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Activate

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A healthy approach to church growth and revitalization
Todd West • Director of Church Solutions • DiscipleGuide

More than ever before, pastors and churches are realizing that they must come together and discover how to move forward in
“such a time as this.” We can’t do this alone, and, honestly, God never intended for us to do it that way. We now have thirty- seven BMA churches from seven diffrent states that have joined the Activate movement. We expect at least forty other churches to join us in 2017. After two years, Activate is proving to be a “go to” ministry for many churches of all sizes and ages who simply want to be healthier.

Levels

Activate is a level-based ministry where churches can move at their own pace throughout the process. If you decide to join
Activate, you will immediately receive level one by e-mail. Upon completion, we will e-mail you the next level. Each level contains suggestions for your Activate team meetings, a clear explanation of the tools, and other content to enhance your process.

Selecting an Activate Team

In level one of Activate, each local church selects a team from their church that represents a cross section of people from the congregation. Selecting people of various ages, both genders, and a healthy combination of newer and long-term members has
proven to be effctive. Using the tools provided through Activate, the team partners with the pastor to help discover unique
challenges and potential solutions for greater health. The Activate team will regularly report discoveries to the entire congregation in what is called “Activate Congregation Workshops.” This process is designed to move an informed and unifid church forward.

Pastor Huddles

Many of our current Activate pastors are enjoying the benefits of the pastors’ huddle. Most of these take place in the pastors’ local area every four to six weeks, but some have chosen an on-line huddle option. Here are the advantages:
• Receive coaching from your huddle leader on your current Activate level.
• Gain insight from other Activate pastors.
• Find encouragement from pastors in a positive environment.
• Praying for and celebrating the wins in our churches.

Activate Orientations

Each year we host several orientations in various states with on-line options available as well. The orientation is a “no cost” and “no commitment” event. I would encourage you to recruit other pastors from your area to join you for the orientation, because this will benefit you greatly. Pastors, just show up for one of these three-hour events, and feel free to bring staff members or key church leaders.

Here’s how the orientation will benefit you:

• Hear from pastors currently involved in Activate.
• Gain insight into how Activate can help unite your church around a biblical process that leads to greater health.
• Get hands-on experience in how the Activate tools work.
• Learn how Activate can encourage pastors and help them sharpen their leadership skills.
• Learn how Activate respects the uniqueness and autonomy of every church.
• Connect and build relationships with other pastors, church staff members, associational leaders, and church leaders.

Upcoming Activate Orientations

November 29 (9 a.m. – noon), Farley Street Baptist Church, Waxahachie, TX
December 8 (9 a.m. – noon), Oasis Church, North Little Rock, AR
December 13 (9 a.m. – noon), On-line Activate Orientation
(E-mail hsorrells@insideoasis.com for instructions to join on-line.)

News From BMAA Missionaries

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News from Todd & Tina Cox at StonePoint Church North GA

Summer is a Wrap and Fall is Here!!
Happy Fall everyone! It might be the season of Fall but in Georgia it is still 90 degrees. We have had a great summer and I wanted to take a minute just to share a few things with everyone and celebrate what God has been doing and ask for your prayers for our upcoming Launch.
This Summer we were blessed to host mission teams from Brister Arkansas, Sumrall Mississippi and Brownsboro & Canton, TX. Our last newsletter covered some of their projects and showed some great pictures but I wanted to just recap an
overview here quickly. These teams ministered to hundreds of families throughout North Georgia and the greater Atlanta
area. Here are some of the things they helped us accomplish this summer:

  1. We were able to hand out goodies to fist responders and thank them for their service.
  2. We volunteered over 100 hours to help an organization called SAFFT that helps support adopted and foster families.
  3. We volunteered over 100 hours to help an emergency assistance and food pantry facility called Th Place of Forsyth.
  4. We handed out over 500 door hangers to invite people to StonePoint Church.
  5. We assisted Missionary Boris Lebedev with a Russian Rehab facility that helps those with drug and alcohol addiction to find Christ and over come their addictions as well as his radio studio project.
  6. We were also able to help missionary Jamshad Hadyat with his Pakistani church (Veritcal Life Urdu) and their outreach to Muslim families.
  7. One team also did a local missions project for a single senior from our church that needed help with lawn care, pressure washing and repair of a deck that was rotting.

We have also had 3 Preview Services this Summer Preview Services are simply a time we can invite people to come and check us out to see what we are all about and we can have a few dress rehearsals (if you will) to work out any of the kinks before our Launch. Our Preview Services were on July 10th, August 14th, and September 11th. We had new people at each one of our Previews!! Our latest bit of great news is that the new family I mentioned back in June that started coming and leading worship for us, Dan & Nikki Thmason, were just recently approved by the Missions Office and Advisory Committee as our Associate! We are so thankful for this and for all of your prayers through this process to find the family God was leading to us for this position.

