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STATE MISSIONS: Family Reunion
Paul White
I was blessed to get to visit Faith Chapel last week and have the opportunity to personally thank the Master’s Builders for their labor of love for your State Missions’ works. The photo above represents three generations of church planters — Highland Hills, the grandmother church represented by me; the mother church, The Bridge Church, represented by pastor Hershel Conley, and their soon-to-be-birthed daughter, Faith Chapel, represented by Missionary Johnny Shew.
Eddie Sikes, long-time BMA of Arkansas mission builder and personal friend, representing the Master’s Builders, also worked on each of our projects.
This was made possible because you gave that others might come to know Christ as their personal Savior. I think I need to tell Johnny if I am going to get to see his future daughter, he had better get a move on.
Prayer
Please keep Jake and Epic Life in your prayers as we are running into some difficulties closing on a meeting place. Ask God to touch the hearts of the powers that be in the Pea Ridge area.
My Personal Worship Time
Sunday morning, we had a wonderful time at Connection Point, one of our former Mission works, with 140 in attendance. And it gets better, after a very timely message from Pastor Chad, three were baptized. So, should someone ask, does State Missions make a difference? The answer is Yes, praise the Lord!
Missionary Needs
We have some missionaries that are in need of the following to help with their ministry. If you can help meet one or more of these needs, please contact the office at bmaofarkfrontdesk@gmail.com or (501) 565-4601.
• Children’s chairs for classrooms
• Two portable sound systems
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “Tuesday afternoon and Saturday afternoon, we were delivering food items, cleaning supplies and bottled water in the areas affected by the tornado. We managed to distribute 100 food items, two pallets of water and three pallets of buckets containing plastic bags, gloves, chlorine, towels, disinfectants, toothpaste, soap, paper towels, deodorants, etc.
We enjoyed ourselves with the brothers and sisters distributing things and praying for the neighbors who allowed us. The families received the donations with great joy and gratitude.
“Friday night, we had a prayer meeting from 7 p.m. to midnight. We dedicated ourselves to singing, praying and dramatizing all the events related to the death and burial of Jesus, based on Luke 22 and 23.
“Saturday morning, a group of men was cutting the grass and collecting leaves while the women cleaned and decorated the building for the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The most beautiful thing about this is that everyone did it voluntarily in order to serve the Lord. Please keep praying for this mission!
“Sunday at 6 a.m., we met at the temple to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. We studied the implications of the resurrection of Jesus, sang, had breakfast and the children had their traditional hunting of eggs. My son, Jose Carlos told me how much he enjoyed the service, not to mention how satisfying it is to see several brothers and sisters involved so that the missionary family did not have to pay attention to every detail this type of meeting demands. We thank God for the lives of these brothers and sisters who have committed themselves to the Lord.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “Monday, April 3, we had a meeting with the Missions Advisory Committee and Executive Director Paul White to inform them how Ebenezer Mission is doing. It was a meeting full of blessings where each missionary had the opportunity to report the state of their mission.
Every time I give a report, I focus on the question, ‘What is God doing in the midst of Ebenezer?’ And God is always doing great things in the midst of His work. Of course, we have great challenges. It is a blessing to finish with a prayer for the mission. We are always thankful for the support we receive as missionaries.
“On Resurrection Sunday, as a Hispanic congregation, we had our ‘Culto de Alba’ (Alba Worship) Sunrise Service. We started our meeting at 6 in the morning. It was very dark, but it was a blessing that, while our service is going on, we could see the dawn through the windows and were able to celebrate the great victory of Christ over death and the grave — Christ lives! He is risen! In our ‘Sunrise Worship,’ we reflected on the Seven Words of Christ on the Cross, songs, testimony, celebration of the Lord’s Supper and ended with a study of the chronology of events from the celebration of the Lord’s Last Supper with His disciples to the resurrection. Afterward, we enjoyed breakfast, Kory (my wife) and I stayed to share with our mother church Chenal Valley Baptist Church in their service at 10 a.m., then share with them a time of fellowship. Feeling their love and prayers for the mission was a blessing.
