Mission Opportunities

January 2008

Ministry Highlights:

African American Church Plants

Pastor Robert Washington of New Beginnings Church reports: Our worship area has been enhanced by the receiving of a new pulpit with figurines and flowers to boot. We are courting two new families to join us in Kingdom building. We have begun reconstructing the youth area where we can minister to them as they come in. This area will and is now called: “The Upper Room.” On November 10th we had our Family Harvest Festival where some 100 people came and took part! In addition to that, the Parker family coupled with members of New Beginnings and Oak Forest helped put on a wonderful Christmas drama. We also entertained the idea of tearing down the wall between our worship area to give more space. It was said by Brother Gary and others that if you are 80%, then you are full. We are there for some two months and for that we are grateful to God! We also shared with the Oak Forest family in their annual Candlelight Service and for the Thanksgiving holidays as well as journeyed to Grenada to the Bi-vocational Pastor-Wives Retreat, a wonderful time of sharing. I was asked to bring the men’s prayer devotion for the Brothers of First Baptist Church of Madison.

Anglo or Multicultural Church Plants

Paul Barnard of Overflow Church in Simpson County reports: Launched!!! Attendance has picked up and we are seeing great things at Overflow! Looking for new facility!!
Dean Smith of Freedom Christian Fellowship reports: started Celebrate Recovery program.
Robert Gillis of Stateline Baptist Church reports: SLBC enjoyed a speaker from the Island of Cuba. A special offering was taken to support the work. Angel Food continues to be the focus of our ministry. Work continues in remodeling Sunday School rooms for additional Sunday School classes.
Terry Ledbetter of NorthStar Church in Tupelo reports: The month of November was an exciting month as we promoted Operation Christmas Child, Margaret Lackey Offering and prepared for Christmas weekend. In late October we added two paid staff members, Blake McCain as Ministry Pastor and Andrew Ledbetter, Jr. High Pastor.
Jimbo Miller of Downtown Fellowship in Meridian reports: We gave 8 Christmas boxes to the Franklin Graham project. Provided $75.00 to one of our families for Christmas. We had a Christmas party at the pastor’s house. We also invited the President of Faith Farm, a home for wayward boys, to come and speak, and we are going to adopt them next year.
Rusty Kuhn of New Life Baptist Church reports: On Oct. 31st we had a Fall Fest. The Sunday before Fall Fest we only had 54 in worship. The night of Fall Fest we had 44 workers! That is awesome! I was very proud of our people. We sent out about 1200 flyers throughout the community getting the word out about the Fall Fest and we prepared for 250 to come. Before the night was over we had over 500 come through! We made many valuable contacts and I believe God is going to use this event for a long time to come.
Robby Johnson of Journey Church in Laurel, MS, reports: Called new staff person!
Warren Jones of Crossroads Church in Corinth reports: First Christmas Cantata was performed at a local nursing home and Crossroads Church. GROW Outreach was completed and is planned to begin in January 2008!
Kevin Wood of The Church at Trace Crossing reports: What an incredible month September was for us. As we entered our 11th month of meeting regularly for worship and teaching, God really began to move forcefully in the midst of us. Coming off of an amazing August where we really started serving our community and loving people wholeheartedly, our passion rose to a new level. I really believe that we are beginning to come together as a community of people, not just a crowd. We grew each week through September, and on Sept 16 we introduced 26 new people who had joined our church over the past 6 weeks. It was exciting to see how God was drawing people to be a part of Trace Crossing. So many of those people come from various backgrounds - different denominations, different economic backgrounds, etc. - it is a beautiful thing to see God faithful to his word. In July we preached John 12:32 - if I be lifted up I will draw all men unto myself. He is certainly doing that. On Sept 9 we kicked off a new Kids time on Sunday morning called Elevate 948. It meets at 948am each Sunday and is an exciting time of teaching and training for our 1st-6th graders. There were 38 (?) in attendance for the first week and nearly 50 the second week.
Brian Tillman of The Church at River Bend reports: The week of Thanksgiving we had a great time of fellowship and outreach! We held our gathering out at the Associational Camp (Ervin Brown Training Center), and we had it packed out! It was great to see all of the folks there enjoying the fellowship.
Brad Ball of North Harrison Church reports: We wrapped up our services at the Cinemark Theater. We have moved to Woolmarket area in Biloxi to Ball Heating and Air. They have 2 training centers available for us to use on Sundays. Also, we had 2 adult men make big decisions in January!
John Richardson of Traceway Baptist Church reports: January was a good month for us in terms of the church vision. We utilized the holiday season to really strengthen the relationships within the church and January has served as a time to recast the vision of the church. Currently, we have about 40 people who are regulars at Traceway! So, through the holidays we created environments for regular interaction and intimacy among those individuals. Then, in January we focused intently on the vision that God has given us. That vision seems to be sinking in with many of our newer (post-launch) individuals. As a result, we are already experiencing growth early in February!
John Morris of Stable Baptist Church in Saucier, MS, reports: Church growth is over flowing! We have gone from standing room to no standing room in our building! We are opening the doors so people can stand outside and hear the service!
Ray Taylor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church of Crystal Ridge Choctaw Community reports: our attendance went from 3 to 12! Three people joined by statement and we had one baptism on Jan. 20th! We have received items from partnering churches: New Testaments, Hymnals, Offering plates, Speaker’s stand, Jar of pennies. The 12 in attendance set a goal for 20 next Sunday.

