Over 200 North Carolinians attended the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s 15th annual General Assembly in Grapevine, Texas, June 30-July 1, 2005. A highlight of the Assembly was the commissioning of 19 new Global Missions field personnel, among whom were four from North Carolina: Mike and Fran Graham from Asheville, and Steve and Nancy James from Burnsville. These two couples were commissioned for CBF’s new category of missions service called AsYouGo. See the article below for their stories.
AsYouGo Affiliate service offers a means for self-supporting personnel to serve through the CBF Global Missions field team structure. Whether through employment or through the direct support of churches, it also provides a Global Missions connection for CBF-minded people who have a specific mission calling to areas where CBF is not current sending career or Global Service Corps personnel. Please join us in supporting our AsYouGo Affiliates in five ways: prayer, providing other volunteers to help the Affiliate, spiritual care and support, financial support, and adminstrative support such as helping produce a newsletter, or perhaps helping set up an Affiliate’s non-profit status. For information on how you can become an AsYouGo missionary, contact Matt Norman at mnorman@thefellowship.info or call him 770-220-1609.
TWO NC COUPLES COMMISSIONED AS ASYOUGO MISSIONS AFFILIATES
The CBF phrase, “World Without Borders” resonated right away in the hearts and minds of Steve and Nancy James (below), CBF’s new AsYouGo appointees to the little island of Haiti located in the Caribbean, not far from Cuba. Haiti was the first of the slave colonies to gain its freedom but was filled with disease and socioeconomic problems that were overwhelming and still exist today. Steve and Nancy received an official invitation from the Good Samaritan Hospital where they had served from 1983-1999 until government unrest forced them to leave. Due to the lack of medical assistance in most of the church-related clinics in Haiti, and to the often impoverished health of the Haitian people, the Jameses have received an invitation from the Haitian Baptist Convention to help in a medical assistance program to church-related clinics, including training Christian medical staff. Their Encourager Church, First Baptist Church in Burnsville, NC, and other partner churches will enable them to be the extension of the body of Christ to Haiti and her people.
You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t quit your day job.” Well, Mike and Fran Graham (right), two of CBF’s newest AsYouGo
Affiliates, have taken the expression to heart. Even though Mike works full-time and Fran part-time, both have begun working with Slavic people groups who have immigrated to the Asheville area from 15 Eastern European countries. Fran had felt a deep calling to work with them, helping them integrate into American society. Mike was quickly drawn in to help his wife as well. Initially Fran and Mike worked on their own, but then they learned of the CBF’s Affiliate ministry, which provides training as well as local church contacts. First Baptist Church in Asheville is their Encourager Church. While Mike and Fran would eventually like for their ministry to become their “day job,” they are happy to have found a way to connect their mission with their church and their life.
If you would like to support these ministries, please call Jim Fowler at 888-822-1944 or contact the Affiliates directly: Steve and Nancy James: snjames8@yahoo.com Mike and Fran Graham: 828-299-7780 or feg116@charter.net
UPCOMING EVENTS
August 28, 2005
Teaching Strategies for Today’s Sunday School Teachers
First Baptist Church, Burlington, NC
For details, call Garin Hill at 336-226-2433 or email him at garin@fbcburlington.org.
September 9-11, 2005
Fall Youth Retreat
Myrtle Beach, SC
For details, call 888-822-1944 or www.cbfnc.org/youth.htm.
September 9-11, 2005
Kindred Spirits Prayer Retreat Sunset Beach, NC
For details, visit www.cbfnc.org/comingevents.htm or call Blythe Taylor at (704) 333-5428.
September 10, 2005
11 on 11 Day of Service
Chatham County, NC
Sponsored by current, CBF’s Young Leaders Network. For details, contact Tyler Gillespie at 469-688-0828 or tyler.gillespie@duke.edu
October 14-15, 2005
CBFNC Minister/Spouse Retreat, “The Careful Life,” Ephesians 5:15
Led by Dr. Chuck Poole Winston-Salem, NC
For details and registration, call 888-822-1944, or visit www.cbfnc.org/comingevents.htm.
