FaithWORKS Report [June 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- ODALI AND KATHY BARROS—PRAISE GOD for the work in Ubim going well. PRAY for their Monday night services and childrens classes in Ubim. PRAISE GOD for the way He has worked in Odali’s life and for making a lasting generational change that also affected his family.
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW—PRAISE GOD for growth in Pé da Terra and plans for a new building in Porto Walter. PRAY for the church in Santa Rosa who has just called a new pastor from First Baptist Cruzeiro do Sul. PRAISE GOD for recent baptisms in the mountain works along the Moa River.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for a blessed time in Lexington and for providing a place for them in Florida. PRAY for them as they transition to Florida. PRAY for the works in Brazil that are continuing as they are away.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for the nine committed believers in Mazere who are sharing their faith! PRAY for patience as they wait while God grows potential leaders. PRAISE GOD for how He is working in the lives of adults and children in Tournefeuille.
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for leading, guiding, and providing a place for them to rent in Florida. PRAY for Pastor Adolfo Escote who is having eye problems. PRAY for the new church plant in northern Brazil that is getting ready to incorporate. PRAISE GOD for church plants that are growing!
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for starting to soften the heart of the chief of the Indian village. PRAY for those in the Indian Village, that they would come to know Christ as their Savior. PRAISE GOD for the team from Georgia who helped with a VBS and accomplished lots of projects on their list.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAY for their return to Kenya. PRAY that the Lord will direct them to the work permits and paperwork they need to complete. PRAISE GOD for those who “hold the ropes.”
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for the room Roger has leased to start a church planting training center. PRAY for the Lord to start a church planting revolution in Kitale and that He will be glorified in that place.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for one repaired Projeto Vida motorhome and the privilege of sharing the Gospel in 9 schools! PRAY for the mission team coming from Phoenix who will be presenting the Gospel in 6 schools and 3 parks. PRAISE GOD for faithful family who serves and shows the love of Christ.
CHANGED DATES FOR THANKSGIVING CONFERENCE
The New Hope Missionary Baptist Church will be hosting the Thanksgiving Conference again this November – but it will not be during Thanksgiving week this year. The new dates will be Monday-Wednesday – November 10, 11, 12. Please note and mark these new dates.
JUNE IS FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING MONTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING TO THE CONTINUING SUPPLY OF YOUR MISSIONARIES’ ON-GOING NEEDS
We are appealing to you to give an extraordinary offering to our Founder’s Day Offering to supply our missionaries’ Essential Maintenance needs.
72 years ago, Hafford Overbey began appealing for and receiving offerings to assist in the support of a missionary who had returned to the Amazon Valley in Brazil. Baptist Faith Missions has been assisting Baptist churches in sending their missionaries to the nations of the world for the purpose of church-planting missions ever since.
We recognize that many of you do not remember Hafford Overbey or Z. E. Clark, the first Treasurer of Baptist Faith Missions. But, what you do need to remember is that your missionaries who are currently serving the Lord in the nations of the world are carrying on with the same missionary vision and ministry that prompted the very first missions offering in 1942.
So, will you please help us? Last year [2013], it was the Founder’s Day Offering that enabled us to NOT have to reduce our missionaries’ monthly funds. We devote the Founder’s Day Offering to supplying our missionaries’ monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. What that means is: we will supply any deficits in our Monthly General Fund Offerings with Founder’s Day Offering funds.
So, by giving to the Founder’s Day Offering, you are helping your missionaries receive the full commitments of monthly funds they must have to maintain their living and ministry needs.
[Click here to download the BFM Founders Day Offering Appeal 2014]
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since December 2013.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
Their present address is: 615 Key West Avenue, Davenport FL 33897-3600
Telephone: (863) 438-6922
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING APPEAL AND RESOURCES
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our eleven faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
You can visit our website’s Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you. Or, you can mail your offering to: Baptist Faith Missions, Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280
You will find on our website [Faith Works Blog] some PDF resources that will be helpful as you help us promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
BFM Founder’s Day PowerPoint Slide
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [May 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- ODALI AND KATHY BARROS—PRAISE GOD for preparing the way for them to begin holding services in homes along the river. PRAISE GOD for opening the door for a school ministry. PRAY for them as they begin working in these new places that God would direct every step of the way.
