BRADLEY BAPTIST BEACON

Transcription

1 BRADLEY BAPTIST BEACON AUGUST and SEPTEMBER 2009 IN MEMORY OF BRO. CHRIS LEGGETT To God be the glory, to God be the glory, great things He has Done! Jay Leggett, Chris father PORTRAIT OF A HUMANITARIAN Chris is shown here in native dress, as he worked closely with the people of Africa over the past seven years ON MISSION CELEBRATION - OCTOBER 3 7, 2009 Dr. Jerry Rankin, President International Mission Board Tuesday, October 6, 2009 at Westwood Baptist Church Missionaries from: Africa Asia Pacific Rim Georgia West Virginia Alabama Ohio Arizona Oregon South Carolina Iowa Pennsylvania Massachusetts Delaware Tennessee OMC OPPORTUNITIES Call the BBA office if your church would like to have a missionary speak for a day event such as a seniors luncheon or another creative luncheon you may plan on Monday, October 5 or Wednesday, October 7. We will give each of our missionary speakers a complimentary welcome basket. We would like to include items local to our area, such as M&M Mars, Schering Plough, etc. If you can help supply items for 36 baskets, please call the BBA office at Pray for our International Missionaries as they have the wonderful opportunity to speak in our schools at a Cross Cultural Celebration.

2 - Frances Irizarry, BBA Ethnic Ministry Director Page 2 Have you ever heard of the Chuj language? Neither had I until I met Diego Diego Nicolás (the first Diego is his name and the second Diego is his father s last name, and Nicolás is his mother s last name). Diego is presently the pastor of a congregation of 35 people whose first language is Chuj (pronounced choo ). The name of the group is Congregación Jesús el Buen Pastor Centro Americana (Jesus the Good Shepherd Central American Mission). We have discovered that the designation Centro Americana is what Baptist churches in Guatemala are called. We already had a foreign language Baptist mission in Cleveland and we did not even know it! They are from Guatemala but here is a little bit of trivia for you they are not technically Hispanics. The term Hispanic was adopted in the US in the 1970 s to identify people and countries with a Spanish cultural heritage and language. Neither the culture nor the language of the Chuj people are of Spanish origin, though 500 years of Spanish/Hispanic dominance has greatly influenced both. Chuj is one of many indigenous languages of the Mayan family of languages spoken in Central America. It is spoken by over 40,000 people in Guatemala and over 10,000 in Mexico. After meeting Diego and his congregation I have learned that, although Spanish is the official language of Guatemala, it is not universally spoken among the indigenous population, in many cases not even as a second language. Depending on how they are counted, there are between 21 and 29 indigenous languages spoken in Guatemala, almost all of them of Mayan origin. It is common for indigenous Guatemalans to learn to speak between two to five of the nation s other languages, including Spanish. That s impressive, if you ask me! Though Diego has been in Cleveland for only a few months, he has been in the United States for about 10 years, while his wife Isabel has been in the US for about two years. They have left two children back in Guatemala under the care of relatives. They came to Cleveland from Monterey, TN, where he and his wife were members of another Chuj-speaking congregation. They moved to Cleveland in search of work, and here they found that the local Chuj congregation was without a pastor. Diego has recently completed the first level (out of four) of biblical training from the extension of a Guatemalan Bible institute in Monterey, TN, so he was asked by the local leaders to serve as their pastor. This congregation has been meeting at various places in Cleveland, and now they have found a new home at one of our Association s churches. The members of Big Spring Baptist Church, under the leadership of brother George Bulson, have voted to make their gym available for the use of the Guatemalan congregation. They will be meeting on Saturday evenings for worship and fellowship. This is the type of partnership and fellowship we hope to see develop between our Association s churches and other ethnic Christian groups and congregations that may be established. We hope that through these partnership we can in some way help disciple and train more ethnic leaders to reach members of their own ethnic and/or language group whom we ourselves cannot reach. This is a new adventure of faith in the life of Big Spring Baptist and its leadership. Please keep them in your prayers. And remember that we live in a mission field! Continue praying for the many other language groups in our community that they too may get to hear the good news in the language of their hearts. Chris Leggett and his wife, Jackie are seated on the back row with youngest daughter Erin. On the front row are, from left, Jordan, Hannah and Haley. This is a photo taken when they first arrived in Africa seven years ago. Many of our churches have already been ministering/supporting the Leggett family. Please send funds to: Cleveland First Baptist Church J. Mack Hall Fund 340 Church Street Cleveland, TN You may send funds to the BBA and designate them for Grief Fund and we will direct them to the First Baptist Church. ~~~ATTENTION~~~ Church Clerks/ACP Contacts ACP s (Church Letters) are available to be picked up at the BBA office. It is vital to have these returned to the BBA by September 18th. If you have questions, please call

