2014 BFM Thanksgiving Conference
60th ANNUAL THANKSGIVING MISSIONS CONFERENCE
November 10-12, 2014 – New Hope Baptist Church
Dearborn Heights, MI – Pastor Terry Adkins
Conference Theme: Abounding in the work of the Lord – I Corinthians 15:58
* Sister Sue Jones will be conducting a Bible study during each session of the conference for children ages 3 thru 10. Please bring your children.
* Everyone is invited to sing in our Conference Choir on Monday evening at 6:45.
* For directions to New Hope Baptist Church and/or information on lodging, please contact: Pastor Terry Adkins (313) 562-5579 | pastorterrynewhope@yahoo.com
MONDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 10TH
5:00p.m. Dinner
6:30p.m. Music
6:45p.m. Singing
7:15p.m. Message, Pastor George Sledd – Jordan Baptist Church, Sanford, FL
8:00p.m. Singing
8:25p.m. Message, Paul Hatcher – Missionary to Brazil
TUESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 11TH
9:15A.M. Music
9:30a.m. Singing
9:45a.m. Message, Pastor Ben Glover – Park Ridge Baptist Church, Gotha, FL
10:30a.m. Message, Pastor Mike Farmer – Covenant Baptist Church, Troy MI
11:10a.m. Break
11:15a.m. Message, John Hatcher – Missionary to Brazil
12:00 Noon Lunch
TUESDAY AFTERNOON, NOVEMBER 11TH
1:30p.m. BFM open-forum advisory meeting (everyone is invited to attend)
TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 11TH
5:00p.m. Dinner
6:30p.m. Music
6:45p.m. Singing
7:15p.m. Message, Teaching-Pastor David Mitchell – Calvary Baptist Church, Hurricane, WV
8:00p.m. Singing
8:25p.m. Message, Pastor Ken Hurst – Storms Creek Baptist Church, Ironton OH
WEDNESDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER 12TH:
9:45a.m Music
10:00a.m. Singing
10:15a.m. Message, Pastor Bobby Greene – Calvary Baptist Church, Richmond, KY
11:00a.m. Singing
11:15a.m Message, Pastor Doug Armstrong – Lake Road Baptist Church, Clio, MI
12:00 Noon Thanksgiving Lunch
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [August 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW— PRAISE GOD for a time of fellowship, especially with Henry. PRAY for the people being saved in Bolivia in spite of persecution. PRAISE GOD for full Sunday evening services at First Baptist and in the chapels. PRAY for Idevaldo and his wife, the newest missionaries who will be sent to the field later this year.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for His glorious Gospel He has given us the privilege of sharing with others. PRAY that you will be a faithful witness.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for the birth of grandchild #10! PRAY for committed first-generation leaders. PRAISE GOD for Philip and Amanda serving in France with them.
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for always providing. PRAISE GOD for working in the life of Francisco Santiago and for the 66th anniversary of Tabernacle Baptist Church in Manaus! Through this ministry, your giving and prayers, children, grandchildren, great children, and even great-great grandchildren churches have spread in more than half of the state of Brazil. PRAY as His work continues to spread.
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for open doors to share the Gospel at a large new school! PRAISE GOD and PRAY for 52 young prisoners who put their faith & trust in Christ! PRAY that the Lord would open legal doors for vocational classes at the prison. PRAY for their upcoming “Mission Awareness” month. PRAY that the Lord would provide the finances for their blown motor.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAISE GOD for Carrie’s permit for the hospital ministry being renewed! PRAISE GOD for answering prayers for safety. PRAY that the Lord will provide other children in Kitale who are their girls’ ages. PRAISE GOD for their new four-legged family member!
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for a sweet time of worship in a tiny village at night. PRAY for the witch doctor’s village and for the Pokot Christians to be burdened to share the Gospel with their own people. PRAISE GOD for light in the darkness and PRAY that His Gospel will penetrate resistant hearts.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for His protection during an armed robbery. PRAY for the safety of new missionary Alysson, a new missionary they just sent out to the Tupi Indians, and that the Gospel would go forth with great success! PRAISE GOD for growing their church and for the volunteers who are helping work on the building.
CHANGED DATES FOR THANKSGIVING CONFERENCE
The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will be hosting the Thanksgiving Conference again this November – but it will not be during Thanksgiving week this year. The new dates will be Monday-Wednesday – November 10, 11, 12. Please note and mark these new dates – plan to attend. [You can view the full schedule here.]
