JOURNEY WITH JEFF: The Traveling Season Concludes

Over the past two months, I have been honored to represent the Baptist Trumpet at 12 of the 15 Arkansas local association meetings. Associate Editor Allan Eakin covered two and Editor Emeritus Diane Spriggs covered the other because they were held at the same time as other association meetings I attended. I am thankful for their willingness to be there when I could not.

Over the past year, we were led to do our part in encouraging more involvement in our associated work on every level. Our message at each meeting included a summary of the Associational Involvement Survey (see article on page 1). We did that because we firmly believe and understand that we cannot effectively fulfil our mission to inform and inspire our readers amid declining involvement in our association. This decline is something that cannot be ignored. We shared at each meeting that we have taken the content from the “Why Do We Associate?” insert and produced a booklet that would be available at our display table at the state meeting. Please stop by and pick up some copies you can share with those who may need to be reminded about the basis for our associated work.

At each association meeting, we asked for help with the following three things:

• If your church does not have a church plan, will you let us set you up on a free two-month trial? All we need is a list of names and addresses. We want your people to understand what they are missing. I have said it before, and I genuinely believe it — the best church member is an informed church member.

• If your church has an active church plan, will you diligently add all active members to the list? Many churches require people to ask to be added to the list, but most new members do not know enough to ask. I don’t know of a better way to help them understand what the BMA is doing than allowing them to read about it each week. There is no doubt that we will share more information in the Trumpet than it is possible to share via a church newsletter or announcements each week.

• Finally, many who need to be encouraged to be more involved in our association will not read this message. Will you be an ambassador for the BMA on every level and also for the Baptist Trumpet? I would love to come to your church and share about all we do, but it is essential that we have advocates who will encourage others to subscribe to the only weekly newspaper in the BMA and also encourage involvement at every level of our association.