Our Mission

I have been struggling to find the next appropriate subject for the blog. Right now there are many things on my heart and mind. I am reminded almost every minute of the day that God has been far too good to me. I can’t begin to list all the blessings here. In fact, I can’t even count them all. But I will mention how wonderful it is to have a wife who so loves both me and God. I am truly blessed to have a God-centered marriage and such a wonderful “help mate”. I have also been greatly blessed with two beautiful daughters that I never thought I would have. (Biologically they are my stepdaughters but you can’t tell that to my heart.) And I have a great Christian Mom and a terrific sister both of whom I know have faith in my God and are a source of inspiration. But my greatest blessing is that I know God has purchased me and has adopted me into His family. To list any more blessings would be the beginning of an endless list.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 “in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.

                I should also tell you that the Bible study I am teaching seems to be going quite well. Both my men’s share group and the Adult Bible study class at church seem to be getting a lot out of it. But I really have to give credit to Francis Chan and David Platt for such a great book and resource, “Multiply”. The study I am leading is taken directly from the book and I encourage everyone to get a copy. “Disciples making Disciples” is what it is all about. And it is at the heart of the Christian life. It’s also my life’s ambition. So really, leading the study is pretty easy because the material is so good and so Biblically accurate.

Matthew 4:19 “…Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men”.

                The other thing that God has laid on my heart and on my wife’s heart is our own ministry. We have been seeking to serve God together any way that we can. Some endeavors are successful and some are not. But we learn from all of them. After months of prayer we are convinced that God is calling us into the Evangelism/Missionary field here in the USA. We believe this to be our vocational calling. We are full of excitement and sometimes a little nervous. Walking by faith is easy when you have a crystal clear vision of where you are going. But when the light on the path barely reaches past your toes it’s a little more challenging. We continue to pray as we begin starting a campground ministry. We see our local community as a mission field. But we also see people at campgrounds who need to hear the Gospel of Christ just as much. Right now we are trying to reach both while we continue to serve in our home church. My wife has begun building a website that should go public pretty soon. We are looking into graphics for the camper, Christian garden flags for the campsites, tracts, T-shirts, and the list goes on. We are also both continuing our education online. Of course we spend time in the Scriptures and do a lot of praying. We expect (enthusiastically) that we will also be helping to establish and/or reestablish campground chapels as well as visiting other churches for revivals or special events. I will actually be getting back in the pulpit in July. I haven’t done a pulpit sermon since 2008 so I’m a little excited about that. Basically we are looking into every opportunity God puts in front of us. And when there are times that we see no such opportunity we still seek them out. We really don’t look for the ministry to be “fully established” for a couple years. It is all being done for His honor and glory anyway and it will come to fruition when He says, “It is time”. But at least God has given us a goal to work towards while we continue to seek hard after Him. And who knows? Maybe we will get to see some of you on the road soon. Remember us in your prayers and may God bless you greatly.

Mark 16:15 “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation”.

Deuteronomy 28:12 “The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand…”

Psalm 90:17 “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us; And confirm for us the work of our hands; Yes, confirm the work of our hands”.

       Peace and blessings,

       Evangelist, W. Shannon Caplinger

Not all Baptists are Baptists

 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.”

The Apostle John warns us not to believe everything we hear. Not even from the pulpit! We know there are different understandings of some of the difficult passages in the Bible. We know there are going to be different understandings as to how exactly the Bible applies to us; Hence the number of different denominations in America. But every true Christian knows that the Bible is our written source of truth. It was divinely inspired by God and was written just as the Spirit led the writers to write it. It contains no errors. The only errors that arise are the result of our flawed understanding of God and His word. The Bible has authority because it is the word of the true and living God, Creator of the Universe. The Apostle Paul also warned us in 2 Timothy 4:3 that there would come preachers and teachers who would ignore sound doctrine and teach lies. That’s why we are told to study the Bible so that we can avoid being led astray by false teachers.

I am writing this because I have just had the experience of running across a whole denomination hiding the reality of who they are. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They call themselves “American Baptists”. But they are not really American Baptists. Now Baptists are traditionally known for taking God at His word. They are generally conservative although sometimes to varying degrees. They hold the Bible to be sacred and of the highest authority. But, as I sadly discovered, not all Baptist churches are true Baptists. The case in this example is a discovery about “American Baptist” Churches. I was doing some research on my Mom’s church because she was alarmed at what the new pastor was teaching. To make a long story short, I found out that her church is not a member of “The American Baptist Association”. As it turns out they belong to the “American Baptists of the USA”(And yes I noticed the redundancy in the name itself). This group is terribly liberal. They ordain women pastors (something real Baptists frown upon). They also believe that the Bible is outdated and is only used as a guideline. Each individual church within the organization can interpret it however they want. That’s a serious danger sign. The problem with all this is if we can’t trust God’s word to be His infallible word then how do we know anything about Him or His Son or what He expects of us? It’s heresy.

I guess my point is two-fold. We have to immerse ourselves in God’s word so we will know the truth. And we need to do our research. Don’t just assume by the sign out front that a church teaches what you believe to be true. There are wolves hiding everywhere.

Be blessed,

Evangelist, W. Shannon Caplinger 

M.I.A.

It’s been way too long since I have posted anything. Sorry for the long absence. I didn’t realize I had been M.I.A. since 2011. A lot has happened since then. I went on my Pilgrim walk at the Walk to Emmaus in Newark Ohio. I began my education toward a degree in Theology.  I am married to a wonderful Christian wife and have two terrific stepdaughters. My wife and I teach the 5-8 grade Sunday-school. We tried a stint as Youth Directors but God showed us in a few short months that it wasn’t our calling. I am now teaching the Adult Bible study on Wednesday nights. I am leading the same study in my men’s share group. I am in the process of transferring from Liberty University to Lancaster Bible College to finish my degree. My Bible collection has grown to 110 Bibles and New Testaments. After much prayer my wife and I bought a camper and plan to begin a camping ministry. We believe we will eventually be living out of the camper as we travel and Evangelize as we go. We are about 95% sure that God is calling us into Vocational Evangelism. We are still praying for more direction as we prepare as much as we know how at this point. I’ll write a new blog post soon.

Until then, peace and blessings to you all.

Shannon