May 17, 2011 
In This Issue
Web Design
Outlook
Nelle Johnson Mission Offering
A Word from Our Moderator
Mission Opportunities
Protect Your Privacy
Missional Church News
News Flash
SAFE Awareness Banquet
Worship Resource
Children's Camps
Mission Dignity

WEB DESIGN

 

Does your churches website need to be freshened up, or does your church need a web presence?  Please fill out the questionnaire and submit it to [email protected] and let us help you find the best solution and pricing. 

Web Design

MISSIONARY MOMENTS 

  

May 15 - May 22, 2011

 

ROGER HAMPTON and his wife, COURTNEY are working to reach the business community of Bangkok, Thailand, with the help of your willingness to put love into action through the Cooperative Program. Their year has been spent in language school so they can speak to the Thai professionals in their heart language. They know how important language will be in developing relationships and sharing the Gospel in Thailand. They are seeking national partners who are already believers and have connections in the city. The Hamptons hope that the busness people they reach can be trained to reach others in their social networks. Through these efforts, they pray that churches will start in the professional community of the city. Join the Hamptons in this prayer as you spend time with the Lord this week. 

___________________________

 

 North American missionary JIM TURNBO's ministry is focused on starting new churches, building healthy churches, and developing leaders within the Westen and Mountain Baptist Associations in New Mexico, particularly among Native American and Hispanic people. In many Native American groups, like the Zuni Pueblo people, there is no Southern Baptist work. Jim builds relationships with these Native Americans in order to share Christ and plant new congregations. God is using our desire to fulfill God's Great Commissin through CP to begin ministries such as these in communities with no Gospel witness. Jim and KAREN Turnbo value your partnership and would appreciate your prayers this week.

Follow-up Links

OUTLOOK
 
Faith PaxtonCelebrating with Lincoln Street Baptist

What a difference it would make if each and every one of use showed the love of Christ love in and around our communities letting them see what the church is supposed to be and do.  "For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God!" - John 3:20-21

"We had about 70 Mother's Day coffee mugs sitting in a box and Lifeway bookstore in Beaverton gave us 2 full boxes of HCSB Bibles to hand out on Hawthorne.  We had no trouble handing out either.  We also had a great service on May 1! We baptized 3 and had a great time of reunion with previous church members. The service was well attended and I look forward to God's plan for growth at Lincoln Street.

Lincoln Street is renewing its effort to be a church that ministers to our community and I am excited to be a part of that effort. "

Pastor Dan Paxton
 
Lincoln Street Baptist

In what ways have you and your church reached out to the community around your church?  We would love to share these stories with all to provide encouragement, and praise God together for all that He allows us to do and be a part of. "...that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God!"

 

Brent

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

NJO MISSION OFFERING

 

 

NJO

Making old things new - we are headed in a new direction!

 

The Nelle Johnson Offering (NJO) was established to provide funds to enhance our serving  and giving locally and to the world as an Association.

  

This year's offering will be used as follows:

 

Leadership Development -

Healthy, growing pastors are essential for developing healthy, growing churches. We would like to develop  SALT (Strengthen Associational Leadership Team)  to support and resource our pastors.

 

This team focuses on supporting pastors with practical needs during hard times as well as  creating opportunities for training, mentoring, coaching, partner-ships, assessments, consultations, and whatever other means we can access to resource these men of God so they can continue to grow in their ability to lead, equip, preach, and impact their community for God; keeping in mind every pastorate is unique.

 

IBA Continuing Education Fund - Provides scholarship funds that benefit Northwest Pastors, Pastor's Family and Ministry Leaders to attend seminary, complete under-graduate studies, and etc.

 

 

Offering Goal for 2011:
$7,000.00
 

This offering can be collected and turned in year round.  This week (May 15-May 22) is the North American Mission Board's designated time for emphasis on Associational Missions.

  

Click Here for bulletin insert

 

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"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

News Flash...last week we shared
 
A WORD FROM OUR MODERATOR 

I am happy to report that, as a result of the zone Executive Board meetings of the Association, the decision to call Brent Pound as Executive Director was unanimous. Through the testimony of the pastors and executive board messengers in attendance, we have heard and seen the results of Brent's abilities over the past two years as he served as Church Ministry Strategist and as Interim Director, a position he has held since October of last year.