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW— PRAISE GOD for good visits with 11 of their pastors and missionaries. Since the beginning of the year, Mike & Hudson have traveled 2,341 miles on 3 rivers to report on 17 mission works. PRAY for all of these works, that God would continue to grow them and strengthen them! PRAISE GOD for continued progress at their home church as well.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for being able to celebrate nearly 60 years of service in Brazil with the pastors and people in Urai. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for opportunities to show Christ’s love to neighbors in France! (And PRAISE GOD for safety in that situation! Bzzz!) PRAY for their upcoming neighborhood dinner. PRAY for their new “English Club.”
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for an enjoyable time at the Spring Missions Conference. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough with their parents and seek to relocate to Florida.
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY—PRAISE GOD for safe travels to and from the States. PRAY for their health, for their finances, for the ministry, for the plans they are trying to complete at the church, and for the attacks Satan is trying to hurl at them.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAY for their upcoming return to Kenya. PRAY especially for them and their daughters as they travel such a long way and adjust back to the culture of Kenya. PRAY for the people of Kenya they are blessed to work with.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON—PRAISE GOD for continued progress on the building for the Calvary Baptist Mission Church! PRAY that God would provide the remaining funds they need to complete the project. PRAISE GOD for a good missions conference in Huaral.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for a safe arrival back in Kenya. PRAY for them as they adjust back to the culture. PRAY that the Spirit would work in hearts to create lasting change.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for the way He is working in the life of Toni. PRAY for the mechanical problems they are facing in their Projeto Vida ministry. PRAY for Elias and his wife that seeds planted would take root and grow.
YOUR APRIL GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS…
When you review the Contributions page in this issue, you will note that the monthly General Fund Offerings total given in April is $31,604.16. This is a $5-6 thousand dollar increase over the past three months.
First, we thank God and commend every one of you gives to the monthly General Fund. Without your faithful and sacrificial giving, our missionaries would not be receiving month-by-month what we are able to provide for them.
However, that being said, our total monthly commitments to our missionary families – which must be supplied from the monthly General Fund – amount to $43,300.54. Every month, that same amount must be disbursed just for their essential maintenance. If each of us will remember that number as we give to the monthly General Fund – $43,300.00 – it will help remind us of the gigantic financial responsibility just to ‘keep them on the field,’ ‘keep the lights on,’ and supply their essential living and ministry expenses.
When the monthly General Fund Offering doesn’t meet that disbursement threshold [$43,300.00], then we have no other choice but to reduce the amount of disbursements to our missionary families by the proportionate amount we did not receive in General Fund offerings.
We know you have heard this before – and we also know that we keep repeating ourselves – but the first of every month, it comes around again! Please make a generous offering to your missionaries’ General Fund right now – or increase your present giving!
You can give online by going to our website: baptistfaithmissions.org and clicking on the ‘Donate/Support’ tab. Designate your offering for ‘General Fund’. Thank you on behalf of our missionaries!
Click here to make a one-time donation.
Click here to set up a recurring donation.
JUNE IS FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING MONTH: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING TO THE CONTINUING SUPPLY OF YOUR MISSIONARIES’ ON-GOING NEEDS
We are coming up on June again, and we are appealing to you to give an extraordinary offering to our Founder’s Day Offering to supply our missionaries’ Essential Maintenance needs.
72 years ago, Hafford Overbey began appealing for and receiving offerings to assist in the support of a missionary who had returned to the Amazon Valley in Brazil. Baptist Faith Missions has been assisting Baptist churches in sending their missionaries to the nations of the world for the purpose of church-planting missions ever since.
We recognize that many of you do not remember Hafford Overbey or Z. E. Clark, the first Treasurer of Baptist Faith Missions. But, what you do need to remember is that your missionaries who are currently serving the Lord in the nations of the world are carrying on with the same missionary vision and ministry that prompted the very first missions offering in 1942.
So, will you please help us? Last year [2013], it was the Founder’s Day Offering that enabled us to NOT have to reduce our missionaries’ monthly funds. We devote the Founder’s Day Offering to supplying our missionaries’ monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. What that means is: we will supply any deficits in our Monthly General Fund Offerings with Founder’s Day Offering funds.
