By Bob Larson - Assistant USA Director

In 1994 while he was on active duty with the US Navy, God called Scott Cornoyer to full-time Christian service. He had prayed for years for God’s direction in his life, thinking mainly of foreign missions, but all the while he had a growing burden for the United States. He eventually considered his home in Oregon as a possible place to plant a church. After 14 years in the Navy, he was discharged in 2004 and began to earnestly pray concerning where the Lord would want him to plant a new church.

God started giving Scott jobs in the Washington, DC, area and his burden grew for the Northeastern United States. He sought council from his pastor as his burden continued to grow for Maryland and for the Northeast. He told us a Scripture verse that spoke to his heart was Lam. 3:51, "Mine eye affecteth mine heart." One third of Americans (100 million souls) live in an area stretching from Washington, DC, to Maine. As he commuted to the DC area on a daily basis, he was seeing thousands of people and yet very few knew Christ. Scott told Reseeding America, "It was though God was saying, ‘look at these people, I want you to see them, their desperation, their anger, their frustration, the weight they carry, the wickedness of the area, the millions of lost souls right here.’"

During his time in the DC area, Scott’s pastor invited him to attend a meeting of Maryland pastors. This group of pastors had decided to finance planting churches locally and had committed themselves to getting men on the field within one year or less of starting their deputation. Through that meeting, the leadership of the Lord and the council of his pastor, Scott Cornoyer surrendered to start a church in the Washington DC area. As places to plant a church were discussed, the Columbia, MD, area was mentioned. This city is between Washington, DC, and Baltimore. Though Scott had never heard of it before, God spoke to his heart and was saying, "That’s where I want you." It was now settled in this church planters heart.

Scott and his family were sent out of Patuxent Baptist Church. They made application with BIMI. They finalized plans to attend the BIMI Candidate School in 2006 to become Associate (temporary church planting) missionaries with the BIMI "Reseeding America" program.

Scott said, "I had several important reasons for coming with BIMI. First of all, most Independent Fundamental Baptists know BIMI as a mission agency that assists the local church. I knew that we would be able to go out to plant this new church under the authority of our local church and our pastor and that BIMI would be there to assist us in this whole process. Secondly, the high standards of BIMI’s rigorous selection process would also provide me with credibility for those who didn’t know me, but knew BIMI. Another reason for making BIMI our mission agency was they have an unmatched knowledge base through their veteran missionary directors. I knew I could use the wisdom, understanding, and experience of the BIMI staff, in particular Dr. John Bailes, the USA director. That godly wisdom and experience alone is priceless."

Once their BIMI candidacy was completed, Scott and his family started looking for a church location. Prices for rentals were in the $6000 range for 1500 to 2000 square feet of space, so they kept looking. They prayed for rent that would be half the going price and yet have twice as much space. God provided that space on August 31, 2007.

The grand opening of High Point Independent Baptist Church was now only a month away. The building God had provided was two miles outside of Columbia in Elkridge, Maryland. It was a great location. The rent was in their price range and it provided them with 3800 square feet of space. The building management repaired thousands of dollars in problems they found and God gave them two months rent free! "…prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing…" Mal. 3:10

It was now time for literature development, printing, canvassing, and getting the building ready for the grand opening. Scott and his family, along with other volunteers, worked until 5:30 am of Grand Opening Sunday to get everything ready. His sending church helped by giving $8,000 for the remodeling of the facility and the purchase of many items needed for the start of the new church. Other local churches gave another $9,000 for literature and additional items. Scott and his family saved about $10,000 in personal funds as well. Then $3,000 came from different churches outside of Maryland, along with a $1,000 gift from BIMI’s Reseeding America church planting fund.

Scott noted, "We planned carefully with the aid of men of God who provided advice, expertise, and finances in planting High Point Independent Baptist Church. Many things came up that we could not have fathomed, but God knew each need and provided in every situation. Our Grand Opening was September 30, 2007, with 50 people in attendance! Dr. and Mrs. Bailes from BIMI were present, providing advice through the start up and help in canvassing. I tried to strike a balance between lease details, literature development, canvassing, and getting the building ready for the first Sunday."

He went on to mention, "I think one of the greatest experiences in starting this new church was to have all the help we received from other churches. What a tremendous blessing! We canvassed around 9,000 doors (27,000 people) in one month! It was far short of my goal, but God is good and gave us people to help us and we saw good growth. We held "Get Acquainted Meetings" the three Fridays prior to the Grand Opening and that gave us some workers for the Sunday morning and evening services."

Scott concluded, "Planting a church in this part of our nation is very costly and yet very rewarding. Our God has been so faithful. Our rent is $3,000 per month. It has now been four months since we started and our offerings went from $3,160 for the first month to $4,300 in January 2008. We have seen 21 souls saved and 12 baptized into the church. God is good!

