LOUISVILLE—The Kentucky Baptist Convention expanded its roster of High Impact churches recently with the approval of two church plants in the eastern part of the state.
Hillside Community Church in Catlettsburg and New Heights in Pineville were granted High Impact status earlier this month.
The addition of the new congregations increases the number of church plants in the initiative to 13. According to Larry Baker, KBC’s director of new work and associational missions, that is one shy of the goal set for the first three years of the plan, which was instituted as part of Kentucky Baptists Connect in 2003.
Baker mentioned that the High Impact plan is gaining momentum and “we’ve got several on the plate right now.” He added that the High Impact church initiative remains on target to meet the five-year goal of 25 such churches and noted that the goal of beginning five High Impact congregations in eastern Kentucky has already been met.
Hillside Community Church is being led by Tim Holmes who most recently served as associate pastor of education at Hillvue Heights Baptist Church in Bowling Green, which is Hillside’s sponsoring church. While the congregation may call Catlettsburg and the Ashland area home, Holmes insisted that it is not targeting a region.
“When we say ‘target,’ we’re not speaking geographically or of age,” he explained, “we’re speaking of condition. Our target group is the unchurched or dechurched and that means anywhere.”
by Drew Nichter, Western Recorder news director. Posted by permission. |