3 - Randy Bonner, BBA Ministry Evangelism Director Page 3 As always, God has gone before us to prepare hearts of some very special churches and young people to minister to the neighborhoods of Bradley County. Through the relationships Ocoee Outreach has formed with partnering churches and the many volunteers both local and out-of-state, we have seen community home sites improved and many individuals accepting Christ. This makes for a better place to live. God also gave us an extraordinary missionary team for 2009, from our local churches. They are very dedicated to serving the community and love sharing having Christ in their lives. Each member of the team is available and willing to come and speak at your church at anytime. They would love to share the work they have been involved in this summer through Ocoee Outreach. They all have a story to tell about how they have been touched while serving in our communities. Kieley Best Westwood Baptist Church Whitney Barton North Cleveland Mitch Gibson Cleveland First Baptist Chris Kugler North Cleveland Ashley Pennington Westwood Christin Carter Maple Street Stephanie Valadez North Cleveland Mike McDowell New Friendship Carolanne McKinsey Valley View Trae Cody Cleveland First Baptist Ethan Taylor North Cleveland Jessica Moore Waterville Justin Ownby Maple Street OCOEE OUTREACH WEEK REVIEW Thanks to many of our local churches that have played an important role in making Ocoee Outreach 2009 a big success in just 5 weeks (statistics listed below), and those that will be along side of us through July. Thanks for all the lunch runners, equipment runners, feeding large groups of people at your churches and for supplying items needed for the projects. New Horizons Mt. Carmel Lebanon Cloverleaf Tasso Elkmont Farmland Westwood Cleveland First Baptist Waterville Union Council Georgetown Philippi Charleston First Baptist Ridgeview The Church at Grace Point Big Spring Clingan Ridge Candies Creek North Cleveland Bellefounte 2009 OCOEE OUTREACH IN 5 WEEKS * Approximately 50 home repair projects * 750 Volunteers * 110 Professions of Faith Ocoee Outreach is always in need of materials, equipment and supplies to grow our ministry. Items can be donated and dropped off at the Bradley Baptist Association Office or bigger items we can arrange for pick-up. No matter how big or small the items that are received it will all be a blessing to Ocoee Outreach and the many low income families we will be ministering to. In May, the men of Cloverleaf Baptist Church built a wheelchair ramp for an elderly lady

4 Page 4 Bradley Baptist News.... BETH MOORE 1st BAPTIST CHURCH CLEVELAND A Beth Moore Conference live simulcast will be hosted by First Baptist Church Cleveland on August 28 and 29. This simulcast will be broadcast live from Green Bay Wisconsin to over 700 churches across the nation on that weekend. The event will begin on Friday evening and conclude at 1:00pm on Saturday. More specific information about our local event will be available very soon and general information can be obtained from or Ladies, please mark your calendar, plan on attending and bring someone with you. PREVIEW SHOWING A new feature length movie called The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry will be premiering on September 18 across the nation and it will be shown at the Premiere Theatre here in Cleveland. The First Baptist Church will have a preview showing of this movie here at our church on Tuesday, July 21 at 6:45 pm for local pastors and youth ministers. We are inviting our local pastors and will not be asking them for money to help support this but just to see the movie and pick up promo materials if they are interested in making their church aware of this excellent Christian production coming out this fall. Please contact Tammy Holt at First Baptist Church Cleveland ( ) or tholt@clevelandfbc.com if you are interested in coming to see this preview. TENNESSEE BAPTIST CONVENTION PROMOTES JAIL MINISTRY NETWORK We are excited to announce the first meeting of a new network to give you the chance to interact with your peers and fellow associates. The Tennessee Baptist Convention is acting to promote this meeting according to the following mission statement: A TBC initiative to network County Jail and Re -entry volunteers for the purpose of strengthening Christian Ministries Saturday, July 25, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. CST (includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch) held at Calvary Baptist Church Westwood Baptist Church Summary from a few of our churches Big Springs Baptist Church Church Enrolled Decisions Gum Springs Mt. Carmel 90 1 Westwood Tasso 75 1 Georgetown Cleveland First Waterville Charleston First 92 Valley View 137 Philippi Bellefounte

