Sean Lathrop

Church Planting Catalyst – Sean Lathrop HPBC 2021 Annual Meeting Report for November 2020 – November 2021

Thank you for the privilege of serving the churches that make up the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. My primary area of focus is church planting.

“We see every Hawaii Pacific Baptist Church working together to be leaders in impacting God’s Kingdom throughout the Pacific and Asia.” Together we build and sustain a stronger Kingdom network as we leverage the SBC network to help plant churches. One of the main ways we do this is by partnering with Send Network (church planting) of the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

Church Plants and Their Sponsoring Churches resourced by the HPBC Church Planting Office:

Church Planter/Plant: Sponsoring Church: Jay & Melissa Haynes, Waiehu Community Church Kahului BC Chris & Sai Thomas, Cross Church Yokosuka Yokohama Int’l BC Steven & Monica Kang, Waikiki Korean Church (Replant) Waikiki BC David & Nancy Whitehead, Connections Church Waikiki BC

New Church Plants Pastor Brad Dell leads a new church plant, Restoration Community Church (formerly known as CityWide). At the time of this Annual Meeting, God willing, Brad will have successfully completed an Assessment Retreat, the final piece of endorsement with Send Network. GracePoint Church (Pastor James Shiroma) serves as the Sending Church. Pray for Pastor Brad and Restoration, as they continue to spread the gospel, make disciples, and train leaders.

Pastor Elise trains pastors, church planters, and other church leaders through his Bible Institute. This is similar in practice to what NAMB refers to as a Residency, an incubator for church planters. Elise and his Bible Institute students are reaching out in areas with a significant Samoan population, in the hope of starting a new work.

HPBC/NAMB Resources Pastors, the “Multiplication Pipeline” is a systematic and experientially based tool that helps train leaders and send your congregation on mission. Go to namb.net/send-network to access the Pipeline, as well as many other valuable helps for missional living. Additional resources can be found at hpbaptist.net/churchplanting.

To experience a church planting movement, we need: robust prayer, God-called church planters, and Sponsoring Churches willing to take on the kuleana of parenting a new congregation. “Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field,” Luke 10:2. Please set your alarm for 10:02am, as a reminder to pray daily for more planters. I praise God for his empowering presence for Kingdom expansion.