Last week, I had the privilege to visit with Johnny and Karen Shew in Flippin to discuss the construction of a building this spring. Having been in the construction business most of my life, I cannot wrap my mind around how expensive it is to build at the present time. For this reason, Johnny and I have decided that it would be wise to build his building in stages. His overall plan is designed for future expansion. At the present, they are out of room where they are meeting.
More Rounds
I hope to have lunch with Bryan this week, and make a run to the northwest to visit with Roberto, Jake and Clinton in the next week or two. I know the holidays have caused a lot of people to be out of their normal routines but, hopefully, everyone will get settled in the weeks and months ahead.
By February, I hope to gather with Juan Carlos, Ruben and Michael. These men, along with Roberto, have and are giving us a healthy presence in the realm of our Hispanic neighbors.
Special Thank You
God had allowed Berean Baptist to be a lighthouse in the North Little Rock area for many decades and, through the years, they have been faithful supporters of our BMA ministries. Sadly, they were forced to disband, but before doing so they contacted the State Missions office and we have made arrangements for Juan Carlos and his Growing in Christ Mission to stay in the building with the understanding that, once they have organized, the property will become theirs. Berean’s past, present and future contribution to Gods work has ensured Growing in Christ a future for years to come.
“Circuit-Riding” Preacher
I am scheduled to preach next Sunday at Charity Heights in Ward for Keith Lewis as he spends some time with his family. Wow, I remember when this church began as a State Missions work, and I was Keith’s boss (so to speak). But now, low and behold, he is my boss! God has richly blessed their ministry and their pastor, Keith and his wife, Kelley. Guys, should you find a need for a fill-in, give me a shout.
From Our Missionaries
Misión Creciendo en Cristo (Growing in Christ), North Little Rock: Juan Carlos Posadas writes, (12/25) “On Dec. 24, we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus. The group that prepared the Christmas cantata arrived dressed in red and other Christmas colors. Oliver (age 12) played the hymn ‘Silent Night’ on the piano, the congregation sang Christmas hymns and Fernanda sang the hymn ‘Santa la Noche.’
The message focused on Jesus’ response to the Gadarene demoniac, ‘Go home, to your loved ones, and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.’ (Mark 5:19).
“The congregation was invited to go and tell their family and friends what God has done with them, taking advantage of the celebration of the birth of the Lord Jesus.
“We delivered the gifts but decided to only pray with the people who came to collect them. If they did not attend a church of sound doctrine, we invited them to meet with us. You can easily have false conversions in this type of situation because people tend to want to please the one who is giving them something. So we decided it was better to contribute to building a relationship that will allow us to share the gospel in the future.
“In the Sunday service, we finished studying II Peter. We thank God for the inspiration given to His apostle to bless us with that epistle. I use Pedro’s words to say goodbye to this year, and welcome 2023. Beloved ‘grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory now and to the day of eternity. Amen’
(1/1) “On Dec. 30, Sayra’s birthday, we had a surprise celebration after the prayer meeting. We had a good time, eating and expressing how much we value the ministry that God has allowed her to develop in the church. I thank God because He has allowed Sayra another year of life, serving Him and enjoying her work in church.
“On Saturday, Dec. 31, we met at 7 p.m. and, after the service, stayed to spend time playing and eating with the members of the church until midnight. After the New Year hug, we prayed and said goodbye.
“At our Sunday meeting, we began a series of studies in the book of Hebrews, with the theme ‘Jesus the perfect revelation of God,’ based on Heb. 1:1-3.
“We thank God that some of the families that were in serious trouble are already getting out of it. Please pray with us as we continue to pray for those who still struggle in difficulties.”
Ebenezer, West Little Rock: Ruben Isturiz writes, “It is a blessing to be able to connect with you once again. Happy New Year! It has been a strange three weeks for our community. On Sunday Dec. 25, no one attended the Celebration Service, but on Sunday, Jan. 1, almost everyone attended! Sunday, Jan. 8, was a normal service, and everyone returned.
“In most of the Hispanic communities, we connect Christmas Eve with Christmas. We start celebrating the night of Dec. 24, with typical food from our countries, at midnight we open gifts, and usually, our gathering lasts until 3 a.m. In some families, we wake up celebrating and go to sleep on the morning of Dec. 25. My family and I did it with my sister’s family, and we arrived home around 3 a.m. What are the traditions of Christmas in your home?
“This January, we are entering into a sermon series to set goals and purposes connected to the sovereignty of God. We are praying for God’s guidance during this time. The brethren at Ebenezer are happy with the tools we are giving them to set goals, but are submitting all of this to God’s design. Pray for God’s guidance in the month of January in this sermon series. May God be glorified!”
Faith Chapel, Flippin: Johnny Shew writes, “We had a great time of worship Sunday morning. Most are back from their holiday travels and most that were sick are back, but a few are still out. It almost seems like families are taking turns being sick, there are so many things going around. But we are trusting in the Lord for healing and protection for our members and visitors.
“We are still working on plans for a building of our own though, due to the enormous costs that we are seeing from our bids and estimates coming in, we have decided to downsize from our original plan. We hope to build the main part of it and add on later as the Lord adds to our number. This will give us a more manageable debt, while still meeting our immediate and short-term needs. We have the Master’s Builders scheduled in the spring to help us frame it, and there is so much work to be done before then.
“We thank you for your prayers, for us, Faith Chapel and for Flippin. Please continue. We need them so, and the Lord is answering them.”
Christmas Ham is always great, along with a slew of side dishes made by our church folks. We did a white elephant gift exchange, where we all ended up with some crazy gifts.
