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The Mobile Baptist
September - November 2021
Volume 24 Issue 3
MBA Office Closings:
October 4 - day after Annual Missions Celebration
November 11 - Veterans Day
November 25 - Thanksgiving Day
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Stay informed of news and events within the MBA by clicking here and signing up for the weekly email News Alerts.
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Annual Church Profiles/Reports (ACPs) were mailed to church mailing addresses July 29, 2021. Please look for your church's ACP and make sure the Church Clerk gets the packet. Completed ACPs are due September 7. This profile of your church is a very important task for your church statistics and leadership personnel to be properly documented for the Association, Alabama Baptist State Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention. If you have any questions, please contact the MBA office. Watch this video from Dr. Rick Lance about the importance of the ACP and why we do it. https://vimeo.com/282117957
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The state and the association would like for Mobile County (and all Alabama) churches to be represented in the Lifeway National VBS report! This report is not just for churches using Lifeway curriculum – it’s for all churches, whatever their material choice.
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Here is a link where your church can find the 2021 church report:
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Reminder: the report this year is online only, and it is sent to Lifeway, not the State Board of Missions.
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For those living in Louisiana and affected by Hurricane Ida, visit louisianabaptists.org for an online link to request help. There is a SBC Disaster Relief Command Center in Belle Chase, LA.
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Get a specific list of what they need before collecting and hauling supplies. That list changes daily. Gift cards are the most economical and efficient means to help. This site provides a needs list and drop off locations: louisianabaptists.org/updates.
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Please consider an offering towards MBA Disaster Relief. Your giving provides the funds for supplies and preparation to respond to disasters in our area; giving volunteers opportunities to share the love of Jesus!
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International Ministries News and Events
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WALK FOR BIBLES AND INTERNATIONAL MINISTRIES
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2021
Medal of Honor Park
1711 Hillcrest Road, Mobile
9:00 a.m. – Noon
Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.
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Your prayer support and financial gifts are vital to the ministry of the MBA International Churches, language church planting, ministry to internationals living in Moible County, and out-reach to seafarers.
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Looking back over 2020, we have seen God’s faithfulness in the ministry at the port. More than 1,600 ships came to Mobile in 2020. Despite the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, International Ministries visited 524 ships, gave 521 English New Testament and tract packets, and 627 International language Bibles (Tagalog – Filipino, Russian, Ukrainian, Chinese, and others such as Hindi, Turkish, Polish, Burmese) to Seafarers.
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Language Bibles cost an average $10 – $15, not to mention the cost of gasoline necessary to deliver these Bibles.
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International Christmas Celebration
Saturday, December 4, 2021
Moffett Road Baptist Church Gym
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
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Christmas Gifts for Seafarers
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December 2020, travel gift packs were given to seafarers on 60 different ships, more than 1,260 gifts. This year we want to do the same, but the goal is to bless seafarers on over 80 ships with Christmas gifts (about 1,680 gifts). The estimated cost of each gift is $10.
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The average cargo/container/tanker has a crew of 21-23 seafarers. We encourage churches and/or small groups to adopt one or more ships this year ($210-$230 per ship). See below where you can easily donate online. International Ministries staff will purchase, prepare, and distribute the Seafarer Christmas gifts from the middle of November through the end of December.
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Cooperative missions is an important Southern Baptist distinctive that is often not understood in our pews. Please invite one of the MBA staff to set up a display in your church, or to speak anytime during the year.
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The Impact Mobile offering provides an opportunity for churches that may not have financially supported cooperative missions in their Jerusalem as much as they would have liked. It also assists those churches who use regular special offerings as their primary means to raise missions support. We are grateful for the churches that provide a portion of their missions tithe through the budget, and understand those churches may choose not to promote this offering. This is an “above the tithe” missions offering to assist the ministries and emphases of the MBA to make an eternal difference in Mobile County. Your sacrificial missions tithes allow us to provide MBA sponsored trainings and consultations to dozens of pastors, staff and members about every aspect of growing, maintaining and managing a church. Please consider participating in the “Impact Mobile Associational Missions Offering.”
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Don't miss the 59th annual conference of the Alabama Association of Baptist Secretaries (AABS). Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 conference was postponed until 2022. This 3 night and 3 day conference is packed full of classes to help you on the job as well as classes to lift your spirits. There is great fellowship with like minded people from across Alabama. Visit alabamabaptistsecretaries.com or facebook.com/1AABS for all the details.
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The MBA and Dr. Thomas Wright Welcomes Dr. David Gill as Interim Part-Time Church Development Director
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The Mobile Baptist Association are grateful to announce Dr. David B. Gill began in June serving as Interim, part-time Church Development Director. He will be in the MBA office on Monday afternoons and available other times for consulting. He serves as senior pastor at FBC Theodore and we appreciate the church sharing him with us during this season.
