Baptist Missionary Association of Missouri
Double Tree by Hilton Hotel, Chesterfild, MO
It’s not too late to sign up! We have a great event planned for you! For schedule, program, hotel reservation forms, and other forms and more information go to:
http://alivestudentconference.org/
Of all that we have to be for which to be THANKFUL the PEACE in our hearts that comes through FAITH in the LORD JESUS CHRIST is the greatest! This peace comes from knowing our sin is forgiven, we belong to God, we have a future in Heaven, and that God is with us all the time. As you celebrate Thanksgiving this year take time to reflect on these truths and re-dedicate yourself to loving and serving God each day of the year ahead. What more could we ask from a merciful God!!
I apologize for not being present at the annual meeting as I had an unexpected twelve day stay in the hospital and am still
not up to par. The doctor said it will take at least 8 weeks for a full recovery. I do appreciate your prayers and calls.
It was great to hear the good reports from the meeting. I thank Bro. Don Burke for writing a summary of the meeting and sending pictures so I could get the report of the meeting in this edition of the paper.
Thank you for your confidence in me in selecting me to continue editing the paper and in selecting me to continue as
Assistant Missions Director.
Thank you also for the generous offering from the state to help us continue printing the paper each month. I pray this will be a great year in all the churches of our association as we work together reaching lost souls before the Lord returns.
Let’s follow the Lord’s leading in all we do.
As you can see in this picture, the tabernacle at Camp Garwood is EMPTY! Of course preparations are being made to
replace the roof and make some more improvements so….JUST WAIT till we fill it with praise and worship in the months to come.
Call Bro. Chris and ask “What can I do to help?” All of us can PRAY, some of us can WORK, Most of us can GIVE. Just Wait
and See What God Will Do if we let Him use us!
In a world that becomes more diverse and more global each day, Christian believers must face the toughest of questions from the existence of hell, to the evil of evolution, to the common objection of Christianity, and especially the moral
lifestyle of born again believers. God’s people cannot remain silent of Bible truths. “Silence no more” is the Moral Action
outcry.
Jude 3 sounded out the alarm: “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints.” The words “earnestly contend” mean to give a determined, intense struggle to defeat the foe. God wants us
to valiantly strive for the faith. Born again Christians are to defend Bible-living styles. Our morals have to be upheld and
lived by joyfully.
Simon Peter in I Peter 3:15 gave a command also, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.” A ready answer is needed to share why we morally live as we do! A good verbal defense refuting the claims of the destructive critic is needed.
Silence no more, as we seek to defeat humanism. Humanism has drastically affected the basic morality of the United States and the world. It is a subtle philosophy and it is often undetected by those not aware of it. Humanism is that old struggle of man’s will against God’s will. It is not new. A true humanist believes in himself rather than God.
Silence no more, as we combat disrespect for authority. Humanism affects children in many ways and in this children
are taught that whatever you choose will be right for you because you choose it. Romans 1:30-31 declares that they are
“Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents.” We must teach respect for those in authority.
Silence no more, as Christians seek to change the decline in discipline. Since children are taught that they are their own
authority, they want to do their own thing. They will ignore the leadership of parents, teachers, law enforcement and others in authority over them. The verse of Romans 1:30 uses the words “despiteful and disobedient”.
Silence no more, as Christians desire to stop the decline in school/college academics. We call it the dumbing down
of American children. When discipline deteriorates, learning also deteriorates. Teachers are not able to teach if
they do not have the attention of the children. Romans 1:31 declares they will be “without understanding”.
Silence no more, as God’s churches refute total sexual freedom. Humanists want to “liberate” our children from sexual inhibitions. Often their sex education programs are nothing more than academic pornography. To combat this humanistic
philosophy, children need to be trained from the Bible in church, in school, and in the home. We have Bible reasons
why we must defend our morality. Dr. Charles Swindoll gives Christians ways and reasons to stand against the wiles of the devil:
Number one: know where you stand. You cannot afford the luxury of being ignorant or ill-informed when it comes to biblical truth and faith. So educate yourself in the common areas that come under attack: the Bible, the Trinity, the person and work
of Christ, and the means of salvation.
Number two: know where the enemy stands. Learn the tactics of those who oppose the truth. Satan is wily and is as “crooked as a dog’s hind leg.”
Number three: know the Scriptures consistently. The Bible is the only tangible, offensive weapon the Lord has given us in our battle against falsehood; the apostle Paul called the Word of God “the sword of the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17). Learn to wield it with skill and wisdom.
Number four: stand alone if necessary. We need more men and women like Esther, who risked her life to save a nation…like Daniel, who refused to compromise his principles…like Paul, who, though condemned to death, stared in a madman’s eyes and preached the gospel.
