JOURNAL OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION OF MISSISSIPPI

MAY 1, 2013 VOL. 67 NO. 9www.bmaofmississippi.com

When you are right,you can afford tokeep your temper.

When you are wrong,you can't afford

to lose it!

CONSIDER THIS

East Fulton Baptist Church, Fulton

State Midyear Meeting set for May 20-21State Midyear Meeting set for May 20-21State Midyear Meeting set for May 20-21State Midyear Meeting set for May 20-21State Midyear Meeting set for May 20-21by President Ken Rileyby President Ken Rileyby President Ken Rileyby President Ken Rileyby President Ken Riley

Baptist Missionary AssociationBaptist Missionary AssociationBaptist Missionary AssociationBaptist Missionary AssociationBaptist Missionary Associationof Mississippiof Mississippiof Mississippiof Mississippiof Mississippi

Our Midyear meeting is just aroundthe corner. Please mark the dates, May20-21 2013. This meeting will be heldat East FultonBaptist Churchin Fulton, Missis-sippi. The StateBrotherhood andthe State WMAwill both meet onMonday eveningat 7:00 p.m. Indi-vidual rooms willbe provided forthese auxiliaries.The business ses-sion of the Asso-ciation will getunderway at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday,

May 21.I want to encourage you to make

plans to attend. I believe that this willbe a great meeting and I am reallylooking forward to the worship, fellow-ship, and hearing all the great thingsthat are happening in each of our de-partments and agencies. Our atten-dance has been somewhat down in ourprevious meetings so I want to encour-age you to make every effort in makingsure your church is represented. Thereis always important business discussedand taken care of in each of our ses-sions and your presence is of utmostimportance to us having the most pro-ductive meeting we can.

We will continue to use the methodof ballot voting in our Midyear Meet-ing. This seems to have helped im-mensely. The Enrollment Committeewill be set up as they were last year to

Ken Riley

check you in and make sure you havethe number of ballots you need. All youwill have to do is let the EnrollmentCommittee know what church it is thatyou are representing (no registrationor letter) and how many messengersyou have. Each church is allowed up tothree messengers.

After attending the National Meet-ing in Norman, Oklahoma, I was veryencouraged and motivated about thework of The BMA of America. Theoverwhelmingly statements that Iheard leaving the meeting was peoplesaying, “The BMA of America is on theright track.” My prayer is that we canlet that excitement and energy flowinto our Midyear meeting and once weare done we can say too, “The BMA ofMississippi is on the right track.” Godbless you and I look forward to seeingyou all.

National Meeting Sees Changes

BMAABMAABMAABMAABMAA Holds Holds Holds Holds Holds Annual Meeting in NormanAnnual Meeting in NormanAnnual Meeting in NormanAnnual Meeting in NormanAnnual Meeting in Normanby Don Brown, edtiorby Don Brown, edtiorby Don Brown, edtiorby Don Brown, edtiorby Don Brown, edtior

The Baptist Missionary Associationof America held its 2013 meeting at theE m b a s s ySuites Hoteland Confer-ence Centerin Norman,Oklahoma.The meetinggot under-way on Mon-day evening,April 22,with thePresident’sm e s s a g e .The themefor the mes-sage and thisyear’s meeting was “We Must”. Presi-dent Ed Stephenson introduced the

meeting’s theme using Luke 2:43-49.In verse 49 Jesus made this state-

ment, “I must be about my Father’sbusiness.” Stephenson used a numberof scriptures with the statement “must”in them. A few of his points were “WeMust be Great Commission commit-ted”, We must baptize, We must teach,We must be committed to discipleship,We must preach the Word, We mustnot give up, We must worship. Hestressed the “musts” in scripture, whichset the tone for the entire meeting.These “musts” are seen on a daily basisin the work of the various departmentsand commissions of the BMA ofAmerica. Each report reflected the“musts” of the scriptures and the needto “do” the work given to the church.

OfficersOfficersOfficersOfficersOfficersThe current officers were elected to

continue in their positions as follows:President Ed Stephenson, pastor ofSpringhill Baptist Church, Greenbrier,Arkansas; FirstVice-president Ja-son Aultman, pas-tor of AntiochChurch, Conway,Arkansas; and Sec-ond Vice-presidentPaul White, direc-tor of Missions forthe BMA of Arkan-sas. Continuing asRecording Secre-taries are James Ray Raines, pastor ofLynch View Baptist Church, NorthLittle Rock, Arkansas; Jerome Cooper,Publishing Ministry Director ofDiscipleGuide Church Resources; andGreg Medenwald, pastor of MagnoliaBaptist Church, Hattiesburg, Missis-

sippi.The 2014 meeting will be held at the

Statehouse Convention Center, LittleRock, Arkansas on April 28-30. Theannual message will be brought byMissionary to Mexico Eric Johnson withMark Livingston serving as the alter-nate. The 2015 meting will be held inSpringfield, Missouri. The messengersaccepted the recommendation of theCommittee on Arrangements to holdthe 2016 meeting in Gatlinburg, Ten-nessee.

Constitutional ChangeConstitutional ChangeConstitutional ChangeConstitutional ChangeConstitutional ChangeA constitutional change adopted by

the Association increases the size ofthe Committee on Arrangements toseven (7) members and changes thename of this committee to the Commit-tee on Arrangements/Production. Themembers are the President, 1st VP,2nd VP, Director of DiscipleGuide Con-ference Division (currently Donny Par-ish) and the 3 members of the Commit-tee on Arrangements. This changeprompted the Baptist Music Fellow-ship to disband. Article XIX Section 4listed the BMF as having a part inscheduling and planning the variousaspects of the annual meeting. Withthe adoption of the changes to the Com-mittee on Arrangements, the BMF’sparticipation was superceded.

continued on page 2

Oklahoma CongressmanJames Langford welcomedthe BMA to Norman

Ed Stephensonpresiding

2 May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

Commission onSenior Adults

4226 Highway 15 NorthLaurel, Mississippi 39440

Kenneth FlyntDirector

IntegrationIntegrationIntegrationIntegrationIntegrationOn Monday evening, Execu-

tive Director of Missions, Dr.John David Smith, spoke onbehalf of Missions, LifeWord,DiscipleGuide and BMA Semi-nary concerning the integra-tion of certain areas of thesedepartments. He explained “In-tegration is all about thingsthat we are determined, com-pelled, to do and that are abso-lutely necessary - Things wemust do.”