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"We need a missionary church planter to come to Arizona!" It was an October afternoon and I was talking by phone with Pastor Neall Holmes from Sierra Vista, Arizona. This good pastor had picked up a copy of the BIMI World magazine that had just been published. He had decided to call BIMI for assistance. This particular issue that caught this pastor’s eye had a large portion of the magazine devoted to explaining what the BIMI "Reseeding America" church planting ministry was all about.

As we talked about the information in the magazine and the "Reseeding America" ministry, I shared with him how the BIMI "Reseeding America" ministry comes alongside local churches to assist them in the planting of new churches as well as assisting churches that are in decline.

It didn’t take long to realize I was talking to a church planter. Pastor Holmes had come to Sierra Vista, Arizona, six years ago to start Mountain Vista Baptist Church. God has blessed over the past six years but during the planting of the church in Sierra Vista, the need for a church at Douglas, Arizona, became evident. Douglas, Arizona, is 56 miles southeast of Sierra Vista. It sits on the boarder of the United States and Mexico. It is a town with a population of some 20,000 people. It has a growing population because of the Federal Boarder Patrol jobs that are readily available in the area. People also find work at the local prison in the area and construction jobs can also be found.

Feeling led of the Lord to plant a new church in Douglas, AZ, pastor Holmes and his congregation took the necessary steps to start a new work in that border town. This new church is now meeting in a rented church building and is waiting for the Lord to send them a missionary church planter. Pastor Holmes sends a man each week from his church to teach and preach for this baby church. The new congregation in Douglas has a vision to see a strong church started in their area. They are seeing visitors coming to their services and they carry out evangelization of the area on a regular basis. Across the boarder from Douglas is the city of Agua Prieta, Mexico, where there are close to one hundred thousand people. The new church in Douglas, which is English speaking, is looking and praying for a church planter with Spanish language abilities to come and lead this group. (The opportunities to minister across the border are tremendous.) Would you pray with us about this need?

Please call us at Reseeding America at 423- 344-5050 if you or someone you know is praying about planting a church. Pastor Holmes can also be contacted at 520-803-7190 or 520-266-2764.

We know of several other struggling churches or new church starts that need pastors. If you would like more information, please contact us at Baptist International Missions at 423-344-5050.

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Maranatha Baptist Church, Jacksonville, NC, and Grace Baptist Church, Louisburg, NC, team up with Reseeding America to reach 8000 homes.

It is a wonderful thing when God’s People have a burden to reach a city with the Gospel. Pastor Chuck Lindley and the congregation at Maranatha Baptist Church in Jacksonville, NC, had prepared for weeks to distribute 8000 Romans booklets and information around their church. What a blessing when Pastor Wes Bailey brought his church from Louisburg, NC, to help in the effort.

There were 15 first time-visitors on the Sunday morning after this distribution. Thank the Lord for three people making salvation decisions during this distribution.

If your church would like to have a Scripture distribution or if your congregation could travel and help us with this type of project, please call us at "Reseeding America."

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Reseeding America was honored to assist First Baptist Church of Ocoee, Florida, and Pastor Kevin Courtney (mother church) and church planter Adam Pierce in the starting of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Afton, Iowa. Grand Opening services were held on Sunday, July 15, 2007. Afton is in south central Iowa and the closest Independent Baptist Church is eighty-five miles away.

Brother Pierce was able to secure a School Auditorium to rent for Sunday and Wednesday services. They also have access to as many classrooms as needed. Thousands of Romans booklets (provided by Reseeding America) were distributed in door hanger bags, along with information about the new church. Two middle-aged men were led to the Lord during the distribution of literature and both men were in services on Grand Opening Sunday.

The new church held a "Vision Breakfast" prior to the first Sunday morning service and those that attended received a beautiful packet of information concerning the ministry the church would like to have in Afton. Over thirty-five people were there for the first Sunday morning service and many were back for the first Sunday evening service.

Adam Pierce surrendered to church planting in the United States after Assistant USA Director Bob Larson preached on the need for church planting in America in 2006 at First Baptist Church, in Ocoee (where Adam was on staff). It is interesting to note that First Baptist Church of Ocoee is not a large church but the church has realized that they could (with God’s help) plant a church in Iowa. Members from the church in Florida are enjoying making trips up to Afton to assist in the ministry of this new church.

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Wednesday, February 8, 2012

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Scot C & Katie Daku -  AMERICAN SAMOA
Paul J & Wendy Daku Jr -  FIJI ISLANDS
James & Dawn Daley -  INDONESIA