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERINGS
You should have received last month your special Founders Day Offering issue of the Mission Sheets along with one of our new brochures: “Caring For Those Who Care For the World” which will explain the need and function of the General Fund to supply our missionaries’ monthly needs.
The contributions we receive from your Founders Day Offering go toward supplementing the monthly General Fund offerings to supply the monthly commitments we make to your missionaries. These offerings provide for their essential living and ministry expenses. Every month, we must disburse at least $43,300.00 just to maintain the standard essential commitments we have made to our 11 faithful, full-time missionary families.
When the monthly General Fund offerings do not cover those commitments, then we must reduce the amounts we disburse to the missionaries that month. What it always comes down to is reducing the amounts we disburse to them for their modest salaries and personal/ministry expenses allowances.
To date, June’s and July’s offerings total $14,280.00. The 2013 Founders Day Offering was $23,176.00. We really need to at least match that offering – and better yet, exceed it. The Founders Day Offering last year enabled us to carry over supplies into the latter months of 2013 and prevented us from having to reduce the missionaries’ monthly disbursements.
Please respond as generously as God enables you to give. Whether it is June, July, August – or whenever – just designate your offering “Founders Day Offering” and we will apply it to keeping your missionaries’ proverbial heads above the proverbial financial water for that month! I promise you: they will need it!
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since December 2013.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
Their present address is: 615 Key West Avenue, Davenport FL 33897-3600
Telephone: (863) 438-6922
Read more
Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to write to you this month about a light in the darkness and a darkness in the light. Explanation of this cryptic sentence follows.
I had an opportunity this month to visit the Pokot region of Kenya where the Pokot people live. These people live north of Kitale. About a 40 minute drive north of Kitale, you drive down a long escarpment, go off the map, and enter a completely different world. You leave the cooler, green of Kitale for the hot and dust-filled land of the Pokot. You leave the “comfortable” and the “familiar” for the unknown, the desert. In a word, you leave “civilization” (some of you might not even consider Kitale to be civilization) for the world of National Geographic. You enter a land of small mud huts, goats and camels, no water or food, strange clothes, unknown language, sickness and blindness, thorns, mountains, dried up riverbeds, naked children, and even witch doctors. Our destination was a seven hour drive north to the Pokot villages of Konyau, Leyo, Alale, Nakali and other villages too small for a name. Our goal was to teach and preach the gospel and the salvation found in Jesus Christ. Of the many things I could write about concerning this trip, I basically want to summarize it by contrasting two of the small villages we visited, neither of which was big enough to have a name.
Village #1: A Light in the Darkness
We arrived in this village around 5:30pm, set up our tents outside the village, and got a fire burning so we could heat up some tea. We ate our evening meal of tea and peanut butter sandwiches without jam. We had plans of heading down to the village after dark for a time of worship with the villagers. At 9:00 we headed down to the village. It was already pitch dark. We arrived at the village where the only light came from a small campfire that was already burning. No one besides us missionaries had arrived at the worship site yet (the worship site being a cleared out area around the fire). While we waited for people to arrive we tried to call home and check in with our families, but we could not receive any cell coverage (surprisingly, you can get cell coverage just about everywhere in Kenya, even in the bush). We wandered away from the fire 200 to 300 yards looking for a place where we would find coverage. It was very dark. All I could see were the stars and the dark silhouettes of the nearby mountains. While I was out wandering around looking for a signal, drums from the village began to sound, signaling to the people to come to the fire for worship. If you’ve seen enough movies like I have, you may be able to figure out what I was thinking. Put yourself in my place. You’re in the middle of the African bush. It’s completely dark. You hear drums start to sound in the distance. If you’re anything like me you begin to think that those drums are an ominous sign that the cannibals are about to come and get you. A little far-fetched, I know, but you might think the same thing if you had been in my position. It was menacing. It was threatening. It was gloomy. It was intimidating, hostile, sinister and foreboding. Anyway, as we began to walk back towards the village, the sound of the drums increased, becoming even more daunting. But soon the light from the fire appeared as well as the sound of singing villagers. We arrived back in the village to the sounds of the drums, the people singing and dancing around the fire as the whole village had come out to worship and praise God together. They sang and praised God for over an hour in the Pokot language. They also sang some in Swahili so I was able to hear that they were indeed singing about Jesus, the cross, his grace, salvation and how much they loved him. The singing was followed by a time of teaching and preaching by the missionaries about the gospel, which was well received by all these people. As I sat there participating in all this I could not help but think that while the darkness of night had set in, and although the drums sounded menacing from a distance, this particular village was filled with the light of Christ and the gospel.
