PLAN TO ATTEND OUR 2011 WINTER MISSIONS CONFERENCE

The Park Ridge Baptist Church will be hosting our 2011 Winter Missions Conference in the interests of Baptist Faith Missions January 16-19.  Watch for the program in the next Mission Sheets.  We will also be posting it here as quickly as we receive it.

2011 Winter Missions Conference  |  January 16-19

“SEND FORTH LABORERS INTO HIS HARVEST”  | MATTHEW 9:38

Park Ridge Baptist Church

Street address: 3629 Crystal St,  Gotha FL 34734

Mail address: P.O Box 12,   Gotha  FL 34734  |  407-295-6296

Pastor Benton Glover  |  407-719-9861

Sunday January 16

6:30 P.M.  – To be announced

Monday January 17

5:00 P.M. Supper

7:00 P.M. – Brother Bobby Creiglow

8:00 P.M.  –  Missionary Jud Hatcher

Tuesday January 18

10:00 A.M.  –  Pastor Donovan Stewart

11:00 A.M.  –  Pastor Bobby Greene

12:00 Noon Lunch

5:00 P.M. Supper

7:00 P.M.  – Pastor Dave Humpreys

8:00 P.M.  –  Pastor Cecil Fayard

Wednesday January 19

10:00 A.M.  – Pastor Glenn Archer

11:00 A.M   – To be announced

12:00 Noon Lunch

5:00 P.M. Supper

7:00 P.M.  –  Pastor David Parks

HOTELS Being close to Walt Disney World, we have several hotels in the area. The Best Value Inn at Winter Garden is about 5 miles away, but very nice, and quite a bargain. 407-654-2020, 1800-947-7478; $38.00 if you ask for the “Park Ridge Baptist Church Special Rate”.

DIRECTIONS TO THE CHURCH SITE

FROM THE TURNPIKE:  Take exit 267B (Ocoee / Hwy 50). Go east on Hwy 50 approximately ½ mile to Blackwood Ave. (Health Central is on the corner). Turn right and go 3 blocks (block one is four lanes; blocks two and three are a single lane) to Crystal St. and turn left. The church is just ahead on the left.

FROM THE 408 EXPRESSWAY:  Take exit 1 (last exit before Turnpike) to Hwy 50. Turn left and go one block to Blackwood Ave. (Health Central is on the corner). Turn left and go 3 blocks (block one is four lanes; blocks two and three are a single lane) to Crystal St. and turn left. The church is just ahead on the left.

FROM INTERSTATE 4 (WEST OF ORLANDO):  Exit at US27 and go north to Hwy 50. Go east on Hwy 50 approximately ten miles to Blackwood Ave. (Health Central is on the corner). Turn right and go 3 blocks (block one is four lanes; blocks two and three are a single lane) to Crystal St. and turn left. The church is just ahead on the left.

FROM INTERSTATE 4 (EAST OF ORLANDO):  Exit at the 408 Expressway and go west. Take exit 1 (last exit before Turnpike) to Hwy 50. Turn left and go one block to Blackwood Ave. (Health Central is on the corner). Turn left and go 3 blocks (block one is four lanes; blocks two and three are a single lane) to Crystal St. and turn left. The church is just ahead on the left.

ALSO:  the 2011 Spring Missionary Bible Conference hosted by Thompson Road Baptist Church, Lexington KY will be on APRIL 11, 12, 13.  Block those dates and plan to attend!

MONTHLY GENERAL FUND SOLVENCY GOAL:  $50,000.00

“EVERY FRIEND A GIVING FRIEND”

We continue to appeal to you to help us maintain and increase our monthly General Fund offerings.  So far this year [January-October], we have averaged $35,000.00 per month.  Included in that average monthly amount, there were several months we received extraordinary gifts of a “one-time” kind.  We call them “windfalls of grace”.  But, sometimes God supplies our usual needs through very unusual means.

We are going to make it through the year, it appears, without having to make deductions from our missionaries’ monthly deposits to meet the expenses of their Essential Maintenance Transactions disbursements.  These EMT [or ‘Tier 1”] disbursements must be supplied from the monthly General Fund offerings so we can use the remaining Thanksgiving Offering funds to finance all the other commitments and services we provide for our missionaries from the General Fund.

