Missions Reports

February 2022 – Mission Director’s Report

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Churches of the BMAMO:

I hope you have enjoyed this Christmas and New year season. It is hard to believe that we have already put a month into the books of 2022.

I want to encourage you to pray for our national Missionary Bro. Juan Fernandez, I know He does His own article, but as your missions director, it is imperative that I encourage you to lift him and his family up, not just for the ministries that He is conducting, but on every level.

One of the most disturbing principles in Scripture is the Golden Rule. Think about it, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

If you were Bro. Juan would you just want someone to pray for you occasionally and then only that you succeed as a missionary? No! You would want the people that populate the churches that support you to pray for every facet of your life. Such as: Finances, health, leisure, family, friends, spiritual health, possessions, as I like to say every facet of life. I know Bro. Juan and his family will be forever grateful if we pray like this for him.

Now what I have just illustrated is the very reason for the benchmark assessment, the assessment addresses how well you as an individual and a church are achieving this type of praying, and the pamphlet that accompanies it helps us get this lifestyle into a discipline. Please use the pamphlet weekly to help you accomplish this discipline. If I can help in any way please let me know.

Pastor, if you would like me to come this summer on a Wednesday, please contact me and we will set it up. May the Lord richly bless you all.

Again pastors please plan to come and bring your men with you to the Renewal Retreat at Camp Garwood March 25 – 26, 2022!

The Retreat is free but you need to register all that are coming from your church with me at 636-629-2526 or by email . We need to hear from you by right away.

Bro. Ben Kingston

December 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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Dear Churches of the BMAMO:

Merry Christmas, everybody! It has been a full year plus 2 months since I became your Missions Director and that time has been fruitful and positive in many ways. I could not be more excited about the ministry that Bro. Juan Fernandez and his family are carrying out and the fruit that they are seeing. I beg you to continue to pray and support Bro. Juan in any and every way the Lord leads.

On a State level, I am striving to encourage each church to do the BMAMO assessment and utilize the accompanying pamphlet so that the next time you perform the assessment, the church as a whole will score better and thereby increase their Missions knowledge. These articles over the next few months will lay out specifically the impetus behind the assessment questions and how to use the pamphlet to better prepare yourself for your next assessment. I am hearing positive things from the churches that have made use of the assessment and will be sharing that soon.

Most of us have heard the question, “What do you give someone that has everything?” As Americans, we don’t think of ourselves in that light, yet compared to 2/3 of the world we do have everything. We have comfortable homes, wardrobes to clothe ourselves, refrigerators and freezers full of food, cars, trucks, houses, and lands. You and I know there are lots of people that have more “stuff” than we do. But to get back to the question – what do you give someone that has everything? The answer is to give them something that they cannot provide for themselves. For every man, woman, boy, and girl, that is what Jesus did for us. He gave us the one thing we could never provide for ourselves – His precious salvation. This is why we call ourselves “Missionaries.” It is our mission to take this most wonderful gospel to the world, specifically to the people within your and my sphere of influence.

On a very practical level, I believe we can take the same ideology and ask, “What can I do for the people within my sphere of influence that they cannot do for themselves?” That’s the way you make your Christmas list and shed the light of the gospel in their lives. Some of those on your list will have physical needs, some will be spiritual, some will be time that you spend with them, and some will be financial gifts. I encourage you to ask yourself the question as you go about preparing to bless others with a gift.

Lastly, on a negative note, but also positive from the standpoint of potential healing and restoration, our Baptist Missionary Association President Justin Rhodes was relieved of his duties as Pastor of his church because of an unstated moral failure. This is public knowledge, I am told, and I got permission to share this before I included it in this article. You may not know Justin, but I do. This was a shock and a great disappointment. I have nothing but empathy, forgiveness, and love for Justin, and I’m asking you to pray for him, the church that he pastored, and the association, that God will bring healing, restoration, and forgiveness. I love the verse that says God will restore the years the locust have eaten. What Satan means for evil, God will use for good and for a lesson to all of us.

Let’s remember 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

May the Lord richly bless you this Christmas season.
Bro. Ben Kingston

November 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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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

September 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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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

August 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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A page from my heart…

Unfortunately, I was not able to go to the national Association meeting. I’ve heard nothing but good reports from those who were able to go, and Missouri was well represented. As you know, it’s been a difficult season for meetings since Covid hit in 2020, and date adjustments made it quite difficult for many including myself to attend.

It is my understanding that we were well represented in the missions commissioning service with Bro. Juan being our representative as a national missionary to the St. Louis Hispanic people. It is so exciting to see him and his family do such a tremendous job in that ministry.

As I shared in last month’s edition, I had the opportunity to speak at Ohlman Baptist Church. This past month I was invited to share at Stony Point, where other churches availed themselves of that meeting. It’s a thrill to represent and present the work that we’re striving to do for the BMA of Missouri in the area of missions.

I have been in discussions with the advisory committee of the Meramec Association, and it is their recommendation that we not hire a missions director at this point, but see how the push for the Benchmark Assessments goes with our churches as a whole throughout the state. If the Meramec churches that also are supporting the state association throw in with their support of the Benchmark Assessment approach, we will basically be accomplishing the same thing.