Village #2: A Darkness in the Light
The scenario surrounding the other village I will tell you about was completely different. This village we wanted to visit contained the witch doctor for the whole vicinity. Using divination he would tell people when and where to attack for cows, would tell the people what they needed to do for the rain to come, and performed other acts of “seeing”. His powers, albeit from the devil, are very real. We wanted to go see him and share the gospel with him and his village. We got up in the morning, ate our breakfast, and took off for his village. We left on foot at about 10:00 in the morning, carrying water and food for our long hike into the mountains where his village was located (any resemblance of a road ended at the place where we had pitched out tents for the night). The sun was shining bright and hot. I covered my head with a hat and my neck with a scarf. I drank a lot of water as we hiked up and down hills, the bright sun illumining our path while pounding us with radiation, light, and heat. We finally arrived in the small village. Some of the older women sat in shady areas with the small naked children. Most of these women looked blind, their eyes white and milky. We asked to see the old witch doctor. They refused to tell us where he was. They told us we were not welcome there and to go away. We told them we had words from God that he wanted them to hear. They would not look us in the eyes, they told us the words we had were not for them, that they did not want to hear them. We told we had walked far to see the old man and again asked if we could see him. Some of the teenage boys who were standing afar off tending the goats began to yell at us and threaten us. There was hostility in their voices and in their eyes. The resistance was great, not only to our message but also to our very presence. After about an hour, we had no choice but to leave the village. The old witch doctor never came out of his hut, and we never had a chance to see him. As we began our long walk back to our campsite, the sun continued to pound us with light and heat. I couldn’t help thinking that the whole time we visited that village the sun brightly lit up the entire area, but the poor people of that village lived in complete and perpetual spiritual darkness. Later, back at the campsite, we worshipped with some Christian Pokot people. I encouraged them to be thinking and praying about how they themselves could be missionaries to their own people by taking the gospel back to the witch doctors’ village in the hills.
I relate these contrasting stories to you so that you can see that while the gospel has made many inroads into far off places and is shining the light of the truth of Jesus in Satan’s dark strongholds, there are still many places and people that are blinded to the light of Christ and need his love, grace and mercy in their lives. Please pray for the conversion of the Pokot people of north-west Kenya.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [July 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW— PRAISE GOD for time to train in Pé da Terra. PRAISE GOD for the 32 baptisms at First Baptist Cruizeiro do Sul last month! PRAY for the 7 chapels around town—especially the new one that is about to open. PRAISE GOD for a great missions conference and new missionaries being sent out! PRAISE GOD for the organization of a new church!
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for the opportunity to visit faithful prayer supporters and giving friends in Florida. PRAY for their continued health and strength. PRAISE GOD for time with family and opportunities to witness.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for reconnecting with some people and making new friends at their annual neighborhood dinner. PRAY for their new English Club ministry they will be starting within the next year. PRAY for Philip, Amanda, and their family, and also Wendy who all serve in France with them.
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for evangelistic opportunities in Manaus during the World Cup. PRAY for those who professed faith in Christ, that they may grow in the Lord and be steadfast. PRAISE GOD for improving Pastor Adolfo’s eye problems. PRAISE GOD for visits with family and friends.
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for fruit from the group dedicated to evangelism! PRAY for these new believers and for their church members as they learn to be disciplers. PRAISE GOD for the youth who served at the orphanage and lives that were changed. PRAY for the inmates and the visitors that are planning to minister to them this month.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAISE GOD for a safe return to Kenya. PRAY for them as they wait to hear a response on Carrie’s permit so she can continue the hospital ministry. PRAY also for their church planting plans and the prison ministry.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON—PRAISE GOD for continued progress on the new building for the Calvary Baptist Mission-Church! PRAISE GOD for 40 years of marriage, a memorable trip, and a visit from the Griffins! PRAY for those Sheridan continues to counsel and the pastors in the Monday night Bible class.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for the promise that “He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” PRAY for Bro. Roger as he seeks to be a more wholly surrendered servant. PRAY that God would do an even greater work in his heart—and in your own!