He further stated that theBMA exists to help the localchurch to fulfil its great com-mission mission. Smith statedthat the Unified Vision of bring-ing glory to God and doing the

work of God should save theAssociation approximately$320,000 per year in operatingexpense by not duplicating ser-vices. A video was presentedwith explanations and visionsby department workers and en-dorsements by others.

Pastor’s ConferencePastor’s ConferencePastor’s ConferencePastor’s ConferencePastor’s ConferenceTodd West, pastor of Oasis

Church in Arkansas, and KevinMarsico, pastor of NorthstarChurch in the Washington,D.C. area and a RegionalMobilizer for the North Ameri-can Mission Board (SBC), chal-lenged those attending to takecourage and step out into theunknown and multiply. LarryBarker, Director of Operations- North America, spoke con-cerning “Multiplication Cen-ters” and helping local churchesdevelop the attitude of sendingmembers out to establish newchurches.

Department ReportsDepartment ReportsDepartment ReportsDepartment ReportsDepartment ReportsDiscipleGuide

Scott Attebery, director of

National Association Reportfrom page 1

DiscipleGuide, discussed re-cent changes and difficult deci-sions taken by this department.A reduction instaff, manylong term em-ployees, was adifficult deci-sion, but hasresulted inbetter finan-cial stability.ESL (Englishas a SecondL a n g u a g e )helps other departments inministering around the world.He spoke of a number ofchanges in the literature avail-able and upcoming special pub-

lication efforts. DisciplePointsand DiscipleKids are two areasto look for.

He shared that theDiscipleGuide Board of Trust-ees are looking in the feasibil-ity of relocated the entireDiscipleGuide operation toConway. The Association ap-proved the selling of the Mis-sions Department property inLittle Rock for the purpose ofmoving all Missions operationsto the campus of LifeWord inConway. Expansion plans forthe LifeWord property call forample office space for theDiscipleGuide operation. Thetrustees are expected to rec-ommend this move at the 2014meeting in Missouri. Thiswould also mean selling thenew DiscipleGuide facilities inTexarkana, Arkansas.

Attebery was reelected asdirector of DiscipleGuide.

Moral ActionDr. John Adams reported on

the work of Moral Action. Hereported that the 2013 Moral-

ist Award was presented to thelate Dr. Roy McLaughlin andhis wife,Neva, fortheir contri-butions to theMoral Actionm i n i s t r y .Adams en-couraged thepeople of theBMA to besupporters ofthe moral im-peratives in God’s Word. Hestressed that we must be boundby God’s Word to live right, doright, speak right, give right,and to be fighters against theimmoral climate that perme-ates our modern day society.

Bro. Adams shared the bless-ing of being able to purchase anew van for the ministry andencouraged the churches totake a Moral Action Freedomoffering for this ministry inJuly.

Coordinating CouncilCoordinating Council Chair-

man Paul Bullock gave thecouncil’s report. He voiced sup-port for the departments “do-ing what we have asked themto do” in reference to the ongo-ing integration and coopera-tion. Bullock referenced thecurrent organization ofDiscipleGuide (the combiningof others works into one) andthe ongoing integration effortsas evidence of the Coordinat-ing Council’s effectiveness.

Bro. Bullock requested in-put from our churches saying,“If God has laid something onyour heart, please share it.” Hestated he was asking for posi-tive input in the direction ofour overall work. He requestedthose with such input to con-tact him by phone or email. Hisemail address isbro.paul@yahoo.com and hisphone number is 870-845-3414.

Joint Recommendation PassedThe Joint Recommendation

by the LifeWord Board andMissions Advisory Council waspassed overwhelmingly. Infor-mation shared before the votediscussed ‘lifecycles’ of variousorganizations. Statistics pre-sented showed that the BMA isin a decline. Baptisms are downover 70% from 1990 and 41% ofnew mission churches have dis-banded. It was stressed thatthere were no guarantees, butthat this move was believed tobe a move in the right direc-tion.

A question was asked andconcern stated that this ‘move’

continued on page 3

2013-14 Officers - Left to Right - clerks James Ray Raines, JeromeCooper, Greg Medenwald. President Ed Stephenson, 1st VP JasonAultman, 2nd VP Paul White.

Attebery

Adams

North Senior Adult Conferenceset for May 10 in Fulton

The work of the commission goes on and all seems to be well.The South Mississippi Adult Conference for Seniors is nowhistory and it was a glorious time for those in attendance.Praising God and rejoicing in His presence was the experienceenjoyed by all.

Now, the North Mississippi Senior Adult Conference is almosthere, meeting once again with Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church,Fulton, and pastor Jackie Gray and the good people of Mt.Pleasant. They did such a wonderful job one year ago hosting thissame meting.

On Friday, May 10, 2013, registration begins at 9:00 a.m. andthe program begins at 9:30 a.m. and continues to approximately3:00 p.m. “Don’t miss this time of blessing and sweet fellowship”of seniors serving the Lord. Registration fee is $15.00 per person.This covers the noon meal and blessings all day long.

We encourage all seniors in the northern part of the state tomake plans to attend this Senior Adult Conference. This is yourday, that once a year gathering that brings all together just fora time of sharing and relaxing for the day, so load up and makeyour way to Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Friday, May 10. You’llbe glad you did.

It is the joy of my heart just to see our seniors in such a goodspirit rejoicing in the Lord.

