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May 2015 – Mission Director’s Report

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Director’s Resignation….
The Mission Advisory Committee met in Perryville, MO this past month to prepare recommendations for our semi annual meeting. I informed the committee that the Lord had been preparing my wife and I for a new ministry adventure in the state of Arkansas. We are joining the staff at Grace Hills Church in Rogers, AR as their Community Pastor. Carolyn and I are excited about this opportunity and look forward to a very rewarding ministry. With this move in mind, I have resigned my position as Director of Missions effective May 31, 2015. Thank you for allowing me to serve you these past 15 years.

Symposium Program…
Friday evening, May 15, we will host our Annual Mission Symposium at Mt. Zion Baptist Church beginning at 6:00 p.m. Our special guests for the evening will be Dr. Scott Attebery and
Pastor Todd West. They will share with us a new initiative called “Activate” which is a
coach-driven program or tool to help churches to stop the decline and experience good
church health and growth. The following is a tentative schedule that we will try
to follow:
Worship in Song- Mt. Zion Baptist Church
Message- “The Importance of Evaluating Your Church” (Scott Attebery) 30 minutes
Break: 30 minutes
Training – “Introduction To Activate” a coach driven tool to help your church become more healthy. (Todd West) 60 Minutes

Cooperate Prayer Session – “Praying together for your church” (Todd West) 15-20 minutes
We have a lot of hurting churches within our state work and many of them can be described as “declining churches.” I hope that you will make a serious effort to attend the mission symposium at 6:00 PM on Friday evening. Pastors, please bring some of your lay people so they, too, can hear what is available to help them to stop the decline and once again dream of better days ahead!

I look forward to seeing you in Poplar Bluff!

Remember, the Goal for the Mission Symposium is the New Roof on the Tabernacle at Camp Garwood.

Bring a group from your church and a generous offering for Camp Garwood.

April 2015 – Mission Director’s Report

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From Our Missions Director….
Pastor Matt Johnson and the good folks at Mt. Zion Baptist Church are planning a great meeting for our Mid Year meeting on May 15-16. We will start off Friday evening (6:00 PM) with our annual Mission Symposium. This year we will have two special guests in Pastor Todd West of the Oasis Church in Maumelle, AR and Dr. Scott Atteberry, the Executive Director of the BMAA DiscipleGuide Ministries. In a recent news announcement from DiscipleGuide, we were informed of a new ministry to be offered to the churches of the BMA of America. The following is a quote from that news release:

Todd West, Director of Church Solutions
According to DiscipleGuide Executive Director Scott Attebery, “Todd’s experience and track record as a pastor, church planter, and consultant have prepared him to serve in this role.” West’s role as Director of Church Solutions is a new position focused on DiscipleGuide’s new emphasis on getting personally involved with local churches.

Already, DiscipleGuide is working with several churches through the new Activate initiative, a coach-driven approach to helping hurting churches experience revitalization. Also on the horizon for the new Church Solutions division are much-needed resources such as an Intentional Interim program and a confidential Pastor’s Helpline.

According to West, “It will be an honor to serve pastors and churches who are seeking solutions to the challenges we face today.”

It seems that all churches begin with an upward incline as a mission church. Soon there is a church organization, a building program, and the addition of staff as the church growths. Yet within a few years, the church tends to slow down and assumes a “reclining position”. This reclining action soon turns to “declining” movement, where people, resources, and ministry comes to a crawl or standstill. Unless it is turned around, the church may soon come to believe that its best days are behind her.

We have a lot of hurting churches within our state work and many of them can be described as “declining churches”. On this Friday evening of the Symposium, these two men will help us to understand that there is both hope and help for churches who are experience a “decline” in their attendance, ministry, and overall, church health.

I hope that you will make a serious effort to attend the mission symposium at 6:00 PM on Friday evening. Pastors, please bring some of your lay people so they, too, can hear what is available to help them to stop the decline and once again dream of better days ahead! I look forward to seeing you in Poplar Bluff May 15th at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday May 16th!