So, by giving to the Founder’s Day Offering, you are helping your missionaries receive the full commitments of monthly funds they must have to maintain their living and ministry needs.
[Click here to download the BFM Founders Day Offering Appeal 2014]
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
MISSIONARIES ON FURLOUGH
Two of our longest-serving missionary families are on furlough in the States together at this time: John and Alta Hatcher and Paul and Wanda Hatcher. Paul has written in his Mission Sheets newsletter, “Wanda and I have been in Brazil for 40 years. During this period, we have taken only one full-year furlough.” But, they all have come together to the States for a year’s furlough. John and Alta Hatcher have been serving our Lord in partnership with Baptist Faith Missions for 60 years and wanted to come Stateside for this furlough. Paul and Wanda have come with them to accompany and help them. Also with them is Wanda’s mom, Willa McGary. ‘Miss Willa’ and Wanda’s deceased dad, Wilford, served as church-planting missionaries in Eastern Kentucky Appalachia for 35 years. Willa has also been living with Paul and Wanda in Manaus since Wanda’s only sibling, Ross McGary, went to be with the Lord in December 2013. But, living in Manaus was very difficult for ‘Miss Willa’ since she was away from her friends and in an all-Portuguese environment with different customs.
So, they are all living and traveling together. They plan to set up their residence in Florida during this time to give them better access to Brazil, especially for family and friends in Brazil to come and visit with them during this year.
Paul says: ‘We will be available to speak and share missions. We can be contacted at: (239)227-6551 or rphatcher[at]gmail.com.’ We encourage you to pray for them and correspond with them.
SPRING MISSIONS CONFERENCE UPDATES AND RECAPS
The Lord blessed us during the April Spring Missions Conference. You came and attended with us as we worshiped Jesus Christ, gave ourselves to work with Him in His “Day of Salvation,” and asked the Lord to stir and encourage us all to greater commitment and usefulness in His mission.
Ten preachers, pastors, and missionaries delivered God’s messages from His Word. 35 preachers, pastors, and missionaries were in attendance with us during the services. We thank each one of you for your prayers to God and your encouraging fellowship as we all seek together to follow Jesus Christ into the nations of the world.
You can still update yourself on the happenings during our Conference services by going to our website and opening the FaithWorks Blog page. On the right hand side of the page, you will find a list of links “Categories.” Click on the link that says “Conference recaps,” and it will open up a list of the services and give you a brief recap of the service [OR CLICK HERE]. I want to thank Steve and Sarah Wainright for posting these services for us. They are continually providing invaluable services for our Lord and our missionaries by updating and maintaining our website and Facebookm.
FOUNDERS DAY OFFERING APPEAL AND RESOURCES
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our eleven faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
You can visit our website’s Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you. Or, you can mail your offering to: Baptist Faith Missions, Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer, P.O. Box 471280, Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280
You will find on our website [Faith Works Blog] some PDF resources that will be helpful as you help us promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
BFM Founder’s Day PowerPoint Slide
Read more
Founder’s Day Offering 2014
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our eleven faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. You can visit our Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you.
Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
Here are a couple of PDFs that might be helpful as you promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
The image below is ideal for a PowerPoint slide. To save the image, right click and click “Save Image As.”
Read more
FaithWORKS Report [April 2014]
PRAY AND PRAISE in this issue…
- MIKE AND BEV CREIGLOW— PRAISE GOD for good visits 290 miles up-river with five missionaries in four villages.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for being able to celebrate nearly 60 years of service in Brazil with the pastors and people in Urai. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough.
- JOHN MARK AND JUDY HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for the ways He’s blessing their investment (and your investment!) in France. PRAY the believers there would be encouraged. PRAY for those who are seeking truth.