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Dr Gill brings 40 years’ experience in ministry including 21 years as senior pastor. He demonstrates strengths in mentoring and equipping individual leaders to grow spiritually and edify others to strengthen their churches. His previous role as an Area Representative for the Office of Sunday School and Discipleship Training through the Alabama State Board of Missions, serves as a foundation to provide consultation and training for multiple churches. Areas of consultation and training include programs such as VBS, Sunday School, Bible Drill, Men’s Ministry, and Senior Adults.
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His Doctorate of Ministry, reviewed various revitalization plans and church plant strategies. His expertise in helping the churches and the busy ministers connect with their people through technology results in stronger relationships for the church. Healthier churches build stronger associations.
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Dr. Gill has been married 34 years to Joann S. Gill, Registered Nurse at Mobile Infirmary Outpatient Heart Cath Lab. They have 8 children in which 3 teenagers live at home. They also have 4 grandchildren.
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2021 Baptist Women's World Day of Prayer
featuring special guest "Esther" a converted Muslim
Thursday, November 4, 2021
10:00 a.m.
9:30 a.m. Registration & Refreshments
Spring Hill Baptist Church
(Recreation and Activities Building
across the street from the church building)
2 South McGregor Avenue
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Camp Whispering Pines is available for all your groups, small and large. Contact us today at 251-866-7868.
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Girls Winter Weekend
Friday Night, November 5 & Saturday, November 6, 2021
for ALL girls in grades 1-6
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Come enjoy a special time with just the girls and have fun learning about missions and how God wants us to serve others.
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More details to come soon.
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This Camp Relief Fund is essential for the camp to survive. CWP will run out of money next month. If your church has not yet participated in the Covid related Relief Fund, please do so now.
THANK YOU to all who have given thus far.
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Friends of Baptist Campus Ministries
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Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) exists to worship and serve Jesus Christ as we reach, grow and send collegians for Him.
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If you have students, family members or church friends that are planning to attend any college or university in Mobile in the Fall as freshmen or transfer students please share this image with them and have them connect with BCM through our New Student Portal here:
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Every student who submits their contact information will receive some information about BCM and local churches, get connected to some upperclassmen, and be entered for a chance to win one of four $50 gift cards.
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Thank you for helping us reach, grow and send collegians with the good news of Jesus Christ!
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BCM also exists to support, encourage, and equip each of our Mobile Baptist Association churches to reach collegians in their sphere of influence. Below are several ways that you can connect with new students to Mobile County, and to develop ministries to minister to them and your current collegians. We are here to offer any help you may need to help your church connect with the collegians in your sphere of influence. Contact us today if you have questions or would like for us to consult with you and your team.
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September-November 2021 Wright Word
Thomas Wright, Associational Missionary
Emphasizing Biblical Prayer, Evangelistic Ministries, Church Development, Church Planting, Partnership Missions
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Confidence in Christ
The Apostle Paul penned the great promise of Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Amp.).
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These verses provide confidence in Christ for each believer. None of those things can separate us from Christ, so do not let the enemy cause you to worry and fret about less important things. Only our sin, our disobedience, has that terrible consequence. The disobedience to Biblical truth impacts our churches and our country. We have the incredible privilege to bring an eternal difference to the people the Lord brings to us. Our culture will change one person at a time. Our confidence is in Christ no matter what comes.
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EMERGENCY CWP Relief Fund to Offset Crippling Pandemic Losses
Thank you to the 24 churches and 44 individuals that helped raise $48,205 to keep CWP open. Please pass the word to individuals who have been blessed by CWP and want to see the ministry continue. Rejoice with us for the 32 known registered decisions made this summer.
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Please help encourage the other 90 MBA churches who have not yet responded. The goal of $120,000 is needed to bring in a new director and provide for ministry expenses. We currently anticipate enough funding to remain open until the end of December 2021. We are encouraged with the summer attendance, but we are still under required summer income. CWP already would have closed without a PPP loan and MBA underwriting from savings. Our savings accounts are dangerously depleted.
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We still do not have sufficient income to hire a new full-time director. Beverly continues as office manager and Dino Danzey continues as part-time interim director. These changes mean we desperately need volunteers and teams to do yard work, cleaning, maintenance and repair. Beverly and Dino have a punch list of needs and opportunities for every skill level.
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Camp Whispering Pines is open for retreats, class meetings and worship options. The staff have done a heroic job including new sanitizing precautions. Again, we have to recover the lost income to survive.
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Your one-stop source for virtual training in Alabama Baptist life.
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Please review the year to date receipts report. Our ministries thrive through the sacrificial support of so many churches. Many church members are surprised to learn their church provides no, or minimal support, to the Cooperative Program nor the MBA.
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Mobile Baptist Association Emphasizing:
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