March 2015 – Mission Director’s Report

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From Our Mission Director….
I read the sad story the other day of a 26 year old flight attendant who was fired from her job for posing for Playboy Magazine. What was interesting was the reason for doing something that would cost her job. She stated that she had a lung disease that would require surgery and that the outcome was not good. She decided to pose for the magazine so the world would remember her.

The world is filled with people who desperately wish to be remembered. Many are inclined to build monuments to themselves in one way or another. This is why the account of Babel, found in Genesis chapter 11, is so important for us. It exposes the underlying cause for building monuments.

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4
What lessons are in this story for us today?

1) Man’s plans will never thwart God’s purposes.

God had commanded mankind to “fill the earth.” Man preferred to cloister rather than to comply with God’s command to spread out. In spite of man’s greatest efforts, God’s purposes prevailed.

2) Unity is not the highest good, but purity and obedience to the Word of God.
At first glance, we may commend the people for wanting to be of one voice and to be together in one place. Unity is a great virtue. Psalm 133:1 states, “ BEHOLD, HOW good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity”

This is a good thing, but the Bible also says: in Amos 3:3, “Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?” Ecumenism is the watch word of religion today, but it is a unity at the cost of truth. Some regard unity as a goal worthy of any sacrifice. God does not.

3) The Word of God, and not the works of our hands, is the only thing worthy of our faith.
The men of Babel began to look at work as the cure rather than the curse. They believed that the work of their hands could assure them of some kind of immortality beyond the grave. Here, I suspect, is the driving force behind many a workaholic. He cannot ever rest because he (or she) is never certain that a large enough monument has been built. Human endeavor is never satisfying, never fulfilling. Only work which is done for the Lord and in His strength brings lasting satisfaction.

The work of missions and church planting is labor that can bring satisfaction to our hearts for we know it is the great burden of our Lord. When we give of ourselves to the cause of sharing the gospel with the world, we are content with making our Savior famous and the Kingdom of God larger.

by Danny Kirk

A Challenge to the Meramec Association

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by Pastor Ben Kingston, Bethel Baptist Church • Lonedell, MO

I’m sitting here on Wednesday night at one of the most beautiful evenings that I’ve ever seen at Jesus Camp at the Meramec Retreat Center. We had a good crowd; however it is small. I’m sitting here wondering aloud that out of 20 churches why is this tabernacle not full on Wednesday night? This campus is within 20 to 40 minutes of most of our churches.

About 5 years ago I had the idea to challenge our churches to have a Camp attendance sign-up by March, challenging each member and attendee to pick a night to attend. If you want to pick all the same night for your church, that’s great. Or, if you have folks that want to come different nights whatever the case may be.

As the Pastor of Bethel Baptist Church and the Chairman of the Camp Committee, I’m asking every church to participate in the Meramec Association Jesus Camp and by March that you put a sign-up sheet. I’m challenging the Pastors to challenge your members and attendees to pick a night and come. The goal is to get as many folks of your membership here that you can.

So now, a test question: “Do I have to convince anyone in this association that America needs revival? If so, then I’ll love you enough to tell you that you have your head firmly in the sand. We are a broken nation. We are a dying nation, and as a result, we are a suffering nation. I don’t believe our kids are the problem. I believe Christians refusing to sell out to the Great Commission is.

I know that our churches are full of people that are sold out today to the Commission, so I’m asking you to be the change that you want to see in our youth and here is an opportunity to do just that.

One of the things that is wrong with Christianity in America is a refusal to join in where you see God working. We had 13 saved at Kid Camp. God is working! Please come. Bring your kids and grand kids, or send hem and then come in the evening and see what God has done on that day.

This association has somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 invested. We should not only support because of finances. We should support this Camp because of the commitment to Christ. Our goal is to reach lost men, women, boys, and girls.

I was told as a young lad that the reason that we are part of an association is because we can do together more than what we can do alone, so I’m asking you to come together and let’s do more.

Those words were spoken into my phone over 6 months ago. You may notice it is not the most eloquent letter you have ever heard, but I hope you hear the passion and desperation that we all should feel about the condition of our nation.

