12.23.11
Ridge Road Baptist Church Annual Letter 2011
Ridge Road Baptist Church Annual Letter 2011
To the Saints in Christ Jesus at Ridge Road Baptist Church,
Here we are again at the end of another year, with a fresh opportunity to muse over the Lord’s work among us over the past twelve months. The end of one year and the beginning of a new provides a natural opportunity to reflect upon the Lord’s mercies, rejoice over his goodness, and to generally take stock of where we’ve been, where we’re at, and where we’re going by His grace. With this in mind I humbly submit to you this brief record of the Lord’s work at Ridge Road over this past year, along with a look ahead to new mercies from the God that makes all things new (Rev 21:5).
Remembering
This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: 2 Peter 3:1
Fruitfulness
The year twenty-eleven marked the four-hundred year anniversary of our beloved King James Bible. In honor of the Monarch of the Books we hosted a King James Bible Conference at the outset of the year, which was greatly blessed of the Lord. As a result of this conference, either directly or indirectly, we saw a renewed confidence in the Bible, families added to the church, an outstanding response from the audio sermons posted online (including feedback from as far away as Albania!), and even some family members trading their new versions for the pure words of God. So meaningful was the impact of this meeting that another local church of like conviction reproduced the same conference in their church. If we can learn anything from this, let us remember that God blesses that four-hundred year old Book!
The Lord also blessed us to host Revival Meetings in August with Evangelist Earl Ankrom and in November with Evangelist Sam Gipp. The Summer Revival, in particular, is probably one of the best meetings we’ve ever had at Ridge Road. We’ve certainly never met anybody quite like Bro. Earl! A genuine sense of revival was evident throughout and we had scores of our people surrender themselves afresh to the Lord and “get in the plate” – LITERALLY! I hope that there are some among us that will never be the same as a result of these services. We also benefited from the wisdom and instruction of Pastor Ron Ralph in our Money Matters Conference in the fall. The Lord in His kindness also bestowed upon us a fine used church bus for which we’d long prayed.
Our young people experienced a great many blessings from the ministry of the word in twenty-eleven. We had three adults and five teenagers attend Teen Camp in Dandridge, Tennessee – nineteen messages in five days and the presence of God in a way we’ll not soon forget. The first outing on the new bus took our teens back to Tennessee for a “Back-to-School” Youth Rally with Pastor Jonathan Jouben and the Lakeview Baptist Church. We had our first-ever three-day Children’s Day Camp for our church kids where it was my pleasure to spend some quality time teaching and playing games with them. The Lord has richly blessed our church with some great children. Bro. Kyle took on the Kid’s Club ministry in the middle of the year and has done a great job imparting scripture truth to these children week by week. We also regraded our Sunday School to include classes for all children from Nursery to High School.
We held one semester of Bible Institute classes in twenty-eleven covering New Testament Survey and half of the Book of Genesis. From the Pulpit we completed Sunday School series on Spiritual Growth, the Will of God, and an Update on Israel. We preached sermon series on the Psalms of Degrees and the Power of the Cross. On Wednesday Nights we managed to work from Exodus 19-29. That’s a long time to spend on Sinai, perhaps we’ll make it to the Promised Land in twenty-twelve! To my delight (and more importantly to the Lord’s), twenty-eleven was a year of renewed discipleship for our church. We had seven individuals complete a 15-16 week course of Basic Discipleship: congratulations to Matt Hardy, Matt Kirk, Shannon Smith, Stefanie Smith, Rhonda Kirk, Ronny Pace, and Patty Pace. We had five people saved this year that continue in our church (three of these have completed discipleship). The Lord also blessed us to baptize five in twenty-eleven: Rhonda Kirk, Trevor Murphy, Ronny Pace, Patty Pace, and Matthew Hardy. Praise the Lord for His bounty.