- PAUL AND WANDA HATCHER—PRAISE GOD for one new church organized in Coroado and one ordained to pastoral ministry. PRAISE GOD for one family who moved to a capital city in a northeastern state of Brazil to start a new church plant. PRAY that this family will fully rely on God to overcome all challenges and as they seek the best location to rent, make new friends, evangelize, and disciple new believers. PRAY for them as they transition to a year-long furlough with their parents.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD—PRAISE GOD for insight on raising “third culture” kids. PRAY God would give them wisdom as they raise their children. PRAY as they prepare to return to Kenya, all the logistics of packing and what to take and what to leave behind. PRAY Carrie would be able to obtain the permit that is necessary to continue the hospital ministry upon their return in June.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON—PRAISE GOD for the help of three from the States to train Peruvians how to drywall. PRAISE GOD for how they were also able to help a church in a mountain town with their building.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE—PRAISE GOD for time they were able to spend with family and friends while on furlough. PRAY for them as they adjust back to life in Kenya. PRAY for God to lead them to a rental house to train in and to send them faithful men they can teach to teach others.
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER—PRAISE GOD for working through the team of young people from Brandon, Florida to share the Gospel in parks and with over 6,000 students and teachers in public schools. PRAISE GOD for using Charlene to share His love through ESL Classes—and especially for His work in the heart of Ana Paula.
YOUR MARCH GENERAL FUND OFFERINGS…
When you review the Contributions page in this issue, you will note that the monthly General Fund Offerings total given in March is $25,634.71. First, we thank God and commend every one of you gives to the monthly General Fund. Without your faithful and sacrificial giving, our missionaries would not be receiving month-by-month what we are able to provide for them.
However, that being said, our total monthly commitments to our missionary families – which must be supplied from the monthly General Fund – amount to $43,300.54. Every month, that same amount must be disbursed just for their essential maintenance. If each of us will remember that number as we give to the monthly General Fund – $43,300.00 – it will help remind us of the gigantic financial responsibility just to ‘keep them on the field,’ ‘keep the lights on,’ and supply their essential living and ministry expenses.
When the monthly General Fund Offering doesn’t meet that disbursement threshold [$43,300.00], then we have no other choice but to reduce the amount of disbursements to our missionary families by the proportionate amount we did not receive in General Fund offerings.
We know you have heard this before – and we also know that we keep repeating ourselves – but the first of every month, it comes around again! Please make a generous offering to your missionaries’ General Fund right now – or increase your present giving!
You can give online by going to our website: baptistfaithmissions.org and click on the ‘Donate/Support’ tab. Designate your offering for ‘General Fund’. Thank you on behalf of our missionaries!
Click here to make a one-time donation.
Click here to set up a recurring donation.
JUNE IS FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING MONTH
We are coming up on June again, and we are appealing to you to give an extraordinary offering to our Founder’s Day Offering to supply our missionaries’ Essential Maintenance needs.
72 years ago, Hafford Overbey began appealing for and receiving offerings to assist in the support of a missionary who had returned to the Amazon Valley in Brazil. Baptist Faith Missions has been assisting Baptist churches in sending their missionaries to the nations of the world for the purpose of church-planting missions ever since.
We recognize that many of you do not remember Hafford Overbey or Z. E. Clark, the first Treasurer of Baptist Faith Missions. But, what you do need to remember is that your missionaries who are currently serving the Lord in the nations of the world are carrying on with the same missionary vision and ministry that prompted the very first missions offering in 1942.
So, will you please help us? Last year [2013], it was the Founder’s Day Offering that enabled us to NOT have to reduce our missionaries’ monthly funds. We devote the Founder’s Day Offering to supplying our missionaries’ monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. What that means is: we will supply any deficits in our Monthly General Fund Offerings with Founder’s Day Offering funds.
So, by giving to the Founder’s Day Offering, you are helping your missionaries receive the full commitments of monthly funds they must have to maintain their living and ministry needs.
[Click here to download the BFM Founders Day Offering Appeal 2014]
SPECIAL JUNE ISSUE OF MISSION SHEETS
In addition to this regular monthly Mission Sheets, we will also be mailing to you an additional issue of Mission Sheets in June designated exclusively to Founder’s Day month and the Founder’s Day Offering. Be watching for it!
BFM BROCHURES
We now have TWO very attractive and informative professionally-produced brochures. We want you to help us get these promotional messages into the hands of anyone and everyone who is interested in the mission work the Lord is accomplishing through the missionaries who are supported by your offerings through BFM.