“Thank you for your prayers for us and for your support. To God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “What a week! We have walls! Monday morning, we started with a bare slab and, at the end of the week, all of the walls — exterior and interior — were up, bolted and fastened down and skinned with OSB.
“My, what the Lord did with all those men and women from The Master’s Builders, and we had a very good representation with them from our own members too! Praise God, we are thankful for them all! We hope to get the trusses set and the roof on this week; please pray that we do.
“We decided to have our first service on the slab for Easter, even though we don’t have a roof yet, and it was wonderful! I told several people that you would have to hit me pretty hard upside of my head with a 2x4 to knock the smile off of my face, I am so full of joy, unspeakable and full of glory!
“We had a new record attendance of 67! Praise God! Even if you subtract the Master’s Builders that were there, we still had a new record attendance, with three first-time visitors. Praise God, again! We love having the Master’s Builders here, and we wish they could all just move to Flippin and stay. What special people! You can keep up with our progress with pictures on the Master’s Builders Facebook Page, or on our Facebook Page, Faith Chapel Baptist Church.
“We thank you for your support, and especially for your prayers. Please continue. God is answering them in a mighty way.”
The Table, Springdale: Clinton Morris writes, “We had a beautiful Easter weekend with our church family. We celebrated with communion and two baptisms. It is so amazing to see how God is moving in our midst. We had a first-time guest that was recommended to come by someone within the Board Game Community. It is so good to see that people are beginning to come from the community that we are reaching.
We also had a wonderful Easter celebration on Saturday at the Whitton’s. I am looking forward to the meeting that we are going to have this week. Be in prayer for people and the decisions they are making in their lives.”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes “Praise the Lord for a Risen Savior! We enjoyed worshipping alongside all the folks who attended our first Easter service for Faith Journey! We had 28 in attendance, which is the largest attendance so far for the mission. We sang, worshiped and studied about the resurrection of Christ.
The best praise we can share from the day is that we witnessed a salvation! One young lady that has been attending the mission asked Jesus into her heart at our sending church — Celebration Baptist. We could not be more excited to see how great our God is to those who seek Him. Our Father is always faithful to those who want to turn their lives toward Him and have a personal relationship with Him.”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “This week we celebrate one year in the Northwest Arkansas area and four months since we began our services. Gracia Soberana exists to teach the gospel, deepen the life and work of Christ, and show it in our lives.
We are focused on discipleship, which is to love another person and help them to follow Jesus through teachings and imitation. And we are focused on mission. We understand that all Christians must be on mission, so we encourage and instruct them to fulfill God’s mission.
“Friday, we had a film and 10 people attended. Then we had a time of questions about the film. We ended the week celebrating the day of resurrection. We worshipped and learned how to live in the light of this reality every day, then we went to the fellowship room and integrated more as a family of faith. We talked, laughed and stayed until almost the end of the afternoon.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “We had a week of highs and lows. The week was primed to be the biggest for Epic Life, but we were met with setbacks. We had been riding a high of two Connection Groups striving, riding high of how we had experienced God move in our March worship gathering, the expected purchase of a house for us to meet in and four baptisms in our April worship gathering on Saturday.
“First, three hours before we were set to go before the zoning commission for the house, which seemed like a lock, we found out we would have to put in a fire suppression sprinkler system. Quotes came in at $30,000. Our goal was to use the home temporarily and resell it as residential. In a sense, we hoped to meet there for a couple of years and flip the house. But to resell we would have to tear out the exposed sprinkler system. Three hours before we had to pull out of the sale and the meeting. That was Tuesday.
“On Friday, our Garfield Connection Group was scheduled to meet, and all the members had to cancel. It was a bummer.
“Then, as our Saturday Worship Gathering was about to start, our phones blew up with messages of people not being able to come. It was a bummer week, but in the small crowd that gathered Saturday night, God moved in a unique way. We were all encouraged. Following the worship service, we stepped out onto my back patio and did our first baptisms. We baptized three and had an additional profession of faith!”