2013 Kellar Award Recipient Honored

The 2013 recipient of theGerald D. Kellar Award pre-sented by BMA Seminary isBro. Buddy Johnson. Johnsonis a graduate of BMA Semi-nary and served a number ofyears as missionary to Mexico.

During his time on the fieldin Mexico a great ministry de-veloped. Churches were estab-lished and missions begunmainly among the Aztec In-dian people of Mexico.

The Marth Johnson Schoolwas also begun and named af-

ter Bro. Johnson's wife whowas instrumental in establish-ing the school. Mrs. passedaway a number of years ago.

Bro. Buddy and his wife Taffycontinue to minister to His-panics and coordinates theBMA of America Hispanic min-istry.

The Kellar Award, named inhonor of the Seminaries firstpresident, Dr. Gerald Kellar, isgiven annually to an outstand-ing alumni who exhibits excel-lence in ministry.

BMA Seminary Dean Philip Attebery (left) and Dr. CharleyHolmes (right) pose with Kellar Award recipient Buddy Johnson.

3May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

DiscipleGuideScott Attebery, Executive Director

Email: scott@discipleguide.orgFacebook: Facebook.com/scott.attebery

Twitter: @scottattebery

Scott Attebery

Lincoln’s EmailTravel back in time to 1861.

You are a dinner guest of Presi-dent Abraham Lincoln. Afterthe main course, President Lin-coln asks you to describe howpeople communicate in the fu-ture. You decide to tell himabout email, but how? He hasnever seen a computer, clickeda mouse, or opened a webbrowser. Email is a completelyabstract idea to him.

You decide to compare emailto something with which he isfamiliar. You begin by saying,“Email is similar to receiving aletter.” That’s a good start.Now, how do you explain thefact that it is delivered via com-puter? Once again, you reachfor the familiar: “Email is de-livered through an informationbox. Almost everyone in thefuture has an information box,and they are able to send mes-

sages back and forth on them.”While President Lincoln maynot completely understand, thisinformation should at least givehim a vague picture of elec-tronic media in the future.

In contrast, imagine if yousaid, “Email is accessible onmobile devices, laptops andPCs. Messages are receivedthrough web browsers or soft-ware applications.” Althougheverything stated would betrue, it wouldn’t communicateyour message effectively.

Now, consider telling a newbeliever with no church back-ground, “Christ’s substitution-ary atonement propitiates thewrath incurred by your trans-gressions and secures yoursanctification.” You might aswell be explaining spam filtersto President Lincoln!

Sharing new informationwith someone who does notshare your foundation of knowl-

edge is difficult, if not impos-sible. Even God demonstratesthis principle in his revelationto humans.

When our Heavenly Fatherfirst communicated with man,He referenced familiar objectsof his creation that surroundedAdam and Eve in the garden.God placedAdam in the con-text of fruit-bearing treesand then toldAdam to “Befruitful and mul-tiply.” He sethim in themiddle of ab lossominggarden andsaid, “Fillt h eearth.” Hes u r -rounded him with living ani-mals and said, “Have domin-ion” over them. Everything Hesaid to them was based uponthe familiar (Genesis 1:28).

Further, the first pronounce-ment of the gospel does not usethe term Messiah, because thatconcept had not entered hu-man understanding at thattime, nor had the ideas of aprophet, priest or king. How-ever, in Genesis 3, God onceagain used what was familiar

to announce some-thing new: “…I willput enmity betweenyou and the woman,and between youroffspring and heroffspring; he shall

bruise yourhead, and youshall bruise hisheel” (Genesis

3:15). The con-cepts of off-spring, headsand heelswere familiar

to Adam and Eve. That is whyGod used them to communi-cate.

Throughout the chronologi-cal history of Scripture, God

began with what was known inorder to communicate what wasunknown. As the amount ofknown information increased,man’s capacity to learn un-knowns also increased. Laterin Scripture, through visions,dreams, talking donkeys andother means, God continued touse familiar imagery and in-formation to introduce newideas.

The next time we are tryingto pour spiritual concepts intoa new believer, attempting toshare the gospel with our chil-dren, or counseling the hurt-ing, we should take a cue fromScripture and utilize the knownto communicate the unknown.Here's a few ideas to help:

Use concrete illustrationsfrom real life like Jesus did.

Start with basic Bible truthsand build on them.

Spend time with people al-lowing them to see truth livedout in your life.

Define new terms using fa-miliar terms.

Association Reportfrom page 2

was the 2nd phase of changingthe BMA to an organizationmore like the Southern BaptistConvention in the future. Mis-sions Director John DavidSmith assured the messengerthat was not the case. He em-phasized that no change in lo-cal church authority, dispers-ing of funds, etc., will notchange. The only change was aunified vision of ministry andoperating out of one physicallocation.

LifeWordDirector Steve Crawley re-

ported on the work of LifeWord.Various newavenues ofministry werep r e s e n t e dalong withthe coopera-tion with Mis-sions. Hestressed theimportance ofbeing goodstewards ofthe assets that God has givenus to work with. Crawley alsopointed out that LifeWord wasalways seeking new innovative

ways to present and share theGospel. He encouragedchurches and messengers tosupport the annual Walk ofFaith. This year’s walk is setfor October 16.

Crawley stressed thatLifeWord was a broadcast min-istry, but also a media housefor all of the BMA. LifeWordcontinues to work with Mis-sions and DiscipleGuide andother departments to spreadthe Gospel and support theBMA work around the world.He was reelected as LifeWordDirector.

SeminarySeminary President Dr.