Chinese Work

Peter Liu of the Chinese work at FBC Jackson reports: We are celebrating the unification of two Chinese Christian groups. After worshipping together for nearly two months, a new church named Chinese Christian Church of Greater Jackson has been established. Many thanks to our supporters, brothers and sisters who constantly pray for this ministry. On Jan. 20th, David Alexander from the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, John Taylor from Metro Baptist Association, Ronnie Falvey and Rob Sugg gave wonderful encouragements for the newly established Chinese Church.

Hispanic Church Plants

Gustavo Salazar, pastor of the new church plant Los Ministerios Faros (Lighthouse Ministries) in Olive Branch, reports: As the new pastor of Ministerios Los Faros I am facing new challenges and goals. It is exciting to take charge of new projects and see how God blesses and brings people to Himself! Our attendance started to pick up in the past few weeks. The changes in worship and preaching style have been welcomed. This month 9 people committed their lives to the Lord!
Juan Singh of the new Hispanic work Iglesia Esperanza in Jackson reports: We are working on leadership and ministry. Some members are taking the steps for assuming leadership at some church ministries. We are almost done with the church legal documentation. We got our federal tax ID number and are about to open the checking account.
Ruben Ramirez of Iglesia Calvario on the coast reports: With the help of 4 ESL teachers, we started ESL Classes on Monday, & Tuesday evenings we have had an average of 32 attending the classes. Every Thursday evening I have another ESL Class/Devotional at a work site here in Pascagoula, and 3 have surrendered to Christ. Ruben is also starting a work at Fernwood Baptist and he reports: My wife started Wednesday morning Bible Study for women at a mobile-home site in Gulfport.
Homero Treviño of Iglesia Evangélica Hispana in Union County reports: This month new people have arrived to the Bible studies, and we hope to soon integrate them into the normal activities of the church. Some of them are bringing new people. We have continued with the sports activities, and we finally won against Pontotoc in soccer! Some people have been returning to their homeland and still others are making plans to leave, but thank God new ones are arriving. We had very good fellowship at the annual meeting of Hispanics in Clinton. We took a good group. Hillcrest Baptist Church let us use their bus. The trip was a blessing.
Pastor Gabriel Silva of Iglesia Cristo es la Respuesta in Houston, MS, reports: Thank God for opening a door to have Bible Studies in Aberdeen. First Baptist Church of Aberdeen loans us a room and we have 10-13 persons. November 23rd we will have a Thanksgiving Supper.
Pastor Silva is also pastor of Iglesia Hispana Ebenezer in Vardaman and reports: In regards to the sweet potato workers, this year was our best yet. We had 60-60 workers in every service and 20 Professions of Faith! We held 10 extra activities with them.

Korean Church Plant

Pastor Nan Ho Song of Evergreen Korean Baptist in Jackson reports: 1) Communion Worship Service (Lord’s Supper) on October 7th. 2) Attended the Mississippi and Louisiana Korean Association on October 28th at Leesville, LA. 3) Attended the Mississippi Baptist Convention on October 30th. 4) Had the devotional worship on October 31st. 5) Evangelical materials were sent to Korean families in Jackson on many occasions.

Newsworthy Information:

African American Church Plants

Robert Washington of New Beginnings in Jackson reports: We are constantly in a state of a number of people coming in and feel that there is a turn of events, all of which are positive!

