Come to the Bible, not to study the history of God's divine action, but to be its object; not to learn what it has achieved throughout the centuries and still does, but simply to be the subject of its operation.
  ... Jean-Pierre de Caussade (1675-1751)

Local Ministries News

From Vicki Lawrence, Church and Community Ministries Director

1. We will soon finalize plans for the Mobile Dental Clinic, scheduled to be at FBC of Alachua Mon. through Fri., July 21-25. If your church has volunteers who would like to participate, please call the associational office.
2. Thank you to the many churches who supplied undergarments to the Rape Crisis Center. It is much appreciated by women in a time of crisis.
3. Thank you to Grace Church for continuing to minister to a needy family. Their church also has a lay person who will be volunteering at Arbor House. If someone in your church is interested in volunteering at Arbor House, please contact me.
4. During this month, I have visited at House of Hope and Peaceful Paths. What a great ministry these agencies provide for women. I will be talking with your church for ways you can become involved in this worthwhile project.

Please pray with me that our association can be a positive influence in our community.

International Learning Center News

From Mary Lynne Moore, ILC Director

A group of Asian students stood around after class recently talking with one another speaking English, the only language they had in common!

Four students wanted to enroll on the last day of class, two of them brought by a current student. I invited them to return for the summer session when we would be glad to enroll them. Two of them attended our end-of-the-year picnic.

From our students:
A visiting professor of nursing at UF volunteered to serve at our end-of-the-year picnic recently because her mother loved the ILC so much. When her mother returns to Korea, she wants to help international people adjust to her country while they are visiting. She plans to organize volunteers from her church.  

One student is thankful for three things from the ILC. “First, I have a true relationship with our brother, Jesus; second, I made a lot of friends, and last, we have to keep mastering the English language."

Never undertake anything for which you wouldn't have the courage to ask the blessing of heaven.
  ... G. C. Lichtenberg (1742-1799)

Fla. Baptist Children's Homes News
From Randy Harrison, administrator, Jacksonville campus and north central Florida, about what’s happening on the campus and a story of some dedicated foster parents, God bless ‘em!

From Meninak Cottage:

Two boys are playing in the backyard. They pick up sticks to play swords. As expected, they make contact and hit each other. The House Parent directs the boys to put down the sticks or he will come over there and disarm them. Both boys immediately put down their sticks and look at the house parent in a strange way. One boy finally states to the House Parents, “You can’t pull our arms off, can you?”

From Parker Cottage:

Adam and Eddie were talking over homework. Adam asked Eddie what was the Big Bang Theory. Eddie told Adam that it was when two meteors hit and exploded and man turned into a monkey.

Josh picks up a toothbrush and asks the House Parent to put toothpaste on it. The House Parent tells Josh that it’s not his toothbrush. It belongs to Erick. Josh yells out, “Erick, can I borrow your toothbrush?”

From foster care:

At the Jacksonville campus, we have been very blessed with foster families who truly view and treat the foster children as their own children. In fact, we currently have two separate foster families who were notified that the foster dads’ jobs would be transferring them to other areas (and in one case, to another state) at the beginning of 2008. Because these families are so committed to the foster children who are placed in their homes since January of 2008, these two families have maintained two separate households (an apartment where the foster dad stays during the week to work) and their licensed foster home (where the foster mom stays with the foster children/their birth children and where the foster dad comes on the weekends). These families have stated that, if possible, they will maintain these living arrangements until the foster children in their homes are reunited with their birth families or become available for adoption (in which case these two foster families want to adopt the child in their home). Regardless of whether or not these families will be able to maintain these arrangements until the children have permanency, both families have committed to keep their Jacksonville-area homes licensed as foster homes until the end of the current school year so that the foster children in their homes are not required to transfer to a new foster home and, therefore, a new school during this school year.

