The GARBC annual conference hosted this year by the First Baptist Church, Elyria, Ohio, offered several venues to expose the international ministries. Chris Hindal highlighted three future initiatives to the Council of 18. He laid out a plan to seek additional funding to strengthen the financial base of the ministry. The second initiative over the next 2 years is to open a printing operation for Sunday School materials in the Philippines. The plan will be to outsource the printing, develop a distribution network and hire a Filipino to head up marketing. The third initiative addresses the need to support international church planters around the globe. The number one hindrance for nationals to plant churches is the necessary financial support. While the national churches must bear some of the responsibility, our North American churches can exponentially accelerate the national church planting efforts by providing support through their local association. Before this initiative can be launched, much research and analysis will be required to avoid the pitfalls. The Council of 18 responded favorably towards these developing ideas.
Six representatives from the international partnership (IPFBM) attended the conference this year. Each one introduced themselves to the assembled messengers during the international ministry overview on Tuesday morning. Tuesday noon the international luncheon brought together about 170 friends and supporters of the ministry. The luncheon project this year brought in $3,600 to help sponsor nationals to attend the IPFBM conference this fall in Bangkok, Thailand. Chris is seeking to raise an additional $5,000 to assist our partners. On Wednesday and Thursday mornings, Chris Brown and Chris Hindal facilitated international workshops respectively. Chris Brown highlighted ways that technology could assist local churches in connecting with our international partners. In Chris Hindal’s workshop, each of the internationals presented their church planting strategy and some of the challenges that they face.
Pray for the Hindals as they present the international ministries in churches in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York this summer.