(1) The first of these brochures is one that will introduce you to BFM and inform you about the basic principles by which BFM functions. (click here to view)
(2) The second brochure is just now ‘hot off the press.’ This one is entitled “Caring for those who care for the world,” and is designed to inform and explain just how essential the monthly General Fund is to the daily living and ministry needs of our missionaries. (click here to view)
Both of them are full-color, either 6 or 8 pages 8 ½ x 11 format, pictorial, and informative. Will you please help us distribute these brochures as widely as you can?
If you will send your name and mailing address to:
Dave Parks, 3985 Boston Road, Lexington KY 40514
email: daveparks[at]twc.com | phone: 859.223.8374 –
and tell us how many sets of these brochures you want – we will get them back to you by return shipping.
For now, you can access an electronic flip-through version of the new brochure by going to our website and clicking on the brochure cover.
Again, please serve as ambassadors for your missionaries by helping us get either single-copy sets to interested persons or bundles to distribute in our churches. The brochures will ‘speak for themselves’ – for our missionaries.
Read more
FaithWORKS [July 2013]
PRAY AND PRAISE!
- HAROLD BRATCHER – PRAY for continuing health and strength – and for the Lord’s direction and provision as they search for a home to buy.
- JOHN AND ALTA HATCHER – PRAISE GOD for all our dear and faithful missionary-wives and PRAY for them. PRAY for all the churches and missions in their ministry fellowship, and for all the pastors and their wives and families.
- JOHN AND JUDY HATCHER – PRAISE GOD for another believer and baptism in France! Read the exciting story of the work of God’s Grace in Samuel. PRAY for all the other contacts John and Judy are making – more ‘seeds cast upon the waters’!
- AJ AND BARBARA HENSLEY – PRAISE GOD for the four mission teams who held Bible Schools, Back Yard Bible Schools, and helped do a significant amount of work on their church building. PRAY that they would continue to be in good health and that God would continue to give them strength to complete everything He wants them to do.
- NATHAN AND CARRIE RADFORD – PRAISE GOD for fruit and growth in their several church plants. PRAY for their housing and vehicle needs for their upcoming furlough.
- SHERIDAN AND ANITA STANTON – PRAISE GOD for the opportunities God has opened up for him to preach and teach the Gospel in neighboring nations and help train pastors to meet people’s needs with Scriptural counseling. PRAY for upcoming church missions trips to Peru.
- ROGER AND JULIE TATE – PRAY for the challenges and opportunities they will all encounter and experience especially over the next year as Emily graduates from high school and they come to the States for furlough – and to enroll her in college to continue her education and vocation. Be sure that all our other missionaries will be praying for them!
- BOBBY AND CHARLENE WACASER – PRAISE GOD for the young people who have given their lives to serve Jesus Christ as missionaries this summer in the Project Life outreach. PRAY that God will call other missionaries to reach all the unsaved peoples of the world.
URGENT NEED FOR $17,000.00 FURLOUGH REPLACEMENT FUNDS
These furlough transportation expenses have been disbursed to purchase airfare tickets for two of our furloughing missionaries. BFM pays for their furlough transportation expenses when they are due a furlough. These funds are disbursed from the portion of the General Fund monies which are received from our Thanksgiving Offerings. Those funds from last year’s Thanksgiving Offering are almost depleted.
BFM provides many other services and benefits for our missionaries from the General Fund than just their monthly Essential Maintenance Transactions. Those additional services and benefits are supplied from Thanksgiving Offering monies.
WILL YOU HELP US REPLENISH THE GENERAL FUND BY DESIGNATING YOUR OFFERINGS FOR ‘FURLOUGH FUNDS’? We will have already paid for the airfare tickets, but your offerings will help us replenish the account so we can provide the other future commitments we have made to them throughout the rest of this year.
2013 FOUNDERS DAY OFFERINGS
Thank you for responding to our 2013 Founders Day Offering. Your offerings given in June were $20,492.00. They are reported in this issue of the Mission Sheets. Also, $1276.00 was given in the month of May. Together, those offerings total $21,768.00.
