The Evangelist A PUBLICATION OF UNITY BAPTIST CHURCH MARCH 2016

Rev. Jeremy Couture Rev. Brad Callaway

Pastor Minister of Youth & Education

PINTREST PARTY CHURCH WIDE WORK DAY

AWANA MARCH MISSION MADNESS

CHILDREN’S SS OUTING HEART SONG

COMMUNITY EASTER EGG HUNT

March 2016 1 Nu 7-8 Ac 11:1-18 2 Nu 9-10 Ac 11:19-30 3 Nu 11-13 Ac 12 4 Nu 14-15 Ac 13:1-12 5 Nu 16-17 Ac 13:13-52 6 Nu 18-19 Ac 14 7 Nu 20-21 Ac 15:1-21 8 Nu 22-23:26 Ac 15:22-35 9 Nu 23:27-26:51 Ac 15:36-16:15 10 Nu 26:52-28 Ac 16:16-40 11 Nu 29-31 Ac 17:1-15 12 Nu 32-33 Ac 17:16-34 13 Nu 34-36 Ac 18:1-28 14 De 1-2 Ac 19:1-22 15 De 3-4 Ac 19:23-41 16 De 5-7:11 Ac 20:1-16 17 De 7:12-10:11 Ac 20:17-38 18 De 10:12-12 Ac 21:1-16 19 De 13-15 Ac 21:17-40 20 De 16-18:8 Ac 22:1-21 21 De 18:9-21 Ac 22:22-23:11 22 De 22-24 Ac 23:12-35 23 De 25-27 Ac 24 24 De 28 Ac 25:1-12 25 De 29-31:13 Ac 25:13-27 26 De 31:14-32 Ac 26:1-18 27 De 33-34 Ac 26:19-32 28 Jos 1-2 Ac 27:1-26 29 Jos 3-5:12 Ac 27:27-44 30 Jos 5:13-7 Ac 28:1-16 31 Jos 8-9 Ac 28:17-31

April 2016 1 Jos 10-12 Mk 1:1-20 2 Jos 13-15 Mk 1:21-45 3 Jos 16-19 Mk 2:1-22 4 Jos 20-22 Mk 2:23-3:12 5 Jos 23-24 Mk 3:13-35

SUNDAY, MARCH 13

Why Plant New Churches? Unity has a strong history of church planting. Many of the Baptist churches in the Ashland area were started by Unity or by one of her daughter churches. In 1892, Unity planted Pollard Baptist under the leadership of Pastor S. Hensley. In time, Pollard planted at least 7 mission churches, including Rose Hill Baptist, and Wildwood Baptist, who would plant their own daughter churches as well. In the early 1900’s, Unity was instrumental in starting 3 mission churches. In 1954, one of those missions became Belmont Street Baptist in under the eventual leadership of Pastor Wesley Harris. In

1974, Unity helped the 45th Street Mission organize into Blackburn Avenue Baptist under the leadership of Pastor Thurman Jackson.1 Some of Unity’s spiritual progeny have grown through the years, and some have disappeared, but her church-planting legacy lives on today.

Church planting has been overlooked for several years, but recently it has made a comeback. Some forward-thinking church leaders, like Ed Stetzer, Executive Director for Lifeway Research, believe church planting is essential for the future of the church in North America, but others have doubts.2 Those who resist the idea of planting new churches think that there are already enough churches. Here are 3 objections to church planting that Stetzer addresses in his book Planting Missional Churches.

Isn’t one big church better than several smaller ones? It’s true that larger churches have more to offer than medium or smaller churches, but that doesn’t mean they are better at reaching people. Consider the findings from a recent study:

Churches under three years of age win an average of 10 people to Christ per year for every hundred church members.

Churches three to fifteen years of age win an average of 5 people to Christ per year for every hundred church members.

Churches over fifteen years of age win an average of 3 people to Christ per year for every hundred church members.3

Shouldn’t we help our struggling churches instead? It’s estimated that as many 90 percent of churches in North America are in plateau or decline. Some feel that the resources used to start new churches should be used to revitalize churches that are struggling. This is possible in some cases, but it’s not very common. Existing churches that are struggling are struggling for a reason, and they are often resistant to the kind of change that is necessary to revitalize them. The best strategy is to both plant new churches and revitalize existing churches that are open to change.

March 2016 SUNDAY Sunday Schedule 9:00 a.m. Library Open 9:30 a.m. Sunday School 10:45 a.m. Morning Worship Service 4:15 p.m. Journey (Sr. High Youth) 5:00 p.m. Praise Band/Team Rehearsal 5:15 p.m. Youth Choir 5:30 p.m. Library Open 5:45 p.m. Awana 6:00 p.m. Evening Worship Service

MONDAY

TUESDAY Tuesday Schedule 1:00 p.m. Ladies Prayer Group

WEDNESDAY Wednesday Schedule 6:00 p.m. Library Open 6:15 p.m. Children in Action 6:30 p.m. Mission Friends 6:30 p.m. Prayer Service 6:30 p.m. Sr. High Youth Group 6:30 p.m. Trek (Jr. High Youth) 7:00 p.m. Children’s Choir K5 - 5th grade 7:30 p.m. Sanctuary Choir Rehearsal

THURSDAY

FRIDAY SATURDAY

1

10 a.m. Women on Mission

2

BYC

3 4

6 p.m. Pintrest Party

5

9 a.m. Church Wide

Work Day

6

4:30 p.m. Deacons Meeting

7 8

6:45 p.m. Women on Mission

9

10 11

8-11:30 p.m. UPPER ROOM

12

13 2 p.m.

Woodland Oaks

14 15 16

5:45 p.m.

