STATE MISSIONS: Arkansas State Meeting
Brethren, I am asking you, for the sake of our missionaries and the business we will be conducting, to make an exerted effort to attend the State Association meeting in Conway this year. I, for one, depend on the input of our people to help guide the direction of your mission ministry.
Not only is your input valuable but your presence sends an encouraging message to your missionaries serving on the field that you have their back. Do you think that perhaps Heb. 10:25 — “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” — is meant for pastors and leaders as well as members?
Please make every attempt to attend, even if it is only for one day. I know many are not able to spend the night. So, call around your area and load up a car or van. If we do our best, God will do the rest. Who knows, you just might go home with an iPad! Love you in Jesus.
Wonderful Time
I was asked to come and share State Missions with Antioch East in Magnolia last Sunday. I had a marvelous time, and the people were very receptive. Pastor Ron Owen and their church gave us a much-needed offering at the close of the service. Thank you, Antioch East, for your sweet spirit and your love of lost souls.
Newsletter Sign Up
Please remember to drop by our table and sign up with a valid email address to begin receiving a newsletter from State Missions and have an opportunity to take home a new iPad. Donna will be expecting you.
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “We enjoyed a good time of prayer last Friday as 30 people were in the temple from 7:30 p.m. until 12:15 a.m. We prayed for the families, projects and ministries of the church and for the missionaries in Arkansas and the world.
We also gave thanks to God and adored Him with songs. The reflection in the Word was brought by Oscar Lopez, who based it on James 5:13-18.
“We had the Lord’s table Sunday, and then reflected on I Peter 4:1-6, with the theme ‘Let No One Despise His Salvation.’ At the end of the sermon, the call was made to leave the old life and its bad habits and to follow Christ and do His will. Two ladies came to the altar, and one of them made her profession of faith. We give glory to God, and we are grateful for His blessing.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “Our challenge each week is to present the Word of God in a faithful way. At Ebenezer, we continue the series of studies on a Panorama of the Bible. This week we started with the Creation stage; we just gave an introduction. Each brother is given the notes of the study created by me.
They are notes with the most important parts of the lesson, full of color and with maps and pictures, printed from my home. I am happy with the four brothers who attend the Theological Seminary. I see, little by little, the growth of the Word of God in their lives. Keep praying that God will present to me people with a thirst for God.
“Thank you for the support of each one of you. It would make it more difficult to do the work of the ministry without it. Blessings and may God be glorified.”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had a great week at Faith Chapel. Our attendance was back up, and most of our children were back, but a few were still out with that bug that is going around. We sure do miss them when they aren’t there. They liven up the place.
“My mother is visiting us for a few days, and it has been a blessing to be able to spend some time with her and share our mission with her. We are still busy with ‘counting the cost’ of a new building. I got to spend a day with Bro. Paul going over plans and getting quotes. His experience is invaluable. There is so much up-front work to do before ever breaking ground, and it seems as though we are always waiting on someone or something. But it must be done that way, and we know that it will happen in God’s timing. We are just trusting Him for this building and praying that His will be done for our mission, and our ministry, because we know that it cannot and will not be confined to a building. Our mission is in this community.
“We thank you again for all your support, and especially for your prayers. Please continue. God is faithful, and He is answering them.”
The Table, Springdale: Clinton Morris writes, “Among all the planning for Tablecon this next weekend, we decided to have a church picnic. It was a great time to see the church hanging out at the park.
“I am expecting 130 people at our boardgame convention. It is proving to be a busy couple of weeks with the state meeting the following week.
“Pray for wisdom and strength to get through these next couple of weeks and that God would open the eyes of people to the gospel.”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “This week, we had a follow up to the Fields of Faith meeting from last week by having the opportunity to speak at a local junior high. We had over 80 students spend their lunch time with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes program.
I was able to share my testimony of how one Christian lady changed my life by running a bus route in our neighborhood and inviting my brother and me to church when I was a young boy. Her faithfulness to follow Christ’s command to go out and reach others changed my life and the lives of hundreds of others. We were able to see one profession of faith for a young man that attended this meeting. Please pray for him as he begins his journey of growing in Christ.
This week at Faith Journey, we spoke about Caleb in Joshua 14. We learned how Caleb was wholeheartedly committed to God and, even at his advanced age, still claimed all God had promised to him. This is an excellent example to all of us of how we should live our lives, no matter what our age, because God’s work is never done.
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “Since God brought us to this country, and has directed us to plant a church in the name of Sovereign Grace, we knew it was the right one for this new work.
Our prayer is that will bring hope to the Hispanic community of the Northwest in Arkansas and as far as we can be of influence since within our vision this is to be a church that forms leaders. As the book of Ephesians says, ‘build the saints for the work of the ministry’ (Eph. 4:12). Pray that this leadership will be sent wherever the Lord directs us.
“Going back to the issue of our church name, sovereignty is an attribute of God that is not talked about much in the church today, but the more we understand what God’s power is, the easier it will be to trust Him. That God is sovereign means that He is a Supreme being, unlimited and totally independent of all influence. The Bible teaches that God’s dominion is so great that He has ultimate control of all things. ‘For You are great and do wonders, You alone are God’ (Psalm 86:10).
“This week was busy since we had the opportunity to participate in some conferences in Williamstown, Ky. The theme was ‘The sanctity of life.’ We were able to continue to form and combat the destructive ideologies with which the people we disciple, their children and in general the whole society are bombarded. I firmly believe that it is the work of the church to instruct and give tools to its members, such as fighting these ideologies. We were able to buy books for our church on the topics.
“We continue to meet every week in discipleship and, this week, we had very good attendance on Friday. We read the Word, prayed and discussed the theme ‘The 10 Commandments’ one by one. Then we prayed for our next opening which will be the third week of November. We are finalizing the issues and things we need. We appreciate your prayers because, as you know, starting a church is a war since there is someone who opposes; but our God is powerful and sovereign and disposes of all things according to His plan.”
Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “We had our second worship gathering last night. We thought it wasn’t going to be very different. As I shared previously, we’re losing our place at the end of the month, but had paid rent through then. We showed up to set up and the electricity was turned off.
We sprang into action to get candles and a generator, but props to Carroll Electric for coming out and getting it turned on in time! We had 24 for worship and 3 first-time guests. It was a great night as we looked at ‘The Rooted Life is An Epic Life’ from Psalm 1.
“I want to give a big shout-out to our sending church, Epic Church NWA. Their worship team lead us in worship and members came to run the video and sound! It’s been a blessing. This frees our Pea Ridge team to visit and enjoy the worship time themselves.”
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Paul White
Arkansas State Missions Director Paul White pens a weekly column to inform the BMA of Arkansas concerning Arkansas Missions’ activity and includes individual reports from each church planter.
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