June 30, 2023

By Aaron Weaver

ATLANTA — Memphis pastor Kat Kimmel urged Cooperative Baptists to “provoke one another to love and good deeds” during the closing worship and commissioning service of the 2023 CBF General Assembly.

Preaching from Hebrews 10:19-25, Rev. Dr. Kimmel noted that scholars do not know who wrote Hebrews or to whom they wrote or when it was written.

“What we do know is why,” said Kimmel, who serves as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Memphis, Tenn. “This congregation is tired, some have fallen away from church. Others aren’t sure why they’ve stayed. So, this preacher has come to encourage and remind them of their purpose. She’s come to provoke them. More literally, the preacher has come to tell them to provoke one another.”

“She charges her congregation to break the habit of not meeting together, and it occurs to me I’m rarely provoked when I’m alone,” Kimmel continued. “It’s in community that I learn and grow, with others that I’m stretched and challenged. It’s by community that I’m embraced and frustrated and known and pushed and loved. It’s by others that I’m provoked, and it’s in life together that I’m encouraged.”

“This preacher is talking about holy provoking,” she said. “’Provoke one another to love and good deeds,’ and this is how you do it. Break the habit of not coming together and make a habit of encouraging each other. Yes, this preacher tells us provoking and encouraging go together.”

Kimmel said this is a sermon for the moment we find ourselves in.

“I know we have some tired people here and even more tired people who’ve stayed at home or left early, not just from Assembly but from gathering all together,” she observed. “I know we have some tired people who’ve been provoked by pot-stirrers and worn out by all they’re told to believe. I know we’ve got some tired people among us who’ve forgotten why all this matters. We need some holy provoking.”

The preacher in Hebrews has come to remind us now is not the time to give up, said Kimmel.

“It’s time to encourage one another. Because right now, too many of us are being provoked by 24-hour news cycles, but not talking to each other. Too many of us are being provoked by social media reels, but not encouraging one another. Because there are enough things that are tearing us apart and creating divisions among us, and too many of us are making a habit of not meeting together.”

“Don’t give up,” Kimmel said. “Get a little pesky. Show up often enough to be pestered…. Just get in the door because it’s in our coming together that we learn to love and in love that we are revived….When we finally admit we can’t do it all on our own, figure it out all alone, we’ll find we aren’t supposed to. We can enjoy rest with others and we might experience some healing together. We might even grab onto some fresh hope because we need each other.”

“When we provoke one another enough that we really learn what love is, and when we show up for each other we find the ground we’re standing on is really holy, that we are no longer just ourselves, but we are bonded together by a love that never runs out, bonded together in a body greater than any one of us alone,” Kimmel said.

“Some of the most life-giving, most nourishing moments come because someone showed up and provoked us to love,” she added. “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another for this, provoking one another to love, is one holy ambition. May it be embodied in us.”

Commissioning of Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors

Twenty-nine CBF chaplains and pastoral counselors endorsed over the past year were commissioned Friday night as CBF also celebrated the 25^th anniversary of CBF Chaplaincy & Pastoral Counseling.

“Twenty-five years ago, in January 1998, CBF endorsed its first ever cohort of chaplains and pastoral counselors,” said Renee Owen, endorser and director of CBF chaplaincy and pastoral counseling. “Years priors, men and women serving as chaplains and pastoral counselors, along with their advocates, expressed the holy ambition for CBF to become a religious endorsing body.”

Owen noted that since 1998 CBF has endorsed nearly 1,200 chaplains and pastoral counselors, with 876 actively serving today.

“To enter into another’s journey is a holy and ambitious thing,” Owen said. “Daily, our CBF-endorsed chaplains and pastoral counselors enter specialized settings of ministry where they companion with people who are hurting, frightened, grieving and searching for God’s presence amid moments of crisis, trauma, loss and at times celebration….Serving as an extension of our local CBF congregations and communities, our chaplains and pastoral counselors welcome all persons into fellowship, meeting them where they are in their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual journey, embodying the steadfast love of God and the unwavering hope of Christ.”

Watch a video celebrating the 25th anniversary of CBF Chaplaincy and Pastoral Counseling Ministries below:

Commissioning of Field Personnel

Five new Global Missions field personnel were commissioned to serve in Cyprus as well as Ahoskie and Durham, N.C. Jana Lee was commissioned as a career CBF field personnel work closely with a local entity, addressing the health needs of refugees in Larnaca, Cyprus. She will serve as part of CBF Global Missions’ Africa/Middle East Team. Stella Perrin will serve as a career CBF field personnel, working as a mental health educator and joining CBF Global Missions’ Europe Team.

Beverly Baker, William Baker and Delores Stimpson are commissioned to serve through the Global Service Corps (GSC) program, a two-year commitment that provides an opportunity for graduates and post-career individuals to work alongside CBF field personnel. The Bakers are currently serving alongside CBF field personnel Anna Anderson in Ahoskie, N.C., and Stimpson is ministering alongside CBF field personnel Kim and Marc Wyatt in Durham, N.C.

CBF Global Missions Coordinator Laura Ayala said these new field personnel have “opened their hearts to pursue God’s purpose and willing to be salt and light.”

“A lot of praying, training and discernment have been part of the preparation,” Ayala shared. “The body of Christ rejoices with us. Your prayer partners rejoice with you, but also your co-servants—our field personnel—stand with you. God smiles when women and men say publicly, ‘yes, here I am Lord.’”

Javier Perez, director of Global Missions strategy and programs, offered the charge to the new field personnel.

“This is your Fellowship,” said Perez. “They will pray for you. They will support you. They are the people of God who believe in the mission of God. They commission you to bear witness to Jesus Christ by cultivating beloved community and seeking transformational development to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Ellen Sechrest, director of Global Missions church engagement, offered a prayer of blessing for the new field personnel.

The 2023 General Assembly concluded Friday early evening with a time around the table as Cooperative Baptists gathered to take the Lord’s Supper.

Find news, photos and videos from the 2023 CBF General Assembly at http://www.cbf.net/assembly2023

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CBF is a Christian network that helps people put their faith to practice through ministry eff­orts, global missions and a broad community of support. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.