fellowship People
Charles Brown
“T
he kingdom of God would not look just like an Anglo culture,” said Charles Brown pastor of The Crossing Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas. “Our churches should reflect that diversity.” That’s one goal of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Texas, where Brown serves as moderator. Fifteen years ago, the suburban Dallas church was more than 90 percent Anglo. Now the neighborhood is home to many more cultures and so is the church. Some congregations might have sold their property and moved. But The Crossing stayed put. CBF Texas aims to grow congregations integral
to their neighborhoods that “get outside the walls of the church, do hands-on missions,” Brown said. The Crossing participates in neighborhood crime watch, hosts a National Night Out anti-crime block party, and its members mentor students at local schools. “Some [church members] arrive with no clear understanding of who Christ is,” said Brown. “It’s exciting to sit down and to begin to work with someone … and then move them to a point where they are sharing the gospel.”
Charles Brown
Alison Dunn
A
lison Dunn is not sure where she’ll fit once she finishes her master’s degree at Duke Divinity School, a CBF partner, next year. Dunn, who receives scholarship support from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s Leadership Scholars program, said her field and class work give her a feeling she’ll minister in an inner city, working to roll away man-made racial, social and economic barriers in the name of Christ. An internship at Church of the Savior, a historically ecumenical church in Washington, D.C., was “a huge eye-opening experience,” said Dunn. The church’s numerous ministries include an AIDS hospice and a transitional housing center.
Working for “the least of these” is key, said Dunn, because “I believe as disciples of Jesus we are called to bring the kingdom of God into our present reality by working to create a more peaceful and just society through the power of the Spirit.” She’s inspired by theologians like Gustavo Gutierrez and Justo Gonzalez, who both preach against systems Alison Dunn in the Americas that cause poverty, injustice and oppression. What’s guiding her now is the truth that “through the mouth of the poor, oppressed, marginalized and broken, God speaks.”
Susan Rogers
A
fter Susan Rogers graduated from Mercer University’s McAfee School of Theology, a CBF partner, she got a pleasant surprise when she set out as a new church planter near downtown Jacksonville, Fla. “So often we assume that people have their guards up, and I think somewhat they do,” said Rogers, “but I do think people really are interested in talking about spirituality.” As planning began for The Well At Springfield, she held two focus groups with people from the neighborhood to learn about their worship preferences, their experiences with church and how they envisioned a new church taking shape in their neighborhood.
Since those meetings in the summer of 2010, The Well has become a congregation of approximately 30 people who worship together one Sunday per month in a rented community space. The other three Sundays, they gather for a potluck supper and Scripture exploration. Weekly worship may start this spring. As a strategic church planter with Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Florida, Rogers will continue the work of rooting this new church into the community while also settling into her role as pastor.
Susan Rogers
Steve Sullivan
T
he south Arkansas town of El Dorado lies in a swath of country that’s sparse in population and high in military recruits, according to Veterans Administration chaplain Steve Sullivan, who is endorsed with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Sullivan has watched a growing epidemic where at least one in five young veterans will return from Iraq or Afghanistan with the flashbacks, anxiety, nightmares and other symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. “Veterans who live in rural areas are far more likely to seek out their pastor or someone from their church for help rather than any formal provider,” said Sullivan. Sullivan has started the El Dorado’s Project SOUTH Military Ministry, a monthly meeting of faith community leaders, laypeople and mental
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fellowship!
April/May 2012
health professionals who trade and share information that can help stressed military families. From his Little Rock base, Sullivan has fostered four similar groups under the Veterans Administration/ Clergy Partnership for Rural Veterans. In one town, when a veteran left his house angry and armed, his wife called her pastor. Because of the partnership, the Steve Sullivan pastor knew how to immediately connect the family to resources. “Rural pastors are first responders,” said Sullivan. “The key to the Veteran Administration’s goal is to increase access to care for rural veterans.”