From the Local Office of the Fla. Bapt. Children's Homes

From Michelle Everson, social worker for north central Florida

1. Just before Easter, we placed a little 3-year-old girl into foster care with one of our wonderful families through our Gainesville campus. While the family was thrilled to be serving her, she had some reservations about moving to a new home and was anxious about all the changes. In anticipation of all the excitement surrounding Easter Sunday and their church’s Passion Play, as well the knowledge that the little girl would be overwhelmed with meeting new people that day, the foster mother decided to take the little girl to the Passion Play practice a couple of days early, show her around the church, meet some members and introduce her to the pastor. While on the way to the church, the foster mother and her birth daughter talked to this little girl about their upcoming vacation to Disney World and how she was going to have so much fun being with their family as they met the princesses and Mickey Mouse (what a way to start off a foster placement – a trip to Disney!). With excitement building about their trip, they arrived at the church for practice. The little girl seemed amazed...the “castle” was beautiful and she could not wait to go inside and see the princesses! Explaining what a church is to a 3-year-old and conceptualizing the difference between that and Disney is not a task I envied—but the foster mother is a gem and she handled it perfectly! The little girl now loves to go to her church castle and loves learning about Jesus with her foster family! That week she heard for the first time about the Prince of Peace and the King of Kings...the princesses can wait! 

2.  We have recently been consulting with a local church in the Gainesville area that is “filling the gap” for children in need (name withheld for confidentiality purposes)! This church is not waiting on the sidelines watching the foster care saga unfold for a child—they are taking the reins! When the pastor found out about a child and family in his congregation going through difficulties and needing support, he went into action. He was able to talk with church members and find a non-relative placement for the child right there in their church family! The church rallied around this child and rather than being placed into a stranger’s home for foster care, this church has been able to keep this child within their flock. The pastor has worked tirelessly with the birth family and community services to garner the resources and support that the family needs and it is yet unknown what will come of this situation. One thing is certain, for one little child—and for all of us, this church and this pastor demonstrated the love of Christ in action. Thanks are to God for His amazing grace and for His Church!

3. Another local church has become a lighthouse in this community of need! Recently, Northwest Baptist Church has opened their doors and hearts to local agencies to conduct foster parent training in their facilities. While it means extra work and bills for the church to open during these “off hours,” it opens up a world of opportunity to minister to families who otherwise might not attend a local church. You see, the church is opening to Partnership for Strong Families, a secular foster care agency. Not only opening their doors, but the pastor [John Johnson] and his wife are attending and speaking to each training class that comes through their facilities! This means that the 40 or so unchurched families that have already been addressed through this effort have heard their heart and seen a church in action to meet the needs of this community. What a testimony to the love of Christ in action! The Partnership for Strong Families has reportedly been “amazed” that a church would step forward in such a way and with such a generous spirit! This is a church reaching out to impact their Jerusalem!

We are currently working with numerous families toward foster care licensure—a record 15 families! Some have already had MAPP [training for prospective foster parents] and are close to being done with the process; others are in the MAPP process now. We anticipate that a good number of these families will successfully complete the process and join our Florida Baptist Children's Homes family! There have been recent changes to the state’s requirements for foster care licensure that have made the process a little more difficult for some of these families that are close to being done so, remember them in prayer. Be praying for us in this endeavor and be praying for these families as they have stepped forward to meet the needs of children! By the way, we always need more foster families!

Michele Everson, M.Ed., NCC

Florida Baptist Children's Homes

Gainesville Center

690 NE 23rd Ave Suite C

Gainesville, FL 32609

352-377-2517

floridabaptist1@bellsouth.net

One more thing: Over a month ago two sisters, ages six and seven, needed to be placed in a foster home by the state but none was available for both and they were to be separated. Knowing the importance of keeping siblings together, John Johnson, pastor at Northwest Church, and his wife, Ruth Ann, stepped forward to take them into their home until another foster family could be found where the sisters could stay together. The Johnsons don’t know how long the girls will be with them but, for now, they’re providing excellent care for them and keeping them together, in addition to their two college-age sons at home. That’s dedication and love! WH

For more information on how you can minister to children and help create a local campus of the Florida Baptist Children's Homes, contact Michelle Everson or the Friends of Children of North Central Florida.

