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Associational Newsletter & Other News ----"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."
~Helen Keller _________________________________________
Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames
Where will you be when REALITY strikes?
A real life drama presentation you will never forget!
Date: Sunday Thru Tuesday
August 29, 30, and 31, 2010
Time: 7:00 P.M. Nightly
Location: Elizabethtown Baptist Church
1800 West Broad Street
Elizabethtown, NC 28337
Free Admission - TICKETS ARE GOING FAST! SUNDAY IS COMPLETELY BOOKED!
MONDAY IS ALMOST AT CAPACITY! CALL FOR RESERVATIONS!
Nursery & Children's Ministry Provided
Call TODAY to reserve seating: (910)862-3496 When you call please provide your name, number of tickets you would like to reserve, date you would like to reserve, phone number, and address where we can mail your tickets. Please only reserve the number of tickets you actually need as there is a seating limitation.
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Want to be a part of Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames Drama?
Want to be a part of Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames Drama? We are still in need of people to act out parts and help with the production. We are also in need of persons to help with parking and persons to help with nursery/childcare. Most of the speaking parts are very small and some characters have no speaking parts at all. Costumes are provided. This is one way to make a difference in the life of someone who does not know Christ. Call or email the Bladen Baptist Association if you would like to be a part or would like more information. Ph: (910)862-3496 Email: bbadom@embarqmail.com __________________________________________
Urgent Needs
Joan Allen, Division of Aging, contacted the Bladen Association Office this morning to share two urgent needs that have been presented to her.
1. A lady is in Rehabilitation and is set to be discharged the first of next week. Her family has been told that they must have a ramp in order for her to be discharged. They live near the County Park, Hwy 701S, Elizabethtown.
2. There is a 90 year old man who has an 87 year old wife. The wife fell recently and the husband is really struggling trying to help his wife to get into and out of the house. They live past the Big Blue store and out in the country.
If there is a group of volunteers who would like to build one of these ramps, please call the Bladen Baptist Association office at 910-862-3496. The funding for the materials will be provided by the Division of Aging.
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Another School Year Has Started
Another school year has begun. Please pray for our schools: the students and the faculty. Pray that this school year will be one that is remembered for all of the good things that transpire. Pray for safety for those in attendance and pray that the faculty/principals will have the wisdom to handle the things that come before them during the year. Pray that the Lord will have a mighty presence on the school campuses.
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Ruth Johnson-Sunday School Teacher For 60+ Years
 Ruth Johnson was honored during the morning worship service at Love Grove Baptist Church. She was presented with a plaque recognizing her 60+ years of service teaching Sunday School. There was a special meal following the morning service. She is retiring from teaching Sunday School, but said that she is not retiring from serving the Lord. There were several persons who spoke during the service. Statements made about Ms. Ruth included:
1. She always taught what's right even if it stepped on someone's toes.
2. She is a good teacher, great friend, a wonderful example, Christian lady, & cares deeply for family and friends.
3. She shows great dedication to the Lord.
4. She is even now continuing to grow spiritually in the Lord.
Thank you, Ms. Ruth, for serving the Lord and being such a Godly example!
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School Mentors Needed
Give an hour per week and make a great change in the life of a young person struggling with so many personal issues.
A mentoring workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, August 10th, 7:00pm at the Elizabethtown Middle School Cafeteria. The purpose of this workshop is to show just how easy it is to work with young people needing help. A model mentoring session will be demonstrated during this meeting to give those in attendance an idea about how the mentoring sessions work. Mentoring sessions occur during the school day and usually last about one hour each. Please attend this mentoring workshop and share this e-mail with as many as possible. Our goal is to have mentors available for each of the fourteen county school campuses. Your love and time can make a tremendous difference in the outcome of those needing help. __________________________________
Ladies Bible Study
There will be a ladies Bible study beginning September 9, 2010 at the Association Office, Elizabethtown, NC. The study will be "John 3:16" by Max Lucado. The study will be led by Mrs. Lynn Warren. Mrs. Warren is the wife of Rev. Leon Warren, Christ Community Church. If you have any questions or need further information, please call Mrs. Lynn Warren at 910-862-6132.
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"See You At The Pole Rally"
Reveal 2010
"Our Father in Heaven, reveal who you are. May Your name be honored." Matthew 6:9-13
Rally at West Bladen High School
Sunday, September 19th
6:30PM
Contemporary Worship
Drama
Challenge
All Churches are invited and encouraged to join this rally in support of our students.
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"See You At The Pole"
Wednesday, September 22nd
7:15AM at the school flagpole
All students, parents, teachers, and church members are encouraged to meet at your local school flag pole to pray for our schools, students, teachers, government leaders, our nation, and the lost.