We are feverishly getting ready for our upcoming Grand Opening/Launch Sunday October 9th. Please be praying for people to come and visit and that God would do great and mighty things through our mission here in North Georgia at StonePoint Church as we reach others for Him and continue to lead them to a deeper level of discipleship and relationship with Him. Also, the afternoon after our Launch services, we will be holding our fist baptism services at the lake. Praise God for all He is doing!!

We would also ask that you would prayerfully consider supporting our work here in Georgia monthly. We are still in need
of partners and every bit helps and is appreciated. Thank you to those who have been supporting us and have made it possible to minister to those we already have and we pray that God would bless you as you continue to pray for us and financially
support the work here in Georgia. I am anxious to write soon and give you an update on how the Launch goes and how God will provide.

    Ways to give:

  • Mail to:
    BMA Missions
    P.O. Box 878
    Conway, AR 72033
    Designate to Missionary Todd Cox – StonePoint GA
  • Give Online at BMAA Missions website – scroll down and select Todd Cox
  • Mail directly to:
    StonePoint Church
    PO Box 3029
    Cumming, GA 30028

 

Mission: Dominican Hales Family Happenings
On Furlough

I just wanted to send out a quick note to let you know that my temporary US cell # is (501)487-0115 and will be good
through December 30th. You can still contact me via e-mail at missiondominican@hotmail.com or through FaceBook. Our Skype number (501)499-6011 is also still good. We look forward to connecting with as many of you as possible over the next 3 months. Most of the time we will be based out of Conway, AR but we also have plans to travel through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, North and South Carolina. If we haven’t already been able to arrange plans to connect with you over the next 3 months please contact us. Thank you.

Will You Catch Us?

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Scott Attebery, DiscipleGuide
Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
It was my fist summer at church camp. Recreation time was almost over. We were hot, tired, and ready to swim in the pool. Our recreation leader announced that we had one more activity. He asked for a volunteer. I was all too eager. The leader placed me on a platform about six feet of of the ground. Next, he arranged the rest of my group on the ground into two rows, starting at the base of the platform, facing each other with arms straight ahead crossing each other. Looking down from the platform (which now felt more like sixty feet tall), my team formed a landing pad -for me! Before the leader gave me instructions, I already knew what I was supposed to do: fall backwards into the arms of my team. That’s right, backwards –as in, without being able to see where I would land. It was a call to extreme trust. Everything within me wanted to climb down from the platform. Some of my teammates didn’t look very strong. What if they dropped me? The recreation leader, seeing the look of uncertainty of my face, pulled me aside and said something I’ve never forgotten: “We are stronger when we work together.” I still wasn’t completely confident, but I knew what I had to do. I had to trust the group. (Besides, I couldn’t let the cute blond-headed girl see me back down.) I placed my feet on the edge of the platform with my back turned toward my group. With a deep breath, I took the plunge. What a sensation!

Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
Time stood still for a moment. And then, all of a sudden, it was over. My team caught me! I yelled, “Let’s do it again!”
Today, I stand on a different platform. Together with the entire DiscipleGuide team, we have placed our toes on the edge, and we are about to lean back. We are trusting you to catch us. Two years ago, we realized the need to improve our associational curriculum. Church leaders shared their concerns with us. They loved the biblical content of our material, but wanted more
focus on relevant application and greater helps for teachers. Curriculum development is a process. It does not happen overnight. We knew that to make the improvements churches were asking for would require time and resources –both of which
are difficult to come by when you have a small staff Keeping the current curriculum on schedule is a great enough challenge, but to add the development of future improvements is almost impossible. That’s why we began reprinting the writings of Dr. E. Harold Henderson. Since these writings were already proofed and edited, it afforded us time to focus on improvements. We used that time to interview teachers and leaders from various churches and find out what our congregations need. And, at the same time, we were able to assemble a stable of talented BMA writers. The past two years of curriculum planning and development
have been like climbing up the platform at camp. Every rung requires energy and hard work. Now we have completed the work
and are ready to present it to our churches. How does it feel?

Scary. Exhilarating. Trusting.
We have taken a huge risk. After working hard to address everyone’s needs, we know that not everyone will care for all of
the improvements. Curriculum funds the greatest portion of our budget. Proceeds help us to invest into church revitalization efforts. To make any changes to our curriculum is a risk to our finances and, as a result, our ability to help churches. But I believe it is worth the risk to create better curriculum that will serve our churches more effectively. It is at this moment in time that I recall the words of the recreation leader at camp: “We are stronger when we work together.” I believe you will love the improvements we have made to Compass. But even if the improvements aren’t exactly what you would have preferred, we still need you to catch us. We are not a huge business with a massive research and development budget. We are a ministry of the BMA. We are your brothers and sisters in associational work. We are trying to serve you in the best way we know how.