Anglo or Multicultural Church Plants

Robert Gillis of State Line Baptist Church reports: We had a special speaker form the Island of Cuba and the body of Christ was blessed!
Dean Smith of Freedom Christian Fellowship reports: Received $10,000 from State Convention to enable us to complete the outside of our building!
Terry Ledbetter of NorthStar Church in Tupelo reports: NSC will host the Worship Summit November 2-3. Out of the 19 additions, 13 were by letter, and out of those 13, only 3 had been attending other churches on a semi-regular basis. Out of the 13 additions by letter there were five from Lee County churches (only 1 of the five had been active in their church in the last year). Focusing with the right perspective. That sounds easy enough, but sometimes it is not as easy as it sounds. Keeping our eyes on Christ is where fulfillment truly lies, but how do we find ourselves looking to other things instead? There is a pull on our lives toward the busy schedules, responsibilities and challenges this life offers. This does not necessarily mean that these are evil things. In fact, hopefully they are important things in our lives rather than burdens. You may add to this list as you wish. All of the things that pull us or compete for our time must be synced with the necessary relationship with God. No schedule, ambition, or desire should take the place of our walk with Christ. Often the things that take our time are good things. The question is, “are they the best things?” It is when we keep our relationship with God in check that we can function properly and focus with the proper perspective. Speaking of focusing with the right perspective, one of the things that we are focusing on here at NSC is people. We want to love the things that God loves, and God loves people. It is our focus and desire at NSC to show God’s love to people. We want to show His love in such a way that people exchange ordinary living for the extraordinary through the power of Jesus Christ. As you read this, think of someone who needs His love. As you face the challenges and demands of a busy week, be sure to keep Christ in His rightful place in your life and share His love with others. He has what we need, and He has what others need.
Dwight Cunningham of New Life Baptist Church in Prairie, MS, reports: New Building Dedication Coming soon. Date not set yet.
Rusty Kuhn of New Life in Nicholson reports: We have been praying for a church bus for many months now and have not had the money to get one. This past month FBC Sardis, MS, donated us their 29 pass. bus. Praise God!!!
Warren Jones of Crossroads Church in Corinth reports: Home Bible Study continues with an average of 9 in second church start. Survey began door to door to determine second church plant area. So far people in community are choosing the name Cross Community Church.
Brian Bosarge of Gates Avenue Fellowship reports: We have moved into our house in Pass Christian.
Jimbo Miller of Downtown Fellowship reports: We also had a Habitat for Humanity project the third Sunday of June. We had 12 participants. I was very excited about that. The following week we participated with two black churches in town in a joint picnic at the state park. It was a great experience for everyone. Ryan my associate pastor and worship leader will begin seminary this fall. He will be doing New Orleans extension for the time being.
Kevin Wood, pastor of the Church at Trace Crossing, reports: see above - the whole month was newsworthy!
Brian Tillman of The Church at River Bend reports: We will hold a Baptism Service, our 1st, jointly with Longviewpoint June 24th @ 6.00pm. We have at least three candidates for baptism!
Brad Ball of North Harrison Church reports: We have a new place for our worship services!
John Richardson of Traceway Church in Clinton reports: 2500 Clinton homes will be receiving personalized invitations to our Easter Service!
John Morris of Stable Baptist Church in Saucier, MS, reports: We are growing fast at “The Stable”! This is possible because of prayer and door to door evangelism. The 40 days of prayer is a great opportunity for churches to get in God’s Will. At “The Stable” we pray continually. If you want to be in God’s Will, be where God is working.
Ray Taylor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church of Crystal Ridge Choctaw Community reports: People are excited about the new work. Now they want to meet on Wednesday nights for Bible Study. Young people want to learn Choctaw hymns.

Chinese Work

Peter Liu of the Chinese work at FBC Jackson reports: CCCGJ has been established!

Hispanic Church Plants

Los Ministerios Faros pastored by Gustavo Salazar: As of 12-09-2007 Gustavo Salazar was voted in officially as the new pastor of our church. He will start on January 6, 2008. Praise the Lord! Recently Julie and I have been receiving some financial support already from various individuals who want to support us in our new calling as being missionaries to Honduras. We praise God for this early support coming in!
Homero Treviño of the Hispanic work in Union County reports: This year our minimum goal is to baptize 20 people.
Gabriel Silva, pastor of Cristo es la Respuesta in Houston, reports: We were invited to a music concert in Pontotoc on October 27th, and we believe it will be a big blessing.
Gabriel also pastors Iglesia Ebenezer in Vardaman and reports: We were invited to a concert in Pontotoc on October 27th, and we believe it will be a blessing.
Juan Singh of Iglesia Esperanza reports: Adriana and I got new jobs.

