The theme of the 2024 Certainty Conference was Church History and our Baptist heritage. One of its main points was “ministry runs on the rails of relationships”! LFBI’s Baptist History class is currently in session and rings the same bell. The topics and themes of the conference and class merged together with memories and principles from my own Christian journey in preparation for speaking at the 2024 Decatur Baptist Women’s Conference! The theme of the conference was “Rooted” based on Colossians 2:6-7. It was a joy to fellowship with the sweet ladies in Alabama through our common “roots” in Christ and to tell them about our shared heritage of biblical discipleship that was sowed almost 40 years ago.
Back in November of 1987, Pastor Rex and a small singles group from Decatur Baptist Church visited Kansas City Baptist Temple to check out its new ministry called Biblical Discipleship! At that time “discipleship” was not a common ministry or term used much in Christian circles. This ministry had started at KCBT in the early ’80’s by the singles & young adults pastor, taking a small group from his class through a set of basic Bible principles and “living life with them”, helping them grow spiritually, much like parenting. It wasn’t a program or merely a set of lessons, but a lifestyle of growing in a personal relationship with Christ and helping others do the same (2Ti 2:2). Discipleship became a way of life for the class.
From that initial KCBT group, as those involved began doing the same through “one-on-one” discipleship, God began initiating new ministries through growing leaders as the Discipleship Ministry (with a biblical philosophy and distinct goals) developed. At first, growth was slow, but gradually picked up and eventually became explosive! A Counseling Ministry, along with many other ministries, sprang up at KCBT (i.e., nursing home, little league, gospel in stars, athletics, street preaching and evangelism, retreats, Shepherd’s School, etc.). A spiritual movement was picking up momentum!
One of the ladies from that initial discipleship small group at KCBT led me to the Lord at work in early 1984. (It took almost another year for God to work out the difficult circumstances of my life, but eventually I, too, had opportunity to grow through the discipleship process and experience its radical transformation!) In late ’84, KCBT’s missionary to El Salvador returned to become KCBT’s Senior Pastor. In the mid-‘80’s, the original lessons were further developed into 16 lessons (co-authored by Greg Axe). An amazing spiritual movement was taking off at KCBT. Around the same time, a young pastor, Alan Shelby, joined KCBT and eventually started the College and Career class. Looking back, it’s obvious there was a spiritual wave or movement of God sweeping across KCBT! By late ‘87, word of this dynamic multiplication ministry had reached Pastor Rex at Decatur Baptist. They were the first church that wanted to see “the works” more closely to better understand what was going on. They were looking for ways to get their singles ministry started. (Don’t forget, there was no internet, mobile phones, or social media at this time.) Along with Pastor Rex, the Decatur group included young Jeff Bartell, Debbie Hawkins (McKaig), Terri Gilliam, Brian Oaks, and Diane Duke. I had the privilege of hosting Debbie and Diane at my place, as the whole group spent time learning more about discipleship.
They returned to Decatur with all the keys to a biblical Discipleship Ministry — its vision, philosophy, and 16 lessons. They began doing the same in their Singles Class. Several years later, Decatur’s Senior Pastor Doug Ripley invited a team of about twenty of us from KCBT to visit and overview the ministry to their whole church! I had the privilege of being on that team! By that time, KCBT had already begun sending Discipleship teams all over the world, sharing this new discipleship ministry and philosophy. Well over 300 churches were visited and given the philosophy and lessons over a 10-12 year period! It was like a wave of God allowed us to “touch the sun”!
Two churches really caught hold of the movement’s vision and ministry! They not only ran with it, but made it their own, and saw God create some of the same multiplication growth in their churches. Those two churches were Decatur Baptist of Decatur, AL and First Baptist of New Philadelphia, OH! It was in the early ’90’s that Pastor Mark Trotter heard about KCBT’s explosive new ministry and asked for a KCBT team to visit. Thirty of us had opportunity to take Discipleship to New Philly. From there, like with Decatur, D2 and leadership classes followed.
A common term in church history is “Man, Movement, Machine, Monument”. Church History, in the simplest terms, is nothing more than God moving, then the Devil counteracting. Another way to put it is flawed man being moved by a miraculous, perfect Creator to forward His agenda and will through time; and the devil trying to stop it. Unfortunately, this first wave of discipleship that began in the early ’80’s, as magnificent and mind-blowing as it was, ended sooner than hoped. Sin, division, and demonic attack set in to destroy all God was trying to do.