• If you want us to keep making improvements in the future, please catch us.
• If you want to continue having BMA curriculum written by BMA writers, please catch us.
• If you want to see improvements to student and children’s materials as our next project (including a return to printed materials) please catch us.

The winter edition of Compass has gone to print. We are currently taking orders. We are all in and there is no turning back.
If every adult class in every BMA church will purchase compass this winter, this could be the beginning of a new era in BMA curriculum! Call 800.333.1442 or go to discipleguide.org to order.
We are trusting in our association. We are stronger together. Will you catch us?

2016 Alive Student Conference

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The Alive Student Conference 2016 will be held Dec. 29-31 at the DoubleTree by the Hilton Hotel in Chesterfield, Mo. The deadline for special room rate is Dec. 1. Each student must have a medical release form in case of accident or illness, and each church is responsible for collecting and keeping the medical releases for its students. The form and other information about the conference — including registration, order forms and a schedule of events — are available at alivestudentconference.org. A conference T-shirt will be provided for all who register by Dec. 5. T-shirts will be handed out at the Alive registration table outside the
ballroom of hotel between 3:00 and 6:45 on Dec. 29.

Speaker: This year’s speaker is Brad Russell. “I became a follower of Christ when I was six years old and answered God’s call
to His ministry at the age of 16,” said Russell. “For six and a half years, I served as associate pastor, youth pastor and school administrator for Salem Baptist Church in Marble Hills, Mo., where I was licensed and ordained into God’s ministry. I accepted God’s call to come to First Baptist Church in Arnold in 2008 to serve as pastor to College & Career and Young Professionals.”

This year’s worship leaders are Sound City, a collection of musicians who call City Church in Conway, AR their home church. Their stated mission is to use music to help people experience Jesus. “If you leave only talking about the band, we have done
something wrong,” they said. “We want to worship our God and King alongside of you as we continue to realize how much He
loves us together.

Illusionist: The conference will also feature Christian Illusionist Zak Mirzadeh, who spent 2011-2015 as a key member
of the epic show known as M?ZE (a part of Reach Your City.) He is now branching of to perform his own show, “Nothing
Up My Sleeve.” This show will instill wonder in the audience and draw in every person to become a participant. Zak
interweaves his persona and story into his show to lead people to the Good News. Zak grew up as a Muslim, faithful to his
religion and praying fie times every day. Due to incredible circumstances, he grew up in a fatherless household. At the
age of 17, Zak was confronted with a reality that was very different from his upbringing. He was brought face-to-face with the truth of who Jesus is. As a part of “Nothing Up My Sleeve,” Zak weaves in his story what it was like to grow up in a religious household and how the Gospel of Jesus transformed his life.

Recreation: Recreation this year will take place at the hotel. Attached to the hotel is a huge Athletic Club that will
be rented during conference recreation time. They have basketball, volleyball, racquetball, walleyball, a swimming pool and tennis courts and a meeting area that will be great to just sit down and chat, play cards or a board game that you bring. There will also be a few surprises, and there will be something for everyone. Participants will also likely get to try
something they have never done before — knocker ball.

Our Renewal Retreat

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To the churches of the BMA of Missouri

I was very appreciative of the response and approval of the renewal weekend for the pastors and staff of our work. If you were not able to be at the meeting let me encourage you to be looking in the paper for upcoming communications about the renewal weekend.

This is simply an effort to get us as pastors on the same page and help us to move forward as growing churches and a missions planting association. I have given November 30th as a deadline to share possible dates for the weekend and then will need each of our pastors to communicate the dates that work for them and we will simply choose the dates that work for the most pastors.

Ben Kingston, coordinator

November 2016 – Assistant Mission Director’s Report

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I enjoyed peaching the last two Sundays in October at Bethany and appreciate the good folks there for their support over the years. As you can read in their report they have called Bro. Nick Dunn and he plans to move on the fild soon. We lost a good friend in the Lord’s work in Missouri when Bro. Ronald Pierce was called home unexpectedly. Please remember his wife Roberta, his family, and his church family (Temple, Belgrade) in their loss. Bro. Ronald was truly a pastor’s friend and he and his wife were great hosts to visiting preachers when given the opportunity. I enjoyed the State Association meeting in Sikeston
this past month and thank you for reelecting me as Assistant Missions Director and also Editor of the Missouri Missionary Baptist paper.