Charley Holmes reported thatthe seminary enrolled 177 in-dividuals for credit during thefall 2011 through fall 2012 se-mesters. The Seminary alsoprovides training to LatinAmerica through it video-conferencing technology. Heshared that the Seminary nowoffers two degrees online forthose who can not complete aprogram on the Jacksonville,Texas campus. An Associate of

continued on page 5

Crawley

4 May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

Don BrownEditor

Opinion PageJournal of the Baptist Missionary Association of Mississippi

Baptist Missionary Associationof Mississippi

www.bmaofmississippi.com

DEPARTMENTS & COMMISSIONS

Mississippi Baptist PaperP.O. Box 8181, Laurel, MS 39441

601-426-3293

Southeastern Baptist College4229 Highway 15 North Laurel, MS

39440 - 601-426-6346

State Youth DepartmentP.O. Box 4247, Laurel, MS 39441

662-397-6832

Baptist Children's Home118 Lowe Rd., Laurel, MS 39443

601-426-3928

Missions & Revolving Loan Fund4226 Highway 15 North, Laurel, MS

39440 - 601-428-8616

Commission on Senior Adults4226 Highway 15 North, Laurel, MS

39440601-729-3198

History & Archives Commission4229 Highway 15 North, Laurel, MS

39440601-729-8098

Moral ActionP.O. Box 88, Mantachie, MS 38855

Don J. Brown, EditorE-Mail - editor@msbaptist.orgWeb site www.msbaptist.org

USPS 353-960P.O. Box 8181

Laurel, Mississippi 39441-8000

Phone 601-426-3293

PRICE$20.00 Per Year by Mail

$10.00 Per Year by EmailCHURCH PLAN$ 1.30 Per Month

Published on the 1st and 15thof each month by the Baptist Mis-sionary Association of Mississippi.Periodical postage paid atHattiesburg, Mississippi 39402.

Postmaster: Send addresschanges to the Mississippi BaptistPaper, P.O. Box 8181, Laurel, MS39441-8000.

Change Has ComeChange is often

hard and is not al-ways seen for theoverall good. I canthink of a numberof 'changes' I havemade in the past.Some were goodand for the best,while others, al-though thought tobe the right move

at the time, turned out to not be thebest move. I am sure many of thereaders of this have had similar ex-periences.

The recent changes in our na-tional association and the operationof the various departments are in-deed major changes. For many yearswe have been familiar with a particu-lar method of operation. Change hascome in the past and has been seenas successful. The merging of anumber of ministries into what istoday DiscipleGuide Church Re-sources, was a good move and pro-duced a more focused and coordi-nated ministry.

The "Integration" move that isunderway and approved for LifeWordand Missions at our recent annual

meeting in Norman, Oklahoma, isindeed a major shift in the overalloperation. Some will look on thesechanges with suspicion. Some withskepticism and others with hopeand optimism.

It is encouraging to this writer tosee leadership looking to the futureand making leadership decisions todirect the focus of the BMA on theultimate goal of winning people toChrist.

As the 'integration' plans havebeen explained, the goal is focusingon being good stewards. God hasgiven us the stewardship of His Wordand the means of stewardship (as-sets and funding) to 'go and tell'.

God has blessed our leaders andgiven them wisdom and direction.They are working together with aunited vision and purpose. It is early,but so far the decisions seem to bebased on common sense and a de-sire to do the work in the mostproductive and efficient manner pos-sible.

An automobile commercial thatwas popular a few years ago simplystated, "This is not your father'sOldsmobile". We knew what theymeant. The Oldsmobile was differ-

ent - it was new and improved.We can say now that "This is not

our forefather's BMA way". Whileour message is the same, our meth-ods are changing. We pray for ourwork, our leaders and for God's di-rection and blessings. God's Word isforever and we ask God to bless ourmethods while we share His graceand love with the world.

A Point of InstructionDuring meetings that include a

great number of people (nationaland even state meetings) there al-ways seems to be a nominee that isknown only by a few individualsattending. A particular nominee maybe well qualified and may actually bethe best person for the position, butinevitably the person is not electeddue to his anonymity.

I actually dislike voting for anindividual whom I do not know.When an individual who is known bythe great majority is nominated, hiselection is almost a given. Not neces-sarily because of qualifications, butbecause of exposure.

In the future (and at our statemidyear meeting in a few weeks) itwould be advantageous to the per-son nominated, the messengers at-tending and to the benefit of eachdepartment for the person nomi-nated someone to give some back-ground and personal informationabout their choice.

At the recent annual meeting inOklahoma, there were several peoplenominated who were known by onlya minority of messengers. We woulddo well to remedy this in the future.

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5May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

Divinity and a Master of Arts in Reli-gion can be achieved online.

Dr. Holmes also reported in the“Norman Invasion”prior to the beginningof the annual meet-ing. Each departmentleader along with oth-ers, totaling a groupof 52, were able tocontact 175 individu-als in about 2 hours.There were 41 pre-sentations of the Gos-pel and 8 who re-ceived Christ due to this effort. Plansare to continue this effort during fu-ture annual meetings.

The Seminary recommendationswere adopted, including reaffirmingthe appointment of Dr. Charley Holmesas president.

Ministers ResourceDirector Ron Chesser reported on

the retirement plansoffered by theMinsters ResourceServices. Growth overthe past 10 years hasaveraged 7.58% in theLong Term GrowthFunds while theFixed Income Portfo-lio averaged 3.25%.The deposits by mem-bers of the BMA havegrown over 11% in the past year. Heencouraged each church to enroll theirpastor and other employees in MRS.He also urged participation in the vari-ous funds that provide benefits to mem-bers who pass away. Chesser was re-elected as director.

Missions Commissioning ServiceThe closing service of each annual

meeting on Wednesday evening is thepresentation andcommissioning ser-vice of new mission-ary families. Thisyear’s meeting washighlighted by eleven(11) new missionaryfamilies beingelected. DirectorSmith stated this wasthe largest group sentout in one year and this now puts themost American missionaries on thefield in the history of our work. Smithcredited the new 65/35 plan with mak-ing this possible. Missionaries arecharged with raising 65% of their sup-port from churches and individuals.These missionary families are listedin this issue. Dr. Smith was reelectedExecutive Director.

