The annual fall conference of the Ohio Association of Regular Baptist Churches (OARBC) was held October 21-23, 2024 at the Grace Baptist Church in Canton, Ohio. The theme of the conference, “A Call to Courage,” challenged conference attendees to pursue personal discipleship with courage and challenged churches to take the leap of faith in courageously planting a church. Dr. Claire Jewell, GARBC National Representative and Dr. Jeffrey Halsted, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, Michigan were the keynote speakers for the conference.
Mark Barrios, Associate Pastor in Music at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Smithville, led in worship at each session. He brought together musicians from the Akron-Canton area churches masterfully blending meaningful worship for each session.
While the men were in a seminar with Claire Jewell on Monday afternoon, the ladies enjoyed an afternoon session of fellowship and teaching with Robin Halsted. Hosted by the staff and pastors’ wives of Grace, it was a good time to get acquainted with fun mixer games and delicious snacks.
With the recent addition of a new worship center, foyer, offices, and youth room, Grace was ideal for hosting the conference. A Welcome/Well Done Dinner was held Monday evening at the church to honor new pastors and wives and pastors who had retired in the past year. Regular Baptist Ministries sponsored a Chick-fil-a box lunch meal on Tuesday noon. Baptist Church Planters, Grafton, Ohio hosted a dessert reception after the Tuesday evening service. Wednesday morning the three Ohio camps—Camp Patmos, Skyview Ranch and Scioto Hills Camps—sponsored a breakfast and gave updates on what God is doing in camp ministry.
The Greater Canton area offers many tourist attractions. The church arranged a Tuesday afternoon tour of the First Ladies Museum and a post-conference opportunity to visit the NFL Hall of Fame.
“God certainly blessed our 2024 OARBC Conference with great worship in music and preaching and opportunities for fellowship. Senior Pastor Dave Ryan and associates Ken Floyd and Matt Hutchens along with church secretary Linda Mulleneax and the entire church family hosted exceptionally well. They recruited other pastors and churches from the area to share in the blessing. It was truly a great conference,” says Chuck Pausley, OARBC State Representative.
Videos of the main sessions are available here.
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