We must sometimes get away from the Authorized Version, if for no other reason, simply because it is so beautiful and so solemn. Beauty exalts, but beauty also lulls. Early associations endear, but they also confuse. Through that beautiful solemnity, the transporting or horrifying realities of which the Book tells may come to us blunted and disarmed, and we may only sigh with tranquil veneration when we ought to be burning with shame, or struck dumb with terror, or carried out of ourselves by ravishing hopes and adorations.
  ... C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), God in the Dock

2008 Southern Baptist Convention
Click on the link above to see the schedules for the convention in Indianapolis and other meetings. If you don't attend the convention, you can watch it online. I don't know the web address yet but, if you're interested, contact me a few days before the convention starts and I should have that information.

Presidential nominees answer BP questions
When Southern Baptists convene for their annual meeting June 10-11 in Indianapolis, they are expected to have a remarkable six presidential candidates from which to choose.

Crossover Indiana

For several years, the convention city has been the site for a "Crossover" event during the week-end leading up to the convention. If you'd like to participate in this evangelistic event, go to the web site of the Indiana Convention to sign up as a volunteer.

We hope for about 120 volunteers for Crossover Indiana. At our last meeting of the Crossover team last month, it was reported that we had 27 block parties and 8 door-to-door surveys planned. The ICE team has targeted a portion of Indianapolis where we would like to begin an African-American church. World Changers has a project in this area. We are also projecting at least one and possibly two more sites in downtown areas to plant several Hispanic church sites and several churches in the greater metropolitan Indianapolis area, some of which will be ethnic plants. We have enlisted some partners already for these sites, but we are still looking for more.
Steve Blanchard
Partnership Missions, Asian Church Planting, Ministry Evangelism, and Worship

State Convention of Baptists in Indiana
(317) 481-2400 x 230

Half of SBC churches could die before 2030, president predicts
The Southern Baptist Convention is dying rapidly, and resistance to change could kill more than half the denomination’s churches by 2030, SBC President Frank Page said.

Unless something is done to reverse the downward trend, Southern Baptist churches could number only 20,000—down from the current total of more than 44,000—in fewer than 22 years, Page said. His comments came in a conference call with pastors, hosted by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

Because it lacks the element of outrage, the modern church needs to be reminded that, if her life and institutions are being strangled by a dying culture, then she is choking on the very truths which she has herself betrayed.
  ... Os Guinness (b.1941), The Dust of Death [1973]

Book Reports

Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity

By Nancy Pearcey

I recently finished reading this book but it took a few weeks to get through its nearly-400 pages. It was worth every minute! I recommend this book not only for every pastor and staff member but also for every Christian who is serious about the current phenomenon in our culture in which many people, even believers, are putting religion in a closet where it has no effect on society in general. The philosophy is “Let the little Christians do their thing but don’t let their beliefs and their Bible have any effect on us.”

A better review than I could write can be found on the web page above. The writer’s comments about the book should make you want to read it and buy copies for your friends and fellow church members.

Book Review: Get a Life: It IS All About You

By Reggie McNeal (B&H Books, 2007) (I haven't read this book but I know McNeal’s books always make me think and they have a strong biblical basis.)

Reggie McNeal is preaching some of the same message he has proclaimed before as a leadership consultant, i.e., the idea of capitalizing on personal strengths rather than making up for weaknesses.

Note: In order to read the two book summaries below, you will need to go to http://tbabooksummaries.com/ and register. (Registration is free and brings no hassles.) While you're there, look over the list of dozens of books that Thomas L. Law, a man with a lot of time to read and summarize books(!), has summarized.

Summary of Anointed for Business: How Christians Can Use Their Influence in the Marketplace to Change the World by Ed Silvoso (I haven’t read this book but it looks interesting for business people.)