National Reportfrom page 3

Newly Elected Missionary Families

Johnathan Stone Familyto Salina, Texas

Eli Semedo Familyto Thailand

Tommy Rose Familyto Mexico

Brandon Lingle Familyto Thailand

John Herring Familyto Nixa, Missouri

Sam Batarseh Familyto Jordan

Ali Chambers Familyto Memphis, Tennessee

Jeremie Hambrice Familyto New Guinea

Jessie Hales Familyto Dominican Republic

Chris Huson Familyto Ecuador

Michael Hite FamilyHispanic Missions in Arkansas

Chesser

Smith

Holmes

Rev. L. R. Lewis, Jr. DiesFormer BMA pastor and mission-

ary L. R. Lewis, Jr., 77, of Iuka, Missis-sippi, died Sunday, April 21, 2013, atthe North Missis-sippi MedicalCenter in Iuka.He was born De-cember 28, 1935.Rev. Lewis was amember of MynotMissionary Bap-tist Church, andwas a lifelongminister and mis-sionary, havingfounded several churches in Washing-ton, Arizona, and Mississippi. He hadserved as a state missionary for theBMA of Mississippi.

Funeral services were held April 25,in Iuka. Interment was in CampgroundCemetery.

Bro. Lewis is survived by his wife,Bertha Jean Johnson Lewis of Iuka,MS; two sons, L. R. “Sonny” Lewis, III,of Covington, LA, and John DavidLewis of Poplarville, MS; two daugh-ters, Debra Jean Lewis of Iuka, MS,and Mary Lewis Miller of Covington,LA; one sister, six grandchildren, andone great-grandchild.

Bro. L.R. Lewis

6 May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

Mississippi W.M.A.President - Jessica Hayden

3208 Hwy 29 NorthSoso, MS 39480662-251-0455

Email: blhaden@gmail.com

Corresponding SecretaryMrs. Shirlene Smith

730 Hwy 533, Laurel, MS 39443601-729-5638

TTTTTell Us ell Us ell Us ell Us ell Us About About About About About YYYYYour Local WMAour Local WMAour Local WMAour Local WMAour Local WMAby Bonnie Brownby Bonnie Brownby Bonnie Brownby Bonnie Brownby Bonnie Brown

Mississippi State WMAMississippi State WMAMississippi State WMAMississippi State WMAMississippi State WMAHistorianHistorianHistorianHistorianHistorian

In the annual 2012 Missis-sippi State WMA meeting, Iwas elected as the State Histo-rian. As your newly elected his-torian, I began to think whatdirection. The office is aboutour history as a WMA, and Iwould like to gather informa-tion on all the WMA’s for thestate of Mississippi.

I read Dr. Duggar’s book“BMA Roots in Associations ofthe Past”. Roots in families arevery important to a family –where we began, who was ourgreat, great, great...fathers, etc.We as Christians know whoour Father is – God, and Whosent His Son to die for our sinsso we can have eternal life withHim.

Well WMAs are importantto our heritage. So I am askingeach WMA across the state to

help me gather informationconcerning their WMA – whenit was established, who wereyour first officers, and whatyou are doing now as an auxil-iary.

I will begin a notebook col-lecting the information yoursend. The MISSISSIPPI BAP-TIST has collected pictures overthe years for WMA, YLA/GMA/Sunbeams and I will go throughthem to be put in this note-book.

It is important to know ourroots and to preserve this in-formation for future genera-tions. I want our WMA to knowwho came before us so we willbe able to tell the next genera-tion about what we have doneand then that generation canbuild upon what was done inthe past.

Please send any informationabout your WMA toeditor@msbaptist.org.

Prisoners Bible Crusade reportFree Bibles to Chaplains forFree Bibles to Chaplains forFree Bibles to Chaplains forFree Bibles to Chaplains forFree Bibles to Chaplains forInmates in the USAInmates in the USAInmates in the USAInmates in the USAInmates in the USA

On December 27, 2012 thePrisoners Bible Crusade tookdelivery of 6,000 BilingualSpanish/English, Marked Edi-tion of the Gospel of John andthe Book of Romans. The Span-ish text is the "Version ReinaValera Gomez" (RVG) Edicion2010. The English text is theKing James Version (KJV 1611).Both texts are on the same pageand are marked with the plan ofSalvation! These John/RomansBilingual Scriptures wasprinted by the "Victory BaptistPress" in Milton FL. These 6,000John/Romans Scripture por-tions are special to the Prison-ers Bible Crusade because theyare the VERY FIRST PRINT-ING of this type of the RVG2010 Edition Spanish text withthe KJV. We have placed 4,715of them into Federal Prisonssince Jan. 1, and we have or-dered 6,000 more. Praise theLord!! Your prayers and sup-port makes this ministry pos-sible under God's Blessing!

Report YTD 3/31/13Report YTD 3/31/13Report YTD 3/31/13Report YTD 3/31/13Report YTD 3/31/131,448 KJV English Bibles;

100 Spanish Bibles; Bibles to-tals1,548; 100 New Testaments;All Study Books 4,588; 1,013Study helps, totals for all Biblesand materials to date in 2013 is11,964. These were sent into 27prisons. Chaplains report 329people saved (21,899 since 1/1/2000). 10 new Chaplains re-questing Bibles for the 1st timein 2013. PBC's EvangelisticTeam has conducted 2 Worshipservices in prisons in 2013.(Since 1973, 216,005 Bibles;59,249 New Testaments; Totalbibles & materials: 645,327.)Personal:

I have traveled 2,066 miles, Ihave personally seen 2 confes-sion of Faith in Jesus Christ in2013 (351 since 1/1/2000), vis-ited 4 churches, 8 associationsmeeting & 11 prisons visits,taught 8 bible study classes inprisons, taught Preached 2sermons in prisons. Sent attotal of 413 CD/DVD sermons(3,065 since 1/1/2000) into pris-ons.

