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Merry Christmas

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“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.”

“When they departed, behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.“

It is our prayer that in the midst of your activities and celebrations during this Christmas season, you and your family rejoice “with exceedingly great joy” as you remember the One who was born King of the Jews and lived a life that led to His sacrifice for all mankind.

Merry Christmas

Don and Pam Burke

Merry Christmas!

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The arrival of the Greatest Gift Ever Given was announced by the Angel to the shepherds,

“Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tiding of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord….” Luke 2:10-11.

We pray that each of us will continue to spread the GOOD NEWS as the shepherds did after they saw the Christ child. “And when they (the shepherds) had seen it (the baby), they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child… And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.” Luke 2:17, 20.

May each of us find true JOY in Christ and live this next year telling others about HIM!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each of our readers!

December 2022

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End of a chapter…but not the end of the story

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Bro. James Hoffmann has resigned as editor of the Missouri Missionary Baptist after serving in this position for 33 years. He was unable to attend the Annual Meeting due to a death in his family but sent this as his final report to the Association.

Missouri Missionary Baptist Editor’s Report

I began serving as editor of the MMB Paper in the late part of 1989 after serving a short time as the editor of the Meramec Banner and following a few years as editor of the Midwest Banner in Michigan before moving back to Missouri.

I truly appreciate all the encouragement I have received over the years as people have read our publications. Some of the most encouraging things have been the comments of appreciation from our senior citizens who are no longer able to be active in their church or have moved out of our area to be with family. Many of them look forward to receiving the monthly news about what is happening in our churches across the state.

I am also thankful for the cooperation of our department directors who keep us informed by sending news items and announcements. We have some great people in our churches who serve as reporters and send monthly articles for print. Your help has kept us going over the years.

The publishing ministry is not always easy, and it takes a lot of patience and courage at times to get the job done. I could write a book about the experience of being a religious editor, and the stories would show how God has worked to keep us going when it looked like our ministry was finished! God has been faithful to make sure we had the support needed in so many instances.

I also want to thank my wife, Mary, for all her encouragement and help she has given over the years. She has put in many hours proof-reading, searching for material, and running errands when there was a deadline to meet! Her assistance was necessary, and has been appreciated over the years!

It is now time for me to step down and slow down. Health issues and other factors have shown me that someone else needs to take over, and I believe we have an assistant editor that has already shown his capability. Pray for him as he serves the Lord and His churches.

Camp Garwood Report – October 2022

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Our 2023 camp dates are July 31st through August 4th. Jordan Bowen has been invited to be our speaker next year. He is excited and hopes to give us confirmation soon. When I get confirmation or another speaker set, we will get word out through the MMB and on our Facebook page.

Camp theme will be Gateway to God. “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” (John 14:6).

We have paid off the tractor debt, and I’m certain we will begin some upgrades soon.

Our 2022 camp had 233 campers, with nearly 20 professions of faith, one rededication, and a series of events that will not soon be forgotten. Those include our speaker shuffle, dorm antics, service disruptions, a fight, and a severe thunderstorm followed by a worship service that could only be described as heavenly. If you had asked me on Tuesday night how camp was going, I probably would have hung my head and walked away. At that point we were asking, “Okay, Lord, what’s going on?” But by Thursday night we were praising Him for a great week.

The financial report at the close of the year shows a balance of $6,300.50. Total received was $73,226.79; total dispersed $68,422.12. We spent $9,582.90 on food, $6,857.30 on electricity, and $7,539.00 on insurance.

This year Bro. Brian Whitlock rolls off the Camp Committee. We would like to thank him for many years of service, as he has served multiple terms.

MISIÓN BELÉN (Bethlehem Mission) BMAA Missouri Hispanic Mission

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(from Bro. Juan Fernandez’s October newsletter)

Prayer Network
Every day we pause to prepare for a season of prayer at 12:00. We believe that prayer will continue blessing our missionary effort for protection, purpose and peace to trust in God’s timing and leading to every man of peace.