In those 6 months we have seen a government cast off the Constitution in her dealings. Many of our states that voted to uphold the scriptural definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman have seen that vote overturned. Ferguson has happened. A minister has been told that if he does not solemnize marriages between homosexuals he will face jail time. The Houston Mayor subpoenaed the sermons of Houston Churches because of their stand against a policy she was supporting that furthered the LBGT agenda (she has since dropped it). And now, the Mayor of Atlanta, GA has fired the Fire Chief for a Christian book that he wrote that has 1-2 pages addressing homosexuality as a sin. We are in trouble.

I am submitting this challenge now to get involved in any way and everywhere you can. Specifically, come to Camp.

Following is a letter from Makayla Sanders encouraging you not to just come and worship, but come and participate. Have you got your steel-toed boots on?
There is one main area that is physically noticeable wherein most Baptist Churches are in disobedience and that is our eating habits. What would happen in our Churches if we got in line with scripture and treated the body that He gave us as His temple and did not defile it with too much sugar, fat, etc.? I believe we would see an outpouring of God’s power that would surprise us and most likely revive us.

So please hear Makayla:

Hello, my name is Makayla Sanders. Bro. Ben asked me to write this letter to you. We were talking during ‘The Beast’ challenge at camp last year about how many people in our association could and should run ‘The Beast.’ Then we got onto health, so I just want to share these thoughts with you in light of that conversation.

Do you think it is a sin to be overweight? Why would it be? “It is not hurting anyone” is what most people think. Well, you are hurting someone, more than one person – you’re hurting yourself and God. Being overweight is a sin. Proverbs 23:1-3 says ‘when you sit down to eat with a ruler consider carefully what is in front of you and put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to your appetite. Do not desire his delicacies for they are deceptive food.” The Bible does not really mean to put a knife to your throat, it is just saying to curb your appetite; control it. As Christians, we look at people that drink and think, “I can’t believe they are doing that” or “drinking is not the answer to your problems.” Well, when we look down on them for doing that, we should look at what we do wrong. Proverbs 23:20 “Do not mix with wine bibbers or with gluttonous eaters of meat.” This is saying that overeating is just as bad as drinking.

God wants us to live a healthy, joyful life. I’m almost 100% sure that you want to live a healthy, joyful life as well, so why not take a stand? Do what you’re called to do and be a good example for people; for the kids growing up behind you.

I am 16 years old and one of my biggest fears is becoming overweight so what I need to do is eat healthy. A website that I have used to see if I can find a type of healthy snack is Pinterest. Pinterest has a ton of great ideas for eating healthy. If you and your family are always on the go, then you can look up quick and easy healthy dinners or you could prepare a meal, freeze it, and pop it in the oven when you are ready to have that meal.

Another thing I need to do is to stay active. We are always busy running around, some of us taking our kids to places that we need to go. Well, that doesn’t always leave time to be active so we say,“Okay, I can’t workout today, I’ll do it tomorrow,” or “I cannot fit it in my schedule, I cannot do it today.” Then the cycle repeats itself everyday. We need to make it a habit and make it a part of our schedule. Being active doesn’t always mean to go on a run, lift weights or see how many sit ups or push ups we can do. Being active can mean to play outside with our families or go on a bike ride – something enjoyable. You could even start a group and work out together and use each other as motivation. When you start falling behind you can ask someone else to help you. I know it is very hard to keep going and stay in that routine, but if you use each other for motivation and ask God for the strength, you will be able to do it if it is something you truly want for yourself and your family.

I’m writing this paper because I want to be able to help people out with their struggles. I am wanting to become a personal trainer after high school. God has blessed me with an opportunity to become a personal trainer. At the age right now, I think I would be able to use this job as a mission field. If I get this job it would be such a blessing. If I do not get the job then it’s OK, I will still try to stay active and eat healthy.

Please join us at Jesus Camp this year. Accept Bro. Ben’s challenge and let’s attend the worship services. Accept the challenge to get in shape and run ‘The Beast’!

