indicate that 61 percent of evangelical Christians fail to share their faith on a regular basis, even though they believe it is their responsibility

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1 JULY 2018 Bella Vista Baptist Church Phone: (479) Prayer Ministry: (479) Something to Think & Pray About by Pastor Mike McCauley Last month I wrote about the importance of the church getting its direction from God. We said, To be a biblical church, we absolutely must unapologetically preach the Word of God. That is essential, but it is not enough. We must also consider why the church exist? What does Scripture teach us about the church? For what purposes did God give it to us? We must answer these questions and then honestly evaluate if we are fulfilling those purposes. That is how we will know if we are doing well or not. We then borrowed what I believe to be a good list of biblical purposes of the church from pastor Rick Warren s bestselling book The Purpose Driven Church. He lists the purposes as: Evangelism, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, and Ministry. If these are indeed the purposes of the church (and I think it is a pretty good list), we are to be fulfilling the purposes. This month let s focus on the first of these purposes: Evangelism. This is my thirtieth year in ministry. In those thirty years it seems that almost every church and individual Christian I have had dealings with likes the idea of evangelism. The good news is they are in favor of it. The bad news is, while they all agree we ought to be doing evangelism, very few actually are! A Christianity Today article stated, Although nearly three in four Christians say they feel comfortable sharing the gospel, the majority do not do so. New findings from LifeWay Research selfdescribed as "distressing results" indicate that 61 percent of evangelical Christians fail to share their faith on a regular basis, even though they believe it is their responsibility to do so. Moreover, nearly half of those respondents said they have not invited a non- Christian friend to church in the past six months. Further findings from that same LifeWay study revealed that 80 percent of those who attend church one or more times a month believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith. And that Threequarters of churchgoers say they feel comfortable in their ability to effectively communicate the gospel. These findings challenge me as a pastor. One might think that the majority of people in the church are not sharing their faith because they are unaware that they should be; Perhaps thinking that it is something reserved for pastors and missionaries. This is not the case. As was already shared four out of five people who attend church understand that sharing their faith is a responsibility shared by all Christians. One might think that the majority of people in the church are not sharing their faith because they have no idea how to do so. Again, the statistics don t seem to bear this out with 75% saying they are comfortable effectively sharing the gospel. I believe most pastors who are seeking to encourage their people to be involved in evangelism approach it in a manner very similar to this: First, address NEED. Explain the need for evangelism. Speak about the lostness of those without Christ and how He is the only hope of salvation for all mankind. Second, speak about RE- SPONSIBILITY. God has entrusted the gospel to us. We are called to make disciples. We are set aside as God s ambassadors and ministers of reconciliation. Third, EQUIP the church to reach out. Teach them how to share their testimony. Train them in Evangelism Explosion, FAITH, Share Jesus Without Fear, Continual Witness Training, the Roman Road, the one-verse evangelism technique, or one of countless other approaches. Finally, lead them to reach out. Surveys reveal that 80% of people who attend church even nominally know that they should be sharing their faith, and that 75% feel that they are competent in doing so. If this is true, why do so few share their faith consistently? Every church should be drawing attention to the need of the lost and the responsibility of the saved. Every church ought to be equipping and training their people to share the gospel. I believe we do well at addressing the need and our responsibility to reach out. We will be doing better at training and equipping our people to reach out. As we do this and provide opportunities to join us in reaching our community, will you help us? Evangelism is one of the purposes of the church. Will you make it one of the priorities of your life? It s something to think about Pastor Mike

2 Page 2 Bella Vista Baptist Church We will learn about: July 1 The Rich Young Ruler July 8 Jesus and Zacchaeus July 15 Jesus and the Woman at the Well July 29 Paul s First Journey CPR Training If anyone is interested in taking CPR by the Bella Vista Fire Department, please let me know. The class is offered each month on the 2 nd Friday. The cost is $5.00 per person. I will be glad to call and set it up for you. Lake Day at the Seay s July 12 or July 26 Sign-up required!! Limited spots available. You have to pre-register to attend! This is not a drop off event. Tulsa Aquarium Thursday, July 19th Sign up at the Welcome Desk! A big Thank You to everyone that helped with VBS!!! 5 th Sunday, July 29th No Preschool Children s Worship Enjoy a Family Worship Service! This is not a drop off event. We had a lot of fun at the Pool!