As we pray, "Father, May your will be done at my school as it is in Heaven."
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Powerful Tools for Caregivers
Legacy Caregiver Services As a caregiver, if you can answer "yes" to any of these then "Powerful Tools for Caregivers" is for you. Do I need to: Reduce my stress...Improve my self-confidence...Learn to communicate my feelings better...Have better balance in my life...Increase my ability to make tough decisions...and Learn more about local resources?
"Powerful Tools for Caregivers" is a free training led by two certified instructors of Project C.A.R.E. and the Family Caregiver Support Program at the Area Agency on Aging. The class will meet once a week for 6 weeks. This training is designed to help provide you with the tools you need to take care of yourself while caring for a loved one.
Dates: Sept 1st, 8th, 22nd, 29th, Oct 6th & 13th
(This free training consists of 6 classes)
Time: 10:00 am -- 12:00 pm
Location: Bladen County Cooperative Extension Service
450 Smith Circle Drive
Elizabethtown, NC 28337
Registration Deadline: Friday, August 27th
To Register: Call Halona Locklear @ 910.272.5059 or
Anne Oglesby @ 910.272.5080
Refreshments will be provided.
Class size is limited and pre-registration is required.
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July Executive Committee Meeting
The Executive Committee of the Bladen Baptist Association met on Tuesday, July 20th at West Bladenboro Baptist Church, 7:30pm. 22 of our churches were present! Several important items were dealt with that evening including election of leaders in the Association, approval of 2011 Calendar, adoption of 2011 Budget. Special info was shared about upcoming Youth and Evangelistic Events. Rev. Mike Sowers, NC Baptist Men spoke about the 2011 Deep Impact scheduled for Bladen County. We thank everyone who attended!
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One Love Conference
Just wanted to pass along some really GREAT news. Seventy-Four (74) youth made a commitment at this past weekend's One Love Conference to remain pure until marriage. In addition, five professed Christ for the first time as Lord and Savior. Praise the Lord!!
Thanks to everyone who made this possible: The Lord for all He has done, the Evangelism and Youth Committees for all their planning and support, Sandy Grove for serving as host Church, Dale Elwell for letting the Lord use him and for the parents, pastors and youth leaders who advertised and encouraged youth to come to the event. Only 16 of our Churches participated in this Conference and those 16 were greatly blessed for having done so. Yet, we have so much more work to do. We, in the Bladen Association, only have just over 12% of that age range (Grades 5-12) regularly attending our Churches. My what a loss and how we are missing these kids! ______________________________________
DIRT RACING for JESUS News:
A Note from Rev. Gary McMillan DRJ started up the racing season by traveling to Carolina Speedway in Lake View, SC on March 27 for the first practice session of the season. JOHN 3:16 was running good with all the changes that were made during the off-season until the car got loose or something broke in the steering sending the car head on into the wall. Driver, Jonathan Simmons was OK other than being a little sore, but the car was destroyed. After many prayers and assistance from many drivers, fans, and local businesses DRJ is back in the racing business--not with one car, but two cars. God is AWESOME! We have a 1993 Ford Thunderbird that is race ready. The team has raced it at Carolina Speedway a couple of times and we are continuing to make changes to the car. The second car is a 1973 Mustang and we are currently installing our motor/transmission to prepare it to race. DRJ's offer for Cameron McGill to drive the JOHN 3:16 still stands. When the Mustang is completed, I will notify everyone when his "big"night will come. The goal is to have the Mustang racing at all local dirt tracks and make the Thunderbird a "show car" for church events, fun days, parades, etc. We continue to visit tracks weekly distributing Bibles, gospel tracts, pocket crosses, gospel music cd's, gifts for the kids, a testimony of Mike Duvall (great dirt track driver) and much more to all that we come in contact with. Many opportunities have come our way to witness to several drivers and crews during the driver's meetings. Recently, we traveled to County Line Race way in Elm City, NC and had a great time witnessing to the fans/drivers -- approximately 500 people stopped by the DRJ tent at the main gate. DRJ Please continue to pray for the DRJ Team as we travel and SLING DIRT FOR JESUS! Anyone wanting to donate Bibles, witness materials, kids gifts, music cds, or financial donations -- contact the associational office or myself. Rev. Gary McMillan gmcmillan_1@yahoo.com _______________________________________Annual Church Profile
Many came by the Association Office to pick up their Annual Church Profile. We have mailed the remaining ones to those who were unable to get by the office to pick them up. Thank you so much for your willingness to complete the Annual Church Profile each year. It takes so much effort and we deeply appreciate all of your hard work!