Did you hear her passion? This is just one of many of our young people that attend our church not once a week, not twice a week, but three times a week and they love us. They want us to live as long as God wants us to. They want us to be healthy. They want us to set the example for them. They want us to be around long enough to see their VBS closing program, to see their Awana closing program, to see their baptism, to see their graduation, to see their wedding, to see their children.

Adults, I hear it all the time from quite honestly, I believe, preachers that are tired of talking to disinterested adults. Those preachers say that they believe the next revival is going to come from the youth and that most, if not all great revivals have come from the youth. I’m not trying to argue against history as much as tell you that I don’t believe that is God’s design. According to Scripture, it’s the adults that are to set the example. It’s the adults that are to lead.

So, I’m challenging myself and the Meramec Association to: #1 Pick at least one night to come to camp worship and be there by 6:30 p.m. #2 If you’re overweight, accept the challenge and let’s get in shape. #3 If you are able, take the challenge of the obstacle course that we call ‘The Beast’ and let’s have some fun. #4 and greatest of all, let’s individually daily pray for revival in America and please end your prayer with “Lord, start with me.”

Meramec Camp is July 19-25, 2015 – See YOU There!!

Editor’s Note: Even though this article is addressed to the churches of the Meramec Association it is a challenge to all us us. I hope everyone will read it and Pray for REVIVAL. “Let it begin in ME!”

February 2015 – Mission Director’s Report

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In the past few weeks, it has been my joy to preach at First Baptist of Potosi, MO, Friendship Baptist at Caseyville, IL, Berean Baptist in Fetus, MO, Friendship Baptist in St. Clair, MO and my home church of Bethany, St. Louis. With the exception of Friendship in St. Clair, all these churches are seeking God’s will in finding a new pastor. Please be in prayer for these congregations as they continue their search.

Our Mid Year Meeting and Mission Symposium will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Popular Bluff on May 15-16, 2015. Pastor Matt Johnson and I have been working on the Mission Symposium program and I believe that it will be an excellent investment of your time. Scott Attebery, Director of DiscipleGuide and Pastor Todd West are going to be our speakers on Friday evening. I hope you are making plans to attend.

Please check out our BMA of Missouri website at www.bmamissouri.org. Bro. Brad Miller has done an excellent job in organizing the site and keeping it current.

There you can keep up with the upcoming events and organizations in our association such as the WMA, Camp, and Brotherhood. If you have misplaced your copy of the Missouri Baptist, you will find past issues of the paper for downloading. If you have something that you would like to see on the calendar, please contact Bro. Brad at: cheops123@sbcglobal.net

by Danny R. Kirk

January 2015 – Mission Director’s Report

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I hope you had a great Christmas celebrating the birth of our Savior and I hope you are looking forward to growth in your spiritual life in this new year. This time of the year is always a time of reflection for me. I reflect on the past and wonder, “Did I represent the Savior well?” After a time of reflection, I have a great desire to doing a better job in the days and months to come.

My friend, Dave Devries, wrote a blog about reflecting on the old year and in his blog he asked some powerful questions to help anyone take an inventory of their life and to help move them forward to greater awareness of their life before God. I found them challenging, convicting, and helpful! Take a look at the questions below and give an honest answer:

  1. What did I do well?
  2. What habits have I maintained?
  3. Who have I influenced to follow Jesus?
  4. Where do I need to improve?
  5. How have I experienced…
  6. Victory over sin and true repentance?
  7. God’s presence and peace?
  8. Hope for the future?
  9. True friendship?
  10. Growth in character and integrity?
  11. Grace and forgiveness?
  12. What sins do I need to confess?
  13. Whom do I need to forgive?
  14. What difference did I make this past year?
  15. What would be worth repeating in the new year?
  16. How did my life bring God glory?

I challenge you to take the next 10 days and journal your answer to one of these 10 questions. In your journaling, look for scriptures that speak to the question and write them down. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do to obey this passage of Scripture?” And then write out a prayer committing yourself to action with God’s help. A honest appraisal and a devoted heart can make 2015 our best year yet for spiritual growth!

What “We’ve Always Done It That Way” Really Means

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“We’ve always done it that way.”