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for opportunities to share Christ at World Cup venues and PRAY for the seeds that were planted! PRAISE GOD for the team from Arizona who ministered to the homeless. PRAISE GOD for the third anniversary of their church.
LABOR DAY MISSION CONFERENCE
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 1
EAST KEYS BAPTIST CHURCH
2150 East Keys Avenue, Springfield, IL
[Directions]
Pastor Dan Hillard
(dhillard51[at]yahoo.com)
(309-265-2974)
Everyone is invited to attend the Mission Conference Labor Day Weekend
at East Keys Baptist Church on behalf of Baptist Faith Missions.
An offering will be received during the meeting to help with the general expenses and missionary support.
We recommend Howard Johnson Motel,
1701 J. David Jones Parkway, Springfield, IL 62702 (217) 541-8762.
Tell them you are with East Keys Baptist Church to receive a discount for your room.
SUNDAY
10:00 a.m. – Brother Bob Jones, Evangelist
11:00 a.m. – Brother Joe Head,
Pastor, Winton Place Baptist Church, Cincinnati OH
LUNCH
6:30 p.m. – Brother Kenny Hurst,
Pastor, Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church, Ironton OH
7:30 p.m. – Brother Jonathan Turner,
Pastor, Richland Baptist Church, Livermore, KY
MONDAY
10:00 a.m. – Brother Paul Reynolds,
Assistant Pastor, Independence Baptist Church, Foristell MO
11:00 a.m. – Brother Joe Head,
Pastor, Winton Place Baptist Church, Cincinnati OH
LUNCH
CHANGED DATES FOR THANKSGIVING CONFERENCE
The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will be hosting the Thanksgiving Conference again this November – but it will not be during Thanksgiving week this year. The new dates will be Monday-Wednesday – November 10, 11, 12. Please note and mark these new dates.
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERINGS
We know June is past now – at least the calendar month June has come and gone. But, the need for the Founders Day Offering goes on and on…month by month.
You see, the contributions we receive from your Founders Day Offering go toward supplying the monthly commitments we make to our missionaries to provide for their essential living and ministry expenses. Every month, we must disburse at least $43,300.00 just to maintain the standard essential commitments we have made to our 11 faithful, full-time missionary families.
When the monthly General Fund offerings do not cover those commitments, then we must reduce the amounts we disburse to the missionaries that month. What it always comes down to is reducing the amounts we disburse to them for their modest salaries and personal/ministry expenses allowances.
You should be receiving soon your special Founders Day Offering issue of the Mission Sheets (click here to read online) along with one of our new brochures: “Caring For Those Who Care For the World” (click here to read online) which will explain the need and function of the General Fund to supply our missionaries’ monthly needs.
Please read both of those pieces and respond as generously as God enables you to give. Whether it is June, July, August – or whenever – just designate your offering “Founders Day Offering” and we will apply it to keeping your missionaries’ proverbial heads above the proverbial financial water for that month! I promise you: they will need it!
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since December 2013.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
Their present address is: 615 Key West Avenue, Davenport FL 33897-3600
Telephone: (863) 438-6922
Read more
BFM Labor Day Conference 2014
LABOR DAY MISSION CONFERENCE
AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 1
EAST KEYS BAPTIST CHURCH
2150 East Keys Avenue, Springfield, IL
[Directions]
Pastor Dan Hillard
(dhillard51[at]yahoo.com)
(309-265-2974)
Everyone is invited to attend the Mission Conference Labor Day Weekend
at East Keys Baptist Church on behalf of Baptist Faith Missions.
An offering will be received during the meeting to help with the general expenses and missionary support.
We recommend Howard Johnson Motel,
1701 J. David Jones Parkway, Springfield, IL 62702 (217) 541-8762.
Tell them you are with East Keys Baptist Church to receive a discount for your room.
