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FROM THE STATES: N.C., Fla., Ky. evangelism/missions news; N.C. church helps with physical/spiritual vision


Today’s From the States features items from:
Biblical Recorder (North Carolina)
Florida Baptist Witness
Western Recorder (Kentucky)

N.C. church helps people
see better, encounter Christ
by Emily Blake

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (Biblical Recorder) — Fruitland Baptist Church in Hendersonville has recorded more than 70 salvations since June 2014. What is the secret to their success? They make eyeglasses by hand for only 42 cents each.

Fruitland partners with Glasses for Missions and Evangelism Explosion to meet both physical and spiritual needs. They provide free glasses and eye exams along with the gospel.

After participating in this ministry for a year, the church integrated the glasses into many different ministries across all ages and demographics of their congregation.

“Jesus has certainly blessed the ministry,” said Clint Edwards, director of Glasses for Missions at Fruitland.

In 2014 they hosted a free Thanksgiving dinner where three came to Christ, a block party that yielded 11 new Christians, a trip to the North Carolina Mountain State Fair where 18 workers came to know God and five people accepted Christ at Farm City Day in Hendersonville. Along with local North Carolina events, Fruitland also introduced Glasses for Missions into Central Asia, Kenya, Bangladesh, South Korea and China.

Edwards’ most cherished experience with Glasses for Missions came from a trip to Faith Bridge Community Church in Pittsburgh, Pa.

“We had a fellowship that was open to the community and in the span of three hours 15 people came to Christ,” said Edwards. “I spoke with a man named Tony who was a rough looking guy with a huge cross hanging on a chain around his neck. After he accepted Christ I asked him if he was going to start attending church regularly. Four or five months later the pastor told me he still was.”

Each ministry event starts with a kit that allows volunteers to make eyeglasses in 12 different strengths. Fruitland offers training twice a month to teach people how to make the glasses and share the gospel.

Then at a distribution event, participants have their vision tested, and as volunteers assemble their glasses they discuss two questions: “Do you know for sure that you’ll be with God in heaven someday?” and “If God asked you, ‘Why should I let you into My heaven,’ what would you say?” The church has used this simple process to lead many people to Christ.

Fruitland’s pastor, Michael Smith, said, “It’s a really great ministry because often when you say the word ‘evangelism’ people kind of freeze. But giving them a service project like this helps to remove whatever barriers that are associated with sharing the gospel cold turkey. It’s a great model to utilize a service like eye-care or car maintenance to open the door to gospel conversations.”

Dale Rozell, founder and director of Glasses for Missions, started the ministry 12 years ago from his home in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The idea came to him after he and his wife asked the Lord to make them more effective in their ministry.

On a short-term mission trip they met a retired optometrist who had a vision to provide glasses to needy people in developing countries. Using his skills from a career in machine maintenance, Rozell created a product to match that vision.

The glasses can be produced anywhere in the world because they require no power tools. They are very durable as well. In the first seven years, the ministry expanded into 57 countries and is now capable of distributing 30,000 pairs each year.

A member of Fruitland, Emily Lyda, completed a class with the Henderson County Homeschool Association where she taught five 12-year-olds to make the glasses and share their faith. The students memorized scripture from an Evangelism Explosion tract, and practiced witnessing with skits and role play. After eight weeks each child made three glasses.

One child raised enough money to buy her own kit to share with her aunt who does ministry in Turkey.

“I believe the class was a success,” said Lyda. “The students learned why they believe what they believe, and the importance of fulfilling the Great Commission.”

The Fruitland group meets the first and third Tuesday of every month at 6 p.m. for training and welcomes visitors. The church strives to host one outreach event each month. Most groups can learn to utilize Glasses for Missions in eight hours. To order your kit visit GlassesforMissions.org. To see the work going on around the world, visit the Facebook page: Glasses for Missions International.
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This article appeared in the Biblical Recorder (brnow.org), newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. Emily Blake is an editorial aide for the Biblical Recorder.
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Fla. church trains chaplains
to minister in nursing homes
BY Carolyn Nichols

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Florida Baptist Witness) — When Belvedere Baptist Church Pastor Ray Henry began visiting church members in West Palm Beach nursing homes in 1990, he took note of the multitude of residents who had no visits from family or clergy.