There is a certain stereotype in the minds of pastors and church leaders when they hear that phrase. The stereotype I am referring to is of an out-of-touch, die-hard, traditional, older member who can’t see the ridiculous nature of basing decisions mindlessly upon patterns of behavior in the past.

Well, if that’s the case, I’ve become that out-of-touch stereotypical non-change agent.

For the past 20-something years, the Arkansas Razorbacks (my favorite team) has played LSU the day after thanksgiving. I have so many great memories of traveling with special friends to watch that game over the years. As silly as it sounds, that game –on that day- has a special place in my heart.

The other day, I read in the newspaper that the game has been moved to another date and a new team has been placed on our schedule for Thanksgiving weekend. Before I could realize what was happening, the thought was echoing in my mind, “But we’ve always done it that way.”

My next thought was, “I can’t believe I just said that!”

I tried to process what happened inside of me. I wasn’t necessarily clinging to tradition. And I wasn’t so stuck in my ways that I thought changing was irreverent or wrong. No, what was happening inside of me was an acknowledgement that I had an emotional tie to something. It was actually a compliment to my friends and all of the great memories we had made over the years at that game.

I cringed as my mind took me back to the years I pastored. Every time I heard “We’ve always done it that way,” I respectfully listened, but behind my smiles and nods, my mind was grasping to the stereotype.

I interpreted the phrase as “Pastor, you better do a good sales job if you want me to change.” It was a call to attack and force change.

However, those uttering the phrase, I believe, were really saying something more like, “Pastor, this has meant a lot to me in the past. I just want you to know this will be a difficult change for me.”

What I always assumed was an attack was actually a complement. Those members were actually trusting me with their feelings! It was a sign that they honored me and wanted me to help them through the change –not go to war over it.

Oh how I wish I would have realized it years ago.

After all, if I could get so emotional over memories from a football game, just imagine how emotional someone could be over tearing down a building where their children were baptized or ending a program their late spouse helped begin. These people are not anti-progress, they are simply in touch with the gravity of the situation.

If you are a pastor or church leader, the next time you hear “we’ve never done it that way before:”

  • Consider it an honor that they trust you with their feelings.
  • Ask questions and show them that you respect and honor their emotions.
  • Remember that they are complimenting the ministry.
  • Speak highly of the ministry in the past.
  • Love them before you attempt to lead them. Your ability to lead change is directly related to your genuine love for your members. They need to know they can trust your heart.
  • Continue asking for their input as you proceed.
  • If you decide change must take place, consider having a public recognition of the past ministry that is changing. Sometimes people just need to express themselves before they can move on.

by Scott Attebery, Executive Director of DiscipleGuide

The Door Is Always Open

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Oscar and Tamy Gaitan’s door is always open to anyone who desires to support the mission work in Nicaragua in any way. The same held true years ago when Tamy’s mother, Karen Smith, went to Nicaragua to teach. She found Paul and Mickey Robinson and John and Shirley Ladd very welcoming to her. In fact, she lived with John and Shirley for a while. At that point, Nicaragua was a growing mission work within the BMAA. Then, due to the political situation, we had to withdraw the American families from there. Now it seems to be open and thriving again.

Oscar and Tamy married in 1998 and have lived in Nicaragua the whole time, Oscar, having grown up there. They have two children: Lidia Sarai, who is 10, and Ostali Natanael, who is 1. The children go with their parents and help in the mission work as well.

In 2004, Oscar was asked to be the coordinator of missions for the country of Nicaragua. At that time, they began with Action centers (or what we might call cell groups) in different parts of the country. They have opened at least one church plant each year, and sometimes two. This year, however, God has blessed them with four new church plants. They currently have 26 churches in Nicaragua—17 churches and 9 new church plants that are less than 5 years old. They begin a church plant with an action center or cell group and grow and multiply from there.

Nicaragua also has a Bible Institute with two extensions to train their leaders. One is in the area of San Francisco Libre; the other is at La Esperanza, on the east coast. This is a much needed asset anywhere. Without proper training, it is difficult for those who have never known anything about true Christianity to understand what they need themselves, much less to provide it for others. The classes are taught by men from Nicaragua.

