North Star Update A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION Inside This Issue: Fellowship Foundations
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GCBA Track Meet
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MBA Family Camp Baptist Booster
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Berean Brooklyn Park 40th Anniversary
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New Pillsbury President
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Pillsbury Commencement
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Pillsbury Camps
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Concert at First Baptist, Baxter
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Calendar June 4: Allen Ministries Concert at First Baptist, Baxter June 23-24: MBA Annual Meeting at Willmar
Volume II, Issue 6
June 1, 2008
MBA Annual Meetings June 24-25 in Willmar
We are looking forward to great meetings this year in Willmar with the people of Cornerstone Baptist Church, and host pastor, Bro. Dave Rogers. Our guest speaker this year will be Dr. Daniel Brown. Dr. Brown has been Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology at Central Seminary since 2004. He also serves as director of the DMin program. Before
coming to Central, Dr. Brown was senior pastor at Kendall Park Baptist Church, Kendall Park, NJ. He has also served at churches in Michigan and Texas and at camps in Texas and New Jersey. He received a BS from Faith Baptist Bible College, an MDiv and ThM from Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, and a DMin from Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a
member of the Independent Baptist Fellowship of North America, the Evangelical Homiletics Society, and the Evangelical Theological Society. He and his wife, Mary Jo, have four daughters. Dr. Brown is preparing to teach from Matthew 16:13-20 as a three part series under the theme, The Resurgent Church. Information and registration forms are available on the
July 22: PBBC Board Meetings August 4-8: MBA Family Camp
Pastors & Wives Fellowship Review Pastors and wives from several MBA churches met at First Baptist Church, Baxter, for the Annual Minnesota Baptist Association Pastors & Wives Fellowship. The event took place on April 28 and 29. Host Pastors were Dave Grotzke, Senior Pastor and Wayne Erickson, Assistant Pastor.
Guest speakers for the fellowship included Pastor Jim Pearce, of First Baptist Church, Park Rapids and Jim Geurink from the Baptist Children’s Home in Valparaiso, IN. Several from First Baptist spoke on various ministries of the church. They Continued on page 4
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North Star Update
Fellowship Foundations By: Rev. I am privileged to have completed one year as the Interim State Missionary of the MBA. It has given my wife and I the joy of visiting and preaching in many great churches in our Association. I am also an elected Trustee of the MBA, but my position as ISM allows me to attend the Board of Trustees meetings for Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. It is a privilege to sit in on the deliberations and decisions of those
Robert Fuller, Sr., Interim State Missionary
great servants of the Lord. On May 4 I was invited to provide pulpit supply for Pastor Dan French at Rockford Baptist Church for a second of two consecutive Sundays. In addition, I led the singing and my wife, Rhoda, accompanied on the piano. On Monday evening and Tuesday, May 19 & 20, I attended the PBBC Board of Trustees meeting on the College campus.
That brings my report to May 25 as we visited the Services of Bible Baptist Church in their facilities on Highway 10, between Elk River and Anoka. The church, under the pastoral leadership Doug Roman, is able to rent very pleasant and adequate space, arranged in a wonderful way for all of their church's activities. If I can serve your church in any way, please let me know.
Granite City Christian School Track Meet The Granite City Baptist Academy Annual Invitational Track Meet was held May 9, after being postponed one week due to weather. Participants were from five schools: Calvary Baptist (Cambridge), Grace Baptist (Mankato), Immanuel Baptist (Menomonie WI), and Woodcrest Baptist (Fridley). With the change of date, First
Baptist (Rosemount) was unable to participate due to a scheduling conflict. Prior to the track meet a wrestling clinic was conducted for kindergarten through 12th graders, with nearly 20 young men participating. Everyone had a great time throughout the day which closed with a fun banana relay.
Baptist Booster for MBA Family Camp A twenty-five dollar ($25) donation toward MBA Family Camp will make you a Baptist Booster. What IS a Baptist Booster, anyway? It is someone who gives $25.00 to help with expenses of our Family Camp--which this year is August 4 - 8, at Woman Lake, Longville MN. This is not a new program, as most of
you know, but it has not been used for the Family Camp recently. Family camp has great spiritual benefits. It is a week of building friendships across the state with folks from sister churches. In addition we want to strengthen our local churches and the testimony of the MBA. The stronger the
MBA is, the more churches we can start, as we labor together for the glory of God. You can help with these purposes: Be a Baptist Booster. Make your check out to the MBA and send it to Pastor Lenard Huebscher, 12525 75th Street North, Stillwater MN 55082. Thanks! And, God bless you.
Berean Baptist Brooklyn Park 40th Anniversary Berean Baptist of Brooklyn Park will celebrate its 40th Anniversary on June 21-22. The events will include a 6 p.m. cookout at the church on Saturday, June 21; a special 9:30 a.m. Sunday School hour on Sunday; the 10:30 a.m. Anni-
versary Service with Pastor Jerry Stephens preaching; the Noon Anniversary Meal; and the 2 p.m. Mortgage Burning Service with Dr. Richard Paige preaching. We thank the Lord for His faithfulness in establishing this local church ministry
and we look forward to any former members who wish to join us for this special time of celebration! Please contact the church for more information at (763) 425-2244 or (763) 4254053.