October 27-28, 2005
Exploring the Missional Church
Speaker: Bo Prosser Camp Dogwood on Lake Norman
For details and registration form, visit www.cbfnc.org/comingevents.htm.
November 15, 2005
CBFNC Fellowship Dinner during the Baptist State Convention with speaker, Ruby Fulbright, Executive Director, NC WMU Bridger Field House, Winston-Salem
February 20-23, 2006
Youth Ministers’ Retreat North Myrtle Beach, SC
March 10-12 and 24-26, 2006
Spring Youth Retreats 1 & 2
The Vineyard Camp, Westfield, NC
For details, call 888-822-1944 or visit www.cbfnc.org/youth.htm.
FOLLOW JESUS’ EXAMPLE – PRAY
Several weeks ago, I had the wonderful privilege of bringing congratulations and greetings from CBFNC during the ground breaking service for New Community Church located at the corner of I-540 and Six Forks Road in Raleigh. God, in His wisdom, had provided a beautiful day with sunshine and a gentle breeze to moderate the temperature of that unseasonably warm May day.
Upon arrival at the site, Jo Ann and I were immediately invited under the tent and offered a cool drink and dessert. As we entered the cool shade of the tent, I was reminded of Old Testament times when strangers traveling along the hot dusty roads were invited to enter the tents along the way and were offered the hospitality of the cool shade and a drink to quench their thirst.
This expression of hospitality was a great way of saying that we were welcome to their special gathering to break ground for the first of several buildings that are included in the master plan for that new congregation. The hospitality continued as the founding pastor, Rev. George Fuller, and several members of the congregation made their way to us and extended greetings and a personal welcome.
All of these actions by the congregation made us feel at ease in a group of what had previously been strangers. We immediately began to form a bond with these people. What we had just experienced could, and most probably would, happen at a meeting of almost any civic or fraternal organization. So what made this situation different?
Christians gathered for worship and prayer was the difference. The beginning
March 17-18, 2006
13th Annual
CBFNC General Assembly
Ardmore Baptist Church, Winston-Salem
March 31 - April 1, 2006
2nd Annual CBFNC Youth Choir Festival
First Baptist Church, Greensboro
June 22-23, 2006
CBF General Assembly
Georgia World Congress Center Atlanta, GA
- DON HORTON, MODERATOR
worship service and comments made by those that were involved in getting the congregation to this point in their pilgrimage was uplifting, but I did not really bond with this congregation until the closing prayer. When all is said and done, there is just something about praying together that brings you into the fold with God’s people.
As we gathered around the site where we had just observed the ceremonial ground breaking for the new facility, we formed a circle and joined hands as Ms. Exxa Hobbs, a member of their prayer team, led us in prayer. At that moment, I became one with this fellowship of believers as we communed with our Heavenly Father and Creator God.
I believe that this experience demonstrates why Enriching Our Fellowship through Prayer is one of the directional points for the 2004-2007 Strategic Plan for CBFNC. If we will make prayer a central point of our personal lives and our congregations, we will experience and express an authentic spirituality.
Prayer is that simple yet profound act through which the created communicates with the Creator. What a wonderful privilege it is for us to have that relationship with God. As Christians, we should constantly be striving to be like Jesus. If we are to be like Him, we must follow his example of prayer.
As a fellowship of believers, partners of CBFNC must pray for one another as we seek God’s will for our lives individually and corporately. Our lives will surely be blessed if we are intentional in our prayer life.
Pastor George Fuller joins others in preparing to break ground for New Community Church as Ms. Exxa Hobbs looks on.
First Foster Family Arrives at Lighthouse
KIEV, UKRAINE. The first step for our street children foster home has been completed. The Lighthouse is a beautiful two-story building with enough rooms to support three foster families. Each family will have three connecting bedrooms, a kitchen, and a school room. They will share bathrooms with the other families, as well as a library and a comfortable living/dining area.
- JIM FOWLER, MISSIONS COORDINATOR
5 and 7, are ready to be our first street children at the Village of Hope.
