By Richard Nations. Printed with permission by The Pathway.
When talking to Gregg Boll, there is a sense that being the leader of a diverse association of Baptist churches in the Kansas City metro is a daunting task. He stepped up to be the executive director of the Blue River-Kansas City Baptist Association (BRKC) last October after serving for 10 years as the associate director under the previous leader, Rodney Hammer. Boll is confident in the power of the gospel as he discusses the various ways the BRKC churches are reaching the population of Kansas City.
He and his wife of 42 years, Terri, are life-long Missourians. In fact, both were born in Kansas City. All of the churches he has served have been Missouri churches—churches in Joplin, Kansas City, Oregon and Crane. He often serves as an interim pastor. He is assisted with administrative matters in the association by Amy Cox.
Boll noted there are 124 churches affiliated with the BRKC, and it may be one of the most diverse associations in the state. Of those 124 churches, 19 are African-American churches; there are 6 Hispanic churches, 9 multi-ethnic churches and 7 other ethnic language churches (including Vietnamese, Korean, African, Cambodian, Haitian and Russian speaking churches). Boll’s heart is to see more churches planted, and BRKC prioritizes coming alongside church planters to support them in their work. Currently there are five church plants in the association, but Boll said more are needed.
He also has a burden for churches that are in decline. As a zone leader for the MBC’s Resound Network revitalization ministry, he leads a team that can lead a struggling church through a process of assessments and recommendations. Sometimes the recommendation is that the church needs to partner with another stronger church to reverse their decline. Boll has been humbled by the number of churches who are willing to make the unselfish decision to be adopted by another church to have the ability to reach their community. There have been 12 of these adoption/mergers in BRKC.
Another exciting development is that the three directors of missions in the Kansas City metro area have been meeting together to encourage one another, share ideas and plan joint events for their churches and pastors. Jerry Conner of the Kansas City (Kansas) Baptist Association, and Gary Mathes of Clay-Platte Baptist Association and Boll have been meeting for about a year now and have developed a strong bond and friendship.
Boll said one of their priorities in an urban area is to catalyze church planting, particularly among ethnic groups. The BRKC staff works closely with the North American Mission Board SEND Network as a SEND City. They also partner with the Missouri Baptist Multiplying Churches group.
One interesting thing they have accomplished is to repurpose a church building in the historic northeast part of the city, which now serves as a multi-ethnic church planting center. It was an empty Presbyterian church when NAMB, the MBC and BRKC Baptists went together to purchase it. A Hispanic church called Palabra Viva is based there under the leadership of Pastor Luis Mendoza.
The purpose of the multi-ethnic church planting center is to give immigrant churches a place to meet and grow their church until they are ready to launch out on their own. Several church plants have been launched from this facility. Boll said, “They incubate, hatch and then send” these church plants out from this location.
Collegiate ministry is another priority of BRKC’s ministry. Many have rightly observed that great awakenings usually begin among the young. Collegiate ministry is essential because there is not a more strategic time to challenge young people with the claims of the gospel than when they are at the crossroads of their life trying to determine which vocation to give their lives to. It is from this demographic that the church calls out her future leaders, pastors and missionaries. BRKC supports Collegiate Impact, a ministry led by Travis Hamm. He and his team have ministries on seven campuses and are praying for opportunities to have a ministry presence on every campus in the metro area.
In the inner city area east of downtown Kansas City, Andrew Huesing leads outreach efforts called “People Teams.” They reach immigrants and ethnic groups and connect them with churches and ministries. They reach out to young people, conduct sports camps and have interesting and fun activities to connect with people in need of the gospel.
In addition to this the association has ministries that reach out to those who have been caught up in human trafficking. About 9 years ago, Rodney Hammer realized this great need and had the vision to start a faith-based, long term restorative care ministry to women and minor girls rescued from sex-trafficking. He challenged the churches of BRKC to start this bold venture. With the collective effort of BRKC churches and several other partners, Rehope, formerly known as Restoration House, was started in 2015. Rehope reaches out to those caught in this web of human exploitation, and they give the victims a place to stay and get back on their feet, along with trauma-informed care and counseling. They have witnessed nearly 30 of their participants come to faith in Christ and be baptized by offering them spiritual counsel and the opportunity to attend BRKC local churches.
Boll said that cooperation and networking is the key to helping the pastors and churches accomplish their mission. “My mission is to help them accomplish their mission, period,” he added.
Asked what he is encouraged by, he said he is now seeing greater interest in evangelism and a confidence in the power of the gospel. He thinks “radical partnerships” and new networks of churches partnering together to accomplish a particular mission task such as church planting is the wave of the future for Baptist associations.
“I get to be a minister of introduction,” Boll said. He connects churches and leaders and ministries for gospel advancement. And almost every day he says, “I get to be a pastor to a pastor.” He added, “I feel blessed to do what I do. I think I have the confidence and trust of our pastors that they can call me to get honest answers, real help and hope.”
Monthly pastor huddles, a theology cohort and emotional wellness seminars three times a year are ways they try to stay connected and supportive.
So there is a lot going on in Kansas City and the Blue River-Kansas City Association is doing their best to connect the dots and be “ministers of introduction” to the pastors and churches they serve.