Summary of Breaking the Missional Code: Your Church Can Become a Missionary in Your Community
By Ed Stetzer, David Putman
Ed Stetzer has done more research among U.S. churches than anyone except, perhaps, Thom Rainer, so he’s as aware as anyone of current trends and conditions among churches. In addition, Stetzer (I don't know Putnam) impresses me as a deeply devoted Christian evangelical whose desire is to help churches become more effective. He happens to be a Southern Baptist, which makes him even more relevant for us.

I have read the book and recommend it with enthusiasm because, if it opens your perspective on the need for the church to change its old and ineffective ways and take on some good ones, it will be worth your time. Read the summary. Then, I think, you'll want to read the book.

Speaking of Christians and Our Culture, Read These
Pass the Popcorn: Christians struggle with best approach to engage culture    
If Christians don’t learn to engage the popular culture that surrounds them, they will drown in it, experts insist.
Christians tend to hear the words ‘popular culture’ and react as if spitting something yucky from their mouths,” said David Dark, author of Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, The Simpsons and Other Pop Culture Icons and The Gospel According to America.

Popular culture challenges Christians to ‘think outside the box,’ scholars insist
It can be difficult to hear God’s word in today’s media-saturated culture of iPods, YouTube, satellite radio, and DirecTV with over 500 channels and on-demand movies, two culture observers at Houston Baptist University conclude.
“We are shaped by popular culture far more than we think—and not just the young people,” said Louis Markos, professor of English at the university and a C. S. Lewis scholar.

Missions Opportunities

Mission Trip to San Diego, California
Sept. 2-8
Who: Members from association churches
Where: 2-4 new church plants in the San Diego area
Why: Providing training for
 1) Evangelism
 2) Discipleship
 3) Leadership
AND: encouragement to the pastors and their new congregations
Cost: Approximately $1,200 per person
How many on the team? We need between 10 - 20 people.
Contact Persons:
Wayne Harvey, Santa Fe River Baptist Association
Dale Turlington, Oak Park Church (352) 316-1469
Mike Killian, Lighthouse Church (352) 372-6090 or preachergame01@bellsouth.net
Danny Souder, Strategic Mission Partners (214) 394-5250, dannysouder@netzero.com,
strategicmissionpartners.com.

Short Term Mission Opportunities in Greater Rio Area of Brazil with International Commission
Lon and Ruth Klingman (local missionary representatives) are members of the Eden Church in Hawthorne and have recently begun working with the International Commission, an organization that provides opportunities for Christians to be involved in short-term missions projects overseas.

We are excited as the time grows closer for their International Commission (IC) mission trip to the Greater Rio area of Brazil, July 3-15, 2008. Come and have a life-changing experience as you serve the Lord on the field in Brazil.

The Baptist association of churches in the Greater Rio area has asked the International Commission to bring 100 Americans to be part of their 100th year celebration as an association. Other countries from SA will also be involved, thus making this truly an international experience.

Participants will work through local Baptist churches while preaching, teaching, and evangelizing. Great numbers are expected to come to the Lord with the added benefit of existing churches being available to nurture those who make professions of faith.

Lon and Ruth, who are co-leaders of the Rio project, point out that on an IC work project, participants can depend upon the knowledge and experience of the organization and its 35 years of completing short-term mission works.

Contact Lon and Ruth at 352-481-5512 or email ruthk@ic-world.org and/or visit ic-world.org.

Amazon River Basin Mission Trips Planned

From Derek R. George, President / CEO, Amazon Vision Ministries

Praise the Lord, we have 9 - 12 teams scheduled to work with us in the Amazon River Basin during the remainder of 2008.

However, we need your help. We need some individuals (or small groups of individuals) to join a few of our teams.

We have 5 of these teams who are in need of 3 - 5 additional members to make them viable teams. It has been a beautiful thing to see groups from different parts of the country meet at the boat (or the airport) and begin to work together. As many of you have seen, the teams really gel once the members are together on the boat and the transit to the village begins.