Prayer requests:

African American Church Plants

Robert Washington of New Beginnings Church in Jackson asks for prayer as these aspire to come, pray that they and others will help us to move to the next level in this church plant.
James Cook of Olivet in Olive Branch asks for prayer for the following: Pray that it is God’s will that Olivet Baptist Church will prosper. Pray that the membership’s commitment level will grow. Pray for the Pastor. Pray that The Lord will send administrative help.

Anglo or Multicultural Church Plants

Pastor Robert Gillis of the new plant, State Line Baptist, asks for prayer for the following: Pray that we start new Sunday School classes. Pray for Nursery workers and Sunday School teachers.
Brian Bosarge of Gates Avenue Fellowship on the coast asks for prayer for the following: Continue to pray for strength and wisdom to continue what God has called us to do here in Long Beach. Our family has just moved into our newly rebuilt home which isn’t completely finished yet. This has been a challenging time the last couple of years for our family and we pray for renewal in our hearts and wisdom to know how to proceed.
Jarrett Jamieson of Journey Baptist Church in Olive Branch asks for prayer for the following: Pray for people to continue to come to the Sunday night Bible studies we will be having in the YMCA. Pray for God to work and move the men we would like to see lead our worship into doing that on a weekly basis. Pray for peoples lives to be changed, addictions broken, marriages healed, people saved!
Paul Barnard of Overflow church asks for prayer for the following: Jail Ministry, rehab.
Pastor Jim Sallee of The Crossroads asks for prayer for the following: That God might renew His vision in the heart of His people. Also we are praying for a sponsoring church to come along side. We need prayer partners, ministry partners, and financial partners as well.
Terry Ledbetter of NorthStar Church in Tupelo asks for prayer for the following: Please pray for our Christmas weekend services. We will be adding a third service for this weekend. Please pray for our next series entitled: time2makeAchange. You may visit our web site created just for this series at: www.time2makeachange.com and hear many of the testimonies from people whose lives were changed by God at NorthStar!
Dwight Cunningham of New Life Baptist Church asks for prayer for the following: Continue to pray for our Church as we begin to spread the word about our new location.
Rusty Kuhn of New Life Baptist in Pearl River Association asks for prayer for the following: In January we are starting 6-8 new Lighthouses (cell groups), pray that they will be a great outreach to Nicholson! Also pray for our New Year’s Eve outreach.
Jimbo Miller of Downtown Fellowship in Meridian asks for prayer for the following: We have continued our ministry on the base. It has not grown beyond the two families that began. They are very excited. We have a mom and son planned to be baptized the first Sunday of Oct.
Robby Johnson of Journey Church in Laurel, MS, asks prayer as they consider adding a bivocational staff member. Pray as we plan a servant ministry project for the Laurel Christmas Parade. Please pray for a possible, new, more permanent location for Journey!
Warren Jones of Crossroads Church in Corinth asks for prayer for new plans for servant evangelism projects to build relationships with people in targeted areas. Pray for the Home Bible Study in second church start.
Kevin Wood at The Church at Trace Crossing in Tupelo asks for prayer for the following: Some of the people who have come to Trace Crossing have experienced difficulty from their families and prior faith families because those groups cannot understand what we are doing and do not agree with it. Please pray for us as we pray with these folks as to their situation and how we can best minister to them and with them.
Brian Tillman of The Church at River Bend asks for prayer for the following: Staff changes—we have a new worship pastor coming January 7th. I believe that God is blessing us with Him and we can’t wait to get going in 2008!
Dean Smith of Freedom Christian Fellowship asks for prayer for the following: We are beginning to look for someone to work with youth/children. Pray with us about this.
Brad Ball of North Harrison Church asks: Pray for us as we start having services in a new area. Pray for us as we try to get used to a set up in a new place. Pray for us as we seek the Lord’s direction and vision in how to minister and reach this area. Pray for us as we seek a worship leader. Pray for us as we plan for Easter.
John Richardson of Traceway Baptist Church asks for prayer for the following: Please pray with us about 2 major upcoming events. First, please pray with us for our Easter services. Since we are working with many people who only come to church once or twice a year, we are really promoting our Easter service. We are sending personalized postcards to over 2500 homes and are inviting many others to this service!
John Morris of Stable Baptist Church in Saucier, MS, asks for prayer for the following: Please pray for us to continue to do what God’s Will is.
Ray Taylor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church of Crystal Ridge Choctaw Community asks for prayer for the following: for the lost people and the unchurched of Crystal Ridge. We need a van that is reliable. We need land and a permanent building with classrooms. Pray for finances.