The Table, Springdale: Clinton Morris writes, (1/1) “We had such an amazing two weeks in ministry. The church Christmas party was great, and we had many of our church folks in attendance. A few guests stopped in at Drew and Kaley’s House, we went Christmas caroling in the neighborhood and a potluck meal was shared.
“Our New Year’s Day Service went great. We had Coaty Gunder as a guest speaker. He brought a message from Eph. 2:8-9 that was a great reminder of our position in Christ. Then we had another potluck where we grilled hotdogs and enjoyed each other’s company. Not everyone was able to attend, but that is the nature of holiday services.
“Some plans have been put into place for more ministries to blossom, giving a few of our people the room to pursue the ministries God had placed on their hearts.”
(1/8) “Another great week is in the books! I had several great meetings with the people of The Table. We had a brainstorming session for a future ministry we are getting off the ground in February. I am excited to see how the impact of this ministry will ripple into our community.
“We met another person of peace in our community. I am thrilled to meet more people that see the vision of this church plant and are able to come alongside and help open doors.
“Pray for all of our children’s ministry leaders as they have all become sick with either COVID or flu. It has been a rough few weeks of sickness among our folks and the greater area.
“Kaley has started an inter-church newsletter and made a reading-guide bookmark for our services. We are now pushing our online giving, and we just had a message on the Christian’s appropriate response to giving. Great discussions were had during the small group time. Kaley led our online small group, and it looked like the interaction there was positive.
“Several local families have indicated that they will be visiting the church soon. I am looking forward to all that God is doing here. Drew and I are discussing the future Gravette Campus/Bible Study that The Table will be starting with one of our families that moved there.”
We were given the opportunity to serve as missionaries with the BMA of Arkansas, and we never looked back.
Faith Journey, Benton: Bryan Clay writes (1/1) “Happy New Year from Faith Journey! Oh, what a year it has been! I want to take this opportunity to reflect on all the amazing blessings God has done in our lives and in this mission. Starting out in the beginning of 2022, the only thing I was 100% sure of was God had called me to serve in the ministry.
“God has brought amazing people into our lives and opened doors along our way. Faith Journey began holding services at the beginning of May. We have several families that are coming faithfully and are also blessed with guests. We have been given opportunities to be more active within our local community, such as at schools, adult day centers and nursing facilities.
“Our focus for 2023 is to continue to make connections within our surroundings community. We want to let people know we are here and available to meet their spiritual needs. We want to begin looking for land in the area for the future home site for Faith Journey. We look forward and are praying that God continues to lead us in the direction He has for Faith Journey.”
(1/8) “Faith Journey kicked off the new year, and we are ready to see what God has in store for us! We visited three different facilities in our area this week, and it felt like we ‘had church’ with the residents and staff. God was worshiped, and there are lives being touched. Most of these folks haven’t had someone speak to them about Christ since before COVID. They were eager to get back into the Word of God and share their stories with others.
“Matthew 7:7-11 speaks to us about how God wants us to ask Him for our needs, keep seeking Him and come into His presence daily because He desires to bless us with all that He has. We need to be in a daily walk with God through prayer and Scriptures to continue to grow our faith through our personal relationship with Christ.
“Our prayers for you this week would be to continue to grow in your ‘faith journey’ with Christ.”
Misión Gracia Soberana (Sovereign Grace), NWA:Roberto Marcelletti writes, (12/25) “We only have one month to start our Sunday services, so we decided to have service on Dec. 25 and 15 people arrived! We were able to have an extraordinary time of worship and prayer, and we continue to learn about the reasons Jesus Christ became man and went to the cross as our mediator between God and men.
“It was the second opportunity that two new families attended, and we were invited to the home of one of the sisters. We shared a Christmas lunch and continued to strengthen those bonds that help us to be a family that teaches the gospel and that lives it in each of the areas of our lives.
(1/1) “We started 2023 thanking God for His grace in 2022, and what better place to thank Him and celebrate than in church?
“We have a short history of just a month and a half of beginning our Sunday services, but so many things have happened and so many sweet people have come into our lives, with many desires to disciple and grow in the Lord.
“At the end of the service, we invited them to our apartment, where we ate, played to grew our friendships in the Lord. We thanked everyone for being part of our small steps as a church and invited them to commit to what God is going to do in the Northwest area through Sovereign Grace.”
(1/8) “We had a very good attendance on Sunday with six guests, and are experiencing what the power of the gospel does in the lives of people who come with sincere hearts to seek God. We were able to talk about the importance of Christian service by studying John 13 and the example that the Master gave us of serving with love, humility and holiness. That left us the mandate to do it to each other and thus show love by helping us, supporting us as a community guided by the gospel.
“Then we went to the fellowship room for coffee and desserts with the aim of continuing to grow as a family of faith.”
Epic Life, Pea Ridge: Jake McCandless writes, “Our group of leaders kicked off the new year together for a New Year’s event. We had fun connecting over finger foods, board games and axe throwing. We had a mobile axe throwing trailer on site which was a lot of fun. One thing about our core group is we like being together and doing life together. Our events last over five hours.
“Meeting in homes is tough during the holidays, but our family was able to spend time with individual families within Epic Life, which was special.
“We’re excited for this next year. We start with challenges. We don’t have a meeting place for our worship gathering. This month we will be in our home. Though our focus is on forming neighborhood Bible studies, we do want to have a public and neutral ‘hub’ so we’re able to have an access point for those who are more comfortable coming to a public setting than coming into a home.”
