STATE MISSIONS: First, Waldo Donates Van
I was contacted by David Watkins, who said First Baptist Church in Waldo had a van and wanted to know if I knew anyone who might need it. Well, I contacted your missionaries and found a taker. Roberto Marcelletti in Rogers needed it, and we were happy to fix him up. Thank you, First Baptist Church of Waldo, and Bro. David, for thinking of State Missions.
These guys are always in need of nearly everything, so should you replace the sound system or tables and chairs or just want a project, please give us a call and we will try and find a good home for it.
Planting Seed Bearing Fruit!
I received a text this week from Michael, who had the opportunity to lead someone to Christ. Wow, that is what it is all about. Be sure to read all their reports for more good news.
A Note of Thanks
We at the BMA of Arkansas building in Little Rock want to give a big shout out to Jimmy Wallace, who is working to get the city to run a water line by our property. Since its construction, we have gotten our water from Temple Baptist Church, then South City and presently we are having to pay the school next door for water and parking. They have shared with Jimmy that they would have the line run within the next 12 months. Also, we are working with Tim Tyler (Water for Christ) Engineering firm on the necessary paperwork to construct our own drive and parking. Hopefully, we can get this done before bad weather. It is great having folks you have confidence in on your side.
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, “On Saturday, the Sunday discipleship group and some other members of the church received the ‘Good Soil’ evangelism and discipleship training. We went to the offices of our association in Conway and Eliezer Semedo, from BMA Global, led the training.
We are trying to take advantage of all the good disposition of all members of the group, equipping them for the work in the best possible way. This training turned out to be very interesting due to the use of a tool that helps identify where a person is spiritually and determine where to begin biblical teaching to present the gospel in an orderly and effective way.
“That same day, a group of sisters participated in a women’s conference of Hispanic churches in Arkansas, called ‘Healing Heart Wounds.’
“There were opportunities at the Sunday meeting for testimonies from people who had attended either of the two events on Saturday, concluding that both were a blessing for each of the participants. Thank you for your prayers for this work, your support is crucial to us. God bless you!”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, (11/5) “I am grateful to God for the opportunity to be present with Kory at our State Association’s annual meeting. Being in contact with you who pray and support us was a great blessing.
“Another blessing was seeing Jeremiah at Ebenezer, one of our young men at our church. I haven’t seen him since the summer. He was in Army training and now he will be in Little Rock for a few months. Every time I pray for him, I also remember in prayer all our soldiers who serve our nation. Last Sunday, we had good attendance and good spirits. The topic we touched on was idolatry. We are in a series reviewing the times that Israel fell into idolatry and had to pay the consequences.
“Next Sunday, we will have our Thanksgiving meal. It will be a good opportunity to bring guests to hear the Word of God. I want to take advantage of this time to thank each one of you who read and support us. God uses you to glorify His name. Keep praying for missions. You are part of our missionary team. To God be the glory!”
(11/12) “It has been a busy week. We have been visiting Avelina Santos in the hospital. She has had problems with her heart, and her legs do not have the strength to walk. Last Friday, we celebrated her 88th birthday in the hospital. Pray for her health and for this time of transition for her.
“On Thursday night, we visited a sister who has not attended Ebenezer for some time. We prayed for her and encouraged her to gather.
“We had our Thanksgiving celebration on Sunday, and it was quite a blessing. We had a good attendance of 45 people, including first-time visitors, then we shared food. Our fellowship time was a good time of connecting with the visitors. Pray that the Word of God sown in hearts will bear fruit in time. To God be the glory!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had a great week at Faith Chapel! Our attendance was a little low this week at morning worship, but we still had a good number. That seems to happen every opening weekend of deer season, not sure why. We still have many return visitors that call us ‘our church,’ and we pray they will continue and that the Lord may lead them to join us.
“The building is coming along nicely. The focus now is finishing up the HVAC systems, and that is almost done. After that and an electrical inspection, and we will be ready for drywall. Praise God!
“We thank you again for your support and prayers. We are so blessed to a part of this association, and we thank God for you all.”
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes, “’But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ’ (I Cor. 15:57). We have a wonderful praise that we were a part of this week, and we are so thankful. I was asked to be the guest speaker at one of our local schools this week for their Christian ministry for middle school students.
I shared a lesson about David as a young boy and having a heart for the Lord. We talked about how the Lord was faithful to him and allowed him to defeat the giant, Goliath. Through this story, I was able to show them that our God is faithful to give us what we need to defeat all the battles we face in life. We just have to have a heart for God like David did.
“Afterward, I gave the presentation of the gospel and asked that if anyone would like to talk with me or had questions, they could meet me when we were done. I had three young men join me with a few questions. One of them said that he wanted to be saved, but did not know how. I spent time telling him about salvation and repentance, then there in the stairwell of his school, he asked Jesus into his heart and to be his Lord and Savior. Praise God because He is so good to us!”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, “We had to suspend two of our connection groups this week in Rogers and Springdale because several families in the church have COVID. It also affected our attendance at the Sunday service that normally during the months of September and October averages 35 people. This week there were 22.
“Sunday, we had a time of intercession for our brothers who are sick. Then we had a beautiful time of worship, telling the greatness of our Sovereign God. We are in an expository series on the book of John. At the end of the sermon, we prayed and thanked God for our brother, Rick who is a veteran and also prayed for all those who have served and are serving the country. Then we had a meal in honor of him.
“To conclude, when we arrived at the temple yesterday, the brothers of our mother church, Epic Church, gave us the sad news that they will not continue to congregate as a church. Please, I ask for your prayers, the brothers were very sad to have to close as a church. I also ask you to pray for us and when we continue, we are left without a mother church. They are very sweet brothers and want us to continue to hold our meetings on the property.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “This was a challenging week with something preventing each of our Connection Groups from meeting. It’s wild to have had such a great impact and then have down weeks like we have had the last two. That seems to be the M.O. of church planting.
“We did have a powerful time at our Monthly Worship Night. Over the past couple of worship nights, I have been preaching on passages that lay the foundation of what we’re doing through Epic Life. This week was a reminder that we have the opportunity to follow Jesus. We reflected on the conflict in Israel and how God has fulfilled His Word, and we looked at the testimonies from the persecuted church using material from the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Those reminders of the ‘realness’ of God were used to propel into a message on following Jesus and how Jesus instructed us to ‘abide in Him.’ We’re to seek Him constantly and step courageously.”
El Faro #2 Hispanic Mission, Cabot/Jacksonville: Michael Hight writes, “This weekend was a blessing! Bro. Sal came down from Jonesboro and we shared the gospel numerous times, made a lot of contacts and had two men pray to receive Christ.
“Keep praying for us. We are looking for an area to bless during the holidays that will open doors. Thank you for your support.”
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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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