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Dear BMA of Missouri Churches:

WOW, well, here we are! It is Thanksgiving and then Christmas season. But relax! According to the media, we won’t have Christmas this year because all the “stuff” that makes Christmas Christmas is out on shipping containers in the sea for one reason or another. So, we will not be able to have Christmas the way we are used to … wait for it … GOOD! Now, why would I say that? Because if those folks think that some $50 gadget is the sum total of Christmas, then they truly have allowed the commercialization of Christmas to blind them.

Dear Churches, Christmas has always been a little babe in a manger bringing God’s love to the world. And it still is!I am so glad that the love of Jesus is not dependent on the supply chain of America. (As someone posted on Facebook “Christmas isn’t stranded on ships in either ocean. God delivered Christmas over 2,000 years ago. JESUS CHRIST is Christmas!)
Some of you might be thinking, “Wait a minute, Bro. Ben, aren’t we getting ahead of ourselves? We have Thanksgiving first, don’t we? Yes, no doubt! But I wanted to highlight what the news is cramming down our throats because in their eyes, if we can’t have Christmas the way we are used to, why on earth would we have anything to be thankful for?

Let’s count, shall we? For the moment we still have a free country. We still have the freedom to worship the way we biblically see fit. We still have a representative government. We still have free elections. We can still move throughout the country with freedom. We can still own and sell property. Now, are many of these freedoms being threatened? Absolutely! But we should be thankful that we have them at this moment.

Let’s get personal. We should be thankful for our physical health, at whatever level. We have our families and their health, at whatever level. We have friends. We have our churches. We have the Gospel. We have the Bible. We have the Church we attend. We have our Sunday School or Small Groups class we attend. We have the transcendent cause of sharing the Gospel with our friends, neighbors, and relatives.

My friends, we are a blessed people. Did you notice what is missing from that list? All the stuff that, if we are not careful, we think our life is truly about. But sir or ma’am, please go back over that list slowly and ask yourself, “Are these not the elements of our lives that truly matter?” If we take this attitude into Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will truly have a blessed holiday season.

Now for the real reason for this article. I know, I know! It’s long, please bear with me till the end.

I have done several funerals in October including: a 54 year old man, Jeff Folk from our church, 52 year old Karen Oats, wife of Bro. Eddie Paul (Pastor at Berean, who did the main portion of the service), and 62 year old Sandy Belew, my next door neighbor. If I missed one, please forgive me. My memory is not what it used to be.

These, however, stand out to me because I am 56 years old, so in that respect these are ‘my people.’ I don’t know about you, but my way of thinking is that this is way too young. Bro. Jeff went to sleep one night and never woke up. Sis Karen and Sis Sandy fought cancer for many years.

We are not promised tomorrow. This is the motto that has gone through my mind all month in response to the news of each of these home-goings: “One life to live, soon it will pass, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

If you have gone through the BMAMO assessment, you know that the whole point of the document is to put the emphasis of our lives on people and their eternal souls. That which truly matters is that which will last forever. The stuff on those shipping containers will rot in a matter of years while our souls will last forever. Please make your life about that which Christ made His life about: the lost souls of men, women, boys, and girls.

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

Dear Missouri Baptist churches,

It is quite possible that this will be the last article before our annual meeting at Faith Baptist Church on October 9, 2021 convening at 9 AM, so I want to use this opportunity to prepare you for what you’re going to hear and what “I believe” God is asking us to do as an association to prepare for a missions reset in our state.

This began in May at the mid-year meeting, where I shared with you the BMAMO missions assessment and the resulting pamphlet that guides someone wanting to raise the bar of our missions awareness.
Why would we start here? Well, let me answer that question by my own experience. As Bethel’s pastor I am striving to do a better job of educating and guiding our church in the area of missions, what we are currently doing as a national association, and how we should be involved on all association levels. The blunt reality of it is that we are under-performing as an association when it comes to missions efforts even within our own churches and certainly when it comes to planting churches. My vision if you will, and the vision that I’m striving to cast starting last May and now in October and beyond, is to raise the bar of awareness in our own churches as to what we are already doing as an association and then to raise the bar of action in our participation and great commission skills.

About 20 some odd years ago now, I heard perhaps one of the greatest messages I have ever heard by Charlie Holmes and it was called “the three prayers that God always answers,” that are found in John 14, 15, and 16. Each verse ends with “ask anything in My name and My Father will do it.” That is a rough paraphrase but that’s essentially what is stated, however the context for each verse is different.

John 14:13,14 “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

John 15:16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

John 16:23 “And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

These are the three verses that Charlie went on to expound upon and this is the long and short of that message and honestly the impetus of what I’m striving to do!

When you go by the context of these three chapters, the context of all three statements is different.

Statement #1 in John 14 – the context is the work of the kingdom

Statement # 2 in John 15 – the context is the fruit that is to be bore by believers

Statement #3 in John 16 – the context is the spirit of God

So we have these three summations of these three chapters and these three statements: ask whatsoever ye will in my name and I will do it.

These are not in the order that they are presented here in scripture.

Prayer #1 based on John 16 – the prayer that God will always answer is GOD HELP ME TO KNOW YOU.

If you and I are soaking in the spirit of God and the word of God, the spirit of God is going to speak to us through the word of God and we’re going to know him. This is the most basic element and none more important for the repentant sinner than for him to be inextricably connected to his Savior and his God!

Prayer #2 found in John 14 – LET US IN ON YOUR KINGDOM WORK

As you grow in your relationship with God, you’re going to want to bless God, you’re going to want to serve him. The only way to effectively serve God is to get involved in his kingdom work. What is his kingdom work? Sharing his gospel, living a holy life, growing in the gospel as a disciple, and ultimately reaching other people for the gospel’s sake.

Prayer #3 is found in John 15 – LORD HELP US TO BEAR YOUR FRUIT!

As you and I grow in our love relationship with Jesus Christ, and as we ask Him to show us where he is working, we can’t help but to bear the two types of fruit: inner fruit and outer fruit. The inner fruit is the fruit of the spirit, and couldn’t we all do with a good dose of the fruit of the spirit? “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, against such there is no law,” according to Galatians 5:22. And then the outward fruit of soul-winning and discipleship.

Pastor, as you and your church apply the loving challenges that are found in the BMAMO benchmark assessment, you will fulfill these three areas. It is my humble opinion that as we apply ourselves to this approach of raising the bar in our knowledge and awareness of what we’re already doing as an association and then raise the bar in our own lives of being missionaries to our world through prayer and evangelistic action, our churches will grow and we will plant more churches. Isn’t that what we were created for?

I look forward to seeing you at our upcoming meetings.

Bro. Ben Kingston