We cannot overemphasize the importance of these documents because they help us gauge how successful we are in reaching the communities that live around us and in planning events and training efforts to equip the churches of the Bladen Association for service.
The front cover page is for statistical information. The inside of the front cover is for you to list historical events which have occurred in your church during the past year. It also contains a space for you to list members who have died over the past year.
We would deeply appreciate it if you could complete these front two pages and have them back to us as early in September as possible. The financial information may be for the time period 9-1-09 until 8-31-10. The other pages are for officers and leaders. These other pages are needed as well so that we can have correct contact information, but we do not have to have them back until later in October.
Some of our clerks prefer to enter the information online at http://askned.ncbaptists.org . If you would rather, we would be happy to enter the information online for you. All we need is for you to bring in the hard copy to us. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of service to you.
Thank you again for all of your efforts. Bruce and Wendy Cannon
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Bladen Pregnancy Support Services
Ann Cashwell and the staff of the BPSS would like to express their deepest appreciation to everyone for continuing to support the efforts of the Pregnancy Support Services. Many of the churches are continuing to support these very important ministry efforts even in the midst of troubling economic times through gifts of goods and money. Please continue to keep this ministry in your prayers as they reach out to those who, pregnant, could end the life of the baby through abortion or who do not know Christ and would raise the baby without any spiritual upbringing. To volunteer to help or for more information please call 910-862-7903.
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Upcoming Events of the Bladen Baptist Association
To Save A Life (Youth Outreach) - Location TBA
See You At The Pole - September 22, 1010
theme: Reveal (Matthew 6:9-13)
See You At The Pole Rally - Sunday, September 19
Find It Here - April 2011 - State-wide Evangelistic Campaign
Deep Impact - July 2011 - County-wide Handyman Effort
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Baccalaureate Services
Baccalaureate Services were held at both of the County High Schools in June. The East Bladen service featured special music by the East Bladen Gospel Choir who did a superb job ministering in song. A special message about "Standing On The Book" was delivered by the Rev. Cory Blanks who serves as pastor of an AME Zion Church in Council.
The West Bladen Service featured music by Brittany Priest who also did a great job. The message was brought by the Rev. Waddell Goodman, AME Zion pastor in the Fayetteville area. He challenged the youth to "forget those things in the past and press on for those things in the future" and impressed upon everyone that "God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind."
Both services also featured prayer and reading of Scripture by graduates. The services were well attended and we are grateful for the Church families who moved their Sunday evening service to the one at the West Bladen High School.
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Church News Amazing Grace Baptist Church is a newly formed ministry meeting at 390 Twisted Hickory Road (just outside Dublin) in the Community Building of this apartment complex. Dr. Bernard Hakes serves as pastor with services being held Sundays, 10:00am until Noon and on Tuesdays 6:00pm until 8:00pm. Workers are needed to help with a one-day VBS effort in August (Date and Time to be announced later). Supplies are also needed so please save your leftover VBS materials for this new work. Everyone is cordially invited to attend any or all of the services being held. Center Road Baptist Church will be celebrating their 125th Anniversary on July 10th and 11th. Special festivities are planned and everyone is invited to join them for this very special occasion. Birthday Celebration - Saturday, July 10, 7:00pm - The service will feature the Pastor, Guest Speakers, singing and a birthday reception, complete with a Special Birthday Cake. Old Fashioned Day - Sunday, July 11 - Sunday School begins at 10:00am; Worship Service begins at 11:00am and will feature the Pastor, a Special Guest Speaker, Old-Time Singing, and an Old Fashioned meal following the Service. Everyone is encourage to dress Old Fashioned - just for fun - but that is entirely up to the individual.
Open Door Ministries, located just east of the airport on Hwy 87, has a clothes closet that opens on Saturdays at the church, 10:00am until noon. New and used clothing for all sizes is being given away as a means of showing Christ's love in a tough economy. For more information please call Rev. Randy Andrews at 910-876-0292 or Dale Taylor at 910-862-2485.
Rev. Kevin Kinlaw, pastor of Suggs Grove Baptist Church resigned effective late June to accept the position of pastor at New Center Baptist Church. Please keep both of these Church families in your prayers: Suggs Grove as they begin the process of searching for a pastor, and New Center as they begin this new relationship.
White Lake Baptist Church is having "Game Time" once a month this summer for children and adults of all ages. June 1st kicked off this event with water slides, volley ball, and the popular new "corn toss" game. The church had a great turnout of adults as well as children. The next scheduled game events will be July 11 and August 1, at 6:00pm. All of the Churches are invited to attend. For more information please contact Rev. Walter Hayes at 633-9776.