SUNDAY
10:00 a.m. – Brother Bob Jones, Evangelist
11:00 a.m. – Brother Joe Head,
Pastor, Winton Place Baptist Church, Cincinnati OH
LUNCH
6:30 p.m. – Brother Kenny Hurst,
Pastor, Storms Creek Missionary Baptist Church, Ironton OH
7:30 p.m. – Brother Jonathan Turner,
Pastor, Richland Baptist Church, Livermore, KY
MONDAY
10:00 a.m. – Brother Paul Reynolds,
Assistant Pastor, Independence Baptist Church, Foristell MO
11:00 a.m. – Brother Joe Head,
Pastor, Winton Place Baptist Church, Cincinnati OH
LUNCH
Read more
Missionary Update: Mike & Beverly Creiglow in Brazil [July 2014]
Mike and Beverly Creiglow have served the Lord in Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil together since 1971. In addition to pastoring First Baptist of Cruzeiro do Sul, Mike builds his own boats and frequently travels up and down rivers to share the Gospel with those who have never heard.
July 10, 2014
Dear Brethren,
Bev and I went back to Pé da Terra for a few days of training with the church there. We are trying to help them with their financial teaching and management. There were over 50 members present for the 4 lessons I taught during 4 nights.
We had another baptism at First Baptist this month. I baptized another 32 new members. That has been right at the average all this year. Attendance has been a little below average for the month. That is to be expected during the World Cup. The consolation game is coming up on Saturday. Brazil will be playing after being humiliated by Germany in the worst match in World Cup history. All that to say that spirits are generally at a low ebb in Brazil, but we still have a lot of good news about the Good News.
Our annual missions conference was a huge success. We had very big crowds for all meetings. We even had 3 more professions of faith and 2 more requests for baptism, even though no invitation was given. Five more were baptized, too. We had the usual 100+ present for the annual pastors and missionaries’ meeting. Also during the conference we had a special business meeting to approve Idevaldo and family as our newest missionaries and to approve his being put on payroll, full time beginning August 1st. Zico will be taking them to visit the field at Jordão on July 21st. We hope to move them there by October or November.
It was my privilege to participate in the organization of our newest Baptist church. Three of our churches in the western region past Cruzeiro do Sul started a work at Japãozinho. The name of the place is “Little Japan” although there are no Japanese within several thousand miles! The churches at Mourapiranga, Pentecostes and Assis Brasil cooperated to begin the preaching point 16 years ago. The new church adopted the name Igreja Batista Elohim and starts out with 25 charter members. They already have a beautiful new building. Their pastor, who has already been working with them for 12 years is Pedro Mariano. Most importantly they are already participating in mission projects. Authority was granted by First Baptist Church of Assis Brasil.
I visited our chapels at Cruzeirinho and Centrinho. Centrinho has just finished putting up a little wood frame building. Cruzeirinho has moved their wooden building to the back of the lot and is getting ready to build a nice big brick building on the front of the lot. All of our chapels are growing at a steady pace. We now have 7 chapels placed strategically around town. Last year we had only 4. Our youngest is Cruzeirão and is meeting on a rented lot, but we are looking for property. One more is to open soon out near our house on the north side of town. We have property and 2 workers being prepared right now.
Thanks for all of your prayers and support. God bless you as much as He has us.
In Christ,
Mike and Beverly Creiglow
Caixa Postal 24
Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre, Brazil 69980
mdcreig [at] hotmail.com
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [June 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- ODALI AND KATHY BARROS—PRAISE GOD for the work in Ubim going well. PRAY for their Monday night services and childrens classes in Ubim. PRAISE GOD for the way He has worked in Odali’s life and for making a lasting generational change that also affected his family.
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW—PRAISE GOD for growth in Pé da Terra and plans for a new building in Porto Walter. PRAY for the church in Santa Rosa who has just called a new pastor from First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul. PRAISE GOD for recent baptisms in the mountain works along the Moa River.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for a blessed time in Lexington and for providing a place for them in Florida. PRAY for them as they transition to Florida. PRAY for the works in Brazil that are continuing as they are away.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for the nine committed believers in Mazere who are sharing their faith! PRAY for patience as they wait while God grows potential leaders. PRAISE GOD for how He is working in the lives of adults and children in Tournefeuille.
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for leading, guiding, and providing a place for them to rent in Florida. PRAY for Pastor Adolfo Escote who is having eye problems. PRAY for the new church plant in northern Brazil that is getting ready to incorporate. PRAISE GOD for church plants that are growing!
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for starting to soften the heart of the chief of the Indian village. PRAY for those in the Indian Village, that they would come to know Christ as their Savior. PRAISE GOD for the team from Georgia who helped with a VBS and accomplished lots of projects on their list.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAY for their return to Kenya. PRAY that the Lord will direct them to the work permits and paperwork they need to complete. PRAISE GOD for those who “hold the ropes.”