Chinese Work

Peter Liu of the Chinese work at FBC Jackson asks for prayer for the following: Pray for the Easter Retreat of Chinese churches in Louisiana and Mississippi. This is the first time five Chinese Christian churches will get together to have a conference. CCCGJ will host this event in Mission First. Please pray that God will use this event to bring His people close to Him and unbelievers to salvation!

Hispanic Church Plants

Gustavo Salazar, new pastor of Los Ministerios Faros, asks for prayer for the following: Please pray for continued growth in our church, for complete financial support for our congregation, and the new Vision that God has set for us.
Gabriel Silva of Iglesia Cristo es la Respuesta in Houston, MS, asks for prayer for the following: Pray for our papers and for the new prospects.
Pastor Silva also leads Iglesia Hispana Ebenezer and asks you pray for the following: Pray for the new Christians in this season. Please pray for the growth of older members.
Homero Treviño of Iglesia Evangélica Hispana in Union County asks for prayer for the following: For our own place for the Hispanic church and for the new people that are coming.
Juan Singh of Iglesia Esperanza in Jackson asks for prayer for the following: We have already set payments for our debts!!!! That’s a blessing. We are planning a re-launching service by August/September.
Pastor José Rodriguez of Iglesia Misionera Nuevo Pacto asks for prayer for the following: Please pray for God’s wisdom and guidance.

Korean Church Plant

Pastor Nan Ho Song asks for prayer in these areas: 1) For the Sunday Afternoon Bible Study 2) To teach the Gospel for Kim and Sung’s family 3) To establish cell ministry 4) For 4 new Belhaven & 4 new MS College Students 5) For the retreat on November 21st-22nd 6) For church members to have daily devotion

Future Projects:

African American Church Plants

Robert Washington of New Beginnings asks for help for the following: Possible meeting such as was held in Grenada to bring more exposure to the South Jackson area.

Anglo or Multicultural Church Plants

Gates Avenue Fellowship on the Gulf Coast: Starting in August we have no teams lined up to stay at the church and minister to the community with rebuilding homes, etc. If you know of a group that is interested in coming in and rebuilding the homes of the Coast, please call 228-214-5111. We would love to partner with you in ministry.
Freedom Christian Fellowship in Escatawpa, MS, requests help for the following: stucco workers are needed. Contact Dean Smith at 228-475-2747 if you are interested.
Warren Jones of Crossroads Church in Corinth reports: Consideration is being made about a former twin cinema to start an additional storefront church.
Brad Ball of North Harrison Church reports: Requesting Volunteers and Assistance — looking at doing a gas buy-down. Back Yard Bible Clubs for this summer.
Rusty Kuhn of New Life Baptist Church reports: We are planning on giving out candy canes with the meaning of the candy cane on them (which points to Jesus) as a Christmas gift to about 2400 homes. We would appreciate any youth groups that would like to come on their Christmas holiday to come and help give these out.
John Richardson of Traceway Baptist Church asks for help for the following: Small Groups, Service Groups, KidStuff, Youth Activities.
John Morris of Stable Baptist Church in Saucier, MS, reports: We need our new building up. For this to happen, we need help with the concrete. We need labor and financial help. If interested contact pastor Morris at pastorjohnmorris@yahoo.com.
Ray Taylor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church of Crystal Ridge Choctaw Community reports: The owner of a shop building will let us know in 30 days if he wants to rent or sell. It needs fixing up but we are just waiting.
Kevin Wood of The Church at Trace Crossing in Tupelo reports: The passion is beginning to swell here. We may be calling for some help very soon with outreach and community missions - so keep the phone lines open!

Chinese Work

Peter Liu of the Chinese work at FBC Jackson reports: We are praying and seeking a permanent meeting place for CCCGJ; need children teachers for Easter Retreat (Preschool and 1st-5th grades).

Hispanic Church Plants

Gustavo Salazar of Iglesia Ministerios Los Faros: Los Faros will face a challenging goal this year. As we prepare the ministry for the next level of financial responsibility, we must reach out to our lost community and expand the Vision and mission of the church.
Humberto Medina of Iglesia Cristiana Nueva Vida in Clarksdale reports: Need somebody to work with youth. Also need a van to bring people to church. Contact Humberto Medina at humesac@hotmail.com if you can help.
Homero Treviño of Iglesia Evangélica Bautista Hispana in Union County is praying for a better relocation in the new facilities of Hillcrest Baptist Church.