Bethel Missionary Baptist Church welcomed the messengers of the churches of the BMA of Missouri and treated everyone with kindness and love. They also fed us a delicious meal. You can read about the meeting starting on page one in this issue but I want to call attention to one action the Missionary Committee took that can be a blessing to all our churches in the state.
Bro. Ben Kingston was elected to plan a “Renewal Retreat” for the pastors and staf members of BMA of Missouri Churches. The entire schedule for this time will be built around renewal of the Association. There will be no charge to attend. In the month of November, our churches will be sent some possible dates for this retreat and the date selected by most respondents will be the date set for the meeting. It is VERY important that each church respond so we can set the date that the most can and
will attend.

Please do your best to attend and let’s work at renewal our fellowship and cooperation and help each other in the ministry of the Word. We need to be planting new works for the Lord, but we also need to strengthen what we already have. We are all very busy and it is easy to skip these times that can benefit our ministries and that is exactly what Satan wants us to do! Let’s
determine to not let this happen when this meeting takes place. Let’s strengthen one another as God wants us to.

Please pray for our work in Missouri that we will know where God wants us to start a new work when He gives us someone to work it. Thank you for your support and prayers as we work for the Lord.

James Hoffann

October 2016 – Assistant Mission Director’s Report

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I had the privilege of filling the pulpit at Lower Doe Run Baptist Church near Ellington, Temple Baptist Church in Belgrade and Bethany Baptist Church in St. Louis this past month. I also enjoyed preaching at Landmark Baptist Church in DeSoto as they celebrated their 84th Anniversary the first Sunday of October.

It is time for our annual association meeting and I hope to see many of our churches represented at Bethel Baptist Church in Sikeston October 22nd. We need this time of fellowship and planning for the work of our association of churches for the next year. Your input is helpful and necessary if we are going to be unified in our efforts for the Lord.Pastor Jerry Adams and Bethel Baptist Church welcome this meeting and we look forward to being with them. Let’s fill their building with people ready to go forward for Christ. Please join me and our special missions committee in praying for a new church plant during this next associational year. Is your church interested in planting a church somewhere in Missouri? Do
you know of a preacher who feels led of God to start a new
work in our state? Let’s unite our efforts to see this become
a reality soon.

I am anxious to hear the reports of all our committees and departments at this annual meeting. God is working in our churches and it is good to hear what is happening around our state. We will be electing our President and Vice President at this meeting along with considering recommendations of all committees and departments.

Please come and be involved in this great meeting.

Revival

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Kewanee Missionary Baptist Church, Kewanee, MO

October 31st thru November 4th
6:30 p.m. each evening
Evangelist:Steve Crawley
Everyone Welcome!

September 2016 – Assistant Mission Director’s Report

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My wife and I were invited to attend the annual meeting of the Baptist Missionary Association of Southwest Missouri
which met at Grandview Baptist Church in Springfield August 20th. We were warmly received and made to feel right at home.
Grandview Church has undergone renovations to their facilities and the result was beautiful, with inviting buildings and
grounds. Pastor Gary Longstaff and the church are to be commended for their hard work and investment in their facilities.
The meeting was well attended with representation from almost all of the five cooperating churches in the Springfild,
Cassville, and Carthage area.

The services were filed with friendship, love, spirit-filed singing and fellowship Bro. Steve Crawley brought an inspirational message on “The Grace of God,” which blessed us and challenged us to be thankful for the wonderful Grace of our magnificent God!

Thanks to all for a great day! We look forward to meeting others from around Missouri.

Brotherhood Retreat

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The 6th Annual BMA of Missouri Brotherhood Retreat is Friday September 30, 2016 and Saturday October 1, 2016 at Camp Garwood. Speaker is Bro. Joey Duckworth. Make plans to attend and bring a friend.

Program
Friday Evening 7:30 p.m. Supper
Program: Bro. Joey Duckworth
Saturday 7:30 a.m.
Breakfast
Archery Competition
Lunch
Dismissal

Who Can Attend?
Adult men and young men who have an interest in outdoor activities. We encouraged you to bring your friends who do not attend church. Please Note: Anyone over 18 planning to stay overnight at the Retreat MUST complete the on-line application. If you were okay for camp this year you are okay for the retreat. This is a requirement for all who use the camp overnight. More info concerning that is available online at
bmamissouri.org

What is the Cost?
There is no cost for those attending, but an offering will be taken to help with expenses.

What is the Purpose
To provide an avenue for fellowship and encouragement for the men of all ages. There will be a bunch of door prizes, food and also Trophies for the winners!!

What to Bring
Archery equipment, personal items, sheets, blankets (or sleeping bag),
and pillow. Beds, food and fun are provided.

Questions: Contact the following for more information:
Dennis Baker 636-461-1625 bbvsafety4332@gmail.com
James Hoffann 314-277-8644 jmhoff@charter.net
Claude Evans 573-438-0740 cbe34@earthlink.net