Silence no more!
God’s Son will give us the
courage we need.
by Dr. John M. Adams • Executive Director – Moral Action
Please let this be a last minute reminder that our annual state association meeting is upon us and we need your presence and participation (input) in this important meeting. See the time, place and date below. It has been a joy to preach and represent our state work at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church in Florissant for two Sundays in July. They are presently without a pastor and desire our prayers as they seek new leadership. It was also a blessing to fill the pulpit at Ozark Heights near Potosi as Pastor Brian Meade and his wife took a few says off to attend the Pastor’s Oasis the fist weekend of October.
I trust that all our churches have taken advantage of “Pastor Appreciation Month (October) to express your love and appreciation to your pastor and his wife. Just a few kind words, a meaningful card or note, a dinner out, a gift from the heart, or other acts of appreciation can make a great difference in the life of those who are serving the Lord as shepherds of His Flock. It is still not too late for you to do this.
Your Special Missions Committee has met with the Assistant Director of Missions and have some important recommendation for you to consider at our annual meeting. Please come, ask questions, make suggestions and help us as we seek God’s will in our state work. Perhaps you have an idea that we have not considered and can be an inspiration to all our churches.
Remember that your church needs to be represented by messenger (each church is allowed three) or letter (if no one
is available to represent you) and each church is allowed one Committeeman to serve on the Missionary Committee. Offerings are needed to help pay for the recording and printing of our Minutes and can be turned in at the meeting. Charity Baptist Church is ready and looking forward to hosting our meeting this year. We also need invitations for the Mid-Year Meeting and
Missions Symposium in May of 2016 and the Annual Meeting is 2016. Mark the meeting you want to host in the box on the church letter to extend your invitation or just ask to host the meeting when the time for selection comes up in the meeting.
Pray for our officers as they lead the meeting and for the host church as they prepare to welcome the churches of the BMA of Missouri. Let’s gather with high expectations of what God can and will do as we seek His will.
I know many of you would say the bed is the most important piece of furniture in your home. Ha! And I would be the first to agree that crawling into your own bed for a nap or a good night’s rest is a great thing. But I am looking at the piece
of furniture that would have the greatest impact on the family for good. And to that end, there is no comparison to the dining table. Even in one of the most iconic pictures that we see of a portrayal of Jesus; he is at the table eating with friends during the Last Supper. The dining table is the most important piece of furniture in your home for building family bonding and cohesiveness.
Of course that assumes that the family actually uses the dining table. And that they have boundaries and house rules
for the table traditions. The reason the table is so important; is not the food consumed. It is the conversation that is carried out. Communication is the key to a close family. The more we communicate, the better and stronger we become.
No matter what the problem in the home; as long as we keep a dialogue of open, honest and loving communication between
family members, all problems can be solved with God’s help. Hopefully, Christian families sit down at the table to eat and
start the entire process off with the most important form of communication – and that is prayer. The family that prays
together – stays together.
Since biblical times, the breaking of bread together as a family was critical for social bonding. It offers opportunities
for inter-generational exchange of ideas and values. It is checking in with your family. It is fiding out what is going on in
their day. It is a great time to teach family doctrine. During the course of conversation with children, there are many opportunities to speak of what is right and wrong and how we should handle situations. Talking at the dinner table is where a family can learn how to respond to life in general on a daily basis. It can be a time of sharing, learning and dreaming together.
It does not have to be all conversation of signifiant meaning either. Just sitting around talking about anything builds time
together as a family. Some of my greatest memories are sitting around with my extended family at the dining room table during the holidays. There was so much laughter. Story telling for 2 hours after eating was quite possible. This is where little
children and grandchildren learn so much of who they are as a people. They hear stories of how it was in the old days. They
hear parents, grandparents and others share how they survived or made it through some situation. And all the family learns
the value of laughter. It is good medicine. Families should make meal times enjoyable with lots of stories that often times
begin with….. do you remember the time when……
But we need a few simple rules to insure that meals times are pleasant experiences for all Tense situations or difficult
topics are off limits. Grades, who you are dating or not going to date, the horror of work etc… should be discussed at
family meetings, or another time. If an argument ensues; adults must make sure to say we can talk about it after supper. Siblings are not allowed to make fun of, or put others down. People should be encouraged during meal times.
Everyone should have an opportunity to share their day, but do not have to be forced to share. It should be a happy
time. Sensitive family issues are put aside for another time. Arguments are never allowed at the table.