Here is how we have made it:  [1] YOUR REGULAR MONTHLY OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND.  You who give regularly to the General Fund keep our missionaries on the field.  Every one of you doesn’t give the same dollar amount, but every one of you is an essential contributor to the cause.  [2] SOME OF YOU HAVE INCREASED YOUR MONTHLY GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS.  Some of you have emailed or called and notified me of what you have done.  Others of you have just increased your regular giving to the General Fund.  We have noticed, and so has the Lord.  We bless God for each of you.  [3] SOME OF YOU HAVE GIVEN EXTRAORDINARY OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND THROUGHOUT THE YEAR.  We noted that above.

But, through all these means and by all of us giving together, God has supplied our missionaries’ needs.  Even at that, what we commit to our missionaries as the Lord provides through your giving, is still so modest.  We want to do more.  So, HELP US MEET OUR MONTHLY $50,000.00 GENERAL FUND OFFERING GOAL BY GIVING A REGULAR MONTHLY PERSONAL GIFT.

2010 THANKSGIVING OFFERING GOAL:  $100,000.00

We hope you have been PLANNING to give your Thanksgiving Offering for the past year – but it is now time to PERFORM THE DOING OF IT [2 Corinthians 8.10-11].  We need every one of us to give as generous an offering as the Lord enables you to give.  Last year’s Thanksgiving Offering now stands at $92,201.30.  Some of you have continued to give to the Thanksgiving Offering every month this year.  Thank you for your faithful and on-going commitment to our missionaries’ needs.

WE ARE PRAYING, HOPING, AND APPEALING FOR $100,000.00 IN THIS YEAR’S OFFERING.  We hope you will respond as God supplies you with the offering to give.

2 Corinthians 9.8-15.

I first posted this report in May 2008, but it is still just as pressing today as it was then. I am re-posting it with only minor revisions for your prayerful consideration.
May, 2008

Dear Giving Friends!

“Now therefore, KNOW and CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO!”
1 Samuel 25.17

I hope you will very carefully read every word of this urgent appeal and ask the Lord of the Harvest what response He wants you to make to help us supply the essential commitments we have made to our missionaries.

This is as urgent an appeal as we have ever made. In fact, THE FUTURE SOLVENCY OF OUR GENERAL FUND DEPENDS UPON OUR COLLECTIVE RESPONSE TO THIS NEED!

You have never failed to respond before, and WE BLESS AND THANK GOD FOR EVERY ONE OF YOU ‘GIVING FRIENDS’! – and I trust God you will respond this time also with a long-term commitment toward our missionaries’ ministries.

“WE WISH YOU HAD TOLD US!”
Over the past recent years, we have encountered similar short-term deficiencies, and some of the missionaries’ expense accounts have necessarily been reduced for a month or two. When this became known, some of you said: “We wish you had told us. We didn’t know. We want our missionaries’ financial needs met.” I know you want to know. So, I want to be straight-up and out-front with where we are…and what we all need to do together…to get to where we need to be.

WHAT IS THE BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS GENERAL FUND?
Let me reiterate what the Baptist Faith Missions GENERAL FUND is…and why it is so critically essential for supplying our missionaries’ daily needs. [I know that many of you have known this for years – but we are constantly communicating with new Giving Friends who may not share this common knowledge with us. So, if this is ‘old hat’ to you, please bear with me as I converse with our newer Giving Friends.]

Missionaries who are supported through offerings given through Baptist Faith Missions do not go on deputation before going to their fields of service. We do not criticize those who choose to raise their own support through deputation. But, we believe that if the Holy Spirit calls a missionary to service…and if a church commissions and sends that missionary to do “essential church-planting missions in the nations of the world”, [which is what we believe is ‘essential Great Commission missions’] then that missionary should not be expected or required to spend 2-3 years of time, energy, and personal resources to travel and solicit his own support. That time is better spent in immediate ministry on the field of service to which the Holy Spirit is calling them.

So, Baptist Faith Missions facilitates the missionaries’ directly going to their fields of service.

The Directors of Baptist Faith Missions assume the responsibility of promoting, facilitating, and administering their financial support from the churches through some essential basic commitments.

THESE COMMITMENTS ARE SUPPLIED BY YOUR OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND.

WHAT ESSENTIAL COMMITMENTS DO OUR MISSIONARIES RECEIVE?
Here are the basic, essential, monthly standard commitments we provide for our missionaries from the General Fund. I will list them for you and provide also the monthly disbursements we make so you can see why we have the need we have.

SALARY: each missionary receives a modest salary of $1,717.00 per month. Their salary goes as far as they can stretch it to provide for their family’s essential personal living needs. The total monthly disbursement for salaries is: $20,604.00.

