Bradley Baptist Beacon

Transcription

1 THE PRESENT FUTURE Tackling Six Tough Questions for the Church Bradley Baptist Beacon Bradley County Baptist Association September, 2006 Bradley Baptist Association Presents a Dynamic Workshop Experience Hosted by Candies Creek Baptist Church The Present Future: Tackling Six Tough Questions for the Church Sunday Afternoon September 24 1:30 4:00 PM The church will provide your lunch. Serving from 12:45 1:30 pm. Leadership for the Missional Church Monday September 25 9:00 AM 3:00 PM Senior Pastors, Bi-vocational Pastors, Church Planters, Staff and Lay- Leadership Cost for Monday s workshop $5.00 /person BBA churches $10.00 others. Lunch and refreshments provided Call the or for a reservation Tackling Six Tough Questions for the Church With Dr. Reggie McNeal

2 Bradley Baptist Beacon O cooceoee o h h s s eu oturterac e ac uult lti m i mat ateemmaakkeeov oveerr ssuum mm meerr rreevviieew w 550 Volunteers from 15 Churches from 8 States came here for a weeklong mission experience in our Jerusalem 40 home repair projects that included roofing, minor carpentry, wheelchair ramps, painting, landscaping and more 2,000 Witnessing Bracelets and close to 1,000 Bibles were given out 50 professions of faith and several other commitments were made 5 Evangelistic Block Parties that impacted more than 2000 people! 4 Community-wide VBS & Backyard Bible Clubs, impacting more than 400 children, teenagers and adults! 4 TLC (Tender Loving Care to Seniors) Ministry Events at three area Nursing Homes/Assisted Living Facilities 6 Summer Missionaries (Most from BBA Churches) 26 BBA churches partnered w/ocoee Outreach including 150+ local volunteers that served as runners, assessors, Gospel presenters, construction supervisors, lunch coordinators, leading praise & worship, preparing and serving meals, donating items & more Project Helping Hands Coming Soon! We will have Opportunities for Volunteers to serve as we get ready to help those in need during the Holiday Season. More details to come. Call the BBA Office for Info. A few pictures TO GOD BE THE GLORY! THANK YOU BBA CHURCHES FOR YOUR HELP & SUPPORT WITH OCOEE OUTREACH - WE LOVE AND APPRECIATE YOU! ESL Ministry Centers: International mission work here at Home! Free Training & Certification Offered For All Interested Friday, Aug. 18 from 5pm.-8pm. Saturday, Aug. 19 from 9am.-3pm. Saturday, Aug. 26 from 9am.-3pm. (all 3 sessions are required for certification) At the Hamilton County Baptist Association Office in Chattanooga Block Party at Blythe Safe Haven Loading shingles on a roof The training sessions will help us continue to launch Faith Based ESL Centers through our BBA churches here in Bradley County NO CHARGE for the training sessions as the Association will be covering the costs, including lunch on Saturdays (your only responsibility will be getting there). Call Randy at the Association Office ( ) to sign-up and for more information. ESL helps internationals learn conversational English while sharing the Love of Christ with others. Currently there are two ESL Ministry Centers where more volunteers are needed to serve: Westwood Baptist Church - Monday starting Aug. 21 at 6:30pm. Clingan Ridge Baptist Church - Wednesdays starting Sept. 6 at 6:30 pm. Roofing Team from BBA s Big Spring Baptist Church

3 2006 VBS Reports Page 3 Church Enrollment Salvation Decisions Clingan Ridge Thompson 71 3 Springs Gum Springs Valley View Hopewell 99 4 Philippi Corinth Georgetown 145 Lebanon 77 WHEN: Saturday, September 16, 2006 TIME: 10 am 2:30 pm WHERE: Bradley Baptist Association in Cleveland Contact Person: Michigan Avenue Macedonia Mt. Carmel North Cleveland New Friendship 63 Waterville Westwood Tasso 70 3 Total We encourage you to send your VBS report to the Association Office, TBC, and LifeWay ASAP. Thank you! Back By Popular Demand! REGIONAL MEN S CONFERENCE with Dr. Johnny Hunt HANG IN THERE THE LIFE OF JOB January 26-27, 2007 Tentative Sessions & Cost Fri. Evening & Sat. Morning $35.00 registration fee Westwood Baptist Church Cleveland, TN. Sponsored by the Bradley Baptist Association & Tennessee Baptist Convention Featured Speaker: Dr. Johnny Hunt Pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, GA More information to follow For more information call:

