Editor’s Note: BCM/D Executive Director Tom Stolle shared the following report with the Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware’s General Mission Board on March 11 at Skycroft Conference Center.
By Tom Stolle
MIDDLETOWN, Md. — I am excited about where we are and what God is doing in and through this convention of churches as we push into the year 2025. As I think about what God is doing in Maryland, Delaware, and beyond, I continue to be reminded about our current theme, which is found in Luke 1:37: For with God, nothing will be impossible.
We continue to experience the blessings of God. He is moving our collective work forward. We at the BCM/D are on mission. This mission is this: We equip and resource churches to make disciples. We are working hard to forge relationships with our churches. We are attempting to not just communicate to our pastors and lay leaders but to connect with them, uniting with a common purpose: to advance the Kingdom of God!
Some may ask, what does the BCM/D really care about? Or, put another way, what is the BCM/D all about? What does the BCM/D value?
Our values are the following: Strengthening, Formation and Health, Mobilization and Planting, and Missional Impact. This is what we are all about! Note that each of our values is directly reflected in our team structure.
Church Strengthening: led by Jeremy Dickson
We are committed to strengthening our churches and equipping them to thrive. Through practical resources, consulting, and ongoing support, we help congregations grow in people and purpose, overcome stagnation, and revitalize their mission.
Our Women’s Ministry Missionary/Communications Director Somer Phoebus reported that more than 700 women gathered for the Revive Women’s Conference on March 7-8 to praise God, fellowship, receive practical training, and be sent back to their churches, communities, and homes, on fire and, hopefully, with a renewed sense of purpose.
On May 17, the Men’s Conference “A Man After God’s Own Heart” will be a rallying point for hundreds of men in our churches with the goal of sending these men back into their churches and communities more equipped and more energized to share the good news of Jesus with a world that desperately needs it!
We are particularly excited about our first Church Leadership Conference (CLC) on August 7. We desire churches to send teams to receive high-quality training in a variety of specialized ministry areas.
Also, through youth and kids, collegiate camps, coaching, our growing African American Fellowship (AAF) Initiative and the AAF-sponsored George Liele Institute, and our annual Gathering in Ocean City, we are pushing hard to strengthen local churches so that that they can be better equipped and resourced to make disciples in the name of Jesus!
Formation & Health: led by Dan Hyun
We prioritize the holistic health of our pastors and leaders, training them to be intentional about their spiritual, emotional, and physical health so that they can lead with integrity, clarity, and renewed energy.
Dan is leading “Healthier Pastor/Healthier Churches” meetings throughout Maryland/Delaware in March, April, and May, meeting with pastors to explore intentional practices for greater health. We want our pastors to be equipped to lead from a healthy place. These communal learning environments help provide a space for sharing and for pastors to learn from one another through their own challenges.
We are emphasizing mental health/counseling within this team as well. The BCM/D has forged relationships with three partners, CentrePointe Counseling, Life Counseling, and Anchored Hope, to give our pastors access to more options.
We want pastors and their families to be healthy. We want their marriages to be healthy, and for that reason our 2025 budget plan includes a pastors and wives gathering.
Finally, it all starts with prayer. It’s prayer that moves the hand of God, and a vital element of this team is the emphasis placed on our prayer ministry.
Mobilization and Planting: led by Jamie Caldwell
Gospel multiplication is at the heart of our work. We are committed to helping churches develop new pastors and plant new congregations by providing them with the care, resources, and partnerships they need to thrive.
An emphasis we are pushing forward is what we call SEND BCM/D, a church planting partnership between BCM/D and NAMB, specifically Send Network. It has four primary components:
- Church Mobilization: Planting is sourced and sustained by local churches. The BCM/D can’t plant churches for you, but we can come alongside and help, essentially by planting with you.
- Coaching and Consulting: We offer experts in a variety of areas to help.
- Planter Training and Assessment: We can connect potential planters to a high-quality training and assessment program, with the goal of receiving an endorsement, equipping through coaching and education, and ultimately, monthly financial support.
- Prayer Meetings: SEND BCM/D has prayer gatherings periodically throughout Maryland/Delaware, pleading with God to strengthen existing planters and to raise up future planters.
We also heavily emphasize loving and serving planters’ wives well. We added a staff position, filled by Payton Pope, specifically for this purpose. Planters’ wives face many challenges. NO ONE WALKS ALONE if we can help it!
Finally, concerning planting, wouldn’t it be great if we could tap into what God does at Skycroft every year, where young people accept Jesus and some express a ministry calling — If we could develop a future pastor/planter pipeline? We are in the process of discussing how to accomplish that. How to take the incredible Skycroft ministry and utilize it even more for God’s glory!
Missional Impact: led by Mark Dooley — We believe churches should be catalysts for transformation in their local communities and beyond. Through partnerships, we provide training, resourcing, and equipping to mobilize churches to make a lasting impact by meeting needs, building relationships, and serving the marginalized through compassion ministries. We are emphasizing compassion ministries. We want to equip and resource churches to share the love of Jesus with individuals affected by poverty, disability, abuse, or disaster.
At the BCM/D, we are also serious about sexual abuse prevention and protection. Our Sexual Abuse Task Force has transitioned to a CARE team. The acronym CARE stands for: Crisis response: We come alongside churches to offer immediate assistance and resources during crises; Advocacy: We stand with victims, seek truth, promote justice, and ensure accountability. Review and resource: We help churches evaluate and strengthen policies, procedures, and systems to prevent abuse; and Educate: We equip leaders and volunteers to recognize, prevent, and respond to abuse. We are committed to respecting the autonomy of our churches while safeguarding children and vulnerable adults and the cooperative work where BCM/D funding, staff, or the reputation of our network of churches are involved.
We will partner with churches in compassion ministries such as food pantries and clothing ministries. We continue to offer training to churches in disability ministry, and this summer, we will have our fifth annual Everyone Belongs camp specifically designed for individuals affected by disabilities.
We began “serve days” in 2024, and those will continue in 2025, where twice a year, the entire BCM/D staff serves a church affected by poverty or serves alongside a church to minister to others affected by poverty.
We are working on designing a more robust BCM/D Ready Disaster Relief system in which local associations led by their Director of Missions are working with the BCM/D and with churches in their associations to have trained, equipped, and resourced disaster response teams that when a local disaster strikes, these teams can be deployed more quickly and efficiently.
Finally, this team focuses on evangelism. There is no greater compassion ministry than sharing Jesus with the lost! Consider this: Every person on this planet is born with a disability. That disability is one of sin that separates us from God. The only way that disability can be cured is by the affected individual accepting Jesus. Evangelism is the greatest compassion ministry ever known!
Providing the support to make all of this go is our Operations Team, led by Business Operations Director Megan Jones and Our Communications/Marketing Team led by our Communications Director Somer Phoebus. Without the proper procedures, logistics, and communication, the ability to push forward in the vital ministry areas, our values would be severely compromised. I want to thank Megan and Somer for their outstanding contribution to accomplishing our mission.
Finally, there is a segment of our ministry touching all of the values I’ve spoken about. That is the place we are meeting at today — Skycroft. Many salvations and recommitments to Christ happen here every year! Lives are changed, churches are strengthened, and future pastors/planters/lay leaders are spiritually born here! I want to thank Emily Reedy, our Skycroft Director, for her leadership on this mountain. She has a massive job and does it well, with grace, dignity, and professionalism.
May God continue to bless the work of the BCM/D as we seek God’s glory, being obedient to Him and humble before Him.
God bless you!