5 A word from the Director Page 5 The Quito, Ecuador Mission trip was a great success. Thank you for the opportunity to work again with our International World Changers Partnership. We were able to work with four churches in the South Quito area and help strengthen these existing churches. The most exciting part of the week was seeing 49 people who accepted Christ as Lord and Savior and will be followed up by the pastors of each church. It was also refreshing to see the participating churches from Texas, Kentucky and from here in Bradley County come together so quickly to accomplish their mission. Thanks for your prayers. Through your prayers you each were a part of this mission. I heard it again recently. "Jesus is all we need." It sounds spiritual. You can say it with the right cadence and get a group of enthusiastic "Amens". It sounds good. But is it true? I would argue it is not true. Jesus is not all we need. He never intended to be all we need. He never promised to be all we need. We are promised that He will provide all we need, not that He is all we need. We need the Bible. I had someone me not too long ago. He had just placed his faith in Christ and wanted me to send him a Bible. I did so, as well as pointing him to a church in our area. He had Jesus. But Jesus was not all he needed. He needed a Bible. We need the Holy Spirit. We need Him to comfort our souls and convict us and guide us and be the presence of God with us every day. We need the church, the bride of Christ. We need a worshipping community. We need friends. We need peoples' names scribbled on the outside of our phone book. We need community. One of my favorite books is by John Ortberg, called Everyone Seems Normal Til You Get to Know Them (March 1, 2003, Zondervan). In it, he references a great body of current research on loneliness in society and its effects. One of the primary books he quotes is Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam. There is an epidemic of loneliness in our culture. Here are some summaries from this research. People who are not in a group are twice as likely to die in the next year as those who are in a group. Now, there is a selling point for your small group: join our group and cut your chances of dying in half! People who have strong social connections but poor health habits (eating, exercise, etc.) are just as healthy as those with weak social connection and good health habits. As Ortberg says it, "Better to eat Twinkies with friends than broccoli alone." My all time favorite quote. There was a gradual rise of participation in bowling leagues and PTAs and church attendance over the first two thirds of the last century. Then, mysteriously and more or less simultaneously, we stopped doing all those things less often. The result is, we don't have friends any more. We just watch TV shows that make us feel connected. One study injected 270 people with a virus that causes the common cold. Those with strong social connections did not get as sick, did not stay sick as long, and produced less mucus than the less connected group. Again, to quote Ortberg, "This just proves that unfriendly people really are snottier than the rest of us." According to Martin Seligman people are now 10 times more likely to be depressed. Do you think there is a relationship between these two bodies of information? We need community. People don't just need Jesus. We do need Christ, but we also need the body of Christ. We need people, God's representatives, to love and care and listen. Now, more than ever, people need Jesus and His body. Chris Leggett, who recently went home to the Lord, was grateful for the body of Christ, and I am grateful for how he was connected to many of our churches. He is a modern day martyr connected to each of us. Church, let's stay connected to Chris s wife, Jackie, and their four children. The best way for you to stay connected is by helping Jackie with unexpected expenses. Let me encourage your church to take up an offering. If you desire to send those funds to the association, we will direct them to the First Baptist Church. Thank you for all that you do. In His Grace, Phil Taylor

6 Bradley Baptist Association, Aug Sept, North Ocoee Street Cleveland, TN Bradley Baptist Association Phil Taylor Director of Missions Randy Bonner Ministry Evangelism Director Frances Irizarry Ethnic Ministries Director Denise Roebuck Collegiate Ministries Dimple Cox Ministry Assistant Loyce Farris DOM Assistant RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Non-Profit U.S. Postage Paid Permit #288 Cleveland, TN CALENDAR JULY July Pastor s Lunch Cancelled 28th Church Secretaries BBA 12:00 noon AUGUST 6th Sunday School Bayside Baptist Church 6:30 8:30 PM 26th Pastor s Luncheon 12:00 noon SEPTEMBER 7th BBA Office Closed for Labor Day Celebration 23rd Pastor s Luncheon 12:00 noon mark your calendar for the: BRADLEY BAPTIST ANNUAL MEETING Thursday, November 5, :30 Ridgeview Baptist Church Please note the date has been changed from October due to many of our churches participating in the On Mission Celebration October 3-7. An opportunity for our Sunday School leaders to receive quality training at no cost to you Equipping U Sunday School Event at Bayside Baptist Church 6100 Highway 58 Harrison, TN August 6:30 PM 8:45 PM Youth Information On-Line Tennessee Baptists are joining Southern Baptists in God s Plan For Sharing. GPS desires to see every believer sharing the Gospel with the result being that every person hears the Gospel by Praying: Every church praying for lost people; Engaging: Every believer sharing as a trained witness; Sowing: Every lost person receiving a witness; Harvesting: Every church harvesting and celebrating every salvation response. An invitation is being offered to every church to unite in a year of fervent prayers that lead toward the harvest. Will you join others in this prayer focus? Youth Bible Drill, Speakers Tournament, and Xtreme Bible Challenge ACTS 1:8 SUMMIT August 10-13, 2009 Carson Springs Conference Center Newport, TN register online at The Acts 1:8 Summit is for churches seeking to live out the Acts 1:8 challenge, with featured speakers, Dr. James Porch, Dr. Danny Sinquefield, Dr. Gordon Fort and Dr. Geoff Hammonds.