Isaiah 55:11 inside prisons!Paul E. Lee, Director PBCPhone 601-798-1341Email pbc8paul@datasync.com

Family ArkMinistries

Travis Plumlee

Appeal for Support

Barnabus Touch plans trip to Indiaby Danny Bullockby Danny Bullockby Danny Bullockby Danny Bullockby Danny BullockTrip CoordinatorTrip CoordinatorTrip CoordinatorTrip CoordinatorTrip Coordinator

At the request of the BMA Missions Office wehave scheduled a Barnabus Touch trip to Indiain October and November to help teach andencourage the national pastors who labor therealong with those elected by the BMAA.

After meeting with Pradeep Borde a coupleof months ago in Little Rock to discuss times,subject matters, and cost, I would like to makean appeal to our churches for assistance incarrying out their wishes. They want us toteach on the subjects of leadership, evangelism,discipleship, stewardship, and family life. Ineed two more men willing to make the tripwith us and share the teaching load in the twoareas we will visit. They said we should teachthe same subjects both places. Will you be

willing to go? Will some church be willing tosend their pastor and share him with this coun-try for 1-2 weeks? If so, please contact me at870-904-5032 or danbull0550@gmail.com. Weneed to finalize this team so that we can get ourteaching material to them for translation be-fore we leave October 25.

My other appeal is for some financial help tounderwrite the cost for the national pastors. Wewant to pay for the costs for the approximately25 men who will be attending these classes.Their travel, lodging and food costs for the four-day meetings will be nearly $100 per man. Ifsome could pay all or part of this $2,500, itwould save the Missions Office and EIM fromusing their present funds to cover this cost. Anydonations may be sent to EIM, P.O. Box 297,Magnolia, AR 71754.

Stop Signs and Yield Signs for the MouthHave you ever noticed how

sometimes people talk badabout someone, and then, theyend the put down by blessingthat person. I hear it all thetime. It goes something likethis: “She’s having a bad hairday, bless her heart.” Or itmight be: “He has some hor-rible looking teeth, bless hisheart.” “She’s always been adingbat bless her heart.” I findhuman behavior fascinating. Itkind of makes me laugh to hearthe incongruent statementslaid out in the same sentence.Do you add the phrase, “blesstheir heart” because youare a nice person? Donice people makefun of other people?

Oh, I think mostpeople don’t evenconsider what theyhave just said. Or itis just a phrase thatpeople say much like“good luck on your trip”. That’sanother phrase that bothers mesince Christians shouldn’t be-lieve in luck. There is no suchthing as luck when there is aSovereign God sitting on Histhrone. Maybe it is becausesometimes we start our mouthbefore we engage our brain.We don’t really pause to thinkabout what we are going to say.We just say it out of habit, or tohurry the conversation up. I’mpretty sure most of us have hada conversation with someoneand then reflected later on thecontent and wished we hadn’tsaid something. Our commu-nication with others can be ablessing or a curse.

Communication is the cor-nerstone of all healthy rela-tionships. How we speak to

one another will draw peopleto us, or away from us. Wordscomfort and build up, or they

hurt and destroy. We knowfrom scripture that all wordsspoken come from your heart.What comes out of your mouth

is coming because of whatis in your heart. And for

every casual word youspeak during your life-time, you will give anaccount in the Day ofJudgment. If youdon’t believe it, just

read Matthew 12:34-37.If you want to read up fur-

ther on the mouth, read James3:5-10. If you want to knowwhat you should be saying withyour mouth, read IThessalonians 5:11and Ephesians 4:29,32.

Let me suggestthat you erect stopsigns and yield signs inyour mind to help yourconversation. What I meanis that we can establish newspeech patterns and habits.Even if you grew up in a horri-bly dysfunctional family, youcan learn new ways of respond-ing. Slow your conversationdown. Sometimes, you need tolearn to think through yourresponse before you speak.Picture a mental stop sign inyour head. What are the conse-

quences of what I am about tosay? How would I feel if some-one I loved said this to me?Yes, it will slow the conversa-tion down. People may get alittle frustrated at times withyou. But it sure beats blurtingsomething out that you reallyregret later on. Half the time Idon’t think people really in-tend to hurt others feelings. Itjust doesn’t come out right.That is why we have to havestop signs in our conversation.

Years ago, I used to workwith children and adolescentswho had an attention differentissue. (Also known to others asADD/ADHD – I don’t say peoplehave Attention Deficit Disor-der because I don’t think Godcreates kids with a “deficit”.They are just a little different.)These kids are famous for whatis called “blurting syndrome”.They have a thought and theyhave to express it. They say itbefore they think about theconsequences of what they justsaid. Most people would stopbefore they say some outland-

ish statement.These kids don’t.

Their mind is mov-ing so fast, that they

have run over everystop sign in their mind

and have no brakes!As a therapist, I would help

them establish a pattern ofstopping to think for a mo-

ment about the feelings andreactions of others before theywould make statements.

Yielding the right of way inconversation means to be ma-ture and not be so self-centered.Don’t dominate the conversa-

continued on page 7

7May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

CHILDREN'S HOME118 LOWE ROAD, LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI 39443 - (601) 426-3928

SIDNEY DAVISDIRECTOR

Godly Mothers—A Gift fromGodly Mothers—A Gift fromGodly Mothers—A Gift fromGodly Mothers—A Gift fromGodly Mothers—A Gift fromGodGodGodGodGod

In a few weeks Mother’s Daywill be observed by many. Thisevent comes around once everyyear. I understand that for thegreeting card companies it’stheir best time of the year ex-cluding Christmas. The samegoes for telephone companiesand cell phone carriers. Therewill probably be more callsmade to Mom on this day thanany other day of the year.

There is one slogan by onecommunication carrier that isprobably well known by mostwhich is, “reach out and touch.”Well, Mothers, you indeed havereached out and touched ourlives and for this we give theLord praise and thanks for giv-ing us mothers like you! We areglad that we can honor you onthis day that has been set asidefor you. Read Proverbs 31:10-31, which gives to us a gooddescription of a faithful wifeand mother.