Faithfulness
The course that we’ve charted some time back for evangelism at home and abroad is one that we’ve been faithful too, by God’s grace, during twenty-eleven. A summary of our local evangelism is as follows:
- Direct Mail Outreach: In January, in conjunction with our King James Bible Conference, we sent out around 2,600 Bible Translation Comparison Charts along with a note about the Bible issue and a gospel tract for those who are unsaved. We received but one response from this effort: Rhonda Kirk visited our church. This resulted in a chain reaction that has altered the Kirk/Pace families for eternity.
- Baseball/Softball Outreach: In March we conducted another Baseball Clinic in conjunction with the East Brewton Little League and the JDCC Baseball and Softball teams. We were able to preach to and send home literature with over a hundred local children, as well as the whole JD baseball and softball teams.
- Community Invite Outreach: We had 32 souls come out to participate in our annual door-to-door community invite outreach. We placed gospel bags and church invitations on around 700 doors in our community.
- Airport Outreach: We had 17 souls converge on the Brewton Municipal Airport for their annual “Fly-In”. With this man-power it wasn’t difficult to saturate the event with gospel tracts.
- Blueberry Festival Outreach: We distributed patriotic fans at the Blueberry Festival. Each fan was peppered with scripture on one side. This ended up being a great idea (special thanks to Ms. Laura), and we had folks seeking out our “Jesus Saves” clad gospel-soldiers so they could get a gospel fan.
- Apartment Outreach: We had thirty folks pitch in to conduct a one-day Backyard Bible Club at the Apartments on Williamson Street in East Brewton in July.
- Tract-n-Treat Outreach: Perhaps the outreach “highlight” of the year was our Halloween event on Belleville Avenue in Brewton. We had over forty souls participate in this effort distributing 1,000 tract/candy bags. The evening closed with a spontaneous street meeting complete with scripture signs, street-preaching, and hymn singing. It was great!
- Football Outreach: We had about 25 souls turn-out for our evangelistic efforts at the Neal-Miller game where we passed out several hundred tracts.
- Christmas Parade Outreach: We had around thirty folks come out for the annual Christmas Parade where we distributed about 1,600 gospel tracts to parade-goers.
Between these various events and the faithful “unscheduled” gospel efforts of our people we managed to get out somewhere around 10,000 tracts (pamphlets, fans, etc.) in twenty-eleven.
We have had a consistent presence on the street corner in Brewton on Friday afternoons throughout the year. The community expects to see us in our place at the intersection of 31/41 every Friday at 4:00pm. I run in to people all the time that comment on the street work and many who appreciate our being there. We’ve had an average participation of 13 people a week on the street over the course of the year. We saw many people participate in street ministry for the first time.
The Jail Ministry continues to be one of the most fruitful and blessed ministries of our church. The jail services have averaged 40 men per service throughout the year. We conducted two revival services and one “Cookie Outreach” in the Escambia County Detention Center. We saw 32 professions of faith over the year through this ministry. We distributed hundreds of discipleship lessons and passed out about 50 Large-print King James Bibles to men that “earned” those Bibles by the completion of a Bible Study on salvation.
The Road to Glory Radio Broadcast continued its fifth year on the air waves. This fifteen minute program broadcasts weekdays at 8:15am on WTJT 90.1FM and at 7:00am on WEBJ 1240AM. We’ve received some very encouraging feedback from the program this year and are grateful to be able to publish the word through this venue.
Within the past year we undertook a handful of worthwhile service projects. The Ladies Care Group conducted a Mother’s Day Banquet at the local nursing home that was a great success. We fed the Marvelous Grace Girls Academy breakfast on a Saturday followed by some work in and around the facilities there. A group of men made a work trip to Picayune, Mississippi where we helped the Heritage Baptist Church with the renovation of their new church building.
We also undertook a Dedication Card Ministry on behalf of the Victory Baptist Press within the year. We sent out over forty Dedication Card Racks to local churches across the country. In October alone the dedication cards generated over $1,000 for Bible printing. The Bibles printed through this ministry are sent, without charge, to mission fields around the world.