 

We have heard from some that it has been a time of "wait and see."  We can now say with certainty that we have determined as an association our direction, we are alive and well! If you were able to attend one of the Executive Board meetings, you heard first-hand some of exciting things that are already taking place.

 

Here are a few things from the Executive Director's report for the first quarter of 2011: 

  • Seven churches are receiving supplemental assistance
  • Six pastors have been given scholarships for their continuing education
  • Working with two church starts by providing assistance with obtaining equipment and also providing administrative assistance through the IBA office
  • Participated in special services in IBA churches (Ordination Service, Installation Service, Challenging Service)
  • Installed new video equipment in one of our rural churches
  • E-source library up and running through our web page
  • Provided Worship Consultation to churches
  • Served as pulpit supply as needed
  • Attended NAMB relations meeting in Atlanta
  • Met with Region 3 leadership team  

As you can see, Brent has been busy meeting and working with and on behalf of our churches. My prayer is that we as an association will uphold Brent in prayer, and be supportive of him as he leads us in a new direction.

 

Troy L Smith, Moderator  

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

MISSION OPPORTUNITIES

 

NORTH TO ALASKA

Due to the economy, we have not had the response we anticipated or have had in the past for summer mission volunteers. Here are some of our urgent needs: 

 

A Summer Missions Coordinator (couple with a tow vehicle, primarily assisting with Block Party trailer)  

  • 8 to 12 JAM Camp Adult Leaders (children's music and worship camp)
  • A Registered Nurse - July 23 thru 28
  • A Lifeguard - July 23 thru 28
  • At least one evangelism team August 31 thru September 5 (Alaska State Fair) 

All of these volunteer missionary requests are currently listed on the NAMB Bridge, but I need your help!  Please, please help me get the word out about all of these mission volunteer needs. Thanks very much for your help! 

 

Gary Bearce, Associational Missionary 

Hatcher Pass Baptist Association

PO Box 2650, Palmer, Alaska 99645

Cell: 907 982-0133   Home: 907 746-7467

Email: [email protected]  Web: www.hpbaak.org  

______________________________________________________________ 

JAMAICA AND/OR MYRTLE CREEK, SC

 

We are inviting you and your member Churches to come on mission with us to Jamaica. Trips are scheduled for August and October/November. We are now in our 15th year of mission trips to Jamaica. We are also extending an invitation to Churches to come on mission to Myrtle Beach, SC this summer and fall to help us reach our community for Jesus Christ.

Dr. Tom Sees, Pastor

Rising Sun Community Church

Myrtle Beach SC

 

For more information:

Jamaica trip, click here

Myrtle Beach, SC, click here 

 

______________________________________________________________

 

SWEAT Ministries 

It is amazing how individuals especially students love to serve if they are given the opportunity. With projects that are a worthy causes and deserving of their time and effort.  So, I say let them serve in tangible ways! 

 

This summer SWEAT Ministries has two opportunities to serve:

  • The first being an Intrastate Service Project in Vernonia, OR; where we will be assisting a church that has been affected by the past floods.
  • The second will be time of assisting Evergreen Community church in Washington with some building repairs and maintenance.   

Both of these opportunities will be a great learning experience for all that participate!  If you are interested in becoming a part of SWEAT Ministries Service Projects please contact Crystal Miller- [email protected].

 

 

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY

How to keep personal information secure whenever you go online

Privacy

E-mail

Despite the rise of social networks and Twitter, e-mail is still the way many of us communicate.  But it can put a tremendous amount of your private data at risk.

Compromised Accounts

The Risk If you're like most people, your e-mail account contains old bank systems (or links to them), addresses, information about other accounts, and even credit card numbers or passwords: It's a treasure trove for identity thieves.  And if attackers gain control of your e-mail account, they can also gain access to (and reset the passwords of) your other accounts.  Finally, attackers can harvest your friends' e-mail for spam or phishing attacks.

How to Protect Yourself Don't use e-mail to send critical data.  And make sure you use encrypted connections.  That means using SSL (look for the lock icon in the upper left of Safari's window) for Webmail and a secure protocol (usually IMAP or POP3 over SSL) for other accounts.  (In Mail, for example, go to the Accounts preference pane, choose an account, open the Advanced tab, and select Use SSL.)  Do that on your portable devices and your Macs.

Use very strong passwords for your e-mail accounts.  Password utilities like 1Password (macworld.com/6722) and Mac OS X's own Password Assistant utility can help you generate and manage them.