Bible Reading
We have a daily live production with some of our contacts that are willing to listen to God’s Word. As of next week will be reading God’s Word available to the public in general. Feel free to like and share the Facebook live video during the noon time. God’s Word must be proclaimed.

Discovery Bible Groups
New Discovery Bible Group is beginning 10/9/2022. We have had several opportunities to start 10 series of Discovery Bible Groups. The response to the Gospel is not always received as good news. That’s why we continue praying for men of peace that will embrace the Gospel.

Building up Our Community
We are pleased to have met new families in our community from countries like Mexico, El Salvador and Honduras. My lovely wife Hannah is utilizing her talents and education background to prepare two lessons per week to teach English to these families. We are expecting them to bring their children on these days and develop our children outreach while parents are learning English. I will be teaching these children about Jesus and having activities. These children are our hope to a new generation of Hispanics that will grow with a relationship with Jesus as his/her personal savior. Praise the LORD!

Family United Celebration LLBC
We are prayerfully hoping for a prosperous spiritual harvest as result of prayer and gospel presentation with friends and family in Florissant, Missouri and surrounding areas.
Pray for meaningful relations developing for kingdom laborers in our Hispanic friends. Also for meeting new brothers and sister in Christ to continue expanding the Gospel, discipleship and missions among our new contacts. Our discipleship process is simple: Discovery Bible Groups meet 3 weeks in a month. The 4th week will be gathering to share testimonies and celebrate God’s grace and mercy. This month we plan to join Pastor Brian Meade and the families at Lindsay Lane for opening their doors for a bilingual service. We pray this will be the first of many gatherings where Christ is glorified to continue spreading his plan and compassion to our community.

Prayer Requests
• Men of peace. We have 3 Discovery Bible Groups and are praying for 5.
•Volunteers for the children’s program for Monday and Wednesday, 6-8 p.m.
• Daily divine appointments to share the Gospel and learn how to minister better to our families in the area.
• BMA Seminary classes for myself. I am taking two classes, Church Management and Theology.
• Nahum and Ermilanda Discovery Bible Group, multiplication.
• Liz and Lucas Discovery Bible Group, provision for new status.
• Discovery Bible Group Sunday 8:30 a.m. Adan and Milos.
• ESL Class. Thanksgiving; monthly evaluation and fellowship. The last Wednesday of the month we have a potluck and students have presentation of their improvements on their English language studies.

WMA Retreat 2022

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A month has passed already. To say that this retreat was one of the best is an understatement. It was well attended, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. After some had to cancel attending due to unfortunate circumstances, we had approximately 95 ladies present, along with 3 men. There were 22 churches represented.

Our key-note speaker, Lori Cline from Little Rock, AR did an exceptional job speaking on areas that are relevant to all ladies, no matter their age. Several have suggested that we have her return in the future.

In keeping with the idea of having “younger” women involved, we asked Jessica Kempfer from Loyalty, Sparta, IL and Molly Kingston from Bethel, Lonedell, MO to be our music worship team. They didn’t know each other prior to this event but did an excellent job in leading us with a variety of songs (some old and some new). We thank them for their willingness to serve.

We were blessed to have Mrs. Prakash attend. She spoke about their work in India and was able to visit with ladies individually throughout the retreat. We continue to pray for them as they serve in a difficult area of the world. We thank the Zion Baptist WMA for paying for their hotel room and the Ohlman Baptist WMA for paying for their meals at the retreat. I understand that some others may have given them love offerings as well.

It was planned to have Caitie Cox, National GMA President, speak and we were going to collect a love offering for her to use as she travels promoting the GMA program or to use for a mission trip that she may go on this summer. However, she had to cancel due to a death in her family. During her time slot we had Connie Reifsteck speak about the current National WMA project, Janet Widger spoke about the changes in the format for the 2023 National GMA Camp, then Tanya Hutton spoke about Caitie. After that we did collect the love offering. Our ladies are always generous. The amount collected was $1,130.35.