3 Phone: (479) Fax: (479) Page 3 July Events: 7/4- No Wednesday Activities 7/12 Lake Day at the Seays 7/19 Family Fun Day Tulsa Aquarium 7/26- Lake Day at the Seays Please signup at the Welcome Center for the Lake day. There are limited spots on the boat and those who sign up will get first chance. Ms. Donna always provides lunch, so please RSVP. Both Lake Days will start at 10:00a.m. Tulsa Aquarium Trip: This is not a drop off event We will leave the church at 8:00a.m. and plan to return by 4 or 4:30 pm. There will be envelopes at the Welcome Center for this event. Tickets are $15.95 per adult, $11.95 per child. If we have a group of 20 there will be a discount on price. Birthdays Keegan B... 7/4 Dakota K... 7/4 Sully J... 7/4 Taylor S... 7/9 Hope K... 7/15 Drake S... 7/19 Carson K... 7/30 Braxton M... 7/30 Idea: In Children s Worship: Incredible Faith- We will look at Bible Heroes and stories of their incredible faith as we learn how we can apply it to our lives. What we are learning: In Sunday School : 1 st - 4 th grade: Learn and Tell Unit Verse Mark 16:15 Wk. 1- People are responsible for their choices and can choose to obey God Story of the Rich young Ruler. Wk. 2- People can love others like Jesus loves them- Story of Zacchaeus Wk. 3- God has a plan for every person- Story of the Woman at the Well. Wk. 4- People need and can receive God s salvation- Saul told about Jesus 5 th - 6 th grade: We will be learning where the Bible comes from and how to use it.

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5 Phone: (479) Fax: (479) Music News Happy July! I hope your summer is going well. Remember that we need you in choir when you are in town. There are a couple of logistical things to talk about. We are singing on Sunday, July 1st, but there is no rehearsal before because of VBS. Please make it to the choir room by 10:35 am so we can go over the piece. There are no activities at BVBC on July 4th. Enjoy the holiday with your family. On August 19th we will be presenting Let Everything That Has Breath in the Page 5 by Pastor Robert McGee 11 am service. This is a difficult piece that we have been working some time on. I would like to see 40 people in the loft that Sunday, so please mark your calendars. It would be a good idea for everyone to make a rehearsal before that date so we can get things polished up. By the next newsletter you should be hearing about plans for Christmas so keep an eye out. With my whole heart, Robert Young at Heart Senior Adult News by Pastor Robert McGee Schedule for Month of July: Movie Night- Secret At Arrow Lake July 6:30 pm Single Seniors Alphabet Lunch- Gonna change it up a bit. The plan is to travel to Branson on Saturday, July 28th to visit the Titanic museum. We will leave in the church van at 10 am. The cost will be $25. This includes ticket and a little gas money. We will stop for lunch before. Money is due by July 21st. We will be setting out for Branson and the Sight and Sound Theater to see Sampson soon. The date we have reserved is September 15th the 11:30 showing. The cost is $52 a person. We will meet there. If you have room to give a ride or need a ride please check the appropriate box on the envelope. Envelopes are at the welcome center. God Bless, Robert Titanic Museum July 28th 10:00 AM

6 Page 6 Bella Vista Baptist Church Threads of Love Join us on Sunday, July 8th from 2pm4:30pm, in Fellowship Hall. This is a drop-in event come for all or part of the time. For information, contact Joan Abrams. All ages are welcome! We will meet on Wednesday, July 25th, at 9:30am. Bring a project or idea to share. Ladies Luncheon: We will be having our yearly luncheon to welcome new members on September 22, 11am-1pm. Check out the Operation Christmas Child shoe box shopping list for 2018! These lists are for both BOYS and GIRLS for all AGES! Great ideas for what to purchase for the shoe boxes! The lists are in a plastic folder on the wall next to the OCC collection room, and across from the hospitality room. Please Take One!

