messages during the events. Kaleb Carlin (Spearfish: Connection Church) and Todd Fuhrer (Bismarck/Mandan: Community Church) were the two worship leaders. Devotionals were shared by Stephen Carson (Belle Fourche: Connection Church), Will Page (Miller: First Baptist, Nick Geray (Fargo: Dusty Way Chapel), and Chris Collier (Langdon: First Baptist). The DBC CRMs Chad McCord, Paul Young, Everett Hornbostel, and Jeff Musgrave led small group discussions among the men to give them opportunity to encourage and challenge each other.
In addition to preaching and challenging about the gospel, Parker expressed excitement about a new informal partnership that is growing between the Dakotas and Mississippi. He thanked MacDonald and the Dakotas Send Network director Buck Hill for coming with different DBC pastors to Mississippi’s recent annual meeting and evangelism conference to introduce their churches to what God is doing in the Dakotas. He mentioned that a team of 28 pastors would be coming in May to North Dakota to discover ways they can partner to help fulfill the mission of the DBC to “strengthen established churches and start new churches” (see related article in this newsletter).
Parker also shared that any partnership needs to be a two-way partnership. He shared needs that he sees in Mississippi, particularly in the delta region for teams to come alongside their churches. He extended an invitation for churches to contact either Dr. MacDonald or Buck if they have interested in doing mission work in Mississippi.