However, God always has a remnant, and from those same beginnings the torch was passed and a new movement began! By God’s grace, one of the last church plants of KCBT was Midtown Baptist Temple. Pastor Sam Miles had a fresh vision from God for PRAYER, unity, discipleship, building leaders, and planting churches! Others from the original movement continued carrying the torch, growing and holding on to God’s vision through multiplication. Eventually, the Living Faith Fellowship developed with Pastors Miles, Shelby, Trotter, Bartell, McKaig, and Axe. Two churches turned into four, four to eight, as a new movement of God picked up speed!
Now, years after that first movement, God has allowed me the opportunity to visit Decatur Baptist again and speak at their Women’s “Rooted” Conference! What a blessing it was to go back to one of the very first churches that incorporated a biblical discipleship ministry from KCBT’s example! I visited with old connections and made many new ones! It was amazing to see how God had grown Decatur Baptist since my first visit in the early ’90’s! Similar to MBT, discipleship has created generations of spiritual families and bonds! Numerous missionaries have been sent out all over the world from DBC! Through our shared bond in Christ, I felt very much at home and made many new close connections and friends!
Julie Ball and Kelsee Godbee picked me up at the airport. We shared testimonies and I learned they had been discipled some 15 years apart, both by Debbie McKaig! Their spiritual transformations and love for discipleship was inspiring! From there, I met my host family, Stephanie and Ernest Roybal, and heard about their discipleship journey and transformations! Stephanie is by far the greatest hostess I’ve ever met! She genuinely cared for my needs and took great care of me throughout my stay. She invited a number of ladies over for dinner Friday: Brie, Becky, Cheryl, Paula, and Gina. We had a wonderful time of fellowship as they shared their lives and discipleship journey with me over a scrumptious dinner! God brought true connections with some of these ladies! Some even expressed interest in going through an Emotional Victory group!
On Saturday morning, the conference began with a huge breakfast that was cooked and served by DBC’s men. The first session started with fabulous, very moving praise music! We had two teaching sessions where we went over returning to our First Love and growing through the 7 stages of spiritual growth by comparing our spiritual growth to that of a tree — with healthy “roots” being the central theme. I met and connected with tons of ladies from DBC and from Oakland Heights as well! That evening included another good dinner and “fire side” chats and special connections with Julie, Kristi, Terri, Anita, and Linda, to name a few. At that time, I learned from Julie Ball and Kristi Hill that they had been praying about inviting me to come out to do the ladies conference since they heard the LFBI Postscript podcast introducing the book, Emotional Victory, several years ago!
Sunday morning was spent sharing with the Single Ladies Fellowship. It, too, was an encouraging time and a number of them expressed interest in visiting MBT for the “Being Single with Joy and Purity” conference-workshop in February! (Kelly claimed she was bringing a bus load!) Sunday School was followed by a great worship service and message from Pastor Joe. Got to have lunch with Debbie and Terri, who were part of the original group from Decatur that visited KCBT! I also spent lots of time catching up with Diane, who was a part of the original group!
Having had the glorious opportunity to see both these “movements of God” up close and personal, some have asked me if I noticed any differences between ‘80’s-‘90’s vs. now. I have to say YES! The three greatest differences between these two giant waves or movements of God were number one: the second movement has “clean” leadership. That’s all I have to say about that difference, if you were a part of the first you know what I’m talking about. Again, I didn’t say perfect, I said clean. The second difference between the two movements is UNITY. I think that is one of Pastor Sam’s constant themes at MBT (and it’s one of our nine foundational ministry principles). I’ve never seen such great unity lived out as I have at MBT! I didn’t say no “tiffs” but can say they all end with unity!
The third difference is organized corporate prayer. Prayer is the engine that drives our ministry and fruitfulness, because we must depend on God to do what only He can do. That’s it, just three; at least, from my point of view. They both had an absolute authority of the word of God, vision, family atmosphere, love, joy, discipleship, and growth, but those are the three most obvious differences to me.
Finally, having just come out of a pretty serious cancer journey and being somewhat isolated for months, this trip was even more special for me and my relationship with the Lord! “Rooted” was such a perfect name and theme for the conference too! Not only did we talk about having a healthy root system in Christ, but the trip showed me how our churches’ roots are so intertwined and bonded together! Bottom line: I love Decatur Baptist Church! Yes, of course, I love my church Midtown Baptist Temple, too! Through this trip, God showed me how connected our Living Faith Fellowship churches are! Ministry runs on the rails of relationships. Our personal church history matters. I encourage you to take time out of your busy schedules to visit some of our sister churches of Living Faith Fellowship! Incidentally, the Discipleship Conference is on the horizon. Sign up today!
Deb Molder serves faithfully at Midtown Baptist Temple in Kansas City, MO and is the author of Emotional Victory.