Finance Committee

Business Meeting

17 18 19

6 p.m. Youth Event

with Heartsong From Cedarville

20 21

6 p.m. GBA Meeting

At GBA Conference Center

22

11 a.m. Prime Timers

23 24 25

Good Friday

OFFICE CLOSED

26 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Community Easter Egg

Hunt

27

Easter

28 29 30 31

Here is a list of a few items that we will need for the Pintrest Party, if you would be willing to donate any of these items please bring them to church on Wednesday evening, March 2, and drop them off in the library. Scrap fabric/felt. spools of thread, small mason jars or recycled jelly jars (no larger than pint size), any size of buttons, yarn, fabric scissors, We also need to “borrow” ironing boards & sewing machines, please contact the church office if you have any of these. Attendees who would like to bring a homemade snack are encouraged to bring the recipe to share along with recipes you have tried and liked.

Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer for North American Mission Board March 6-13

24 Hour Prayer Marathon

Dear Church Family, I want to thank the church for the prayers lifted up weekly for my mother, Danise

Sexton and myself. Also, I would like to thank everyone that helped provide the dinner for our family after the funeral, it was greatly appreciated.

Love, Debbie Sexton

The following donations were

received by the church office:

To the Debt Reduction Fund

In memory of Walter McCall

by Peggy Sturgill

CHURCH WIDE WORK DAY We will be having a workday on Saturday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. We will be working on sprucing up and decluttering SS Classrooms, storage areas, garages, etc… We appreciate any amount of time you can work. A small breakfast will be provided. Sign up sheets are in each classroom.

Diana Ferrell Circle of Women on Mission The evening group of Women on Mission will meet-ing on Tuesday, March 8, at 6:45 p.m. in the Mission Ministry House. All ladies are invited to attend.

Will have their monthly meeting on

Tuesday, February 23, at 11 a.m.

(weather permitting) Bring a covered

dish and join us for a time of fellowship. For

more information contact Ralph Clere.

Alice Welch Music Scholarship

It is time NOW for graduating high school seniors or

college students to submit an application for the

Alice Welch Music Scholarship. Applications ae in

the Welcome Centers as well as at the Alice

Welch display in the back foyer to the right of the

sanctuary. Applications must be submitted to the

church office by March 31. Those who apply should

be members of Unity OR be actively involved in our

youth/Church activities.

Pastor’s Book Recommendation for March

Andy Stanley has a passion to shape the next

generation of church leaders in America. He seems

to come by that honestly as the son of Charles Stan-

ley, the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of

Atlanta, Georgia. But he is not content to ride on

his father’s coattails. The younger Stanley is the

lead pastor of North Point Community Church, the

founder of North Point Ministries, and prolific

author and sought after conference speaker. He is

one of the most influential voices in the North

American church right now on the subject of leader-

ship.

This month, I would like to recommend to you

Andy Stanley’s Next Generation Leader: Five Essen-

tials For Those Who Will Shape The Future. This

book is clear, concise, and applicable to many differ-

ent areas of leadership, inside and outside the

church.

The five essentials that Stanley addresses are

competence, courage, clarity, coaching, and charac-

ter. I found his insights on all five components help-

ful, but the chapters on coaching were some of my

favorite. Stanley points out something we instinc-

tively know from the world of athletics: you and I

can go farther and faster with someone coaching us

than we can on our own (104). He grounds this

principle in the bad example of King Rehoboam and

the wisdom of Proverbs (111). In Stanley’s view,

coaches are very similar to mentors, which are criti-

cal for leadership success.

I hope you will make an investment in yourself

this month by reading this book. It may take you

only a couple hours to read, but it may pay out divi-

dends for a lifetime.

Ladies Bible Study

The Ladies Bible Study group will resume on Thurs-

day, March 3, for their study of the Gospel of Luke in

the Missions Ministry House at 6:30. All ladies are

welcome.

Continued from page 1: Why Plant New Churches?

Haven’t we already reached everyone? Even after generations of evangelism and discipleship, the U.S. is the largest mission field in the Western hemisphere.4 Our country’s largest cities are filled with millions of lost people, and there are thousands of lost people in our Tri-state area, too. According to recent estimates, 40 percent of people in the Ashland area have no religious affiliation whatsoever, and only 15.7 percent of the people in the Ashland area attend church on a given Sun-day. That means that of the approximately 9,000 people who live within a 1-mile radius of our church property, 3,600 have no specific religious connection, and 7,600 do not attend church on a regular basis. It’s estimated that there are as many as 30,000 lost people in Boyd County alone. The North American Mission Board is encouraging Southern Baptists to pursue church planting as the best way to reach the lost through the Annie Armstrong Missions Emphasis and the SEND City Church Plant-ing Strategy. This year, we will all be encouraged to participate in mis-sions in North America by praying, giving, and even going. But this is nothing new for Unity. We have been participating in missions and planting churches for years.

1. Special thanks to Judi Little and her careful research on the history of Unity Baptist. 2. Ed Stezer, Planting Missional Churches (Nashville: B & H Academ-ic, 2006), 5. 3. Bruce Nichols, “Churches Die With Dignity,” Christianity Today (January 14, 1991), 69. 4. Stetzer, 13.

Hours: 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 a.m. Monday - Friday

Telephone: (606)324-7157

Fax: (606)324-6761

email: ubcashland@gmail.com

Web: www.unitybaptistashland.com

UNITY BAPTIST CHURCH Volume 16.3 MARCH 2016

2320 29TH ST.

ASHLAND, KY 41101

The Evangelist is published monthly by Unity Baptist Church, 2320 29th St., Ashland, KY 41101

POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Evangelist, (Unity Baptist Church) 2320 29th Street, Ashland, KY 41101

CHURCH OFFICE

We are in need of plastic eggs and candy for this

outreach. There will be containers in the front

vestibule and the back hallway to drop off your

donations.