For more information on how you or your church can be involved in this ministry to street children, contact Jim Fowler at jfowler@cbfnc.org or Bill and Marie Mason, Village of Hope project coordinators, at wmason@carolina.rr.com.
Village of Hope Volunteer Teams 2005
The second step is for the Village of Hope Executive Committee to interview and select foster parents. After interviewing five families, the committee has invited Igor and Tatiana (Tanya) Pilipey to serve as the first foster parents (pictured). The Pilipeys have three children of their own, a daughter Olga, age 11, and sons, Julian (Yuli), age 10, and Oleg, age 6. They moved to Bucha from Rovno (Russian) or Rivne (Ukrainian), which is 350 kilometers west of Kiev. Until recent times Igor and Tanya had never thought of being involved in a family orphanage, but they feel God’s call for this ministry. Before learning about the Village of Hope, they were thinking about taking one or two orphaned kids into their own home to raise.
The third step is to begin to bring street children into the Village. Now that we have house parents, two brothers, ages
Thanks to all for a great summer!
The following churches sponsored a volunteer team to work for at least a week in The Village of Hope this past summer:
First ...................... Raleigh Greystone Raleigh
First Sylva Wingate ................Wingate Ardmore ..............Winston-Salem
Many more have contributed to the project through prayers and gifts. We are currently taking reservations for volunteer teams (10-12 people each) for next year. All teams will be scheduled on a first come basis. To schedule a week for your church, contact Bill Mason, wmason@carolina.rr.com.
Belizean Baptist Music Conference
The first Music Conference for Belizean Baptist Leadership was held in May. Thanks to the generosity and vision of many CBFNC individuals and churches, we were able to purchase and mail 42 guitars to Belize. We invited each of the 50 churches in the Baptist Association of Belize to send a music person to the conference to learn how to play the guitar for worship. Two professional guitarists, Conway Stone and Ken Lundberg, both from Louisville, Kentucky, contributed a great deal of time and talent as they taught the 47 conference attendees. We also distributed 28 guitars so that each church could take one for their use. Because CBFNC cared enough, there is music in churches in Belize.
North Carolina News & Notes
NC STATE MEETING IN GRAPEVINE
Campbell University Divinity School hosted this year’s NC State Meeting. Dean Michael Cogdill brought greetings from Campbell and expressed his appreciation for the partnership between the University and CBF of North Carolina.
Jack Snell, Interim Missions Coordinator for CBF Global Missions, brings thanks and encouragement to North Carolinians for their efforts toward CBF missions efforts and Global Missions Offering.
NORTH CAROLINIAN ELECTED TO BWA GENERAL COUNCIL
At the CBF General Assembly in Grapevine, Texas, Elizabeth Barnes was elected to serve as the CBF At-Large representative to the Baptist World Alliance General Council. She will join Daniel Vestal in assuming this responsibility on behalf of CBF. Elizabeth is a member of First Baptist Church of Raleigh. Previously, she has served on the Coordinating Councils of both CBF of North Carolina and CBF (National). We congratulate Elizabeth and offer our prayers and support as she undertakes this important role.
FREEDOM’S HOLY LIGHT
Pastor Dan Day of Raleigh’s First Baptist Church preached a sermon on May 22, 2005, which had biblical and political implications. Dr. Day applied the traditional Baptist principle of religious liberty and the separation of church and state to current events in our state and nation, beginning with the situation at East Waynesville Baptist Church. The sermon has reached a national audience, including publication by the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty. You may read the full text of the sermon at the church’s website, fbcraleigh.org/Sermons/5-22.pdf
In addition, Dr. Day composed a hymn for the day (printed below) that is already being utilized in the worship of other Baptist churches. We are grateful for voices such as Dan Day which continue to proclaim true religious liberty in a day when many in our country, including many Baptists, have forgotten our heritage.
A Song of Soul Freedom
(LANCASHIRE: “Lead On, O King Eternal”)
O God of Eden’s garden, who grants thy creatures choice, Whose way is not coercion, who gives dissenters voice, Remind thy fearful people, concerned for unity: We find our deepest union when each one’s soul is free.