Therefore, I’m asking everyone who reads this article to pray as we continue this push to get our churches to raise the bar of missions awareness, that the Benchmark Assessment will do just that, and that our churches will grow in awareness of our missions program, and we will become better missionaries and see more churches planted in the state of Missouri. That is the end goal that we are hoping to accomplish.

The finished product of the Benchmark Assessment test and pamphlet will be ready by the annual meeting.

I will be contacting those churches that let me know at the mid-year meeting that they would be interested in the pilot group. If you are one of those churches I would appreciate a text or an email to help my memory. I hope to prepare those churches with exactly what they need to do by the annual meeting in October.

Thank you again for this opportunity. May the Lord bless you as you strive to reach others for Him.

PS: A note to Meramec churches: White Oak Grove was the intended destination for this year‘s annual meeting September 24, 2021 but they are not going to be able to host that meeting, so it will be at Bethel Baptist Church on that same date and will begin at 10 AM. We will send a letter to all the MLBA churches, but please help us spread the word.

Bro. Ben Kingston

BMMA IN ST LOUIS: Hispanic Missionary Outreach 7/2021 “Belen”

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May 31st during our home Bible discovery time, the man of the house, Nahum Jeronimo, expressed his desire to be born again. We have started with our second stage of discipleship process, PRAISE THE LORD! Please keep Mrs. Jeronimo, that she follows the lead of the Holy Spirit and the example of Nahum to also become a new born again person. On 6/19/21 a Tree fell on the roof of their mobile home, God protected them, the local fire department had to come and rescue them since the doors were unable to open because the frame received severe damage.

English as Second Language in Bethany Church in Overland: Completed 80 hours.

We celebrated the completion of the first trimester of English Class. We enjoyed the addition of a new tutor for the class in Bethany, sister Sandra. The students Omar, Cecilia and Janeth presented improvement of their language in front of the fellowship and company of Bethany church with Brother Hoffmann & Sister Mary, Sister Tiny, Sister Darlene and Fran & Jeremiah. We enjoyed an authentic Salvadorian delicious meal in the fellowship hall at Bethany.

English as Second Language in Faith Baptist Church in St Charles.

We started with one of the students, Maria who gather 6 more people to become students and potential contacts for our mission in this area of Missouri. We are planning, God willing to resume class on Monday and Friday of the months of August to November. Looking forward to have tutors join us in this mission outreach. We are so thankful for the Hospitality from our fellow brothers in Christ at Faith.

“Pray without ceasing…” every day of the week 12:00 p.m. join in prayer for this mission.

BIBLE OUTREACH FOR CHILDREN DURING THIS MONTH OF JULY

We are praying for God’s direction and provision of ninos and ninas to come and learn about Jesus, how to read the Bible, how to sing songs and discover their abilities to create crafts and play with us. There are two opportunities we have in mind: reaching out children in Chesterfield trailer park and the neighborhood in Overland MO. We are planning to determine whether we will be in both places or just one depending on parents’ interest and commitment to join for our prayer and discovery Bible time on Sunday 12:00 p.m.

LINDSAY LANE MINISTRY PARTNERSHIP

We had the privilege to bring a ministry update and a message encouraging our brothers and sister to pray for the advancement of the Gospel among our hispanic Families in the area. We had also an opportunity to join Lindsay Lane in the Sports Camp summer event. Victoria our oldest daughter made new friends and become aware of belonging to a team…her team…the blue team. Also I had the privilege to teach a lessons about Jesus and His work among us before during and after his death and the great commission to go and make disciples to all nations.

Baby’s Arrival 10/23/2021

We continue preparing our home for our baby boy to join our family. He is expected to be born by the 3rd week of October. We ask each one of you in our BMAA family of churches to pray for the following:

  • Pray for health and peace for us, especially for Hannah during this preparation and baby growth period.
  • Pray for the place were baby will be born.
  • Pray for Salvation in each contact we connect on a daily basis.
  • For ESL outreach Fall students and tutors to be ready to develop healthy relationship for eternity.
  • Pray that Nahum and Ermilanda complete each one of the steps for a healthy biblical Spirit-led discipleship and each one of their family member’s salvation.
  • That daily prayer time and discovery Bible study continues to be available and a blessing for those who need to hear the Gospel in Spanish.
  • For ESL Fall Outreach, students and tutors relationship for eternity.

Dios le bendiga!
God bless you!

Thank God for His blessings upon this ministry and for those who are willing to give of their time and effort to reach those who need the Lord. Pray for Bro. Juan and his family as they labor among the Hispanic people.

We have met some great people who are searching for peace and joy that is only found in Christ!

Contact Us
Facebook Page: Belen en Overland or Juan Fernandez/ Hannah Fernandez
EMAIL: pastorjuanfernandez@gmail.com
Telephone:(618) 581 8056

July 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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Dear churches of the state Association of Missouri,

Well, we are roughly three months removed from the semiannual meeting and missions symposium, and a third of the way through summer break. My, how life flies by!

