Southern Baptists Planning Northern Thrust

Have to admit, I'm a complete loss as to why the article talks about Missouri having some counties with no SBC churches, when the map accompanying the article is obviously solid red for the state, except in the southern part where Greene County (Springfield) is dominated by AOG churches, and one over by St. Louis that is heavily Catholic. Even those counties are orange on the map, indicating more than one a half percent concentration, and perhaps as much as just under 5%.

In checking with my Kansas-Nebraska association office, and the Missouri Baptist Convention, I discovered the article is in error. Both associations approved reallocation of funds so the Upper Midwest could be reached by NAMB. BP is usually better at getting the facts right, but failed this time.

 

I know of only one SBC in the Mpls/St. Paul area. Not saying there might be more, but I only know of one.

 

In Minnesota, right? Not Missouri? :laugh:

 

I was commenting on the OP's quote that a metro area of 238,000 people only had 6 SBC churches. Mpls./St. Paul is almost 3 million people.

Of the 444 counties in the United States with no Southern Baptist churches, according to Southern Baptists' Annual Church Profile (ACP) statistics from 2011, 60 percent are in the Upper Midwest states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas.

 

Well, regardless of who you were addressing, within 20 miles of downtown Minneapolis, the sbc.net website lists 19 churches.

http://sbc.net/churchsearch/selectzip.asp?frmMilesRadius=20&Submit2=Display&key=55401

Doesn't mean they are all still active, but that's what they list. But that's not much for 3 million people, you're right.

 

Looked at all of them. They have names like Slavic Baptist Church, Faith Vietnamese Baptist Church, Good News Hmong, Polish Baptist Church, Korean First, First Ukrianian, East St. Paul Hmong Baptist, Twin City Hmong Baptist, First Hmong of St. Paul, Cambodian Baptist Church. That's 10 of the 19 churches listed.

 

Yes, Missouri is as full of Baptist churches as is Kentucky. My son lives in Madison, WS, population well over 200,000, and their are six SBCs. There is a definite difference about half way up Illinois.

 

Just because they're dominated by Americans who heritage originates in other countries, or they are immigrants looking for a better life and better country in which to exercise their desires to worship, doesn't mean that good ole' American white people can't worship with them, does it?

 

Of course not. I live in the 'burbs which explains why I haven't heard of these churches.

 

Yep, we're very "protected" in the 'burbs, regardless of which city. Before I opened a private practice after getting my masters, I was senior counselor at an inner city treatment center. It wasn't safe to leave that place after dark unless you were armed -- which I was, as was most every other ex-military type who worked there. The clinical director harangued and whined and moaned about us having weapons on premise -- that is, until the executive director called her into his office and showed her his Sig Sauer P239. She never said another word. She did quit about four months later, though. Don't know if that was related or not.

Yet right down the street is a wonderful Korean SBC church that has over 2,000 members, does outreach to all the communities in the inner city area, regardless of creed, religion or color, and sends missionaries both out of the church itself and is one of the biggest supporters of SBC International Missions in the KC metro area.

And I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't worked at that treatment center all those years ago.