O God of Red Sea waters, whose will is liberty, Who moves against oppression and strikes down tyranny, Remind thy startled people, by world events made numb: There is no final kingdom until thy kingdom come.
O Christ of Calv-ry’s mountain, who died to set us free, Who sought no earthly gavel, but rules from on a tree, Remind thy challenged people, by many faiths o’errun: The truth of thy great gospel shall stand when hist-ry’s done.
O Pentecostal Spirit, whose winds no creed can tame, Best teacher of our scripture, whose errand is our aim, Remind thy faithful people of vows we cannot bend: Soul freedom that we cherish we will to all extend.
BWA Global Impact Churches
The Baptist World Alliance reported that 39 North Carolina churches have contributed at least $1,000 to their budget for this year. The BWA designates these churches Global Impact Churches (GIC). CBFNC is hoping to encourage 100 churches to become Global Impact Churches to support the ministry of the BWA. There are 334 GIC across the world. Virginia has the most at 51, followed by Texas at 49 and NC with 39. If your church has not already contributed to the BWA we encourage you to support them at the GIC level.
For more information on becoming a Global Impact Church, contact Alan Stanford, Director for Global Impact, BWA, 703-790-8980 ext. 129 or email him at globalimpact@bwanet.org
North Carolina News & Notes
Make Plans Now to Attend the CBFNC Minister/Spouse Retreat
Registration fee: $25 single / $35 couple Hotel: $59
For more information and a registration form, call CBFNC at 888-822-1944 or visit http//www.cbfnc.org/comingevents.htm.
Know any students attending Clemson University this fall?
The Cooperative Student Fellowship at Clemson had a great first year and is interested in receiving contact information (name, home address, and email) of any incoming students. These students will then be contacted for a big CSF welcome by Tim Willis, the College/Singles Minister at FBC Clemson.
Contact Tim and the CSF at curabbi@bellsouth.net or visit their website at http://www.firstbaptistclemson.com/csf.htm.
PRAYER
3 Mina Podgaiskaya, urban work, Kiev, Ukraine 5_______, unevangelized people group, Asia
7 Merrie Harding, CBF International Coordinator - Emergency Response, Florida
8 Janee Angel, Global Service Corps, Brussels, Belgium
15 Nick Skipper, Envoy, Texas
16 Don McNeely, Emeritus
19 Amy Armstrong, Global Service Corps, Los Angeles, CA
20 Joyce Cleary, Emeritus
22 Stacey Schultz, Global Service Corps, Kisii, Kenya
23_______, unevangelized people group, Middle East/North Africa
23 Marc Wyatt, work with internationals, Toronto, Canada
25 Arville Earl, work with Albanian/Balkan peoples, Macedonia
26 , unevangelized people group, Asia
27 , unevangelized people group, Middle East/North Africa
29_______, unevangelized people group, Asia
31 Karr La Dickens, Associate Coordinator for Mission Teams, Texas
Exploring the Missional Church
A Gathering for Church Leaders Interested in Developing Community Around a Common Desire to Pursue Faithful, Effective and Authentic Congregational Ministry in the 21st Century
Facilitated by Bo Prosser, CBF Coordinator for Congregational Life
Thursday, October 27 - Friday, October 28, 2005, beginning at 2 p.m. and concluding Friday at 4 p.m. Camp Dogwood on Lake Norman
Space is limited to 21 participants on this retreat.
Registration fee: $75, which includes one night’s lodging in a private room and three meals.
For more information and a registration form, call CBFNC at 888-822-1944 or visit http//www.cbfnc.org/comingevents.htm.
Center Helps with Prayer Focus
In many ways, Advent Spirituality Center (ASC) is addressing the CBFNC directional focus, “Enriching our Fellowship through Prayer.” Created in 1999, ASC exists to establish a network and a space for Baptists and others interested in spirituality. Its intention is to call people to a growing life in God through prayer. As suggested by the name “advent,” the mission of ASC is to encourage serious seekers to open their hearts to the coming of Christ within their own lives.
