Director’s Prayers and Goals for 2023 (Part 3)

Daniel Springs Camp - by Jason Prewitt, Executive Director

Every year, we dream, plan and pray God will use your camp ministry to be not only a location but a resource for churches, church leaders, individuals, families, local, state and national departments of the BMA. We are so blessed to see how God has expanded that dream to be a resource to schools and communities. One of our mantras has been that the camp gates are open to many different opportunities for ministry partnerships and for people to hear about Jesus.

Our dream and prayer each year is that God will use His ministry to impact lives. We are constantly praying and working toward that plan by increasing the ministry footprint, increasing our strength financially and enlarging our capacity to be a bigger and better resource partner to individuals, groups, families, the departments of the BMA, churches, schools and community groups so that the salvation message of Christ is shared. In focusing on those three things, we are working on daily plans that lead up to long-term God size dreams by:

• Increasing the ministry footprint — Increasing our contact base and meeting with all age groups to offer our facilities as a resource. Also wto ork on increasing our team of volunteers, short-term and seasonal employees for summer and weekend events, weekly volunteer and adding part-time and full-time staff members that have a heart and love for ministry that allows us to love on people of all ages. We have a great base of living billboards that share their heart about the ministry and how the camp is a resource.

• Increasing our strength financially — Our financial health has been blessed over the years, and we want to continue to get stronger to allow for facility improvement and ministry growth. We have 54 acres of amazing opportunities to improve and grow opportunities for relationships and conversations to take place. Making improvements is a challenge, but the dream is to continue to work to make the beautiful facility we have into a place that will continue to draw individuals and groups for many years to come.

• Increase our ability to be a resource — We have also had the opportunity to creatively travel and assist other ministries at different locations. It has been amazing for our summer missionary staff to not only get excited about the opportunities to be on mission on our home campus but be excited to go to other locations. We have been blessed to help churches with a few of their own events and have built a great relationship with some of our West Texas Churches in assisting them with their camp in West Texas. We want to continue to find creative ways to partner with our churches to share the message of Christ’s love and salvation.

We are so excited, and a little overwhelmed sometimes, by the opportunities. We can think of the many things we want, but we know God is at work and has a plan that far exceeds ours. He has the ways, the means and the plan, and we pray to continue to be a part of all He is doing.

Moral Action Agency - By Dr. John M. Adams, Executive Director

Christian problems in America in the 21^st century are many — Humanism, political correctness, atheism, Darwinism, Wokeism, Critical Race Theory (CRT), Black Lives Matter, gay rights, open drug use and on and on. We believe America stands at a moral crossroads, a juncture that will define the future of this country. Christians are openly scorned and ridiculed by the media. When was the last time you saw a believer in Jesus Christ favorably portrayed by the entertainment industry?

Do you recall a single recent occasion when Christian virtues such as abstinence or marital faithfulness were treated respectfully by any major media outlet?

A past cover article of Newsweek featured the image of the Bible, with the headline, “The Religious Case for Gay Marriage.” It denied the plain teaching of Scripture that homosexuality is a sin and termed the authoritative truth of the Scripture (and we who adhere to it) as the “worst kind of fundamentalism.”

On the judicial front, our courts continue to grow increasingly hostile to any public expression of Christian faith. Public schools, funded with the tax dollars of millions of Christians, make it difficult for Christian students to exercise their freedom of religion while accommodating and openly tolerating the belief system of other religions.

• We begin with prayer and repentance. We first examine ourselves and come to the Lord in true humility. “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (II Chron. 7:14). “We are God’s people, and since He is holy, we are to be holy as well,” said Franklin Graham.

• We must respectfully engage those in our circles of influence with the truth of the gospel. “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (I Peter 3:15-16). Christians should never resort to the divisive, hostile behavior often employed by those who demean our faith. We speak the truth in love.

• While respectful, we nevertheless must be bold in our faith. This is not the time to be ashamed of our faith, but to boldly confess Jesus Christ as Lord. That’s why, with every opportunity we are given, we clearly articulate the gospel message. I will never shrink back from proclaiming Jesus Christ as the only Name by which men can be saved (Acts 4:12) by those who are courageously standing up for their faith in Christ in their neighborhoods, in their schools and in the halls of political power. I believe the Bible stories of bold men and women will challenge and inspire us to take a strong stand for Christ in our world.

With God’s help, we can make a difference. We must make a difference!

Annual Calendar Prayer Needs

As we seek the mind of God, please pray for these many contacts. Face-to-face contacts are the best way to influence our congressmen and senators. Please help us with prayers and financial support. We truly need your help.

