This month, churches demonstrated God’s love and served their communities through various events and programs, including ministering at the racetrack, teaching coding to children, and providing birthday parties and VBS for those affected by disabilities, among other initiatives.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” 1 Peter 4:10
By Alethia Brown
Spreading Seeds at Races
From July 18 to 20, volunteers from various churches handed out food and drinks, held chapel service, entertained children, gave away gospel tracts and homemade cookies (baked by BCM/D churches) and offered so much more to race fans at Dover International Speedway. This annual event, headed by Raceway Director Jim McBride, Jr., brings excitement for many, fans and volunteers alike. However, the heart of the ministry is to share Christ and to serve people throughout the weekend.
Baptist Collegiate Ministry students help prepare kids’ kits at the Delaware Raceway NASCAR event. (Photo courtesy of Delaware Raceway Ministries)
“We basically are a seed planting ministry, and we try to let God harvest them. Sometimes we do get to harvest the seed itself throughout the weekend but most of the time we’re just there to serve by handing out free food and provide transportation to those who need help,” McBride said.
This year, three new groups joined the ministry in offering to serve fans at the raceway. Students from the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at the University of Maryland, College Park volunteered with tasks like making and handing out snowballs and cookies. Members of Abide Church, Dover and First Baptist Church of Thurmont also offered their services to the ministry for the first time.
“… One of the things the ministry is in desperate need of is some new blood, some new volunteers,” McBride said. A lot of my volunteers are not as young as we used to be, and some have moved away and transitioned to other things.”
McBride was thrilled to have the new volunteers this year. “You knew that God’s presence was there to have so many new people doing so many new things in an environment where 75-100 thousand people surround you, and we worked together like a well-oiled machine, like we’ve been working together for a long time. That was neat to me.”
Even with the support of new volunteers, three days working hard in the heat is exhausting. On Sunday, the final day, it started raining. With the end in sight, the rain might have been discouraging. But then the volunteers saw the rainbow!
“Right after it quit raining… a rainbow came over the track. It’s the end of a long weekend, you’re tired, you’re exhausted, you don’t know if you’re going to make it through the last couple hours, and then God sends a rainbow to say, ‘Hey, I’m here with you.’ So that was pretty cool too,” McBride said.
“Most of the people that are at the racetrack are fans – the people that we’re ministering to are not local people. They come from New England, from Pennsylvania, from Maryland, from New York, New Jersey. So a lot of times when we plant the seeds, if we get to see results it might be two years later when they come back and tell us about how they were impacted by our ministry,” McBride said. “Or we’ve gotten letters down the road from people saying that, ‘I came to the racetrack to go to the race and found God, I’m glad you were there,’ those kinds of things.”
Most of the harvest they won’t see this side of eternity. But they keep sowing!
Growing Faith Through Freedom in Christ Ministry
At Allen Memorial Church, Salisbury, Discipleship Pastor Michael Stove began a ministry several years ago to help Christians develop in their faith journeys. Using videos and curriculum from the Freedom in Christ program, he began a Freedom in Christ chapter at Allen Memorial.
“Basically, I’m of the impression that a lot of times we expect people to mature into disciples and we skip some of the preliminary things,” Pastor Michael Sove said. “And so Freedom in Christ is really the first leg of what we try to help people with, because after they come to Christ, of course, they’re forgiven, but they carry a lot of baggage with them. They carry a lot of things into the Christian life from the past that they haven’t taken care of, that kind of stuff, so Freedom in Christ really is a way to learn how to walk in your new identity in Christ…”
Freedom in Christ discipleship class enjoys fellowship as they work through ten weeks of leaving behind baggage and moving forward in their Christian walks. (Photo courtesy of Allen Memorial Baptist Church)
Each session lasts for ten weeks. The first seven are spent learning different aspects of a Christian life, such as forgiveness and purity. In between the first seven and the last three weeks, the participants go on a retreat as a culmination of the first lessons. The last three cover how to maintain the growth from the first weeks and continue to live out what was learned.
“The course runs about 10 full weeks, so you go through seven weeks, and after those seven weeks there’s a retreat, where you actually walk through the steps to freedom in Christ and I’ve seen so many people helped with that. We’ve been doing this quite a few years. The last three lessons are all about how do you follow up — now, how do you walk in this newfound freedom. So it’s really a nice package,” Sove said. “It’s just a way to get set free from things that can hold you back, things that you know you haven’t taken care of. It’s like closing doors. Satan gets the door and he wants to keep that door open, and so Freedom in Christ, and the retreat especially, is a way to get those doors closed, and then you learn how to walk in your new freedom, you learn how to walk in your new identity, and it really makes a difference, like I said I’ve seen many people radically changed.”
The retreat is a short weekend in Ocean City. After arriving on Friday, the attendees spend Saturday reviewing the lessons and putting them into effect by following along with guided papers and spending time with God in prayer.
“… We just set up each session and then they go away to be alone with the Lord and their worksheets, and they process through different prayers, basically confessing, ‘Yeah, that’s still a problem’ and then moving on from that,” Sove said. “And then at the end of Saturday night, we take all the paperwork, we meet in the room, and we have a shredder, and we just have a really nice worship time where we shred [the papers]. You know, it’s between them and God, and we shred all the stuff, and then the next morning we have communion, we share testimonies, and it’s been really good, really good.”
Disability VBS at Bayside Church Grows
The 12nine Ministry at Bayside Baptist Church in Chesapeake Beach disciples individuals affected by disabilities, offering Bible study and community. The “12nine” refers to II Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
Students at Bayside’s 12nine VBS read the day’s lesson. (Photo courtesy of Bayside Baptist Church)
This year, they had their fourth Vacation Bible School (VBS) for adults with disabilities from July 14 to 17. They enjoyed crafts, snacks, lessons, and more during their two-hour sessions. Children who are affected by a disability are paired with buddies, and they attend the neurotypical VBS that runs simultaneously.
Sherri Swanson, the wife of Pastor Glenn Swanson, is the founder and director of the church’s 12nine program. Sherri said, “When we started, we just had two [people]. So over the last four years, for VBS it has grown to about 11. This year we had more helpers in the room, and we were able to divide up some… that made it nice and kind of relaxed a little bit.”
“Over the years, it’s just grown, you know, friends telling friends, so it’s been a good group. We’ve been blessed,” Swanson said. “They love it, they have the best time. They are always sad when it stops. Our 12nine Wednesday night meetings stop in May, and then we pick back up in September. They’re always antsy and wanting to get back with their friends, you know, and the Bible study and things like that, so they’re always excited with the VBS, it gives them time to be together again.”
Transitions
Creekside Baptist Church Pastor John Argo has resigned. His last sermon was on June 29. John Burghauser is serving as interim.
Weems Creek Baptist Church welcomed Scott Allred as an associate pastor on July 20.
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Severna Park Baptist Member Alethia Brown is a summer intern and a freshman at Belmont University, majoring in publishing