Years ago, the Robinsons and Ladds began a clinic ministry in Nicaragua. There is also a clinic ministry operating in a remote area of Nicaragua today. That allows the people to get general medicines much closer to home. This is in San Jorge, San Francisco Libre. BMMI teams also come on a regular basis to perform needed medical and dental work in these areas.

Different churches from Arkansas, Mississippi and Texas have greatly supported the ministry in Nicaragua. These people have sent groups to work on construction of church buildings and other ministry needs such as conferences. These groups help not only with the work, but also in establishing contact for them and spreading the gospel to different areas of Nicaragua.

Oscar and Tamy say, “We are always glad to have visitors and if you ever need a place to serve in missions, we would love for you to consider Nicaragua. Our home is always open to those who desire to support mission work in any way.”

submitted by Jackie Ricks
National WMA Editor

Rocky Goodwin EIM

Evangelistic International Ministries

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I would like to share the activities of Evangelistic International Ministries. It is easy to report when God has been so good and lives have been changed by the power of the Gospel. As I have said many times, that is the purpose of the existence of our ministry is to win people to Christ, teach them the Word of God and to strengthen the believers.

Over the past few months we have been asked these questions many times. Is EIM a part of the missions program of the BMA of America? Are we a member of the BMA? As founder and director of EIM for 18 years I feel that we should be known by now by our BMA churches and brethren as to our affiliation with the BMA. In order to answer these questions for those we meet within the BMA that don’t know I’d like to answer your questions.

Yes! We are a member of the BMA of America. Our Sending church is First Baptist Church of Magnolia, AR. I personally have been BMA all of my adult life. I was saved and ordained to the ministry in a BMA church and always pastored BMA churches. I hope this answers some of your questions. And now to the report.

I realize that many do not like numbers so all I will say is that God has reached down and touched the lives of countless thousands. Heaven has gained many souls because of churches that have given to the ministry of mission evangelism as well as individuals that have gone with us and shared the Gospel to those that we’ve ministered to. It is impossible to know exactly how many people have responded to the invitation to accept Christ as Savior. But I realize that it is our responsibility to share Christ and to make known the path that leads to Heaven and it is their responsibility to respond to the invitation.

by Director Rocky Goodwin

Help Me…I’m Stuck!!

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I remember a time last year when there were some new things happening in my life and ministry. I felt blessed, challenged, passionate, and excited because it seemed that God was up to something big in both my life and my wife’s life. Yet despite these wonderful experiences, I just felt “stuck”, unable to make the decisions that would affect our future. It was a paralysis of my own making as I contemplated different case scenarios, failures, consequences, and unknown factors. Eventually, I would bring this situation to my coach who would help me get “unstuck” and move forward. I came to realize that every pastor or leader needs a coach. How did my coach help me?

Let me share with you what happened to me through my coaching relationship:
1. With the right questions, my coach helped me prioritize my activities. There were several “good things” I could be doing, but I had to process and focus on what was important to our family while the rest could simply wait.
2. My coach helped me clarify what God was up to in my life. I had a vision of what I felt God wanted me to do, but I could not articulate it. Once I was able to put into words exactly what it would look like to accomplish the goal, hesitation on my part began to dissolve.
3. Sometimes, I can convince myself there is only one way to do something. My coach was great at challenging my assumptions and helping me to think “outside the box.” Other viable options and possibilities grew out of our conversations.
4. We all have blind spots and as I entered into the possibilities of this new transition, I did not want to make a decision based on something I could not…or refused to see. My coach helped me consider the things that were real, but not on my radar at the moment.
5. As I answered my coach’s questions and created a step-by-step action plan, the Holy Spirit began the work of affirmation in my heart. I speak of affirmation that comes from prayer, clarification and prioritizing of the goal, addressing blind spots, and considering multiple possible options. As my coach led me through this process, I became “unstuck,” taking the final steps to move forward and submit to God’s leading.

Carolyn and I are very thankful to the association for the Christmas offering. We wish you a Merry Christmas and I am praying that all of our churches will have a blessed year in 2015 as we serve the Lord together.

By Danny Kirk, Director of Missions