Comprised Address

The Risk Your e-mail address alone is worth money to spammers, scammers, and other thieves, and is therefore worth safeguarding.

How to Protect Yourself Use one-time e-mail addresses for different online accounts and services.  Many ISPs will provide such addresses for free; MobileMe, for example, provides up to five such aliases (Mail>Preferences>Addresses).  If that e-mail address starts getting spammed, you can cut it off without changing your primary address.

Some spammers still crawl the Web pages looking for text strings that look like e-mail addresses.  So make sure your e-mail address doesn't show up in online forums or blog comments, much less any Websites you control.  Or use a simple obfuscation technique, such as username (at) domainname (dot) com to make the address harder to recognize.

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

MISSIONAL CHURCH NEWS
Global News

 

Mission team heads to Japan

Valley Baptist Church, McMinnville, OR 

 

Ronny Cooksey and his family spent 10 years in Japan before he landed his current job as pastor at Valley Baptist Church in McMinnville. In fact, four of his eight children were born there.  This week, Cooksey and his oldest child, 17-year-old Micah, will join two others from the church on a mission to an area ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami in March.  Cooksey said the trip, sponsored by the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, was already planned when catastrophe struck northern Japan. But its destination lays a long way south, well outside the range of devastation.

 

He said that coordinators asked to switch the focal point. The revised itinerary has them delivering supplies and assisting in the cleanup in addition to spreading the gospel.  They plan to sleep on the floors of local churches, as well as the floor of an old empty house, which the team plans to convert into more welcoming quarters for future teams.

 

Cooksey said the initial draw for him and his wife, Kathy, who hail from a tiny speck of a town in Texas, was the small number of Christians in Japan. "In the south, the Bible Belt, the majority of Americans know about Jesus if they want to know," Cooksey said. It's much different in Japan, he said, "less than one-half of one percent is evangelical believers," he said. "Where people don't really know who Jesus is, they haven't had the chance to accept or reject him."

 

Cooksey is excited to take Micah along. "Since we homeschool, our children are always on the team," Cooksey said. "He and I have ridden many a crowded train together in Tokyo." The family had been planning to spend the rest of their lives in Japan.  But about five years ago, he said, "My wife and I felt a stirring, which we thought was from the Lord, to take us back to the U.S. And we started praying."  Kathy belonged to a homeschooling list-serv, and asked participants to pray for them as well. In the course of that, she asked if anyone knew of a Southern Baptist church looking for a pastor, and someone mentioned Valley Baptist in McMinnville.  Cooksey sought and obtained the position, moving into it about 4 1/2 years ago. "God made it very clear this is where He wanted us," he said.  The church has been very supportive of the Japan trip. It also plans to send representatives to a mission in Vancouver, B.C. Canada this summer.

 

Cooksey is hoping addition mission opportunities will open up as well. "Knowing Jesus Christ as our savior compels us to go all over the world and make disciples," he said.

 

-       Yamhill Valley News Register.com

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

News Flash

Donors Proceed with Caution, Tithing Declines

The economy has changed many aspects of American life. A new research study by the Barna Group explores how the charitable landscape has changed over the last two and a half years. The study examines how many Americans have been affected by the economic downturn, how this has influenced their donations, and their outlook on economic recovery.

Taking it Personally

The vast majority of Americans (77%) reported being personally touched by the nation's financial difficulties. About one-quarter (28%) indicated they have been affected in a "major way." These indicators are unchanged from 15 months ago (75%, 27%, respectively).

However, when compared to the time period when the economy first nose-dived - roughly 30 months ago - the research confirms that the economic pressure on American households has been building. In November 2008 68% said they had personally been affected and only 22% felt affected in a major way.

Those most likely to report a major negative impact included Busters (ages 27 to 45), households whose total annual income was under $40,000, parents with minor children, and adults associated with a faith other than Christianity, and unchurched adults
. Read the full Barna Update

� Barna Group, 2011.

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

SAFESAFE Awareness Banquet

  

SAFE Awareness Banquet

May 17, 2011

Community Baptist Church

409 S Parkway Ave

Battle Ground WA 98604

6:00 - Meal (FREE is a very good price!)

7:00 - Presentation

 

This is an excellent opportunity to learn what SAFE has to offer you and your church, and a chance to meet the new director Joey Carroll.