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for the room Roger has leased to start a church planting training center. PRAY for the Lord to start a church planting revolution in Kitale and that He will be glorified in that place.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for one repaired Projeto Vida motorhome and the privilege of sharing the Gospel in 9 schools! PRAY for the mission team coming from Phoenix who will be presenting the Gospel in 6 schools and 3 parks. PRAISE GOD for faithful family who serves and shows the love of Christ.
CHANGED DATES FOR THANKSGIVING CONFERENCE
The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will be hosting the Thanksgiving Conference again this November – but it will not be during Thanksgiving week this year. The new dates will be Monday-Wednesday – November 10, 11, 12. Please note and mark these new dates.
JUNE IS FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING MONTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING TO THE CONTINUING SUPPLY OF YOUR MISSIONARIES’ ON-GOING NEEDS
We are appealing to you to give an extraordinary offering to our Founder’s Day Offering to supply our missionaries’ Essential Maintenance needs.
72 years ago, Hafford Overbey began appealing for and receiving offerings to assist in the support of a missionary who had returned to the Amazon Valley in Brazil. Baptist Faith Missions has been assisting Baptist churches in sending their missionaries to the nations of the world for the purpose of church-planting missions ever since.
We recognize that many of you do not remember Hafford Overbey or Z. E. Clark, the first Treasurer of Baptist Faith Missions. But, what you do need to remember is that your missionaries who are currently serving the Lord in the nations of the world are carrying on with the same missionary vision and ministry that prompted the very first missions offering in 1942.
So, will you please help us? Last year [2013], it was the Founder’s Day Offering that enabled us to NOT have to reduce our missionaries’ monthly funds. We devote the Founder’s Day Offering to supplying our missionaries’ monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. What that means is: we will supply any deficits in our Monthly General Fund Offerings with Founder’s Day Offering funds.
So, by giving to the Founder’s Day Offering, you are helping your missionaries receive the full commitments of monthly funds they must have to maintain their living and ministry needs.
[Click here to download the BFM Founders Day Offering Appeal 2014]
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since December 2013.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
Their present address is: 615 Key West Avenue, Davenport FL 33897-3600
Telephone: (863) 438-6922
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING APPEAL AND RESOURCES
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our eleven faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
You can visit our website’s Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you. Or, you can mail your offering to: Baptist Faith Missions, Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280
You will find on our website [Faith Works Blog] some PDF resources that will be helpful as you help us promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
BFM Founder’s Day PowerPoint Slide
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [May 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- ODALI AND KATHY BARROS—PRAISE GOD for preparing the way for them to begin holding services in homes along the river. PRAISE GOD for opening the door for a school ministry. PRAY for them as they begin working in these new places that God would direct every step of the way.
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW— PRAISE GOD for good visits with 11 of their pastors and missionaries. Since the beginning of the year, Mike & Hudson have traveled 2,341 miles on 3 rivers to report on 17 mission works. PRAY for all of these works, that God would continue to grow them and strengthen them! PRAISE GOD for continued progress at their home church as well.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for being able to celebrate nearly 60 years of service in Brazil with the pastors and people in Urai. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for opportunities to show Christ’s love to neighbors in France! (And PRAISE GOD for safety in that situation! Bzzz!) PRAY for their upcoming neighborhood dinner. PRAY for their new “English Club.”
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for an enjoyable time at the Spring Missions Conference. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough with their parents and seek to relocate to Florida.
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for safe travels to and from the States. PRAY for their health, for their finances, for the ministry, for the plans they are trying to complete at the church, and for the attacks Satan is trying to hurl at them.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAY for their upcoming return to Kenya. PRAY especially for them and their daughters as they travel such a long way and adjust back to the culture of Kenya. PRAY for the people of Kenya they are blessed to work with.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON—PRAISE GOD for continued progress on the building for the Calvary Baptist Mission Church! PRAY that God would provide the remaining funds they need to complete the project. PRAISE GOD for a good missions conference in Huaral.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for a safe arrival back in Kenya. PRAY for them as they adjust back to the culture. PRAY that the Spirit would work in hearts to create lasting change.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for the way He is working in the life of Toni. PRAY for the mechanical problems they are facing in their Projeto Vida ministry. PRAY for Elias and his wife that seeds planted would take root and grow.