Most residents in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities were attracted to South Florida’s warm weather as retirees, and stayed “when they hit old age,” Henry said.

“Typically, their families live far away, and they may come visit them when they are very sick or dying,” he said.

As Henry begins his 25th year at Belvedere Baptist, he also marks the 15th year since the establishment of Chaplain Services of the Palm Beaches, a nonprofit, interdenominational organization of volunteer chaplains that is based at Belvedere Baptist. Henry heads the organization with Belvedere Baptist layman Glen Dale, who fields calls for chaplains and serves as administrator of Chaplain Services.

Dale began volunteering in jails in 1965, continuing the ministry while working as an auditor with Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C. When he retired from HUD in 1990, his volunteer work in prisons brought him to West Palm Beach, and he and his wife, Patricia, joined Belvedere Baptist. He and Henry shared a burden for the lonely residents of nursing home facilities, and they formed Chaplain Services, a 501(c)(3) organization.

Since then, scores of volunteer chaplains have been trained, and currently 16 serve in 15 nursing and assisted-living facilities in West Palm Beach.

The need for chaplains grows every day, according to Henry, who quoted population statistics in Palm Beach County. Almost 1.5 million residents in the county live in condos or multihousing units, including nursing homes. While the median age in the county is 77, the 2010 census showed the greatest population increase was among those over 85—an increase of 99,000 persons since the 2000 Census. A survey by Marriott, which owns several area nursing home facilities, showed 70 percent of its residents had no relationship with a church or clergy

“This is a mission field,” Henry said. “Church planters can’t get into these facilities, but a chaplain is always welcomed.”

Before a volunteer chaplain begins serving at a nursing or assisted-living facility, the facility’s administration signs a form letter inviting Chaplain Services to visit. Chaplains promise not to proselytize in the course of their ministries. If a patient requests a rabbi or a Catholic priest, Chaplain Services volunteers make the call for them.

“We don’t seek to convert, but to share the Gospel. Nobody has ever rejected a chaplain,” Henry said. “We tell them, ‘You have a chaplain while you’re here.'”

Volunteer chaplains, working most often in pairs and wearing Chaplain Services shirts and name tags, visit residents and lead weekly or monthly Bible studies. Toward the end of the year, most facilities ask the chaplains to lead memorial services for residents who died during the year.

Visits usually consist of an introduction and the presentation of an encouragement card with Scripture on one side and an assurance prayer on the other. Many residents say yes when asked if they may pray for and with them.

As relationships develop between residents and chaplains, most residents eventually want to talk about death. Most want “to be sure” before they meet the Father, Henry said.

Every year, 25-30 volunteer chaplains learn how to handle such difficult conversations with residents. Marc Johnston, team strategist for the Church and Community Ministries Team of the Florida Baptist Convention, has led the annual chaplain training at Belvedere Baptist since 2000. Pastor Henry adds specific information for local facilities. Often, veteran chaplains attend the class as an annual refresher, and to meet new chaplains whom they may mentor.

Glen Dale, who has served as chaplain of Arbor Oaks since it opened in 2000, leads a weekly Bible study. Attendance ranges from five to 15 as “the Lord sends who He wants in there,” he said. A Jewish resident once asked if the Gospel was for everyone, and Dale answered with an emphatic “yes.”

“To share God’s Word with someone on their last lap — maybe their last opportunity to hear the Gospel — is very special. It is a ministry,” he said.

Retired nurse Florence Sadler, a member of Lighthouse New Testament Church of God, found out about the chaplain training class at Belvedere Baptist through local Christian radio. She has served several facilities since 2000. From 2000-10, she and Juliette Sterling, a member of First Baptist Church in West Palm Beach, ministered at Renova Nursing Home. In 2010, Sadler returned as a chaplain to Edward J. Healey Rehabilitation and Nursing Center, where she worked as a nurse for 28 years.

“I was taking care of their physical needs, but now I take care of their emotional and spiritual needs,” she said.

She has found that nurses at the center also request prayer, and the chaplain and nurse often duck into a private area to pray together. Even a battle with breast cancer did not stop Sadler from completing her chaplaincy visits.