I am glad that over the yearsand up to the present time theboys and girls at the Home havebeen exposed to the good ex-amples of Godly mothers. Manyof the residents of the Homehave in later years stated andexpressed what a difference theministry of the Mississippi Bap-tist Children’s Home has madein their life. We thank the Lordfor the positive influence the

Home has had and is having onthe lives of boys and girls.

Expression of SympathyExpression of SympathyExpression of SympathyExpression of SympathyExpression of SympathyWe would like to express our

sympathy to the family ofMichael Scott “Scotty” Clarkand the family of Barry Gricein the recentloss of theirloved ones. Ourprayers con-tinue to be witheach of thesefamilies duringtheir time ofsorrow and be-reavement.

School Days Coming To ASchool Days Coming To ASchool Days Coming To ASchool Days Coming To ASchool Days Coming To ACloseCloseCloseCloseClose

In just a few weeks the endof the school year will be here.As I have reported in previousarticles the girls and boys havehad a good academic year withtheir studies and activities.They always look forward eachyear to the summer break andto take some time off from thedaily routine of doing home-work and studying for that nextexam or test. As I said, theyhave had a good school yearand I’m sure that I’ll be report-ing on some achievements thatthey have accomplished dur-ing this school year.

Continue to remember theHome and its ministry in yourprayers.

Holifields celebrate 65th anniversaryOn April 17, 2013, Bro. and Mrs. Harold A. Holifield cel-

ebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary with their chil-dren and grandson David. Their son, Charles Holifield and wifeKathy (Murray) Holifield ofTayorsville and daughter Pat(Holifield) Davis and husbandSidney Davis of Laurel, alongwith David Davis, took theHolifield’s for a nice lunch.

Bro. Holifield pastored BMABaptist churches for 60 years,but is now retired. He still fills infor his pastor and is Pastor Emeri-tus of First Baptist Calhoun, nearLaurel. He is also retired fromJones Junior College as a Voca-tional Instructor of AutomotiveMachinery.

Mrs. Holifield has been supportive and an important part oftheir ministry and teaching career. The Holifield’s have twochildren: Charles Holifield and wife Kathy and Pat Davis andhusband Sidney Davis. They also have four grandchildren:Kristen Martin and husband Daryl Martin; Kelly Cantrell;Danny Davis and wife Jennifer; and David Davis. They also havefive great-grandchildren: Audrey Martin, Sarah Lane and LeviCantrell, and Connor and Anna Davis.

Our family is blessed by God to have them as parents, grand-parents, and great grandparents.

Bro. & Mrs. Harold Holifield

News articles shouldcontain information that will beof interest to the general public

who are not members of thechurch that is reporting.

CHURCHNEWS

Westover Church sets RevivalWestover Church sets RevivalWestover Church sets RevivalWestover Church sets RevivalWestover Church sets RevivalWestover Baptist Church of

Hattiesburg will hold revivalservices May 5-8 with Bro.Steve Crawley as our guestspeaker. Services on Sundayare at 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.with lunch at the church. Mon-day through Wednesday nightservices will be at 7:00 p.m. Allare welcome!

Washington Association meetsWashington Association meetsWashington Association meetsWashington Association meetsWashington Association meetsThe Washington Baptist As-

sociation met on April 19, atPilgrim Rest Baptist Church.Bro. Darnell Minyard wel-comed the Association and Bro.Homer Bexley gave the re-sponse.

We had 12 churches repre-sented with 40 members and 7visitors.

Bro. Justin Rhodes gave areport for the Missions office.Bro. Donald Brown reportedconcerning the youth and theupcoming camp.

Bro. Frank Panzrino read thereport concerning the investi-gation of a sister church andreported that all was well asfar as the committee was con-cerned and the report was ac-cepted by the body.

Bro. Minyard introduced thespeaker as Bro. Fulton Lindsey.Bro. Lindsey brought a finemessage from the Word.

Bro. A.W. Kirkland voicedthe closing prayer and we joinedtogether in the fellowship hallfor a wonderful meal. Again,ladies, ya’ll done good.

B.J. Hudson, Moderator

From TheMind of

Chuck Lee

tion. Be interested in others.Jesus was the best at yieldingto others in conversation inorder to hear what they had tosay. If you want people to bedrawn to you - to be your friend- to have people want to spendtime with you – then yield some-times. If you are a talker, itdoesn’t mean you can’t talk alot. It just means pause some-times and learn to listen. Lis-tening is a skill that all peoplecan learn to adopt. It is a habitto develop. In conversation,work at trying to listen to astatement that you can followup with a question of interest.It shows you are thinking of

PlumleeColumnfrom page 6

someone else besides yourself.If dealing with a quiet person,asking for their opinions orasking open-ended questions(meaning it requires more thana yes or no) are good ways ofcommunicating with them.Encourage their response.

If we don’t laugh or judge orchastise people for their com-ments, they are much morelikely to trust you and learn toopen up to you. The advertise-ment for you heart, soul andmind is your mouth!!

Father Knows BestI am afraid that I’m letting

all of you in the “Father’s Club”down. This club is comprisedof …um…well, fa-thers. Any man thathas a child belongsto this club. Unfor-tunately, the onlyrequirement for be-ing a member is be-ing a man with achild, despite mybest efforts at pro-moting a secrethand shake for thepurpose of meetingmembers in public.Even if we did havesecret handshakes to be anony-mous from the people trying toinfiltrate our club, our wildeyes, frazzled hair, and Hawai-ian shirts would giveus away, along withBermuda shortsworn with blacksocks and sandals.

It’s not a desire tobe fashionablyunique - we justdon’t care. As abonus, it embar-rasses our chil-dren when we at-tend their schoolfunctions. Oh sure,there are some fa-thers that will have matchingclothes, but we diehards knowthat is only because they lost afight with their wives.