YOUR APRIL GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS…
When you review the Contributions page in this issue, you will note that the monthly General Fund Offerings total given in April is $31,604.16. This is a $5-6 thousand dollar increase over the past three months.
First, we thank God and commend every one of you gives to the monthly General Fund. Without your faithful and sacrificial giving, our missionaries would not be receiving month-by-month what we are able to provide for them.
However, that being said, our total monthly commitments to our missionary families – which must be supplied from the monthly General Fund – amount to $43,300.54. Every month, that same amount must be disbursed just for their essential maintenance. If each of us will remember that number as we give to the monthly General Fund – $43,300.00 – it will help remind us of the gigantic financial responsibility just to ‘keep them on the field,’ ‘keep the lights on,’ and supply their essential living and ministry expenses.
When the monthly General Fund Offering doesn’t meet that disbursement threshold [$43,300.00], then we have no other choice but to reduce the amount of disbursements to our missionary families by the proportionate amount we did not receive in General Fund offerings.
We know you have heard this before – and we also know that we keep repeating ourselves – but the first of every month, it comes around again! Please make a generous offering to your missionaries’ General Fund right now – or increase your present giving!
You can give online by going to our website: baptistfaithmissions.org and clicking on the ‘Donate/Support’ tab. Designate your offering for ‘General Fund’. Thank you on behalf of our missionaries!
Click here to make a one-time donation.
Click here to set up a recurring donation.
JUNE IS FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING MONTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING TO THE CONTINUING SUPPLY OF YOUR MISSIONARIES’ ON-GOING NEEDS
We are coming up on June again, and we are appealing to you to give an extraordinary offering to our Founder’s Day Offering to supply our missionaries’ Essential Maintenance needs.
72 years ago, Hafford Overbey began appealing for and receiving offerings to assist in the support of a missionary who had returned to the Amazon Valley in Brazil. Baptist Faith Missions has been assisting Baptist churches in sending their missionaries to the nations of the world for the purpose of church-planting missions ever since.
We recognize that many of you do not remember Hafford Overbey or Z. E. Clark, the first Treasurer of Baptist Faith Missions. But, what you do need to remember is that your missionaries who are currently serving the Lord in the nations of the world are carrying on with the same missionary vision and ministry that prompted the very first missions offering in 1942.
So, will you please help us? Last year [2013], it was the Founder’s Day Offering that enabled us to NOT have to reduce our missionaries’ monthly funds. We devote the Founder’s Day Offering to supplying our missionaries’ monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. What that means is: we will supply any deficits in our Monthly General Fund Offerings with Founder’s Day Offering funds.
So, by giving to the Founder’s Day Offering, you are helping your missionaries receive the full commitments of monthly funds they must have to maintain their living and ministry needs.
[Click here to download the BFM Founders Day Offering Appeal 2014]
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since Wanda’s only sibling, Ross McGary, went to be with the Lord in December 2013. But, living in Manaus was very difficult for ‘Miss Willa’ since she was away from her friends and in an all-Portuguese environment with different customs.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
SPRING MISSIONS CONFERENCE UPDATES AND RECAPS
The Lord blessed us during the April Spring Missions Conference. You came and attended with us as we worshiped Jesus Christ, gave ourselves to work with Him in His “Day of Salvation,” and asked the Lord to stir and encourage us all to greater commitment and usefulness in His mission.
Ten preachers, pastors, and missionaries delivered God’s messages from His Word. 35 preachers, pastors, and missionaries were in attendance with us during the services. We thank each one of you for your prayers to God and your encouraging fellowship as we all seek together to follow Jesus Christ into the nations of the world.
You can still update yourself on the happenings during our Conference services by going to our website and opening the FaithWorks Blog page. On the right hand side of the page, you will find a list of links “Categories.” Click on the link that says “Conference recaps,” and it will open up a list of the services and give you a brief recap of the service [OR CLICK HERE]. I want to thank Steve and Sarah Wainright for posting these services for us. They are continually providing invaluable services for our Lord and our missionaries by updating and maintaining our website and Facebookm.
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING APPEAL AND RESOURCES
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our eleven faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
You can visit our website’s Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you. Or, you can mail your offering to: Baptist Faith Missions, Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280
You will find on our website [Faith Works Blog] some PDF resources that will be helpful as you help us promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
BFM Founder’s Day PowerPoint Slide
Read more