7 Phone: (479) Fax: (479) Thank You Church Page 7 Dear Church Family, Thank you all so much for your many expressions of sympathy in the passing of Pat s brother, Jimmy Leach. We appreciate all the prayers, cards, phone calls, and prayer grams during this time of grief and we are thankful for the love extended by our church family. With love, Ray and Pat Walker Guatemala Update For many years I ve been truly blessed and grateful for the way God as been working in my life. He helped me get through the loss of my father, and understand the importance of faith. Faith to continue to believe we all have a purpose in life, such as being in the right place at the right time, is actually a whole part of His plan. That is why I am participating in this mission trip. In the past my parents and sister have attended several of these trips, doing things such as building a school, constructing concrete homes, smuggling Bibles into China, and providing outreach to those who have never had assistance. I now get the opportunity of doing the same as the rest of my family has already done. Dawn Cummins Cunningham Meeting July 1st at 12:30pm In the Conference Room Several People have asked about the situation that is now going on in Guatemala at this time and if our team s plans have changed. Good question. With many mission trips the key word is FLEXIBLE. We don t know if our plans have changed at this point, but what we do know is that we will join God where He is working. We do know that the places we were going to have been impacted by the volcano, some worse than others. As far as to what we will be bringing, right now that pretty much stays the same until we are told differently. I learned today that another volcano I m familiar with, called Paycaya is on the verge of erupting. It is one of the volcanoes that a lot of people hike up and down on. The latest count of dead I have is 110 and 197 missing but pretty sure that will go much higher, 12,784 people are displaced and 10,448 children do not have schools to attend. The need is great for mattresses, blankets, barrels to hold water, drinking water, food and hygienic items. There are several churches taking supplies in and providing meals for the workers and for those that are in shelters. The shelters seem to have been blessed with clothing which is wonderful. According to David Beam, depending on where the government relocates these families, we very possibly will have a new area to continue our Shack Attack. I encourage you to stop by the Guatemala table in the hallway by the visitors center and take a look at the pictures as well as the light house. You can see the needs we were asked to help with and they are many and not cheap. Our prayer is that we can work beside these people on these projects for a day or so but than leave them with the resources to purchase the materials to complete their projects. We serve a big God and pray for His will to be done and to Him be all the glory. Will you help us reach our goal? Take a green ticket and pray about how you can help. Any questions, feel free to contact any of us on the team. Watch the light house to see how our funds are coming along. See the color red beginning at the bottom grow to the top. If you wish to give to the Guatemala fund you can make your donation to Bella Vista Baptist Church Guatemala Fund.

8 Bella Vista Baptist Church 50 E Lancashire Blvd. Bella Vista, AR July 2018 Phone: (479) General staff@bvbaptist.com BVBC Pastoral Staff Michael McCauley, Senior Pastor mmccauley@bvbaptist.com Dave Brown, Associate Pastor dbrown@bvbaptist.com Robert McGee, Associate Pastor rmcgee@bvbaptist.com ******************************* Lighthouse of Prayer... (479) Freedom Ministry... (479) General Delivery....staff@bvbaptist.com Renee Estes... restes@bvbaptist.com Laura Rodriguez..lrodriguez@bvbaptist.com Carolyn Beaver..... cbeaver@bvbaptist.com Nancy Merrell.....nmerrell@bvbaptist.com Julie Hettel jhettel@bvbaptist.com AWANA awana@bvbaptist.com NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE PAID BENTONVILLE, AR PERMIT #222 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED July Birthdays 18 & Older 2 Phillip Cloe, John Madden 3 Leroy Fleeman 4 Erin Madden, Jim Ray 6 Cheryl Ellis, David Gosnell 7 Barbara Orlicek, Mark Pittman 11 Erin Strickland 13 Connie Pursell, Lena Yoder 14 Van Bateman, Jayne Fisher, Ron Johnston 15 Carolyn Ruede 16 Marilyn Bruce 17 Fred Hettel 18 Joyce Kramer, Ray Stuart 20 Bob Sayre 21 Barbara Erskine 22 Joshua Cascio, Debbie Owens 23 April Schultz 24 Aaron Evert, Jamie Johnson, Don Pursell 25 John Haynie, Abby Mattingly, Donna Swift 28 Betty Garey 29 Rose Thomas 30 Debra Austin 31 Rhonda Weidman July Anniversaries (50+years) Bob & Martha Cooper... 7/18 Chuck & Carolyn Ruede... 7/19 Doug & Joan Abrams... 7/28 FOR THOSE SENDING CARDS, BIRTHDAYS FROM July 1 ST 5 TH 1 Tom Geselschap, Ron Harvey, Cody McGlone, Craig Rostamo 3 Ron Bond, Allen Hughes, Kathy Peters 4 Jonathan Pittman 5 Peggy Ayers, Bud Branham, Rick Haywood, Neal Tallant