Partners In The Mission: Churches Support CP 02/05/2008 a message from Dr. Bill Mackey, executive director It was a special privilege for me to present the Cooperative Program Distinguished Leadership Award to Rev. John R. Christian during worship at Trenton Baptist Church recently. Due to health problems he could not be present at the recent KBC Annual Meeting to receive the award there. Although he requires assistance in walking, Brother Christian is present for worship and Sunday school every Sunday. He served 61 years as a pastor (all in Kentucky except for eight years at the First Baptist Church of Goodlettsville, Tenn). Christian served as pastor of Second Baptist Church, Hopkinsville, for 16 years. During this time, he led his congregation to become one of the strongest churches in the KBC in Cooperative Program support. After “retirement”, he continued the tradition of strong CP support at Sinking Fork Baptist Church for 13 years. Trenton Baptist Church, which has about 230 resident members, has grown significantly since 2000. Worship attendance has grown by 62 percent, Sunday school attendance by 30 percent and giving by 61 percent. During the same time, CP giving has grown by more than 73 percent. The pastor, Dean Anderson, said that when the church started an 8:30 a.m. worship service, infrequent attendees became regular and new people started coming. On the Sunday I attended, the building was filled at the 8:30 a.m. service and was about half full at the second service. Ted Sharp, who is from a family of musicians, directed the music. He played the guitar to accompany new songs as well as traditional hymns. The choir and keyboard provided support and a young teen provided the special music. The church has 65 enrolled in WMU under director Georgie Smith and the church has all missions organizations. A group had just returned from a mission trip to Honduras, and the church youth are involved each summer in Kentucky Changers. The church members were obviously grateful for their pastor and his wife, Cindy, and the wonderful way God has used them. The pastor had baptized six people the previous Sunday. I also recently had the privilege to be with Central Grove Baptist Church in Albany for morning worship in their relatively new sanctuary and fellowship hall. They were grateful for the assistance of Carpenters for Christ in construction of the new facilities. Larry Jones and his wife, Rita, have provided leadership for about five years. Jones has a heart for missions and a passion to see the church grow in support of missions through the Cooperative Program. One of the privileges that I treasure is the opportunity to speak in churches all over Kentucky to discover with heart-felt gratitude to God for the way He is at work in all kinds of churches and places! Dr. Mackey's column appears weekly in the Western Recorder. To subscribe to the Western Recorder, call (502) 489-3535.