We’ve been privileged to make the acquaintance or re-acquaintance of a number of great missionaries over the course of the year. At the close of April we hosted our 3rd annual Faith Promise Missions Conference with Pastor Ron Ralph preaching. In that Conference our Faith Promise came in at $50,190 and we’re on schedule to keep that promise as a church. We took on five new missionaries during 2011, bringing the total number of missionaries/ministries which our church supports up to 32. They are listed as follows:
- __________ – Israel
- __________ – China
- Stephen Holt – Sierra Leone
- Mike Dobbins – Zambia
- Kenneth Murphy – Germany
- Rick Wiles – Ukraine
- Steve Schlechty – Scripture Signs
- Joshua Stokes – Spain
- John Byer – Alberta, Canada
- Buck Woodworth – Guyana
- Tyler Masters – North Africa
- ___________ – Cuba
- Jason Young – Australia
- ___________ – Vietnam
- Andy Hearn – Nepal
- Mike Fluech – South Africa
- John Pinnix – Alaska
- Dan Jalowiec – Zambia
- David Haveman – Tonga
- Chad Wells – Papua New Guinea
- Matthew Mooberry – Brazil
- ____________ – Israel
- Ray Boltz – Guyana
- Heith Fussner – Ethiopia
- Dana Vogelpohl – Scotland
- Israel Warren – Alaska
- Richard Linn – Prison Chaplain
- Earl Ankrom – America
- Phillip Gaddes – Australia
- Marvelous Grace Girls Academy
- European Missionary Press
- Victory Baptist Press
The evangelistic and missional emphasis of our church did not change in twenty-eleven, but it did press onward in great fashion, and for this we can rejoice.
Fullness and Fellowship
As I reflect over the Lord’s work from one year to the next I can often see a theme which He puts together, though it might elude us at the time. In 2010 it was prayer and soul-winning. In 2011 I would say it was the presence of God and the unity of our church. Within the year we experienced some of the sweetest worship services that I’ve ever been in; times where the Spirit of the Lord was so evident in the songs, the shouting, the testimonies, the preaching, and the tears that it seemed to transport us to place of glory and blessing hitherto unexplored within our church. These spiritual heights and the common conviction and mission we share also served to bind many of our hearts in Christian love at depths we’d not previously experienced.
Family
The Lord has truly forged us in to a church “family” in a way that’s rare in our day of selfish and individualistic church experiences. As with any family this serves to magnify the joys as well as the hurts. We experienced our share of trials over the past twelve months. Particularly, this year has been a year of sad farewells, both for our church family as well as our extended family. We’ve sorrowed, though not as others who have no hope, at the passing of Jim Simmons (Shirley’s father), Ida Mae Smith (Ginger’s mother), Francis Scott (beloved former church member), and most recently our dear friend and brother, James Bell whom we already miss dearly. In the face of such loss our hearts are encouraged by the blessed hope of a coming Saviour. We have seen the strain of sickness in our midst from cancer, to heart trouble, to gout, to burns. More difficult still, we regret that there are a few that chose to walk no more with us.
We’ve also experienced some transitions during the year. We’ve seen some minor transitions in our ministry leadership as we respond to the needs and direction of the church. We’re grateful to have Bro. Kyle to spearhead the children’s ministry, Bro. Steve taking charge of the Teen ministry, and Bro. Jason assuming responsibility of the treasury. We rejoice to send the Grandstaff family to labor in the pastorate of a local church on the other end of the county. The Lord’s reward has also visited several of our young families with precious, healthy babies. We welcome Jeremiah Cinereski, Samuel Daniel, Hannah Smith, Luke Smith, and Bailey Findley.
Of greatest spiritual consequence, we have seen and experienced some transformations during this year. We couldn’t begin to recount each of these, but I’ll call your attention to just two. We were parted briefly with Kiersten Hardy as she went to the care and ministry of Marvelous Grace for six months. We thank God for returning her to us within 2011, a very different young lady. Also worthy of mention, what began with a Bible Comparison pamphlet in January blossomed in to a most meaningful enlargement of our church family both spiritually and numerically. The Lord has done a miraculous work of grace in the lives of Matt and Rhonda Kirk this year, but it did not stop with them. Patty and Ronny Pace were both gloriously saved (with a transformation in Ronny’s head-covering to boot!). Both of these families officially united with our church this past year. Grant and Debbie Kirk have begun to attend regularly, and on top of all this Ashley Kirk was born again this past September. I can honestly say I’ve never seen it “on this wise” before! “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26). Praise be to His wonderful name.