HOUSING ALLOWANCE: the standard monthly housing allowance is $250.00. This goes as far as it can toward housing rental or purchase plus utilities and everything else related to housing needs. The total monthly disbursement for housing allowances is: $3,500.00.

MINISTRY EXPENSES ALLOWANCE: this goes toward the many expenses they incur to provide essential supplies and materials they need to conduct their ministries. The total monthly disbursement for these ministry allowances is: $8,000.00.

HOSPITALIZATION PREMIUMS: we also provide for their hospitalization insurance premiums. The current total disbursement for monthly premiums is: $10,250.00.

MISSION SHEETS: we provide our missionaries with a collective newsletter to save them the expense of their own personal correspondence. The total monthly expense for printing and mailing the Mission Sheets is approximately $1,800.00 per month.

ARE YOU STILL ADDING?
All of the above STANDARD MONTHLY COMMITMENTS AND SERVICES ALREADY TOTAL $44,154.00!

These are what you would call in business: “hard costs” or “overhead” or simply, “the cost of doing business” – except that, in this case, WE ARE DOING THE BUSINESS OF “Great Commission MISSIONS”! This is THE HARVEST Jesus Christ commands us all to bring in.

These commitments provide our missionaries’ essential living expenses. They “keep them on the field”…and “keep the lights on” for their daily ministries.

THERE ARE OTHER COMMITMENTS WE HAVE MADE TO OUR MISSIONARIES: such as furlough transportation expenses when they are due for a Stateside furlough; we also commit to give each missionary an $8,000.00 automobile allowance every four years to help provide for their transportation needs on the field – IF THOSE FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE [and they are not always available].

THESE BENEFITS ALSO COME FROM OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND. If funds are not available, we are not able to meet these commitments.

In summary, WE MAKE EVERY EFFORT WE CAN TO FREE OUR MISSIONARIES FROM HAVING TO RAISE THEIR OWN FUNDS FOR THE ESSENTIAL ‘BOTTOM-LINE’ NEEDS THEY HAVE JUST TO STAY ON THE FIELD. All of these standard essential commitments are supplied from THE GENERAL FUND.

WE BELIEVE YOU WANT YOUR MISSIONARIES TO BE TAKEN CARE OF AND PROVIDED FOR – not just adequately – but AS AMPLY AS WE ARE ABLE! All our missionaries serve on “shoestring budgets”. And without increased General Fund offerings, we have no resources to increase our financial commitments to them.

WE MAKE THESE COMMITMENTS BY FAITH, BELIEVING THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT IS CALLING THESE MISSIONARIES TO THEIR RESPECTIVE FIELDS…and that we should assume the responsibility of committing to their support.

THIS IS WHAT WE MUST DO TO MEET THESE MONTHLY COMMITMENTS:

1 – WE MUST CHANGE OUR CULTURE OF THINKING ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE GENERAL FUND AND THE THANKSGIVING OFFERING.
From BFM’s beginnings, our Thanksgiving Offering has been given to supply the monthly deficits we incur between the General Fund offerings and the General Fund disbursements. It has been that way for over 68 years. And, we have been content to continue that practice.

WE MUST BEGIN MAKING THE GENERAL FUND SOLVENT FROM MONTH TO MONTH – especially with regards to our STANDARD MONTHLY COMMITMENTS AND SERVICES FOR OUR MISSIONARIES SUPPLIED FROM THE GENERAL FUND.

If we do that, then we can use the Thanksgiving Offering to meet those commitments we have made to our missionaries which are not disbursed every month, but rather at other irregular times during the year.

BUT, WE MUST BEGIN THIS MONTH TO SET THE GOAL OF MEETING OUR STANDARD MONTHLY COMMITMENTS FROM THE GENERAL FUND WITH OUR MONTHLY OFFERINGS GIVEN TO THE GENERAL FUND.

2 – THIS MEANS WE MUST INCREASE OUR MONTHLY OFFERINGS TO THE GENERAL FUND BY AT LEAST $10,000.00 IMMEDIATELY… BEGINNING THIS MONTH.
And, this must become our consistent practice and ‘modus operandi’ going forward. This immediate response will at least bring us up to maintaining the status quo for our current General Fund monthly income/disbursement balance.

At the present time, when we compare our total General Fund giving in an average month with our standard General Fund disbursements, the average monthly deficit is around $10,000.00.

EACH OF US MUST MAKE A COMMITMENT

Each one of us needs to assume a part in meeting this present and on-going need. And, if each one of us assumes his/her role, then the need can be effectively supplied without an undue burden on any one Giving Friend. “For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened.” [see 2 Corinthians 8.13].