“Even during chemo, I went there once a week. I look forward to going every time,” Sadler said. “I found my purpose as a retiree here. It’s the best thing that has happened to me.”

Bruce Smith, a member of First Baptist Church of Lake Park, has served as a chaplain with Campers on Mission, Florida Baptist Disaster Relief and with Chaplain Services of the Palm Beaches since retiring as a computer design engineer in 1985. The 80-year-old says he is “busy all year long.”

He is chaplain of Gardens Court Nursing and Rehab Center in Palm Beach Gardens and ministers to the center’s permanent residents, along with those in rehab. He says it is a “nice combination” of residents whom he sees long term and those he sees for 4-6 weeks. Along the way, he has learned to adapt to the needs of dementia patients.

“I had an elderly patient who was worried about his brother going into the Navy. I prayed for his brother, and let the Lord sort it out. Who knows what was going on in his mind, but he was relieved that we prayed,” he said.

Smith also has learned to minister to Jewish residents by talking about “the God of Abraham.” He reads Psalms to let them know that “God loves them and they can draw on Him at any time.”
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This article appeared in the Florida Baptist Witness (gofbw.com), newsjournal of the Florida Baptist Convention. Carolyn Nichols is a reporter for the Florida Baptist Witness.
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Want to strengthen
your marriage in 2015?
By Myriah Snyder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Western Recorder) — Are you looking to enrich your marriage in the new year?

Several Kentucky Baptist churches are partnering with the Kentucky Marriage Movement to offer workshops and video-conferences to help do just that.

The “Love and Respect” video conference will be offered at Rosebower Baptist Church in Paducah Feb. 6-7, and the “Art of Marriage” video-conference is slated at First Baptist Church of Lawrenceburg for Feb. 13-14.

New Hope Community Church in Elizabethtown held its “Love and Lordship” workshop this past weekend.

“Our goal in all of these conferences is to elevate and encourage the biblical model of healthy maturing marriages,” said Greg Williams, director of the Kentucky Marriage Movement.

“Our goal is to keep that front and center, because we believe in God’s design and order, and that is where He placed emphasis,” Williams added. “If we would do the same thing, it would be a real blessing not only to marriages and families but also to the entire church.”

Bob Ehr, pastor of Lawrenceburg’s First Church finds value in hosting local marriage events.

“We’ve done marriage retreats for a number of years where we take couples off campus and go to Pigeon Forge or Gatlinburg, Tenn., and those have been a very fruitful time for our couples, but we also realize that not everyone can take the time to get away,” Ehr said.

Art of Marriage is a multi-dimensional DVD series by Family Life Ministries, which includes testimonies from speakers such as seminary president Albert Mohler, a number of counselors, pastors and real couples. It is comprised of six sessions, running from Friday night through Saturday morning.

Love and Respect utilizes video presentations by author Emerson Eggerichs. The conference is split into five sessions and runs from Friday night through Saturday afternoon.

The Love and Lordship workshop, which was presented by Williams, is broken into four to six sessions covering six topics that build off of one another.

“When you can pull families away, it just gives them time to really focus on marriage, hear from God, meet with other couples, and talk about what they’re going through. That extended time is needed for people to focus on being the husband or being the wife they need to be,” said Herb Williams, pastor at New Hope Community Church, which hosted the Love and Lordship workshop.

The Family Foundation and the Kentucky Marriage Movement hold conferences and workshops such as these throughout the year in various churches throughout Kentucky. (WR)
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This article appeared in the Western Recorder (westernrecorder.org), newsjournal of the Kentucky Baptist Convention. Myriah Snyder is a reporter for the Western Recorder.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: From the States, published each Tuesday by Baptist Press, relays news and feature stories from state Baptist papers and other publications on initiatives by Baptist churches, associations and state conventions in evangelism, church planting and Great Commission outreach, including partnership missions. Reports about churches, associations and state conventions responding to the International Mission Board’s call to embrace the world’s 3,800 unengaged, unreached people groups also are included in From the States, along with reports about church, associational and state convention initiatives in conjunction with the North American Mission Board’s call to Southern Baptist churches to broaden their efforts in starting new churches and satellite campuses. The items appear in Baptist Press as originally published.

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