Missionary Report for February 2003

Marion Reed

Tel. 972-272-7727 Fax 972-494-6959 Email cbmin1@juno.com

General Fund Beginning Balance ..................$ 3,511.64

General Fund Offerings Received .................$ 30,274.16

Paid out for salaries and related expenses......$ 20,058.09

General Fund Closing Balance ...................... $13,727.71

I want to thank the churches of Tri-County and Shelby County Associations for their extra effort in raising approx. $8,000 for state missions. I hope these will be an encouragement for others of our associations to do the same. I understand Mount Zion Association will be having a rally for state missions in April.

I also want to express my appreciation and thanks to our churches who send regular offerings each month. We are receiving monthly from about two thirds of our churches in the state. I would like to encourage those who are not supporting to please pray about including state missions in your budget. I know God will bless every effort put forth for His work.

I would like to see our state mission endeavor grow with God calling more missionaries, especially to work in our metropolitan areas.

Please pray for our Missionaries and their families as they continue their labors for our Lord. May their efforts mean the salvation of many souls for Christ.

Remember the second Sunday of April has been set as Resurrection Sunday to receive special offering for State Missions. We would even be glad to receive an offering taken on the third Sunday, which is Easter Sunday this year.

The Lord continues to bless the work here at Texas Avenue Baptist in Abilene. We are enjoying having some first time visitors as well as some return guests. We thank the Lord for each of these.

The first Sunday in February we enjoyed having Bro. Billy and Sis. Lila Pearson with us from Arkansas. Bro. Pearson brought the morning message. We were thankful to have them with us, as always.

Also during February we had another of our men in the Air Force leave us to be deployed overseas. His name is James Lindsey. Please be in prayer for him as he bravely serves our country.

Please continue to pray for Texas Avenue Baptist as we strive to serve our Lord. We are making some progress and we look forward to growing more in all areas of ministry in the future. To God be the glory!

As always, thanks to all of you who pray for and give financially to this work. You have a part in every person reached and every life changed. THANK YOU.

Average Attendance: Sunday School: 40 Morning Worship: 44

Evening Worship: 26 Mid-week Bible Study: 22

Total church offerings: $3,257.40

Gave to missions: $325.74

We have been exploring options for our permanent building. We’ve been doing some investigation into the possibility of a metal building. That’s just one option. We’re trying to remain open to any opportunity God presents us. He knows we need the building and He will provide it. Our building fund is slowly building back up after paying off the land. The youth are having a dinner theatre this month to raise funds to add to it. As most of you are aware, we have crushed asphalt on our parking area. For some reason, kids love to turn "doughnuts" on it. It’s starting to get in a mess. It would be nice to get the building going soon so we don’t have to spend more money on the present parking.

We have been blessed with the presence of Bro. Larry Huffman, his wife, Becky, and son, Brad in our services recently. They have just moved into the area from Louisiana. He will be blessing us with some good preaching along the way. Hopefully we can be blessings to them also. He was formerly pastor at Slidell, La.

We praise God for the encouragement He sends us through visitors. Continue to pray for us.

AVERAGE ATTENDANCE:

SUNDAY SCHOOL: 21 WORSHIP: 29 EVENING: 11 WEDNESDAY: 12

Door Knocking! We knocked on 222 doors this month. We had some good response. We were able to share the plan of salvation with many of these. Many of these were college students. We had two additions by statement. Bochy and Bob Gray. They are sure a blessing to our work. Bro. Bob is our pianist and sister Bochy and Bob can sing beautifully.

Deputation! I am going to be going as far as I can drive for Sunday evening services to present our work to other Churches. We want you to be a part of this work. If you are within 5 hours of Denton please allow me to visit your Church. Thank you.

Our Road Grader Has Arrived! We have our road grader in Denton now thanks to Corinth MBC In Sheridan, Arkansas. We thank you very much for hiring someone to haul our grader!

Our Preliminary Plat almost ready! Our engineer says that we should be submitting our preliminary plat plans for review next month.

Shaun Has Forsaken Me! Brother Shaun has left the work here in Denton. He has also left his wife. I am not sure where he is at. We think he is in Iowa. That is where his folks live. He will not return any of my calls. Please discontinue all support for him. Please pray that he might wake up and get back on track. Please pray for his wife, Sister Debby.

Our Attendance! We had an average of 41 for S.S. and 41 for Worship Service

Things are a little rough around here. My Mom had a heart attack and is currently in the ICU at Texoma Medical Center at Denison, TX. It doesn’t look too good. Because of her diabetes, the heart attack has affected her kidneys and they are starting to go. Please pray for us that God’s will be done and that we can all be strong to accept whatever it may be.

Sunday School - 8 Morning Worship - 9 Evening Worship 7 Wednesday - 10

We made 15 contacts this month.

May the peace of God be with you as this report reaches you. Our whole heart for Jesus theme went great and we are expecting greater things in March. The adults and children have challenged each other to see who can bring the most first time visitors. The loser has to give the winner a party. The adults say they are in it to win and so do the young people. There have been times that it seems the Mission is going to take off and then something happens and it slows down. We at the Mission look forward to the day we can support ourselves. The move to Midland is going to make a great difference. I am willing to say that in 1 ½ to 2 years we will be self-supporting and supporting other missions. I never really understood how hard it is to pastor people until now. Many have been taught bad but they have heard the same thing so long that it is hard to get that bad teaching out of them. When it comes to giving, they were not taught to give. They were taught that if you give money you are blessed by getting more money, but with the help of God, things are changing. Some were even taught that at offering time, it is time to take and not give.

I know with the help and prayers of God’s people a mighty church will be built.

I really ask your prayers for my loving wife. As most of you know the cancer has come back and it is too near her heart to operate at this time. She has good days and bad days. We are not yet sure what the doctor is going to try next but we are sure what Dr. Jesus can do. The problem with my liver is getting worse and my doctor insists that I see a bone specialist. I am not going to do anything until my wife’s doctor plans because we cannot both be down at the same time. There is one thing I am sure of and that is that we are on the right road because the devil would not be fighting us so hard. When you think about praying, please remember us. Love from Bro.Williams

AVERAGES IN FEBRUARY - Sunday School - 20 Morning Worship - 24 Evening Worship - 8

Mid week - 8