TEXAS STATE MISSIONS REPORT FOR JULY 2006
Beginning Balance - $253,397.65
Offerings - $19,586.02
Missionary Salaries - $17,200.00
Adm. Salaries/Expense - $2,855.26
Designated for LaMarque - $150.00
Ending Balance - $252,778.41
Three and one-half years ago I assumed the job of Secretary-Treasurer for the MBA of TX. My prayer at that time was that God would provide sufficient funds to take care of any Missionary He sent for support. I have done my best to keep every supporting church informed as to the condition of our available funds and what is going on with our Missionaries. In the beginning changes were made to cut costs of administration. The first year a salary of one-fourth of what Missionaries receive was paid to the Secretary-Treasurer. All office expenses except supplies were cut due to the fact that we use our home for the office work at no expense to the MBA. The past two and one-half years a salary equal to half time Missionary salary has been paid for the secretary/treasurer’s job. (Half salary was set at my request.) My wife and I have worked very diligently to do every thing possible to take good care of that which has been entrusted to our care for our Lord and His churches. We are thankful for the reserve that has been accumulated. We feel that a large percentage of that is the result of the changes in administrative costs and another large part because of a smaller number of missionaries requesting support during the first two years. Also, the churches have continued to faithfully support the work. I take no credit for being a good fund raiser. I do give God credit for leading His churches to faithfully provide our needs and to help us wisely use what He provides.
During this fiscal year we have received very little above expenses. So, please, before you begin to cut back your support to our MBA mission work won’t you consider praying for God to give us more Missionaries in this coming year and let us maintain an adequate balance that we can take care of the opportunities God will give us. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.”
KEVIN BOLDING
SUGAR LAND
Souls Saved 4 Baptisms 0 Letter 3 Statement 0
Sunday School 9 Morning Worship 14 Evening Worship 9
Total Church Offering $2,485.11 Gave To Missions $284.51 Paid For Rent $1,800.00
Though July was a challenging month, it was also very exciting for the members of the Emmanuel Mission. One the 15th we moved into our new building and had our first service there on the 16th. We are already seeing even more interest from the Community than we did before. We now have much better exposure and are in a much better location on the north side of Sugar Land. The new address for Emmanuel is 11134 Hwy 6 South, Ste. 202, Sugar Land, TX 77478. The cost of this new building $1,800.00 monthly. This is a good price for the location. We are now working on getting a new sign designed and ordered. My family and I have also moved this month to 2500 Woodland Park Drive, #G104, Houston, TX 77077. Our new telephone number is 832-486-9330. Please continue to pray for us as we try to reach this area for the Lord. If you would like a video about the work, please either call or e-mail me and I will be glad to send one. May God bless all who are concerned for the souls in the largest city in Texas, Houston.
LARRY CHALKER
IRVING
Souls Saved 3 Baptisms 1 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 30 Morning Worship 42 Evening Worship 14
Total Church Offering $4,235.75 Gave To Missions $300.00
We had a great time at Kids Kamp at Pine Springs with two young boys from our group being saved. Another highlight of the month was a lady of 71 accepting Christ and following Him in baptism. We continue to see new guests on a regular basis.
God is blessing us with much musical talent and we are so thankful for this. Please pray for God to continue to bless us as we see time coming to an end. We want to see souls saved and lives dedicated. Thank you and God bless you!
JOEL CLAY
LAMARQUE
Souls Saved 5 Baptisms 0 Letter 4 Statement 6
Sunday School 40 Morning Worship 145
Total Church Offering $15,012.13 Gave To Missions $1,501.21
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please Him for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Greetings to all of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. There were 5 saved through the efforts of the Mission during the month and 10 additions. What as awesome response to the gospel!. Thanks be to our Lord!
My family and I are just returning from a trip to Atlanta where I spent time on company business and a week of much needed rest and relaxation with my wife’s family. Thank God for vacations!
We are excited to be receiving the Mission Development funds for the third quarter of the year and should soon have a plan to move forward on building or purchasing a new facility for the Hopewell Mission. More information will follow.