4 Page 4 Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Jeremiah 33:3 Week of Prayer & Golden State Offering September The Golden Offering for Tennessee Missions is an annual offering that supports missions and ministries of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. In Tennessee, one out of every two people is unchurched. When you give to the GOTM, you help support ministries that reach the state of Tennessee for Christ. While you may give to this offering anytime, most churches receive the GOTM offering during the month of September in conjunction with the Week of Prayer for State Missions. This offering has been a vital part of Tennessee missions support for over 100 years. This year $1,200 came back to Bradley Baptist Association in support of Ocoee Outreach. Over the past three years the Golden Offering has helped Church Plants like: Walker Valley and the Connection Church. Prayer Ministry Workshop September Wallace Memorial Baptist Church Knoxville, TN (Location: 701 Merchant Dr.) 9:30 a.m. to 11:45 (Lunch will be provided). Topics What is a Prayer Ministry? What is it designed to do? How does it work in the overall church structure? Who can participate? 1:00 p.m. 3:30 p.m. Topic What happens during my hour in the Prayer room? To register call: (Bernie Baker) Wednesday See You September After The 27, 2006 Pole SYATP Area-Wide Youth Rally, 6:30 p.m. Area-Wide Youth Ski Retreat December Open to all BBA Churches Where: Timberline Ski Resort Cost: $250 (tentative cost) includes lodging, meals, 3 days of skiing (lift tickets & ski rentals) Transportation: TBA For more information call Stan FBC

5 I cannot ask you enough to c o n s i d e r giving up y o u r Sunday afternoon n a p, taking off w o r k, blocking out the day, turning your cell phone off and join us September 24 & 25 (see cover page) for a time of tackling the tough questions. For those of you that are stuck this will especially be for you. Whenever I read something from Reggie McNeal there is usually so much good stuff in his work that I could practically underline everything I read. I am usually shaking my head in silent laughter while at the same time nodding assent to the assertions made that how we Christians do church must be re-evaluated and how that some long held assumptions must be discarded. As a staunch local church advocate, it would have been easy, at first, to label Reggie as a loose cannon with an authority problem (the Pharisee within me was saying what s wrong with the way we do church??? The church in America has been cranking along just fine, thank you very much, for the last 200 years why should we change???) but there s no denying that the c h u r c h i n A m e r i c a i s changing the younger generation does not learn the same way or see life in exactly the same light as do their grandfathers, yet we blindly do church the same way we did it years ago. By the way, how s that been working for you??? Perhaps some will say it works just fine, but many of us are not finding that to be true. We tend to get wrapped around the axle with making the church grow (all to God s glory, of course and it looks good on the resume) and making good church members (here s your new member packet detailing all the essentials you ll need to know on being a productive, obedient church member) versus encouraging members of the kingdom to have a vibrant love-relationship with Jesus, help them develop the gifts God has given them, and then turn them loose on the culture at large. No, we church people initially tell them to come just as you are, but once they are in the church, we ll strap them with r u l e s, r e g u l a t i o n s a n d obligations (i.e. attend all services and don t forget tithing!!!). We teach them that we, as the leadership, know what s best for them, teach them to submit to leadership, how we ll decide when they re ready to be used, how we ll decide what the ministries they should or should not be involved in, teach them that all their energies are for serving the church almost a total focus within the four walls of the church building with only a glancing nod to the lost community around us. Reggie wants us to start thinking in Mission terms vs. club member terms to engage the community vs. a hold the fort mentality that the church is indeed a place for pastors to equip the flock for ministry (please see Jesus as an example) but that ministry must further the advancement of the Kingdom of God, not just the infrastructure of the local church. I can t recommend this upcoming workshop enough to jolt us from our complacent church as usual philosophy. You may not agree with everything he says, I can most assuredly guarantee he will make some of Bradley County s finest angry, but Reggie will give you something to think about. Candies Creek Baptist Church has been so gracious to host these two exciting days. They are going all out to provide you lunch on Sunday and make sure that we have everything we need. Thanks again!!! In His Grace, Prayer Conference Page 5 Corinth Baptist Church September 1 & 2 Keynote Speaker: Don Pierson Workshop Leaders Jamie Work Phil Taylor Joe Brooks Darrell Grady Worship Leaders Bo Dunkle James Pee Wee Andies For More information visit the website: corinthbaptistchurch.us

6 Bradley Baptist Association, August, N. Ocoee Street Cleveland, TN Phone: Fax: Website: bradleybaptist.org Non-Profit U.S. Postage Paid Permit #288 Cleveland, TN Phil Taylor Director of Missions Randy Bonner Ministry Evangelism Dir. Chris Stewart Ocoee Resort Ministries Denise Roebuck Collegiate Ministries Dimple Cox Ministry Assistant Among Our Churches Georgetown Baptist Church is needing a Pianist and a Youth Leader. Anyone who is interested can call the church at Beacon Baptist Church has called Floyd Voggess as their pastor. Mount Eagle Baptist Church has called Alonzo Noble as their pastor. Waterville Baptist Church has called Tim Myers as their interim Youth Minister. Macedonia Baptist Church has called Arris Cavender as their interim Pastor. West Cleveland Baptist Church has called R. T. Roberts as their interim Pastor. Brittsville Baptist Church is in a building program. August, ESL Training, Hamilton Association, 5:00-8:00 p.m. 19 ESL Training, Hamilton Association, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 23 Pastor Luncheon, Golden Corral 12:00 noon 26 ESL Training, Hamilton Association, 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. 24 Administrative Team Meeting, BBA, 2:00 p.m. September 6 Ministry Development Team Meeting, BBA, 10:00 a.m Week of Prayer for State Missions & Golden State Offering 16 Writing Seminar, BBA!!!!! Fall Harvest Celebration aterville Baptist Church 6:00 p.m (a meal will be provided)