By Scott Lackey
Pastor of New Story Church in Buffalo, New York
On May 14, 2022, a racially motivated mass shooting took place at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. On this day, a white male drove over two hours to a supermarket he knew would be occupied by predominantly African-American shoppers. This young man took the lives of ten people and injured three others. This tragedy struck the residents of Buffalo with heartbreak, trauma, and pain and brought to the forefront the horrors of racism, which are still prevalent today.
Following the shooting, I reached out to an acquaintance of mine, Shepherd Andre Clark, and learned Shep tragically lost his aunt in the shooting. Shep pastors a predominantly African-American church on the east side of Buffalo, one mile from the supermarket where the shooting took place. I began to ask Shep questions like:
“How can I be praying for you?”
“How can our church be more involved in the healing process in your community?”
“What does the Church need to do to come together?”
From this point forward, Shep and I moved beyond being acquaintances; we became brothers. . . .
At a few key points during our time together in St. Paul, Minnesota, for Triennial 2024, we united as a people of God to promote his peace in our world through offerings, supporting various ministries of the NAB, both in the US and Canada and internationally. For those who were unable to attend, we wanted to provide this chance to come alongside what God is up to through the NAB by giving financially. There were four key offerings:
- The Saker Water Project
- Taken during the Women’s Luncheon, this offering will provide an adequate source of water for the students and staff at the Saker Baptist College in Cameroon.
- The Connie Salios Church Planting Fund
- This special fund, named in honor of an NAB church planting legend, helps support the multiplication of the church here in North America.
- Brazil Ministries
- Giving to this offering will support local pastors in Brazil, allowing them to attend the Baptist seminary where NAB missionaries Lyndell Campbell-Réquia and Brandon Jones teach.
- Cameroon Ministries
- Part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of handing over the Cameroon ministries to the Cameroon Baptist Convention, this offering will support the ongoing ministry taking place through NAB missionaries in Cameroon.
Find Links to All the Triennial Offerings
Over the past few months, we have been slowing rolling out a new logo and look for the NAB, which we officially launched at Triennial 2024 in St. Paul. Nothing about our mission or ministry has changed, but we felt it was time that who we are as the NAB was better reflected in the imagery we used.
The challenge was to create a new brand that communicates movement and transformation while also conveying the deep connection to both Canada and the United States.
As our visual brand – the imagery we weave in and around much of our content to serve as a kind of backdrop – we have chosen to lean into God’s creation, seeing growth and movement in all his work. This is also the same nature – the Rockies, the badlands, the plains, the Great Lakes – that connects our two countries.
For our icon, we came up with a shape that illustrates transformation. One shape becoming another. A people becoming something new in Christ, pointing upward to God as the author of this transformation. Additionally, the four different shapes that form the whole are a nod to the NAB’s Four End Goals that are so key to who we are as a conference of churches.
You can find downloadable versions of the new logo to add to your church website by following the link below.