“NOW THEREFORE, KNOW AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO…”
1 Samuel 25.17

HERE IS SOMETHING EACH OF US CAN DO:

1 IF YOU ARE NOT GIVING A PERSONAL OFFERING TO THE BFM GENERAL FUND, WILL YOU BEGIN TO DO SO? Each of us should be personally involved in missions giving, and in this case, YOUR PERSONAL MISSIONARY FRIENDS NEED YOU…AND DEPEND ON YOU. Can you give $1 a day to help finance the essential ministry needs of your missionaries? Will you begin by committing to give a personal offering of $30 per month to the General Fund offering?

If your church gives monthly offerings to the BFM General Fund, you can give it through your church’s offerings and ask your church treasurer to add your personal offering to the church’s monthly offering. Or, you can give it directly by sending it to our Treasurer, Pastor George Sledd / P. O. Box 471280 / Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280

2 IF YOU ARE ALREADY GIVING PERSONAL MONTHLY OFFERINGS TO THE BFM GENERAL FUND, CAN YOU INCREASE IT AS THE LORD ENABLES YOU? Can you increase your current offering by another 25%…or more? We bless God and thank each of you who has given over all these years so we could do what all we have done. BFM IS WHERE WE ARE TODAY BECAUSE OF THE GRACE, GENEROSITY, AND FAITHFUL-NESS OF ALL OUR GIVING FRIENDS. God has blessed you – and will bless you – for your expressions of love and obedience to the Gospel.

3 IF YOUR CHURCH GIVES OFFERINGS TO THE BFM GENERAL FUND FROM YOUR CHURCH’S TREASURY, WILL YOU INCREASE IT? Keep in mind that each $1 given to the BFM General Fund is divided up 12 ways [that’s the number of missionary families we support], and so each missionary receives 8 cents’ benefit from every $1 contributed.

Every time the Lord leads us into a crisis, IT IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FAITH AND OBEDIENCE. We are confronted right now with an awesome OPPORTUNITY FOR FAITH.

When the Lord Jesus purposed to feed the 5,000 hungry people through the ministry of His followers, He tested them with a CRISIS…AN OPPORTUNITY FOR FAITH. He asked Philip, “Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” [ see John 6.5-6 ]. Philip and the other disciples were at a loss how to meet this need. “But this He said to test him, FOR HE HIMSELF KNEW WHAT HE WOULD DO.” Jesus Christ knows what He purposes to do.

We are all waiting-and responding-to see what He will do – and how He will do it…through us

“NOW THEREFORE, KNOW AND CONSIDER WHAT YOU WILL DO…”

And let’s every one of us DO IT NOW! THANK YOU, GIVING FRIENDS!

“MILES FOR MISSIONS”
If you look into the August issue of the Mission Sheets listings of the General Fund offerings, you will note an offering from First Baptist Church, Alexandria KY for $15,849.85.

Let me tell you the story behind that offering. In the beginning of this year, Pastor Ron Duty began corresponding with me about their church’s regrettable decisions concerning their overall financial cutbacks. The economic conditions affecting us all had impacted First Baptist Church, and they were necessarily reducing their ministry budgets across the board. They held off cutting their missions giving as long as they could. But, inevitably, their missions budget suffered as well.

So, they decided to give more creatively. They support several missionaries including BFM missionaries through the General Fund. They committed themselves to designating a special offering every other month to a specific missionary they support with the goal of still raising enough funds in that one special offering to at least match the annual total they had been giving that missionary during a typical whole year.

Their budgeted giving to BFM’s General Fund, though, was $1000.00 per month from their missions budget. So, they knew that matching that total annual giving in one offering would present some unique challenges.

Here’s what they did: Pastor Ron is an avid runner. Last year, he ran a Half Marathon competition in a Cincinnati event, and this year, he decided to go for the full Marathon [for the unitiated, that means 26 miles!].

Many of the participants in the Marathon race raise money through pledges for special personal causes. That’s how the “MILES FOR MISSIONS” project was inspired.

As Pastor Ron tells it, “The plan was simple: to promote the “MILES FOR MISSIONS” among our church members, other Christian friends, and even non-Christian family encouraging them to give a pledge of their own choosing towards “MILES FOR MISSIONS”. They could pledge a set amount or a per-mile amount. We promoted primarily through Facebook and had a signup list at First Baptist for encouraging all to make a pledge of some size.”