Volume II, Issue 6
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Pillsbury Baptist Bible College Calls Dr. Greg Huffman To Be President Dr. Robert Crane has served as President of Pillsbury Baptist Bible College with faithfulness to the Father for the past 12 years. During his tenure as President, he has led the school through many challenges into new opportunities of ministry. Recently, he has been helping the Board of Pillsbury seek out his successor. On May 20, 2008, Dr. Crane resigned the Presidency and Dr. Greg Huffman assumed the Presidency of Pillsbury Baptist Bible College. A retrospective on Dr. Crane’s ministry will come
soon. The following is a brief biography of Dr. Huffman. Dr. Greg Huffman was born in Wisconsin and grew up in Rockford, Illinois. He comes from a very godly family who taught him at an early age to love God and serve him with all his heart. He was saved at the age of six, and dedicated his life to full-time Christian service a few years later. He met his wife, Ruth, as a student at Tennessee Temple University in 1967. They married in the summer of 1968.
After graduation from Temple Theological Seminary, they moved to Florida to assume a position as an assistant pastor in a thriving ministry. But after two years, the Lord led them to relocate to Albany, GA, where they started a church. After twelve years of ministry there, they moved to Atlanta where Dr. Huffman served as senior pastor. During his five years there, Dr. Huffman began his work on a Masters Degree in Biblical Counseling, which he Continued on page 4
Pillsbury Commencement Activities Family members and friends of Pillsbury’s graduating seniors gathered on May 3 to celebrate the accomplishments of the class of 2008 at the fifty-first annual commencement exercises of the college. Dr. Carl Herbster, Pastor of TriCity Ministries and President of the Heart of America Theological Seminary, was the guest speaker. Elise (Allen) Williams was named Valedictorian of the class and Robert Johnson was named Salutatorian. Elise, Bob and Holly Moline graduated
Summa Cum Laude. Ranae Ross graduated Magna Cum Laude and Deena Grabau and Dan Mielke graduated Cum Laude. Service awards were presented to the following faculty and staff members: Twenty Years Deb Boldt Sherry Segal Ten Years Glenn Brownewell Joan Brownewell Five Years Ginny DeNeui
Faith Gaskell Ken Marsh Ernie Miller Connie Seidler Stephen Seidler
Summer Camps at Pillsbury College Pillsbury will offer five weeks of summer athletic and music camps starting on July 7, 2008. The schedule is as follows: Girls’ Basketball July 7-11 Boys’ Basketball July 14-18 Girls’ Volleyball July 21-25 Music Camp July 28 - August 1 Boys’ Soccer Camp August 7-9
Each athletic camp will feature a strong spiritual emphasis as well as advanced skills training for both beginning and experienced players, led by Pillsbury’s coaching staff. Each camper will receive a camp T-shirt and there will be awards given for participation throughout the week. Music Camp will offer students the choice of a piano, vocal, or instrumental track. Each track will include private lessons and master classes with
Pillsbury’s music faculty or special guest instructors. Enrichment classes will include topics including music theory, conducting, and more. Ensembles will include camp choir, handbell choir, and instrumental ensembles. Additional information and registration forms for each of these camps is available online at pillsbury.edu, or call the College toll-free at (800) 7474557 to learn more.
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A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION PO Box 527 Willmar, MN 56201-0527
We’re on the web! http:www.mbaoc.org
MBA Contacts Minnesota Baptist Association Dr. Julian Suarez, President Faith Baptist Church 1365 Westminster St. St. Paul, MN 55130 (651) 771-5567 pastors@frontiernet.net Interim State Missionary Rev. Robert Fuller, St.
New PBBC President, from page 3 received in 1984. The Lord then redirected them to Macon, GA for the next fifteen years, serving as a senior pastor and the president of the Georgia Association of Christian Schools. He also served on the board of the American As-
sociation of Christian Schools during some of those years. For the past four years he has served as senior pastor of a thriving ministry in Virginia, leading the church in missions and Christian education, as well as camping and outreach minis-
tries. Dr. and Mrs. Huffman have three sons, all of whom are also serving in full-time Christian ministries. More information is available at www.pillsbury.edu.
1549 118th Lane NW Coon Rapids, MN 55448 (763) 568-4078 rjfsr4@juno.com MBA Office Minnesota Baptist Association PO Box 527 Willmar, MN 56201-0527
Pastors & Wives from page 1 were Cindy Grotzke, Second Harvest; Pastor Gary Peterson, Extended Care Ministries; and Dave Goedker, Soul-winning.
Special music for the event was provided by a string ensemble and various vocal groups. Attendees also enjoyed a
wonderful banquet Monday evening as well as delicious lunches and coffee breaks throughout the two day event.
Send Contributions to: Mr. Brian Veth, MBA Treasurer c/o Coon Rapids Baptist Church 11164 Hanson Blvd. Coon Rapids, MN 55433 Send Update Articles and Pictures to: drjfjr@comcast.net Or North Star Update Editor 315 S. Payne St. New Ulm, MN 56073
Allen Ministries Concert at First Baptist, Baxter The Todd Allen family will present a concert at First Baptist Church in Baxter on Wednesday, June 4 at 6:30 p.m. Todd and Michelle Allen and their eight children travel across the United States and Canada
365 days a year and are a favorite family group of thousands across the continent. Everyone is welcome. There is no admission fee. A free will offering will be received. Dave Grotzke is the senior pastor. The church
is located at 7398 Fairview Road, just west of the highway 210 & 371 junction, across from Home Depot. Telephone (218) 829-5767.