Dawn, Molly, and I were with Ohlman Baptist Church last Wednesday, June 23, with Elaine Stricklin representing Mt. Olive Baptist Church that evening also. The meeting was well attended. I have known Ohlman’s pastor, Bro. Terry Sharpe, for many years and appreciate His love for the Lord’s church and His heart for missions.

I have an appointment set up for July 14th at 7 p.m. at Stoney Point Missionary Baptist Church in Potosi. Any and all churches are invited to attend this ‘Missions Rally.’ Being a full-time pastor and wearing many other hats as well, it is such a blessing if these opportunities can be availed to by more than one church at a time. I have a few more open dates left this summer if you would like to have me come and present our state missions effort. I would also invite you to look at next summer and get an appointment on the calendar.

I relish the opportunity to cover several churches next summer, hopefully rejoicing over what God is doing with our BMAMO benchmark assessment effort to raise the bar of missions awareness and missions effort in our churches.

I would also like to take this opportunity to remind our pastors to please reserve and protect the dates of March 25-26 for our Renewal Retreat at Camp Garwood that had to be cancelled because of COVID last year. More details as it gets closer.

The theme and speaker is Dr. Gavin Hooks on the The Core Principle.

May the Lord richly bless you is my prayer,

Bro. Ben Kingston, Director

June 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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A Page From My Heart…

What an amazing May it has been for the Kingston family and the State Association!

The Kingston’s saw their youngest graduate High School and leave for an 11 week camp for the summer. We saw our oldest son be ordained to the ministry and then Dawn and I spent the last week on vacation because our February trip was upended due to my having covid! We ended our trip by swinging through Little Rock, AR to visit my 80 + year old mother! So to say it has been a busy month would be an understatement but it was a good month!

Bethel is firing up for VBS this week which Iam sure many of you are doing at your respective churches.

On a Director of Missions note, my cup is full from the Missions Symposium and the State Meeting that we had on May 14th and 15th at New Testament Baptist in Sullivan.

Special thanks to New Testament and Bro. Josh Wright and His family for the amazing way they carried out the host duties! The facilities were top notch and the food was excellent as well along with the tremendous hospitality. Their goal was to bless the association and I would say, “Goal Accomplished!

I was excited about the reception of the “bmamo benchmark assessment” that was presented and we had at least five churches mention that they would like to be pilot churches. The Hope and goal is to have all of our bmamo churches involved with the benchmark assessment.

If you as the pastor want more information or were not able to be with us and you would like to discuss this with me please contact me at your convenience.

I will be with Bro. Terry Sharpe soon and at Stoney point on July 14th. If you are close to these churches please try to attend so you can hear more about this exciting effort to raise the bar of missions awareness in our work. The date is not set with Bro. Sharpe yet, but I will get word to those churches in his area when it is.

Or if you would like to schedule a Wednesday evening with the missions director through the summer there are a few dates left.

On a closing note, please pray for Bro. Juan and the missions effort in which he and his family is involved. They saw a precious soul come to the Lord this week. So proud of them and the work the Lord is doing through them.
Also please pray for protection for our camps this summer and everything that involves. From protection from thieves, to protection of our campers, to the salvation of many souls.

May the Lord bless you is my prayer:
Ben Kingston,
Director of Missions
BMA of Missouri
636-629-2978 Work
636-629-2526 Cell

93rd Semi-Annual Meeting of the BMA of Missouri

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Finally feeling a little less pressure from the pandemic threats that prevented our semi-annual meeting of 2020, the Association once again met for the mid-year meeting on May 15 at New Testament Baptist Church in Sullivan.

Host pastor Bro. Josh Wright gave a welcome and opening prayer, then Bro. Juan Fernandez shared the morning devotional on Prayer, taken from Romans 8:26.

Moderator Jerry Adams called the meeting to order. The normal slate of reports was presented for the State and some of the National Departments.

The Association was blessed to receive its first report from our new Missions director, Bro. Ben Kingston. Bro. Ben encouraged all our churches to consider participating in a program he is introducing that will encourage our members to learn more about our work for the Lord and inspire them to help us carry out God’s work according to His will. In this program each church will go through what Bro. Ben calls the “BMAMO BENCHMARK ASSESSMENT.” In this manner each pastor and church will be able to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and what they need to do to make corrections to help them accomplish God’s will for them. Bro. Ben passed out guidelines for that program and will be working with our pastors and churches to implement the goals needed.

The Missionary Committee met and presented the guidelines for support of Bro. Juan Fernandez who is a missionary of the BMA of America and is working in Missouri to reach the Hispanic population with the Gospel.

After a rising vote of appreciation to the host pastor and church for their hospitality by the Association, Bro. Dan Wisely gave the annual message on “What are Our Orders?”

A delicious meal was provided by the host church and enjoyed by all before we headed for home rejoicing over a great time of praise and fellowship.

by Bro. Don Burke, Clerk

May 2021 – Mission Director’s Report

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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.