We bless God and thank you for every offering that was given. May God commend and prosper each one of you who participated.
What will we do with your Founders Day Offerings? We will apply them toward meeting the essential monthly financial needs of our missionaries. The standard monthly commitments we make to them each month amount to over $46,000.00. Those commitments are supplied from the monthly General Fund offerings “as the Lord provides”. When we don’t receive sufficient monthly General Fund offerings, then we reduce either the missionaries’ salaries or their housing/ministry expenses allowances. (We can’t reduce the $12,500.00 premiums we pay for their hospitalization.)
So, your offerings given to the Founders Day Offering will be applied toward those essential monthly disbursements. When we receive more General Fund supplies in any month than we need for that month’s disbursements, then the remaining overage funds are escrowed and kept in account to supply the deficit that we may suffer in another following month. So, that is what we will do with this month’s Founders Day Offering – we will hold it in store to meet the needs in other months.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAITHFUL GIVING TO OUR MONTHLY GENERAL FUND!
One of the first places we look every month is the listing of the contributions to the Monthly General Fund. Why? Because the Monthly General Fund supplies the Essential Maintenance Transactions for our missionaries for that month. Your contributions to the General Fund make it possible for their essential living and ministry expenses to be met for that month. So, ‘Thank You! Giving Friends!’ for all your faithful generous and sacrificial giving month by month.
MAKE YOUR PLANS TO ATTEND THE LABOR DAY CONFERENCE IN THE INTERESTS OF BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS – September 1-2 at East Keys Baptist Church in Springfield Illinois. Dan Hillard is their pastor. You may contact him for more information at dhillard51[at]yahoo.com.
MISSIONARIES’ FURLOUGH SCHEDULE
Harold Bratcher is retiring from active and faithful missionary service in Manaus, Brazil, and is relocating to live here in the States. He is selling his home in Manaus and is seeking to purchase a home here. If you wish to contact him before he establishes a permanent address, you may contact him at: 859.277.3716 / 1012 Balsam Drive, Lexington KY 40504 / or through his email address: harold_bratcher[at]yahoo.com
TATES AND RADFORDS – their plans at present are to be coming to the States in September and October respectively. You may correspond with them concerning any prospective plans you would like to make with them. Roger Tate rojuta[at]gmail.com & Nathan Radford naterad[at]yahoo.com
NEED FOR VEHICLES – Both the Tates and Radfords will need vehicles to use for their travels in the States during their upcoming furloughs. If anyone has a vehicle or vehicles you can loan them for their use, correspond with them at the above email addresses.
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Missionary Update: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [June 2013]
Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru since 1983. Their main ministry is church planting and they have helped establish churches all over the country. Sheridan also works to train pastors and Anita works with the ladies’ ministry and developing children’s material.
June 6, 2013
Dear friends,
Tomorrow, June 7, Anita and I will have been married for thirty-nine years! Over thirty of those years have been in Peru. God has been very gracious to me by giving me such a wonderful life companion. She is truly a Proverbs 31 kind of woman. I am blessed! We will probably spend the day here like any other day, but next year for our fortieth we are hoping to take a trip. You can tell from the pictures here that her most common expression is her smile. I love her smile!
May was a rather uneventful month for us here in Huánuco, Peru. I had to do some serious repairs on our living quarters. But most of my time was spent studying, teaching and preaching.
The Calvary Mission is down a bit in attendance but it is planting season up in the mountains and most of our folks still “go to the farm” during these times. We had three of our young ladies from church be accepted into college. They are the first ones from their families to ever go to college. They are struggling a little, but persevering. We appreciate your prayers for them and the Calvary Mission in general.
My Monday night Pastor’s Bible Class is doing quite well. This year I am taking them through a course on Systematic Theology. I have eleven men attending. They took their first test a few weeks ago and we came out with six “A”s, three “B”s, and two “F”s. The two failing grades were close to “D”s but they left several true/false questions blank rather than take a 50/50 shot at getting it right! They are a great bunch of men to work with, and they all have a genuine desire to go deeper in the Word of God. Your prayers are requested for these men and their churches.