Advent Spirituality Center welcomes CBF churches and individuals to participate in its programs, which vary from year to year. This year’s events have included A Clergy Day Apart in Greenville, SC; a Workshop on Healing Prayer in Mars Hill, NC, and An Experiential Prayer Retreat in Richmond, VA. A rich experience enjoyed for many years is the Gathering of Baptists and Others Interested in Spirituality, which this June focused on contemplative prayer, using Centering Prayer as a tool. Under the leadership of Dr. Bill Clemmons, participants were involved in lectures, dialogue, the practice of Centering Prayer, worship, and solitude. This fall, ASC will provide a retreat for seminarians at Campbell Divinity School.
The Advent Spirituality Center can also provide resources to facilitate spiritual direction for individuals, to offer retreats for churches, and to provide consultation to churches who wish to develop programs of spiritual formation. For further information, you may contact Frank Dawkins, President of the Board, at 252-355-2790, or Paula Dempsey, Administrative Director, at 828-206-0383. Information about current programs and resources may be found on the website: http:// www.adventcenter.org.
WTR HTRS and Prayer
Water heaters, as you probably know, consume a lot of energy. That’s why, when our family goes on an extended trip, one of the last things I do before locking the door is to flip the breaker on the fuse box marked “wtr htr.” Of course, one of the first things I usually do when we get back from an extended trip is to flip that same breaker back on. After a very little while, there is enough hot water for showers and washing clothes. Last week, after returning from Texas, Susan, my wife, began to do laundry. She opened the clothes dryer door. The light that always comes on when the door is open (or is it always on? Maybe I’ll climb in and shut the door someday to find out)–anyway, the light bulb was apparently burned out. Then she tried to start the dryer. It wouldn’t start. There was no power to the dryer. “Have you flipped the breaker back on?” she asked me. I had not yet. So, we assumed that the water heater and the clothes dryer must be on the same breaker switch. I went to the breaker box. I flipped the switch marked “wtr htr” and Susan said, “Okay, it’s on now!” Then I noticed that two switches above “wtr htr” was another switch marked “dryer.” I flipped it off. I flipped it back on and heard a sound come from the water heater. The labels were reversed! For three years, I have been marching to the basement and faithfully flipping the “wtr htr” switch, confident that I was saving money and conserving energy. What I was actually doing was flipping off the clothes dryer switch, which saved us no money or energy (unless it was the energy of that little light bulb that may or not constantly burn.) This was the definition of “an exercise in futility.”
Prayer is sometimes considered an exercise in futility. I heard a radio commercial with two persons complaining about the summer heat. “What can we do?” one person complained. The other answered sarcastically, “We could always pray.” Then he went on to explain that the real answer to their problem was to purchase an air conditioner from a local appliance store. Prayer was a joke. It was ineffective. It was the option for the ignorant.
RICK JORDAN, CHURCH RESOURCES COORDINATOR
pened. The tumor I prayed would recede grew. The prayers I prayed over a separated couple did not pull them together. I have prayed with an agenda for good, for what I thought best, for win-win situations, and it has seemed to be an exercise in futility. Was I flipping the wrong switch the whole time? Prayer, however, is not a mechanical cause-and-effect exercise. Prayer works first on the pray-er. Prayer is a tool for relationship with God. It is a gift that is designed not to “meet needs,” but to transform the one praying. Prayer begins, rightly, not in the asking but in the abiding. “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you,” God says. That is a dear promise. Before we mouth the words, “Dear God…” God is present, eager for our recognition of that presence. God’s design in prayer is that I, the pray-er, become more and more like God, the pray-ee. As we spend time with God, we see things from a different perspective, one that has a longer time frame and a broader scope than our initial prayer might have addressed. Our will is shaped by God’s will. Prayer is not an exercise of utility but of compatibility.