Our three-day youth camp was a success and we had over 38 kids participating each day, along with 10-12 adults each day. We also had our annual back-to-school supply drive that purchased school supplies for 50 of our children at the mission. Praise God for the generosity of our members and their donating nearly $700.00 for this effort.
Hopewell Mission donated a pulpit lectern and a communion table to Bro. Kevin Bolding who is working in the Sugar Land area. We purchased a smaller pulpit and table because of limited space. We still have other items that some mission or church may be interested in. Bro. Carl Fitzgerald has requested a number of those items for someone but we still have an organ and some other items that may be useful.
Thanks to those who contribute regularly, as well as the one-time donations. Please continue to partner with us prayerfully and financially as we endeavor to reach our new goal of 100K. The Lord provides. As always, I am grateful to Mission Bend BC of Houston, Calvary MBC of Baytown, Florida Avenue BC of Beaumont and Baker Drive BC of Dickinson for your continued support. I want to thank you for making the Mission possible. Without you, and others like you, without the monetary gifts and prayers for this Mission, we could not do the work that we do for Christ. I say this with much love and an abundance of blessings.
LARRY FRYE
DENTON
Souls Saved 2 Baptisms 1 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 19 Morning Worship 22 Evening Worship 10
Total Church Offering $2,290.22 Gave To Missions $1,177.48 Paid for Rent/Property $2,000.00
We were blessed with a youth group of twenty from Southside MBC in Star City, AR. Bruce and Vicki Huddleston, the youth director and also some old friends of mine, Mike and Sandra Crawford and Bill and Tom Searcy were part of the group. They were such a blessing to us. They refinished our pews, painted a house, did a free car wash, did some weedeating on our property and some door knocking. On top of that, they gave us a love offering of $500.00. We sure enjoyed having them. They are some great kids!
The Hispanic congregation has voted to be an ABA Baptist Church. They came from an Independent Baptist Church. They agree totally with our doctrinal statement. They have sent a church letter to Texarkana to be listed in the next addition of the ABA minute book. We just praise the Lord for such a great thing as this. We have great fellowship with them. The name of their church is Eben-Ezer Baptist Church (Bautista Eben-Ezer) There are about 35-40 members. They have 7-8 strong families. They have been meeting for five years without a Pastor but now they have a fine Pastor and are ready to go to work. They are great soul winners. We went door knocking together and they led four Hispanics to the Lord and we led two English speakers. They are paying half our rent and half our utilities. They are self supporting. They are a great blessing to us. We ask that you pray for this special group and our labors together.
North Lake is in need of a church to take over the sponsorship of the work here in Denton. We are hoping for a Texas church because I am on Texas salary but if that is not the Lord’s will then we will do something different. The reason for this is that we could not agree with Longview MBC on when and how to proceed to build a building. They gave us permission to seek another sponsoring church. Eben-Ezer BC is also ready to go into this building program with us. We can have two churches utilizing the same facilities. If your church might be interested in this, please give me a call at 940-482-5929 or 940-453-2189. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much for all of your support and prayers. Please continue to pray for this work. Your prayers are very important to us.
MARVIN GARDNER
TYLER
Souls Saved 0 Baptisms 0 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 35 Morning Worship 49 Evening Worship 36
Total Church Offering $8,015.65 Gave To Missions $951.58 Paid On Property $3,083.00
Vanderbilt was blessed with a slight increase in attendance from June. However, our attendance is still down some due to the summer slump. I am grateful that school is going to be starting in a few days. We do expect to see our attendance and offerings increase after school starts. It is good to see church members enjoying the vacation season but it is better to see all of that over until next year. We have had some good prospects visiting with us recently and we are praying for them to unite with us to help establish another church in Tyler.
July was a busy month for Vanderbilt. We had 31 attend Pine Springs Baptist Camp this month. Everyone enjoyed the camp and I heard some good reports. I had the privilege to attend on Thursday night and it was good to see old friends again.
We also enjoyed our one day Vacation Bible School on July 29th. There were 53 in attendance for VBS. Everyone had a good time and the closing program was excellent.