Anyway, I feel that I’m let-ting all you club members downbecause it seems that I can nolonger solve all the problemsmy children have or answer allof their questions. As fathers,it is assumed that we knoweverything. Your child asksyou what kind of bird that is onthe road and you immediatelyknow the answer. I thought itwas strange a turkey was eat-ing a dead opossum too, butfathers are never wrong! Thefirst time I took my son turkeyhunting, he was wonderingwhy we had to get ‘camoed’ upand go into the woods. “There’splenty of turkeys where farmerBob’s cow died, daddy!”

As dumb as all the newspeople are telling us our chil-dren are compared to those inother countries, it would seemto be a cinch to help our littledumbbells with their home-work. This is not so. Being outof school for…well, some timenow…has made it extremelydifficult to remember all therules of grammar and fractions.At least the history books don’tbother to go back to our found-

ing fathers anymore. It is em-barrassing when the littlemunchkins ask about a ques-

tion in history andI find out that it wasduring a period oftime when I was achild. The kidsthink that is funnyand say that I’mol..ol…well, ma-ture.

It may be that myintelligence level issimply decreasingproportionally withmy children gettingolder. It seems to

happen overnight, but out ofthe blue, one day they will ques-tion your brilliance as a father.They will be showing you how

to do things, because theyknow best. I have gottenso dumb, that now my

children have to showme how to mow, fix

cars, plantg a r d e n s ,and othera s s o r t e djobs (okay,

it’s not all bad).They know the dif-

ference be-tween a tur-key and a

buzzard. They realize that BigFoot is not real.

In a lot of ways, they havetaken the fun out of being afather. I no longer embarrassthem in public because theyhave become hardened to all ofmy ways. What am I to do?

Come on grandkids! Pappywill know best.

8 May 1, 2013 • Mississippi Baptist

Ray Boone 50 - $1,570.00Sidney Farmer31 - $3,095.00

Hispanic Missions - SouthHattiesburg 23 - $1,296.00Biloxi 4 - N/ALaurel 125 - $7,408.00 (PastorEstuardo Marroquin, Coordinator)

Hispanic Missions - NorthTupelo 40 - $274.00Oxford 21 - N/ARipley 130 - $8045.00 (PastorElvis Garcia, Coordinator)

African American MissionsIndianola 63 - $1,875.00Olive Branch 15 - $1,875.00Cleveland 31 - $3,833.00 (Pastor EdDuVall, Coordinator)

Collectively, our missionaries re-ported 523 new contacts made inMarch and 42 professions of faith and3 baptisms.

Revolving Loan FundRevolving Loan FundRevolving Loan FundRevolving Loan FundRevolving Loan Fund(as of April 27, 2013)(as of April 27, 2013)(as of April 27, 2013)(as of April 27, 2013)(as of April 27, 2013)

Here is where we stood as of theend of March 2013: Gross Assets =

This year’s conference is devoted toboth the spiritual and practical as-pects of needed mission’s activity asan outflow of the life of every church.We will emphasize the importance ofpreaching as the biblical method forsharing the gospel with the world.We will cover this subject thoroughlyby expounding on the biblical prin-ciples of preparation, presentation,passion, doctrine, devotion, distinc-tion and responsibility. Each mes-sage will be inspirational and chal-lenging. I will personally address, atthe beginning of each segment, theanswer to a practical question con-cerning how to organize for missionactivity. The following are some ofthe questions we will address:1. How to develop long term and shortterm vision and then turn it into anobjective plan2. How to develop an annual focus(ministry theme) around your vision3. How to organize ministry forgrowth and expansion4. How to develop ministry objectives5. How to recruit leaders6. How to train

We will provide material that you

can use to develop mission activity inyour church.

We will hear Missionary and Mis-sion Coordinator reports and we willbe blessed with special music fromBro. Justin Cameron and TheCameron Trio throughout the day.First Baptist Bay Springs has gra-ciously agreed to provide lunch anddinner meals and there is no cost tothose attending.

We will have a giveaway of a KindleFire HD and an IPad2. To qualify forthese drawings, you must registerduring the first hour and stay for theentire program.

I believe we are going to have awonderful conference and providesome very good information. I trustthat you will pray for the conferenceand attend.

High Attendance and Total Offer-High Attendance and Total Offer-High Attendance and Total Offer-High Attendance and Total Offer-High Attendance and Total Offer-ings For The Month of Marchings For The Month of Marchings For The Month of Marchings For The Month of Marchings For The Month of March

Church PlantersBob Burch 81 - $1,387.00Bobby Elliott 38 - $1,933.00Justin Rhodes 24 - $1,548.00Kelby Johnson 31 - $650.00

$17,080,067.00, an increase of$1,650,668.00 since August 1, 2012.We opened 34 new investment ac-counts this fiscal year totaling$1,229,508.00. We have issued 10 newloans this fiscal year totaling$2,975,149.00.

Update On Matching Funds (ThisUpdate On Matching Funds (ThisUpdate On Matching Funds (ThisUpdate On Matching Funds (ThisUpdate On Matching Funds (Thisopportunity ended on April 30, 2013)opportunity ended on April 30, 2013)opportunity ended on April 30, 2013)opportunity ended on April 30, 2013)opportunity ended on April 30, 2013)

At the time of this writing, SouthForrest (Missionary Sidney Farmer)had received enough in contributionsthat when matched, their buildingand land will be paid for. Praise TheLord!!! Thank you, all of you forhelping in this. Caledonia BaptistMission (Missionary Bob Burch) hasreceived contributions and commit-ments totaling $37,144.00. This isjust $12,856.00 short of the goal of$50,000.00. However, this will go along way to reduce the debt on thisproperty. Everyone who has helpedin these projects is to be commended.Good job people!

Visit Our Website and Facebook PageOur website is www.bmams.org and ourFacebook page is https://www.facebook.com/bmamsmissions

55th 55th 55th 55th 55th Annual Missions and Evangelism Conference (May 3rd)Annual Missions and Evangelism Conference (May 3rd)Annual Missions and Evangelism Conference (May 3rd)Annual Missions and Evangelism Conference (May 3rd)Annual Missions and Evangelism Conference (May 3rd)