Anita did a great job of teaching forty-five women at the Annual Baptist Women’s Conference here in Huánuco. It is for the women of our churches and they spend an entire day together from 8:00am to 7:00pm. I have heard only good comments from the ladies! Anita worked really hard preparing for this teaching opportunity and many of the women were really touched by the Holy Spirit as a result.
We hope that all of our supporting churches and friends will consider giving a special “Founder’s Day Offering” this month to Baptist Faith Mission. For the past two months your missionaries with BFM have taken some substantial cuts from what we normally receive due to lack of funds in the General Fund of BFM. Founder’s Day offerings help fill the gap at this time of year. Please pray about it and give as the Lord leads.
You all are always in our thoughts and prayers. A few churches had talked about a mission trip for this year and also next year. Write me and let’s get the dates settled. Until next month,
Apartado Postal 860
Huanuco, Peru
South America
(614) 500-8823 – Internet Number
sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita
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Founder’s Day Offering 2013
For many years, we have remembered and honored our principal founders, Hafford Overbey and Z. E. Clark, by giving special offerings for the missionaries during the month of June. We call it our FOUNDER’S DAY OFFERING.
But, the Founder’s Day Offering not only memorializes our original founders in 1942 – we are also honoring our twelve faithful missionary families who are currently serving the Lord in Brazil, Peru, France, and Kenya.
Their support needs are great – and the supplies are low. We use the Founder’s Day Offering to help supply our missionaries’ monthly essential living and ministry support. And, these offerings will also help prevent our having to reduce the monthly commitments we have made to them due to a lack of General Fund supplies.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commission Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. You can visit our Donate/Support page to easily contribute through the options we have made available to you.
Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give, and no offering of any amount is insignificant. But what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70+ years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel? But – please do give as the Lord impresses and enables you.
Here are a couple of PDFs that might be helpful as you promote Founder’s Day:
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Bulletin Insert
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – General Letter
BFM Founder’s Day Offering – Letter from Our President
The image below is ideal for a PowerPoint slide. To save the image, right click and click “Save Image As.”
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FaithWORKS Report [June 2012]
“BRING AN OFFERING…” Psalm 96.8
How to contribute to the missionaries who receive their support through BFM
1 – You can write and mail your checks to Baptist Faith Missions | George Sledd,
Treasurer | P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe FL 32747-1280 | grsledd@hotmail.com
2 – You can contribute online via debit or credit card by clicking on our DONATE/SUPPORT page. Click the appropriate button and follow the prompts.
3 – You may also enroll in an automatic recurring contribution program by going to the
same DONATE/SUPPORT page on our website and follow the prompts.
If your contribution is for a specific missionary or project, you should so designate it.
The greatest need we have each month is for the GENERAL FUND. The GENERAL FUND supplies the essential commitments we have made to our missionaries to maintain their ministries.
FURLOUGH ANNOUNCEMENT
Sheridan and Anita Stanton are planning to be Stateside until the end
of the year. If you wish to contact him for availability to schedule a visit to your church,
you may email him at sestantonperu@hotmail.com or 859.490.5370. Their Stateside
address is: 1012 Balsam Drive, Lexington KY 40504 | 859.277.3716
FOUNDER’S DAY – JUNE
The original post concerning Founder’s Day and promotional materials may be found by clicking here.
June is almost past – but it is still not too late to give an offering in honor of Founder’s Day. And, even if you never knew and do not remember BFM’s first founders from 70 years ago, you can still respond to the call and mandate of our faith’s FIRST AND ORIGINAL FOUNDER, JESUS CHRIST. He is ‘the Author and Finisher of our faith.’ He is THE FOUNDER and PERFECTER.
Here’s what each of us can do:
PASTORS – we encourage you to observe a special Missions or Great Commissions Emphasis Sunday and give your church the opportunity to give to the BFM General Fund. Emphasize Jesus’ command to preach His Gospel to all nations. That is what our missionaries are doing. That is the original burden and vision that inspired the founding of BFM. We are continuing to perpetuate that vision and burden. That is what we are supporting when we give to BFM’s General Fund. We will use these offerings to continue to supply our missionaries’ on-going needs.
