A Page from my heart…
Dear churches of the state of Missouri,
Three months in and I am extremely excited about what God is doing!
Because of the deadline for material for the paper, we do not yet know the outcome of the Missionary committee vote, at the time I am writing this article, but I do very much hope, pray, and expect support to be approved of Bro. Juan Fernandez. The local Meramec Association has already begun support.
Bro. Juan hopefully will be planting a Spanish-speaking church under the auspices of Bethany Baptist Church. Bro. Juan and his wife joined Bethany a couple of weeks ago and the church has already voted to allow them to use the facilities and be the mother church of the church plant. We are excited about the possibilities and probabilities of that.
I ask you to pray for Bro. Juan. It’s been awhile since we’ve been able to say that we have a missionary working in the state of Missouri with both the state and a local association supporting.
This is similar to the church plant in Nixa, in that the national work was the impetus used to get it started, so please pray for both of these churches. It’s’s my understanding that the church in Nixa is now full support so we praise God for that! Now this mission is getting started, so please, please, please pray for them.
I am hoping to be in touch soon with those who have reached out to me to come and present the mission work of Missouri.
I have two churches already that have requested a visit. It is my intention to take up to one Sunday evening per month to go to other churches. I am also open to getting several churches in an area to meet together for a Saturday night meeting to lessen the need to miss a Sunday from Bethel’s pulpit. Let me know if you would be interested in setting up such a meeting.
I served on the national missionary committee during Bro. Grady Higgs’ term as Director, and I saw him turn around a program through prayer. Now, I don’t believe that this department needs turning around as much as we need men and fields to go to and those challenges will be met through prayer. Will you join me in daily seeking the throne for men and fields and finances to reach these goals for the Glory of the Lord?
PS:
We had a wonderful meeting last evening (Tuesday, January 5th) on the conference call. I am so appreciative to Bro. Claude Evans and all the churches’ missionary committeemen that participated. We had a unanimous positive vote as we voted to support Bro. Juan Fernandez as our missionary from the standpoint of we are going to support him to the tune of $28,000 a year from the state association. The Meramec local Association will also contribute support as both associations work in cooperation with the BMA of America. Please pray for Bro Juan and His family as He seeks “men of peace” and their families to build the kingdom work in reaching Hispanics in the St. Louis region.
Ben Kingston, BMA of MO Missions Director