Our primary reasons for being on the rivers of the Amazon Basin are to share the hope of Christ with the Ribeirinhos, to nurture new believers, and to plant Great Commission churches. We do this through evangelism, discipleship, VBS activities, social ministries, medical and dental clinics, and church construction. We have teams working in all of these areas who need additional members. By adding just 1 or 2 clinicians to a team, we can provide the villagers with a much needed clinic. We have Brazilian clinicians whom our American clinicians work with.

We need your help. People in the Amazon River Basin are dying without Christ and are going to spend eternity separated from our Lord.

Following are the dates when additional members are needed:

July 20 - 29, 2008

August 18 - 27, 2008

September 19 - 27, 2008

December 3 - 12, 2008

Please check the above dates and pray about where God would have you join us. I would be happy to place you with one of our teams.

We also have opportunities if you have a complete team who is ready to reach those in the Amazon River Basin with the hope of Christ.

In Christ's service,

Derek R. George, President / CEO, Amazon Vision Ministries
Cell: 352-745-2704
Phone/fax 386-462-0022
Brazil cell: 011-55-92-9132-0485
www.AmazonVisionMinistries.com

Florida Disaster Relief Ministry 2008 Regional Training Events
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
• June 7, North Florida Baptist Church, Tallahassee
• June 21, First Baptist Church, Plant City
 
Training provided in these disaster ministry areas:
• Mass Feeding
• Cleanup & Recovery
• Temporary Childcare
• Emergency Communications   
• Spiritual Care    
• Water Purification
 
First-Time Volunteers: Registration Fee $25 per person
Returning Volunteers: Registration Fee $10 per person
 
First-time volunteers will participate in our Volunteer Class that is designed to prepare volunteers to be able to respond effectively with our ministry. Information will be shared to help answer the questions that all new volunteers typically have. The class lasts all morning.
 
After lunch, first time volunteers will be able to choose a Ministry Area Class to get specialized training in the area in which they most likely want to work. (Water Purification is available only for Returning Volunteers.) You can cross-train in other ministry areas by attending another regional training event.

For further information or questions on Florida Disaster Relief Training OR building a Disaster Relief Unit, contact the Disaster Relief & Recovery Department, 1-800-226-8584, ext. 3121, OR e-mail disaster@flbaptist.org.

Do You Have Church News or a Church Event You Want to Publicize?
If your church will have an event in July that you would like to invite other churches to attend, email me. If you have news, send that too. It’s always encouraging to hear good news from our churches. Thanks.

You meet a thousand times in life with those who, in dealing with any religious question, make at once their appeal to reason, and insist on forthwith rejecting aught that lies beyond its sphere--without, however, being able to render any clear account of the nature and proper limits of the knowledge thus derived, or of the relation in which such knowledge stands to the religious needs of men. I would invite you, therefore, to inquire seriously whether such persons are not really bowing down before an idol of the mind, which, while itself of very questionable worth, demands as much implicit faith from its worshipers as divine revelation itself.
    ... Theodor Christlieb (1833-1889)

For Those Who Endured to the End

The Best “Dear John” Letter Ever
A Marine stationed in Afghanistan received a "Dear John" letter from his girlfriend back home. It read as follows:

Dear Ricky,
I can no longer continue our relationship. The distance between us is just too great. I must admit that I have cheated on you twice, since you've been gone, and it's not fair to either of us. I'm sorry. Please return the picture of me that I sent to you.
Love, Becky

The Marine, with hurt feelings, asked his fellow Marines for any snapshots they could spare of their girlfriends, sisters, ex-girlfriends, aunts, cousins, etc. In addition to the picture of Becky, Ricky included all the other pictures of the pretty girls he had collected from his buddies.
There were 57 photos in that envelope, along with this note:

Dear Becky,
I'm so sorry, but I can't quite remember who you are. Please take your picture from the pile, and send the rest back to me.
Take Care, Ricky