GIVING FRIENDS – if your church is not participating in our Founder’s Day Offering, we encourage you to support your missionaries by giving a personal offering. You can give your offering by any of the means we have listed on the Contributions Page – or you can go directly to our Donate/Support page on our website and contribute through the options we have made available to you.
Of course, you can give as the Lord enables you to give – but what if every one of our missionaries’ Giving Friends gave at least a $70 offering in honor of the 70 years our missionaries have been faithfully preaching the Gospel?
MARGUERITE HALLUM
The original post Marguerite Hallum may be found here.
Marguerite Hallum was the unmarried daughter of the first missionaries BFM supported for missions in Peru. She served with them during all the years of their ministry in Peru, and then cared for them until their deaths after they returned to the States.
She lived and worked her adult years in Louisiana, but for the past six years has been living in DeLand FL in an assisted-living facility. Her niece, Teeter Mauldin, and husband, Steve, brought her to DeLand so they could care for her just a few minutes from where they live – and they did so faithfully and lovingly. Marguerite was attended constantly not only by Teeter and Steve, but also by the loving staff and visiting friends.
We had the opportunity to visit with Sister Marguerite during our BFM Winter Conference at Park Ridge Baptist Church back in January 2009, and she delighted us with her company, fellowship, and her many, many exciting stories of their ministry experiences in Peru.
Sheridan and Anita Stanton attended that same Conference, and after the Conference they spent an entire day with Marguerite as she shared with them volumes of photos and relived their experiences in Peru during earlier years.
God has called her Home to see the Face of Jesus Christ, and also to be reunited with all of her loved ones who are already there – and by the multitudes of ‘forever friends’ whom she was instrumental in sending there before her [Luke 16.9]. “Well done, good and faithful servant!”
Sheridan and Anita attended her memorial service in Hammond, Louisiana on Monday, June 11, to express the love, respect, and appreciation all of us in the BFM fellowship feel toward her. Her family asked Sheridan to speak and testify to the missionary work that continues to this day because the Hallums were there.
Marguerite Hallum with the Mauldins
We encourage you to pray for Steve and Teeter Mauldin. Their email address is: steveandteeter@bellsouth.net.
You may address written correspondences to:
Teeter Mauldin
432 Rich Avenue
DeLand, FL 32724-4315
ROSES & NOSES by Jim Orrick
I recently heard a radio message where the pastor was stressing to his congregation the importance of them having their priorities in the proper order, especially in respect to their giving. He said that it is often seen at funerals where hundreds, sometimes even thousands of dollars, are spent on flowers that remain beautiful for only a short time and then are removed to the cemetery dump.
I laughed aloud when he said, “DEAD NOSES CANNOT SMELL ROSES.”
My father passed away in January, 1972. The weather was extremely cold, and as we drove to the cemetery, freezing rain and sleet were falling. A few hours after the service, the family went back to the cemetery to visit the grave. Several hundred dollars of flowers were on his grave, frozen stiff and covered with ice. In a few days, they would be removed to the cemetery dump.
While we all want to express our sympathy to the survivors and to show respect to the deceased, surely better use can be made of the money God entrusts us with than to give it to “DEAD NOSES THAT CANNOT SMELL ROSES.”
For years, my wife and I have made it a practice that when a member of our church congregation died, we would send a memorial offering to BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS. You can read in the MISSION SHEETS that there are others who do this also. To invest in eternal souls is better than to spend money on flowers whose beauty will fade in only a few hours.
For several months Brother Parks has been stressing the importance of giving to the GENERAL FUND of BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS. Why not make it a practice to give a memorial offering in memory of your departed friends and loved ones rather than spend it on flowers?
Remember, “DEAD NOSES CANNOT SMELL ROSES!”
2012 Thanksgiving Offering
Please be making your plans right now to give as generous and liberal Thanksgiving Offering as the Lord enables you. The needs are great and on-going. Remember, when you support the General Fund of BFM, you are supplying the essential needs of 12 faithful missionary families to obey Jesus’ Great Commission to go into all the world, preach the Gospel, baptize those believers, establish New Testament Baptist churches, and teach those churches to believe and practice everything Jesus Christ has commanded us. You will not find anywhere on this planet more Scriptural, committed, and fruitful missionaries than those who serve in partnership with BFM.
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