Fall Youth Retreat
Sea Palms Motel Myrtle Beach, SC
September 9-11, 2005
$80 per person includes:
*Pizza/Pool Party
*Missions Opportunities
FINANCIAL REPORT
I have prayed and nothing hap-
*Awesome worship leadership by Erin Walker
*Block Party with a live DJ
*Sand Sculpture Contest
*Afternoon at Wild Water and Wheels water park
*Two night’s lodging
*Five meals
*And a T-Shirt!
ENRICHING OUR FELLOWSHIP THROUGH PRAYER
Once upon a time, there was a young man who had a hard time keeping a job. He made one career move after another, sometimes only spending a few days with an employer. Finally, he was hired to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door. The sales manager, who had been in the business for twenty years, gave the young man his sales kit and a map of the city. Then he said, “All right, go to it.”
The young man was rather surprised and he responded, “But sir, aren’t you going to train me?” The manger asked, “Why?” The young man replied, “Well, I don’t know the first thing about vacuum cleaners.” The wise, old sales manager then said, “Son, you don’t really need to know anything about a product in order to sell it. You just need to convince the customer that you’re an expert on it!”
To be perfectly honest, I’ve often felt like the young salesman in many areas of my life, but especially when it comes to the subject of prayer. I’ve been praying almost every day of my life. I’ve always been taught the importance of prayer. From time to time, I have received great benefit from prayer. I lead public prayer many times a week, and I pray privately with individuals and
families more often than that. I believe strongly in prayer.
Yet, having said all of this, I still identify with that young, down-on-hisluck vacuum cleaner salesman who felt inadequate to his task. Prayer is still a mystery to me. There is much about prayer I don’t understand. And if you’re honest, regardless of how long you’ve been a Christian, you probably feel as I do.
Ask any group of Baptists if they think prayer is important and you’ll likely get the same answer as if you had asked them if they enjoy ice cream. “Yes, of course!” Yet most of us feel as if we are novices in the school of prayer. Like the disciples, way down in our heart of hearts, we want to say to Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Because we do believe strongly in prayer, yet know that a healthy prayer life requires intentionality, our CBFNC strategic plan calls us to focus attention on Enriching Our Fellowship Through Prayer. We recognize that there is a great thirst for authentic spirituality in our world, and that the traditional approach to prayer in many of our churches is not quenching that thirst. Some helpful “prayer voices” are coming from within the Baptist family, but many are outside our denominational tradition. We value those voices that have much to teach us about prayer and the Christian life. We
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?
Where have our CBFNC churches been on mission this summer? The September issue of The Gathering will feature an article about the missions impact our churches in North Carolina made this summer. Please email us with a description of your church’s 2005 summer missions experiences (200 words or less) and be sure to include the church’s name and city and a contact person from your staff or congregation if we need more information. We would also appreciate receiving a few pictures as attachments, as well (preferably formatted as .jpg files if possible). Email your missions report to Nancy Parks at nparks@cbfnc.org no later than August 8th.
- LARRY HOVIS, COORDINATOR
realize that enriching our fellowship through prayer requires more than a program; it involves a re-orientation of our individual, congregational and corporate view of spiritual formation. Enriching our fellowship through prayer means more than reading new books, sharing new resources and planning new conferences; though it certainly involves all those things and more. Above all, it means praying!
A big step to enrich our prayer life (and by extension, our fellowship) is to discover a new understanding of prayer. As Patricia D. Brown states in Pathways to Prayer,
Prayer is not a technique of “gospel technology” that enables us to live a better life or reach a higher status; prayer is not a mechanism to save ourselves or a conversation with an exalted spiritual version of ourselves…. In the end, prayer is about a relationship in which we see God face to face as God loves us, with unflinching mercy, and gives God’s self as a gift to each and every one of us. We give ourselves to God in return (p. 15).
More than getting God to do what we want done or give us what we think we desire, prayer is cultivating a relationship with God. I pray for the individuals and churches of this fellowship we call CBF of North Carolina. I pray that our prayer life can be deepened, our mission can be broadened and our fellowship can be enriched. I pray, above all, that we can grow in the likeness of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who prays for us, and by whose words and example taught us to pray and live and serve God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.