 

Please RSVP, 360-687-3801 by May 16th.

 

       

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

WORSHIP RESOURCE
Worship

Becoming a Submissive

 

Part of being an effective Worship Leader requires being a visionary - a visionary not only for great (biblically accurate) music but also for people and the church overall.  Understanding where your church is spiritually, mentally and emotionally is vital for knowing how to guide your church most effectively in moving the direction God is leading.  Many great Worship Leaders understand this vision and practice it regularly, but if one neglects a vitally important factor, all efforts may be in vain.

As a Worship Leader, a truth that should be held in high regard is practicing the discipline of being a "submissive visionary".  What this means is two-fold... The first is a given in that we should submit to God.  The second one that is sometimes practiced less often is submitting to our Senior Pastor's vision.  Too many times I talk with or hear about Worship Leaders that on the surface have what they feel is an amazing Christ-inspired vision, yet their vision is in contradiction to the vision given to their Senior Pastor.  This should not be.  Worship Leaders should be an integral part of a much bigger direction guided by the Senior Pastor.  If your vision (as a Worship Leader) does not line up with the Senior Pastor's vision, consider doing one or more of the following...

Talk with your Senior Pastor about how your two visions are similar and how they are different, with the goal of getting yours to line up with your Senior Pastor's (heading in a unified direction).

Pray for "and with" your Senior Pastor that the situation can be resolved quickly and biblically.

Humble yourself and adjust your vision to follow your Pastor's vision and direction.

If you don't feel you can support your pastor's vision, pray and ask God if you should be leading worship at your church.

When there are multiple visions (a.k.a. agendas at times) the spiritual health of the church will suffer greatly.  Walls and kingdoms; politics and silos begin to fester and God is not honored.  Scripture talks about submitting to authority extensively and is very clear on the matter.  One such verse is Hebrews 13:17.  It says:

Hebrews 13:17 - "Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you."

What an amazing verse.  Take this to heart.  Submit to their authority and make their work joyful.  Align your vision behind theirs and have confidence in your leader.  You can't go wrong in obeying God's Word.

Mark Mattingly

Founder and President

Worship Consulting

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

CHILDREN'S CAMPS

 

Soul Shapers 1Girl's Camp Staff Meeting will be June 4, 2011 at the Northwest Baptist Center from 10 a.m. to noon. The meeting will be a planning and informational meeting.
  
If you are interested in volunteering to help with camp, please join us.
  
For more information, contact Debbie Hensley, [email protected].

 

Boy's Camp is also meeting on June 4 for a prep meeting at Camp WaRiKi. On the agenda is to repair the trail.
  
For more information, contact Jason Wallway, [email protected].

 

General camp information and downloadable forms can be found at www.interstatebaptist.org/soulshapers  

"Churches Coming Together To Help One Another!"

Mission Dignity

 

They call it Dignity. We call it a Mission.

GuideStone's Adopt An Annuitant ministry now has a new name - Mission:Dignity™

 

Since 1918, GuideStone Financial Resources has been on a "Mission" to provide "Dignity" to retired pastors or their widows. To more accurately communicate the essence of our ministry, we have changed the name of the Adopt An Annuitant ministry to Mission:Dignity.

 

These are men and women who have faithfully served God's people and now find themselves struggling to meet even basic needs. Many served small, rural churches that paid only modest salaries and couldn't afford to contribute to their pastors' retirement. Often, these pastors had to work extra jobs just to make ends meet.

 

Mission:Dignity currently helps over 2,000 people with extra money needed for housing, food and vital medications. It has also ensured a well-deserved dignity, independence and, often, the ability to continue serving.

 

Did You Know...?

The Mission:Dignity ministry spends approximately $6.5 million annually to help retired ministers or their widows.

 

Assistance from the Mission:Dignity ministry means recipients don't have to choose between food and medicine.

 

Approximately 60% of Mission:Dignity recipients are pastors' widows. 

 

Your church and pastor will be receiving a letter with more information. 

"Pressing Toward The Mark..."  Philippians 3:12-14

Thank you for reading.  If there is something you would like to see and/or would like to add to the IBA Encourager Newsletter please send it to [email protected]  attention IBA Encourager.  We would love to hear and share how God is working in your churches and communities. 

  

[email protected]     

PO Box 19960

Portland, Oregon 97280

(503) 452-2930