The “silent” auction for Camp Garwood was a success as it has been for many years. There were close to 500 items, with the total amount of money raised $2,013.00. We cannot say enough about how generous our ladies are when it comes to Camp Garwood. Of course, there is always a down-side to this. But it is a good problem. We need about as much room for the silent auction in a facility as we do for the meeting room. This means larger facilities and of course more expensive facilities. However, as we grow, our ladies remain faithful in their willingness to pay. For that we are thankful.

Having table decorations that were used as attendance prizes was a great hit again, one that we will probably repeat in the future. The committee is already planning for 2023. Watch for announcements in this paper as well as on the WMA of Missouri Facebook page.

Brotherhood: Men’s Fishing Tournament

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Greetings Brethren,

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell in unity! The Brotherhood is growing strong and more active in the Lord.

On September 17th, the Brotherhood held its first annual fishing tournament. The men had a great time fishing and good food afterwards. Bro. Butch Wilkinson (Ozark Heights) took 1st place, Bro. David Hays (First Baptist, Potosi) took 2nd place, and Bro. Hunter Moorman (Central Baptist) took 3rd place. Congratulations to the winners! I suppose I didn’t have enough faith in us so I brought fish to cook for the men. Thank you to Bro. Chris Dicus for helping cook all of that fish for the men and to Bro. Don Burke for coming out to take pictures. We were able to raise some money for missions and enjoy time together.

We are already looking forward to the next tournament, and we are looking forward to other fellowships as well. Some things in the works include: a spring fishing tournament, the Brotherhood retreat, and a fall golf tournament.

Please pray for the Brotherhood as it grows. Remember, your church does not have to have a local Brotherhood to participate. Let us encourage and pray for one another to be the men God has called us to be.

Your humble servant in Christ,
Brotherhood President, Bryan Buckley

Camp Report – September 2022

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Greetings from Camp Garwood! Now that camp is over, what should our next camp event be? I’m hoping we get a retreat in before the freezing weather. We’ll have more info in the October paper. We are waiting until after the fall school activities slow down and, hopefully, before the fall hunting/holidays pick up. That only leaves a couple weekend options.

Since camp week we have been working on some closing down projects, including closing the pool by covering the entire pool area with a large tarp. The hope is to reduce the start-up efforts. We are also working on the tabernacle screening and some other things that need attention before winter.

We are so grateful for all the help over the summer, for all the encouraging words and words of gratitude. Speaking for my family, we love this ministry. Please continue to pray for us as we serve in this capacity.

Chris Polk • PO Box 271 • Matthews, MO 63867 • Cell: 573-380-1975

September 2022 – Mission Director’s Report

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Dear BMAMO churches,

What an exciting time of year! A special shout out and thanks to Stony Point at Potosi, Bethel at Sikeston, Mt. Olive at Salem, and Loyalty at Sparta, Illinois. Dawn and I were blessed to be with these churches this summer to share the BMAMO Missions effort.

I would love to schedule your church for next summer! Please contact me and let’s fill the summer up with Wednesday appointments. I appreciate the pastors of all of our churches in Missouri doing their best to put the emphasis on missions in our churches.

We are so thankful to Bro. Gary Longstaff and SW MO BMA in voting in their local Association meeting to send a one-time gift of $2,000 to Bro. Juan Fernandez and a monthly support of $200. What a blessing they are and will be to the Fernandez family and the missions effort to reach the Hispanic population in St. Louis.

Please remember and make plans to attend our annual BMA of MO meeting on October 8th at Ozark Heights Baptist Church beginning at 9:00 a.m. Please be in prayer for this meeting as we continue to seek the Lord’s direction and power to launch a church growth and church planting movement through BMAMO Missions.

May the Lord richly bless you is my prayer,
Bro. Ben