Please continue to pray for our Mission and pray for me. I am preaching in all of our services now and I really do appreciate your prayers.
RICKEY PAYNE
WILLS POINT
Souls Saved 4 Baptisms 0 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 32 Morning Worship 45 Evening Worship 28
Total Church Offering $2,300.00 Gave To Missions $200.00 Paid On Property $500.00
Greetings from Meadowbrook. July has been an exciting month. We are blessed by new visitors nearly every Sunday. We were blessed to have 27 campers this year at Pine Springs Church Camp. Two of our youth made professions of faith. What a blessing it was to see our brothers and sisters at Camp.
Our organization is set for Saturday, August 5th at 10:00 a.m. We are praying for a mighty outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit on this special day. Please keep us in your prayers as this day rapidly approaches.
Once again, I would like to say thank you to all who support this work with their prayers and monthly gifts of love. May our Father in Heaven richly bless you and yours.
CRAIG RODGERS
GRAPEVINE
Souls Saved 4 Baptisms 0 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 43 Morning Worship 43
Total Church Offering $6,716.15 Gave To Missions $4,605.00 Paid For Rent $750.00
Cornerstone is celebrating our 2nd year as a Mission in the Grapevine community on August 13, 2006. God has blessed our efforts as He establishes a church in this community. We are excited about how the Lord continues to work in the hearts of those in Grapevine and neighboring towns.
We are in need of prayers and financial assistance for property acquisition. YOU CAN HELP. We are reaching new families every week and we strongly believe God has something big in store. Please keep Cornerstone in your prayers.
JULY HIGHLIGHTS
* VBS was an overwhelming success! We had over 45 in attendance each night with 70 attending the closing program. We had 5 children express a desire to accept Christ. I’ll be meeting with parents this week. Please keep this situation in your prayers.
- Three families expressed a desire to attend worship service.
- One of the three families joined us for the following Sunday service.
* We are continuing to search for property. We have been made aware of an older church building that has come on the market. It is a great facility that has been used as a warehouse. We are in prayer about the situation.
- The property will require a major remodel. It was used 25 years as a warehouse.
- Bro. Marion Reed has reviewed the property. Thank you, Bro. Reed, for all your assistance.
* We participated in a community program called FEED THE KIDS. We were assigned an apartment complex to minister to for the week. It was a great blessing. We had an opportunity to reach 48 children each day.
* We have four registered to go on the Medical Missions Interntional (MMI) missions trip in September. Please pray for Larry, Bego, Heather and Kevin. The passports have arrived. (Great news!) You can help support these young missionaries. We are in need of $4,200.00 of the $10.000.00 to fully support the trip.
* We are currently reviewing the lease agreement on the 7,000 sq. ft. property mentioned before. We have been notified that the owner has accepted our proposal which is one-third of the current asking rate. This is a wonderful opportunity.
At this time we are available to share the work with your church. Our biggest need is prayer as we seek a new meeting location and building funds.
W. S. TAYLOR
FORT WORTH
Souls Saved 1 Baptisms 0 Letter 0 Statement 0
Sunday School 22 Morning Worship 29 Evening Worship 17
Total Church Offering $4,424.00 Gave To Missions $300.00 Paid For Rent $1,600.00
July has been a month of promise and significant planning. Our core people, as a whole, have become very concerned about our teaching of children and youth. Bro. Robert Wallace (Youth Frameworks) was with us on a Sunday morning and evening, July 16th, to encourage us and lead in a two-hour discussion at the evening service. Since then, our people have worked in two planning meetings to implement what is shaping up to be a vigorous children’s work.
We have been approached by a builder about building, or helping to build, a building for our use for the Lord’s work here that could work good to get the job done. We have had previous experience with him and the relationship was good. Please pray about this.
In addition to the other offerings reported, $2,140.00 was received for the building fund during this month. We received also $1,232.16 from other churches and friends of Crossroads. God is so good to give us friends like all of you who support, pray and care.
We are keenly anticipating the return of two large families who summered somewhere else by the first week of August. That will help our report but more importantly, this has helped drive our concern for our teaching ministry.