Dear churches of the Baptist Missionary Association of Missouri:
I pray this article finds you enjoying the fellowship of our Lord. This will be shorter than normal because the lion’s share of what I would put in this article will be discussed in detail on May 14 at our Missions symposium at New Testament in Sullivan, MO.
I’ve had a burden for some time now of raising the awareness of our national, state and local missions efforts in our local churches and have a ‘benchmark assessment’ to unveil at the symposium that I believe, accompanied with a missions pamphlet, will help our churches achieve this needed step of being aware of what we are doing in the area of missions and what we still need to do.
What I will be asking at the meeting is for pilot churches to try this emphasis by taking the benchmark assessment twice a year and employing the pamphlet to increase the score on the assessment the next time it is given. I was pleasantly surprised at the response from Bethel when we rolled out the assessment and I am excited about the prospects of increasing awareness in our churches and ultimately increasing our missions effort within our work.
Personally, I have a low tolerance of someone “beating up” on the Lord’s Church so please be assured that is not the intention. This is an effort to accurately assess where we are and make improvements as needed.
This Association and our individual churches are very faithful to financially support our local, national, and global missions efforts and this missions director is so thankful. However, it is time we look at the other areas we can support and make improvements where necessary.
May the Lord bless you is my prayer,
Ben Kingston
Remember our Missionary:
Please continue to lift up Bro. Juan Fernandez’s family and ministry. Please read his article and support where you can.
On a local Association note:
Meramec churches, if you have not received an email with info for this year’s Jesus Camp please contact me at 636-629-2526. It is time to start promoting state camp and Jesus camp!
Note to All Pastors:
Please set aside March 25-26, 2022 for our next Renewal Retreat where Dr. Hooks will discuss his new book, “The Core Principle.” This book is an excellent candidate for a Bible study or Sunday school format.