Please continue to pray for the following Churches as they search for a pastor: ___________________________________________ A Special "Thank You" From The Baptist Children's Homes Dear Vital Mission Partners, I truly commend the work each of you did as you gave support to the Blessings of mercy and grace be upon each of you and your families, Danny R. Hawkins ___________________________________________
Southeastern Carolina Crossroads, Inc. Update
Efforts continue to secure funding for materials to build the first of the
buildings which will be used to minister to those needing and wanting to recover from drugs and alcohol. Grants are being applied for and funds are being solicited from churches, businesses and so forth. Donations are tax deductible and can be made payable to
"Southeastern Carolina Crossroads, Inc." and sent to the Office of the Bladen Baptist Association at P.O. Box 62, Elizabethtown, NC 28337. Upcoming fund raising efforts will be taking place. More information will
be shared about these events as further plans are developed. Mrs. Dawn Madden, Outreach and PR Director for Southeastern Carolina Crossroads is available to speak to any church, business, or civic group. To schedule her please contact the Bladen Baptist Association Office at 910-862-3496.
Upcoming events to raise funds and awareness of this ministry include a Golf Tournament, Auction, Gospel Sing and BBQ and through solicitation of gifts from individuals/businesses.
If you would like to be a part of getting this ministry up and running please contact the Association Office.
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Hands on Africa
Hands on Africa is a ministry that the Bladen Baptists of Bladen County support. One way we support Hands on Africa is through our Thrift Store located in Bladenboro, NC. Currently, Hands on Africa serves the people in the Kenya and Malawi areas.
Current ministries include:Bible Seminaries, Orphanages, Church Planting, Evangelism & Revival,Health Center with Maternity ward, Eye Clinics, Aids Clinic,
Widow Care Center, Water wells & gutters with tanks, Bible Distribution
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Excerpt taken from "A Husband's Prayer Warrior " by Sharon Jaynes
Dear Lord, I pray for my husband, from head to toe.
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Man Up!
A Men's Ministry that encourages men to be Spiritual Leaders:
In their Marriages
In their Families
On their Jobs In their Friendships Among their Enemies Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done
with love. 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 Meeting: Every Friday Morning
Time: 6:00AM
Place: Bladenboro Community Building
109 East Elm St., across the railroad tracks
Bladenboro, NC 28320
We are a faith based ministry that promotes
Bible Study
Scripture Memorization
Accountability
Evangelism
Service
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Ephesians 6:10-11 Coffee, juice and snacks will be provided at meeting.
For more information call: Bruce Cannon at 910-862-3496
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Bible Drill Information
Bible Drill is open to students in grades 4-12.
Psalm 119:11 tells us to hide God's word in our hearts, so we might not sin against him. When God's word dwells in our hearts we are better able to mediate on his promises and his character and to flee from temptation. Children and youth must learn that scripture is consequential to their lives. Children and youth cannot grow in their relationship with the Lord without memorizing scripture and learning to treasure God's word. Bible Drill participants develop skills in locating Bible books and key passages, memorize the names of the books of the Bible in order, memorize the verses and key passages, and develop skills in the proper handling of the Bible. For more information about Bible Drill Information - visit
www.ncbibledrill.org. The pages found on this site provides curriculum interpretation and
information to assist pastors, staff and volunteers to lead Bible Drill in a local congregation.
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News from the North Carolina Baptist Foundation
Did you know that the #1 resolution in America is to get out of debt? Did A lot of problems in America exist because of our relationship with all of Churches can call Tom Denton, Eastern Area Manager with the North North Carolina Baptist Foundation "Baptists helping Baptists since 1920" _______________________________________________ IRS Announces 2010 Standard Mileage Rates
Beginning on January 1, 2010, the standard mileage rate for the use
of a car (also vans, pickups, or panel trucks) was set at: 50 cents per mile for business miles driven. ___________________________________________
PRAYER REQUEST FOR IMB MISSIONARIES
 Please pray for David and Glynnis Miller, IMB Missionaries to Guatemala. David is the brother of Mrs. Lynn Warren, Christ Community Baptist Church. Please be in much prayer for David and Glynnis as they serve our God in a far away place. If you would like to drop a note of encouragement you may do so at:
Apartado 1135 Guatemala City 01901 Guatemala WMU THRIFT STORE UPDATE
 The Thrift Store continues to enjoy good success. Donations of clothing
and other items are being received weekly. Volunteers are needed to work a three hour shift monthly. Can you help? If you are able to do so please contact Lisa Hester to volunteer. Acteen, GA, RA and Youth Groups are also encouraged to volunteer a Saturday to work at the store under the supervision of their leaders. For information on how to volunteer or make a donation please call
Lisa L. Hester at ______________________________________
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