American Baptist Churches of Pennsylvania and Delaware

ABCOPAD Life! Blog

Another ABCOPAD Grant

Thanks to a generous grant from ABCOPAD, Lower Providence Baptist Church was able to purchase an AED. On Sunday 3/26, 13 members of the congregation took part in a training/certification class. Lord willing, what we learned will never be needed.

Categories: Ministries, General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/27/2023
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Feeding The Multitudes

 

SW GPS Rev. Cristy Wise volunteered with Pastor Jim Carpenter of WWJD at the community food bank for Waynesburg. Over 100 cars drive through for boxes of food each month. Pastor Cristy reports: "Always a privilege to serve with people from other churches and companies of the Waynesburg community. Either Pastor Jim or I open in prayer. To us it’s more than just feeding Gods people physically with food. It’s all about each car represents people God needs us to show love being Jesus with skin on. May God be praised."
Categories: Ministries, General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/3/2023
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A Key Interval

 

Interim Pastor Roy Keys (and his wife Marilyn) is nearing the completion of his ministry at Jefferson Baptist Church. The congregation has recently called its next pastor.
Clearly, God's hand has been at work during this "in-between" time. ABCOPAD has been blessed with the ministry of many interim pastors who have guided and supported congregations through these critical periods of transition. Thank you, Pastor Roy!
Categories: Ministries, General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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A Good Read

 

Well, in this case: A good Reed! Rev. Dr. Mac Reed is relatively new to the congregation at the Great Bethel Baptist Church of Uniontown ... and from the smiles found among the folk, they're quite pleased with their new pastor. Welcom, Pastor Mac!

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Victorious!

 

Four sister ABCOPAD churches have recently gathered for a weekend retreat at Camp Ichthus.: FBC Lansdale, FBC Bethlehem, Royersford Baptist Church, and Calvary Baptist Newark have been getting together for regional youth events for several years. This weekend we are studying the Book of Colossians and focusing on the theme “Victorious”- How Jesus’ victory over sin empowers us to live victoriously! Pray for the students to continue to connect with Jesus and with one another. It’s always great to worship and join together with friends within the region!

Categories: Ministries, General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Adventure Awaits!

 

Pastors Eric Kraihanzel (FBC Lansdale), CG Coats (FBC Norristown) and Kelly Legg (West Shore, Camp Hill) gathered at Mission BBQ to celebrate Rev. Doug Stratton's ministry upon his retirement from FBC Hatboro. For everything there is a season... Let this be your time to embrace new things!

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Fresh Expressions Disney-Style

 

ABCOPAD Southeast GPS Dan McDowell met in Orlando with a dozen pastors who are learning from the tremendous example set by a Fresh Expression of congregational life known as Disney World Cast Member Church. Most of the participants in this church are from other nations, working for a year at EPCOT (the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow). Very few of them attended church before joining the Cast Member congregation. This ministry is changing lives! Pastor Dan writes: :"I look forward to applying the principles demonstrated here in other places!"

Categories: General ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Young-ish

 

It was the first gathering of one of our newly formed younger pastors’ groups. Pastor Evan Duncan (West Chester) hosted a group that included Pastor Rob Rice (GPS North CentraL), Pastor CG Coates (Norristown), and Pastor Christine Lewis, who lives in Delaware and is working on finishing her seminary studies. It was a great day of getting to know one another and discussing a wide variety of topics.
Throughout this year, there will be several more events happening, some local, some via Zoom, and some region wide, so if you’re a younger pastor (45ish and under) we’d love to connect with you and tell you more about what we’re doing. If you’re a little more seasoned in ministry, please pray for us and how God is going to use this new thing in our region.
Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Hello, Pastor Jeff

 

Meet Pastor Jeff Shanaberger. He is the new Interim Pastor at the Colonial Park Baptist Church in Harrisburg. Pastor Jeff has served in numerous congregations throughout his ministry and while semi-retired still loves serving the Lord and providing pastoral care to congregations.

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Vision Team 2/23

 

The ABCOPAD Vision Team recently met in Bedford, PA with our newly hired consultant, Brian Dunks of Vanderbloemen. The team walked through their journey and great work in 2022 and Brian asked pointed discussion questions to discover the best way to get us to where we want to be, and more importantly, where we need to be to be in order to be successful with our staffing and vision for the future of ABCOPAD. We discussed what is going well and what needs improved and a common theme in all areas of discussion were connection, relationships, and partnerships. It was encouraging and helpful to break things down and have open discussion with these key leaders.

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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WUM

 

Recently a number of ABCOPAD leaders gathered at the Waynesburg University Ministerium leadership dinner hosted by Chaplain Josh Sumpter. Biblical Ministry students were in attendance as well as church leaders from Waynesburg area, Washington and beyond. Pastor Kent Chavelier, the Pittsburgh Steelers chaplain, brought a powerful and thought provoking message. It was great to see former students and many Baptist Churches represented: SW GPS Cristy Wise; WWJD,Pastor Cathie Carpenter; FBC Waynesburg, Pastor Ed Pierce; Jonathan Johnson; and our RMA Mandi Restanio, FBC Jefferson, Pastor Roy Keys, and he brought their newly called pastor Rev. Kevin Roberts. It was great to see so many FBChurches represented at this ecumenical event.
Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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Valentine Tree

 

Check out the Valentine Tree at Calvary Baptist Church of Williamsport. At a recent worship service, Rev. Howard Woodruff did a great job not only talking about the importance of Christian Love but also tied in a Super Bowl Theme focusing on Team Work in the Body of Christ.

Categories: General, Region Life ~ Date: 3/1/2023
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