Reaching
Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14
Edification
As we press on in to a new year as a church, the word of God will continue to be central to all that we do. We’ve got a number of meetings prepared for the coming year that will root us in the truth and provoke our zeal for Christian service and missions. In February we’ll be hosting a three-day Prophecy Conference taught by Pastor Tim Fellure. This should be a great “crash-course” on the Bible doctrine of end-times prophecy. Pastor Ron Ralph will be with us once again in our Faith Promise Missions Conference in May along with a very special group of missionaries. Evangelist Steven Blankenship and Pastor Travis Alltop will be preaching a week-long meeting for us in the Fall, and Missionary-Evangelist Jim Fellure is scheduled to preach our Homecoming services.
We’ll be doing our staple in-reach events again this year including our Pancake Supper, Camp Victory Family Outing, Wolf Log Campground Service, Labor Day Fish Fry, and Fall Fellowship. The Ladies Care Group has another round of meetings planned to minister and encourage. The teens and children have some great events to look forward to as well. In addition to these things we plan on launching a Seniors Ministry in twenty-twelve, and Lord willing, we’ll have a Father-Daughter Event and a Father-Son Campout in the Summer.
I’m looking forward to these special events, but I also know better than to live on one special occasion to the next. The pulpit will continue to be the heartbeat of our church ministry – Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Let us pray fervently that we might have exactly what the Lord desires for us from week to week as we gather together around the bread of life. I feel like the Lord has given me some definite direction for the coming year in the way of what to preach and teach. May Christ be honored and the saints edified each and every time we gather together.
Evangelization
We’ve just re-stocked our outreach literature for another year of public ministry and event evangelism. Over the last couple of years we’ve hammered out a schedule of Outreach Events that work. We’ll continue to meet the masses clad in our signature blue “Jesus Saves” shirts with a smile and the gospel in printed form. By the grace of God, from Brewton, Alabama to the uttermost parts of the earth we’re going to “occupy” until Christ comes by preaching the gospel to every creature… well, at least some of us will. I hope you’re in that number: giving through faith promise missions and going through our local outreaches. In the coming year our church will also be sending Roger and Jacob Grandstaff to Greece for two weeks as a part of “Project Thessalonica” organized by the BIBLE Baptist Church in Deland, Florida. Pray for this effort that will put a full year’s gospel presence “on the ground” in an important Biblical city that now has not one Gospel-preaching church.
If you didn’t win anybody to Jesus Christ in twenty-eleven you should re-double your effort in twenty-twelve. If you did win somebody, you already want to win somebody else. The work of the gospel is not for a professionally trained few, it is for every blood-washed child of God; purpose in your heart to do your part in the coming year.
Expectation
Twenty-twelve could be the year. I honestly hope the Lord comes back soon (like today). Let us look for that blessed hope in the coming days. And when He does appear, let him find us faithful – preaching the gospel, training our children, reading the Bible, encouraging one another, praying, giving, loving. Hitherto hath the Lord helped us, but seeing as his hand is not shortened we can expect greater help and blessing yet.
On a personal note: This past September marked our sixth year of service to the Lord here at Ridge Road. My family has now lived here longer than any where else. The majority of my married life has been spent in Brewton. My children know no other home. Trials and tribulations considered, these past six years of fatherhood, marriage, ministry, and growth, have been the most wonderful and blessed years of my sojourn upon this earth. This church is our family, and I thank God for you. The privilege that is mine to pastor Ridge Road Baptist Church is an honor for which I am not equal, nevertheless I savor it and rejoice in such a high calling. Thank you for having me. I love you and my heart longs after you. I’m looking forward to the new year as co-laborers together.
In Christ’s Service,
Bro. Lee Cadenhead
