First-person: The Cooperative Program works

GBC

Callen Hunter, third from left, shown with her family, was recently baptized at River’s Edge Baptist Church. The Hunter family are actively involved members of the church.

From my earliest memories, giving in church has been a joy and not a burden. I grew up in a Southern Baptist church, was educated in Southern Baptist universities and seminaries, and have been the pastor of SBC churches for 30 years.

In these life seasons, I have had the opportunity to not only give cooperatively, but receive the benefits of cooperation. As a college student, Baptist scholarships were made available to me. Two-thirds of my seminary education was supplied through the Cooperative Program, and just six years ago, the Cooperative Program made a vision from the Lord a reality by supplying funds for the beginning of River’s Edge Church in Suwanee.

River’s Edge began as a vision which the Lord gave my wife Julie and me. We knew there were 98,000 unchurched persons around us and God challenged us both to reach and lead them to Christ. Gwinnett Metro Association stepped up to help in financial support as well as the Church Planting Ministries of the GBC.

I had been a church pastor for 24 years when we began River’s Edge in the clubhouse of a subdivision in Forsyth County. I had a lot to learn about beginning a new congregation and the training I received through the Basic Training Journey for new church planters truly made a difference as well as the Church Planting Network I was involved in. Both of these opportunities are also supported through Cooperative Program funds.

God has moved us from a clubhouse, to a convenience store, to a new warehouse, and finally in August of 2009 to a beautiful building of our own on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard. Only God could do that! But even greater than the advancement to a beautiful property is the way the Lord has worked through the lives our people.

Sundra Paul

Stephen Wood, pastor of River’s Edge Baptist Church in Suwanee, was able to see the vision the Lord gave him for starting this church plant thanks to the Cooperative Program and Church Planting Ministries of the GBC. Here he is pictured with his son Jonathan, left, wife Julie, and daughter Hannah.

The Callender family became a part of River’s Edge in 2006 when the church moved into the completed warehouse building in Suwanee. Little did we know the vast reasons the Lord had orchestrated our move from a convenience store to this great new location.

We immediately thought it was because we needed more space to do ministry, but it was also for this fine family who had not had a church home since their move from Mississippi to Georgia. It didn’t take long to recognize that God had been preparing the Callenders for our arrival and He had been preparing us to bring them into the family.

From our first Sunday in the new building, the Callender family began attending. They had already done so much to help us get over the hurdles to occupy their facility. Soon they became regular attenders and then members of the congregation.

The greatest event happened just three months into our move when little Callen Hunter, the Callender’s only grandchild, gave her heart to Christ and was baptized. In a short time, the whole family became involved in the service of Jesus Christ at River’s Edge and they have remained loving, faithful members.

This is what River’s Edge was founded for and this is what the Cooperative Program is about. The Cooperative Program works! When we commit ourselves to serve together the Lord is glorified in changed lives and people added to His Kingdom.

If you’ve ever wondered how the Cooperative Program functions to make a difference for the Kingdom of God, consider

that every Southern Baptist scholarship given, seminary education supplied, missionary sent, and new church planted can trace its roots back to a group of evangelical churches who saw

that working together in the name of Jesus Christ could advance the cause of Christ supernaturally and exponentially!

The Cooperative Program works … that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

GBC

River’s Edge Baptist Church, a church plant in Suwanee, began in a neighborhood clubhouse, then moved to a convenience store, a new warehouse, and finally in August 2009 to this building on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

Thank you for sending your gifts to: Dr. J. Robert White, Executive Director Georgia Baptist Convention 6405 Sugarloaf Parkway | Duluth, GA 30097 www.gabaptist.org