Well, Pastor Ron did, indeed, “run with endurance the race” that was set before him – ALL 26.2 miles of it! Six hours after the starting gun, he crossed the finish line – with his 10-year old son, Eli, running the last 100 yards alongside him. When all the personal commitments and per-mile pledges had been received, THE FINAL GIVING WAS $15,849.85! [Pastor Ron confesses he was shooting for $1000-1500 – but, you can’t outgive God!]

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3.20-21

Thank you, Lord!
Thank you, Pastor Ron and First Baptist Church!
And, THANK YOU, ALL OUR GIVING FRIENDS!

$50,000 MONTHLY SOLVENCY GOAL

I am frequently asked: “What is BFM’s greatest need?”

The answer is always: “THE GENERAL FUND!”

Our 12 missionary families depend on commitments we have made to them from General Fund supplies.

When you support the GENERAL FUND, you are contributing to the salaries, housing, ministry expenses, health care, furlough travel expenses, and other commitments we have made to them.

All of these standard commitments are “big ticket items”.

Every month we disburse from the GENERAL FUND for the benefit of our missionaries: $20,426.00 for salaries; $10,950.00 for standard expense accounts; $10,500.00 for insurance premiums as well as other support services and benefits [like the printing of the Mission Sheets- the monthly newsletter with their letters and updatges].

ALL OF THESE DISBURSEMENTS, MODEST AS THEY ARE, ARE SUPPLIED FROM THE GENERAL FUND.

When you give to the GENERAL FUND, you are enabling them to serve the Lord daily where they are without the distraction of wondering whether their essential basic needs will be met to keep them on the field.

If you are not giving to the GENERAL FUND, we hope you will commit to giving a monthly offering so we can meet their needs. If you are giving to the GENERAL FUND, would you consider increasing your offering as you are able.

TOGETHER, WE CAN DO IT!

“FaithWorks” is my attempt to keep you updated on the latest “works” or “goings-on” in Baptist Faith Missions. I want to keep up a relatively current conversation with you concerning what is happening…what is developing…and what we are planning.

“FaithWorks” means two things: [1] You can read it as a declarative statement: “ Faith works.” True faith always works. We are Baptist FAITH Missions, so if we are FAITH missions, and true faith WORKS, then our FAITH will WORK.

Galatians 5.6 declares that “FAITH WORKS through love.” And our FAITH will WORK also through our love for the Lord Jesus Christ, for missions, for our missionaries, and for the world of lost people whom Jesus loves.

[2] Secondly, you can read “FaithWorks” as a description of the kind of WORKS we are doing — they are FAITH-kind of WORKS. To quote James 2.18 in that classic challenge of his to those who claimed that they had FAITH ONLY WITHOUT WORKS: “Show me your faith without your works, and I WILL SHOW YOU MY FAITH BY MY WORKS.” And, “thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” [James 2.17]

So, FAITH ONLY…WITHOUT WORKS…IS DEAD, and we can also be sure that WORKS DONE APART FROM FAITH IN CHRIST WILL BE DEAD WORKS ALSO. So, the kind of WORKS we want to do are FAITH WORKS. WORKS that are done in obedience to the words of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I hope to keep you up-to-speed on the works Jesus Christ is doing through us here in Baptist Faith Missions. John 14.12: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me [FAITH], the WORKS that I do he will do also; and GREATER WORKS than these he will do, because I go to My Father, and whatever you ask in My Name [FAITH], that I will do [HIS WORKS THROUGH US], that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

FAITH WORKS…FAITH-WORKS.

LABOR DAY CONFERENCE | EAST KEYS BAPTIST CHURCH
7 September 2010
We have just returned from Springfield IL where the East Keys Baptist Church hosted their Labor Day Missions Conference in the interests of Baptist Faith Missions. The Lord has blessed them – and the Lord used them to bless us. Over the Lord’s Day and Labor Day Monday morning, we enjoyed 5 stirring messages from God’s Word – all of which incited us to give ourselves to God in increasing service. Those ministers of God’s Word were: Dave Parks, Jim Tipton, Bobby Creiglow, Glenn Archer, and Harold Draper.

The church there also formally transitioned their pastoral leadership from Brother Cliff Presley to Brother Dan Hillard. Pastor Presley has had to resign from active pastoring due to his afflictions with his back and legs. He has led that church for the past 12 years.

We also gave special offerings for BFM during the Conference services in the amount of approximately $1000.00. We bless God for all our friends – and especially for our dear friends in East Keys Baptist Church.