The cell phone is the single greatest destroyer of family communication. All families must set a hard “house
rule” of no cell phones at the dinner table. You surely can go an hour talking with your family gathered around the
table without your phone. If you can’t, then you need to get help for your phone addiction. Adults always find
excuses for themselves. It is work. There might be an emergency. People found out about emergencies and dealt with them for thousands of years before cell phones. There is no e-mail or text from work that is more important than family time together. Of course, none of this matters if the family doesn’t actually eat together. You must find time to eat together at the table multiple times per week. The more the better. Yes, we are all busy and having to run here and there. Yes, young
people always want to be engaged with electronics like TV or music. We must come apart or we will fall apart. We
must build in time to talk and eat and be together with no outside inflences. And yes it does need to be at the table.
It forces you to look into each other’s eyes. Sitting on the couch or floor can mean no eye contact. Biblical families
always broke bread together with those they loved. So did Jesus. We must get back to this important aspect of family life. It’s a major factor in a loving family.
Article provided by…
Family Ark Ministries
Travis Plumlee, Director
P.O. Box 163 • Mountain View, Arkansas 72560
E-mail: kingofthemountain@mvtel.net
WebSite: travisplumlee.com
October 24, 2015 • 9:00 a.m.
Charity Baptist Church
Bismarck, Missouri
From The Host Pastor
Good morning to all the good folks of the BMA of Missouri. Charity is very excited to be the Host Church for the Annual
Meeting in October. We will not have valet parking, but we will have great food and we are big on Southern Hospitality. If you have never been to Charity at Bismarck, it is easy to find. Just come to Park Hills, take the Leadington exit onto Hwy
32 west. Go right for 7 miles to the Bismarck city limits. For those preachers running late, watch your speed, you will get a ticket. Go until you see Spruce Street on your right, go all the way to the end of Spruce St. You can’t miss us.
Our physical address is
1324 Spruce Street
Bismarck, MO 63624.
If you need a hotel room, please give me a call, I would be
glad to assist you. Our honored guest speaker will be the King of
Kings. See ya there.
Lee Miller 573-701-6223
Another month has passed quickly and I am learning more about how to do this job. I have not had the opportunity to visit any churches to present our State Mission work but I have an appointment August 30th to be with Bethlehem Baptist Church in Doniphan and look forward to this opportunity.
I was asked to speak at the SouthWest Missouri Association’s annual meeting August 15th but due to a previous commitment I will probably not be able to be with them.
I do look forward to visiting among our churches as opportunities arise.
Please pray for your Special Mission Committee as we meet sometime before the State Meeting in October. We hope to have some suggestions for our churches to consider concerning our Mission work at this meeting.
If you have any suggestions about directions we should go and plans we should make please contact me at 314-277-8644
or any member of the Special Missions Committee. Members are: Chairman, Wayne Gibson, Jerry Adams, Brian Meade,
Ben Kingston, Don Burke and Tom McCanless. We appreciate your input.
Prayers are needed as we have several churches who are searching for pastors at this time. Please encourage preachers who are not pastoring to avail themselves of the opportunities to let God lead them into productive work with these churches.
Prayers are also needed for God to lead us to areas where new works need to be started. The filds are white…we need to harvest!
If you know of someone who feels God is leading him to do mission work (or Pastor) in Missouri please have him contact me for more information.
This past month has passed fast as I tried to adjust to the added responsibilities of keeping books for the Missions account of the BMA of Missouri and tried to fit in a two week trip with some of our family.
When Bro. Danny and I talked of making the transition upon his resignation we decided to keep the Post Offie Box he had used in Florissant in hopes that it might make things a little less confusing for all involved.
That has not worked as smoothly as we had hoped. I had forgotten that he was also the Missions Director of the Meramec Association and their mail went to the same P.O. Box.
Bro. Johnny Dover is the Director of Missions for the Meramec Association and he has received some mail for the BMA of Missouri and I have received some mail for the Meramec Association. We have worked together forwarding those checks to the right Missions Account but we both feel that this confusion causes a delay in receiving and depositing your checks and that it would be best to close the P.O. Box and encourage our church treasurers to send the BMA of MO offerings to my address
and the Meramec offeringsto his address. Of course I will keep the P.O. Box open for at least two more months and give time for everyone to make the adjustments involved.
Please note that the checks and correspondence for Meramec Association Missions should be sent to:
Pastor John Dover
Friendship Baptist Church
630 N. Commercial Street
St. Clair, MO 63077
All correspondence and checks for BMA of MO Missions should be sent to:
James Hoffmann
176 Bear Creek Dr.
Wentzville, MO 63385
Treasurers who also send offerings to the Missouri Missionary Baptist Paper are encouraged to put both checks in one envelope and mail to Bro. Hoffmann at the address above. If you have any questions feel free to call me at 314-277-8644.
Thank you for your patience as we serve the Lord and His churches in Missouri.