Arkansas
After a two-year hiatus, 180 Arkansas Baptist students from 16 churches and their adult leaders came together April 29–May 1 in Beebe for CONNECT, a weekend of ministry and missions.
CONNECT began with Friday night worship. Five students responded to the gospel and made professions of faith.
The following day participants were trained in how to share the gospel and start spiritual conversations as they served others by meeting needs. By the end of Saturday, three adults professed faith in Christ.
This is what CONNECT is all about, said Travis McCormick, missions team member and leader of the CONNECT planning team.
“We are called to make disciples who make disciples,” McCormick said. “CONNECT is designed to help students and adults learn how to meet needs to help spark spiritual conversations and begin the process of making disciples where they live.” To read more of this story, click here.
Mississippi
The Baptist Children’s Village is celebrating 125 years of ministry to at-risk children and families throughout Mississippi.
Ministry staff, alumni, board members and others joined Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves, who announced that May 12 will officially be known as “The Baptist Children’s Village Day.”
The Baptist Children’s Village welcomed its first child on May 12, 1897, according to the organization’s website. Since then, they have grown to a staff of 50 who serve more than 200 children annually among their seven residential campuses and other in-home efforts. The Baptist Children’s Village is the official child care agency of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. For more of this story, click here.
Tennessee
Dave Shelley is a firm believer that God can use recreation and games to share the gospel of Christ. And he should know. Shelley, director of missions for Wilson County Baptist Association in Lebanon, is beginning his 51st year of leading day camps for children.
Shelley has been camp pastor and director of All Nations Camp, a ministry of the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board, since 1997. His first experience with day camp happened 50 years ago in Atlanta.
He was involved in a summer training for college students as they attempted to share the gospel with children through fun games and Bible studies, he recalled.
He noted the children listened as they played. Relationships with the children would later open doors into homes, Shelley said. “Some 450-plus day camps/neighborhood clubs later, God is still using games to impact lives for eternity.” To read more, click here.
Florida
A May 6 explosion that killed 46 in Old Havana, Cuba, rained destruction on Calvary Baptist Church, a historic congregation key to Baptist work in Western Cuba.
The church is the headquarters of the Baptist Convention of Western Cuba, which is composed of 565 churches, 570 missions and 1,907 house churches.
The Western Cuba Baptist seminary was founded in the building, and Annie Armstrong was the key fundraiser for its purchase.
It remains uncertain if the building can be salvaged, although Western Cuba Baptists and their Florida Baptist partners are hopeful.
For more information and ways to help, click here.
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