Mrs. Adams and I count it a great honor to represent the churches of the Baptist Missionary Association of America. Below is our schedule for 2023-2024:

• January — Sanctity of Life Month and God and Country Rally

• April — BMA of America, Conway

• May 4 — National Day of Prayer

• June 12-17 — First Trip to Washington, D.C.

• June 25-July 2 — Annual Moral Action offerings across BMA

• July-August — Three God & Country Rallies

• Sept. 10 — Honor our Grandparents Sunday

• Sept. 25-27 — Second Trip to Washington, D.C. and Value Voters Summit

• November — National Senior Adult Time and (Nov. 7) U.S. Election Day/Vote Your Bible Values

• February 2024 — National Prayer Breakfast, D.C. (invitation accepted).

Baptist Trumpet - By Jeff Herring, Executive Editor

As we begin this new year, there are a number of things Allan and I would like to accomplish to help keep our subscribers informed about all things BMA (local, state, national and internationally), things pertaining to the Christian community as a whole. We also want to inspire them with articles that encourage each of us to live our best life for the glory of God. Here are a few things we look forward to God doing through this ministry in the coming year:

• New Software Development — We are in the final stages of the ongoing software project that will be embedded in our new website to manage our circulation information as well as integrate with our accounting software to help streamline and reduce redundant tasks that are part of the system now. Part of the funds for this project were raised during our Special Emphasis last year, but we will need to raise the balance of these funds this year to make sure it is fully covered.

• Planned Equipment Updates — While we are not at the “end of our rope” yet, the computers we use to get the Trumpet out each week are getting up there in computer years. We don’t want to be put in a situation of having to scramble because one of them fails while we are trying to get the paper out. Our plan is to raise the funds needed for this during our upcoming Special Emphasis (March-April). This will also allow us to use all subscription and regular offering funds to cover our regular expenses instead of these types of costs.

• Increase in Subscribers — The decrease in the number of subscribers is nothing new. It has been a trend for many years, primarily due to the normal decrease that comes from deaths and changing memberships that haven’t been offset by adding new subscribers to church plans or personal subscriptions. Just in the past few weeks, two churches have let us know they want to discontinue the church plan (around 100 subscribers total). One of those churches relied on a generous church member to cover the cost of the church plan subscription, but those funds ran out and there was no room in the church budget. Another church was making needed cuts and, as much as they didn’t want to discontinue the Trumpet, they had to make cuts. The pastor did say they would “keep an eye on the budget” and when they “see an improvement,” they will “pick the Trumpet back up.” I made them an offer to keep their church plan active for three months to see if that would get them far enough down the road. I believe it is that important to keep the people in our churches connected to the information we provide each week in the Trumpet.

I share these stories just to let you know how important it is that we have an increase in the number of subscribers. If our subscriber numbers keep going down, it won’t matter if printing costs remain the same, the price per subscriber will continue to increase and we may be forced to increase our rates again. We do not want to do that. The bottom line is we need more subscribers.

Will you do your part? If your church is already on the church plan, will you seek to add all current families to the list and each new member to keep your list current? If your church is not on the church plan, will you prayerfully consider setting it up for your people? If you know of someone that is not a subscriber, will you consider gifting them a subscription for the first year so they can be informed and inspired?

• Future Possibilities — As I have shared many times previously, we have no plans to discontinue the printing of the paper. So many people enjoy having something they can hold in their hand and read. With that being said, we have spent the last few years building up our digital offerings (E-Trumpet, Interactive Trumpet, website, archives, etc.) to give you the most for your money as a subscriber. With our latest subscription rate increase we transitioned to our new Total Access Subscription. That means you have access to everything we have to offer — printed or digital paper, website and archives! I don’t know what the future holds, but we want to keep adding to the value you get from the only weekly BMA newspaper. While we have a presence on many social media platforms, we have not really tapped into the possibilities of connecting with both current and new subscribers in that realm.

• Financial Stability — We have spent the past few years seeking to bring this ministry to a place where it could operate both now and in the foreseeable future. The subscription rate increases over the past two years helped bring our actual operating costs in line with our expected revenue from subscriptions and regular offerings from churches and individuals. This stability is not something we take for granted. There are still months when we receive a timely offering outside of regular giving that helps us breathe a little easier. There have been times in the last two years that we had to dip into our reserves (which we are thankful God has provided), and we hope to build up our general fund to the point that is not necessary.

Thank you for all your support for this ministry. As I have shared before, I did not seek out this job, but I do believe God brought me here and has asked me to serve. For that, I am thankful and will continue to do my best to serve Him by serving you.