Trip to FBC, Chalmette in New Orleans

I know that Christmas is upon us and it is hard to think of next year right now, but it's time to mark your calendar for our next mission trip!! We are planning a construction mission trip to FBC, Chalmette: February 8-13. We will be traveling and working with several churches from the Cape Girardeau Baptist Association. The cost will be $130 plus transportation and meals enroute. The deadline for committing to the trip is January 23, 2009...we will have an informational meeting on Thursday, January 29. We are not sure what the projects will be, but might entail: plumbing, electrical work, painting, general clean-up, sheetrock and food preparation. If you are interested or need more information please let me know!!

It's warmer in New Orleans! :)

Christmas 2008

It's amazing how folks responded the last couple of months in sharing God's love with others...we collected 106 Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes and 120 Thanksgiving Food Baskets! You can also read about the Kingdom Assignments reports that have been turned in at:

http://www.fruitlandkingdomassignment.blogspot.com/.


As we approach Christmas there are several other opportunities to share the love of Christ this season:


1. Men's Winter coats - The BSU took a Fall Break mission trip to "Shine in the Dark" ministry in Memphis and will be returning January 7-10. One of the primary ministries of Shine in the Dark is giving out clothes to the homeless, while sharing the Gospel and minstry tracts. They have asked FCC if we could collect winter coats, gloves, or hats. There will be a box in the church foyer.


2. Monticello Christmas - All 7 churches that share in the Monticello House ministry will come together to do a Christmas program and party. The party will be 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 14. In addition to this date, our church will be going back to Monticello on December 28th at 2:00 pm.


3. Shining Light Christmas - We will leave after the 10:30 service on Sunday, December 21 for the Shining Light Outreach Center in Charleston. Shining Light is an inner city ministry. The kids from Shining Light will do a Christmas Cantata...we will serve a meal and deliver a Christmas bag of candy. Items needed will be candy and dinner items. You can drop the candy off at the church and sign-up to help with the meal at the bulletin board at church.


4. We will be giving away some Christmas hams again this year. If you are interested in purchasing a ham for someone in need, the hams are $10. You can indicate on your envelope "Christmas Hams."


5. Give to Missions. Christmas time is a great time to give to missions. You can give to mission through FCC...just indicate it on your offering envelope. It is a Christmas gift for Jesus that is used to spread great tidings of great joy to all people! We will have a time for missions each worship service in December.


6. Support the FCC Mission Team to El Salvador - There are 15 going to El Salvador, December 26-January 1. You can support the team through prayer and financial contributions to the team. You can read more about this trip on a previous post on this blog.


7. Card for military men and women - We will have cards in the foyer for our military men and women who are family or friends of folks at FCC. If you know of any one that should be included, please let us know.

8. Christmas gifts for families - We have a few families that we are helping with Christmas this year...we are doing that primarily through our small groups.

Please pray for all these ministries!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Thanksgiving Baskets and Operation Christmas Child

What an exciting couple of months for missions in and through Fruitland Community Church!!! I wanted to make sure that you received the results from a couple of mission projects:

1. Operation Christmas Child - Our church gathered 106 Operation Christmas Child boxes for Franklin Graham's international ministry. With the struggling economy and all the other projects that we have had going on, this is an great total!! Praying with the kids during the children's sermon last Sunday as they held the shoeboxes, reminded me that we must continue praying for these boxes through the Christmas holiday. Pray that God will use these boxes of love to bring a child to Christ! If you want to read more about this awesome ministry, you can visit their website at: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC
2. Thanksgiving Baskets Give-a-way - It was a picture of cooperation. Our church working with the Cowboy Church, as well as the scouts and 4-H youth to gather, pack, and deliver approximately 120 baskets for Thanksgiving!! It was amazing to see 80 to 100 people working together...it was quite an operation! Over 3400 cans were collected by the scouts and brought to our church. Volunteers sorted the cans, packed the boxes and delivered them the same day. What is amazing is that we have more food than ever left0ver in our food pantry! God blessed us in an abundant way!!

Thanks for giving to the Lord! Happy Thanksgiving!

El Salvador Team Coming Together!

The FCC team to El Salvador is coming together...the next trip is December 26 - January 2 (Lord willing). We will be working with our mission church in Antiguo Cuscatlan and our ministry may include:

Vacation Bible School
Church Retreat with Baptism Service
Leading worship in two different churches
Outreach activities
Delivery of Video Projector and subsequent outreach movie night in the park

The team that is coming together looks like this so far:

The Parrys (2 to 4)
The McQuades (all 4)
Paul and Alana Davis
Travis Bell
Jason Dailey
Levi and Andy Bollinger
Karen Ward

A few more are praying about going. And several have committed to the next trip.

The trip is more expensive than usual, because of the rising fuel costs and the Christmas holidays. If you would like to contribute to the group you can give to FCC and write "El Salvador Scholarship" on the memo of the check.

Please be praying for this team as they begin training and planning. We will post more information in the future!!

If you subscribe to this blog...you will get future updates automatically!

For the Kingdom!

The Fruitland Kingdom Assignment!!

The Fruitland Kingdom Assignment is coming!! I've created a new blog to share stories of how folks invest $25 in the lives of people in our community. Follow along...

http://fruitlandkingdomassignment.blogspot.com/

For the Kingdom!!

Pastor Mike

Pastor's Conference

I returned from El Salvador and the Pastor's Conference this past Friday...it was a whirlwind week, but it was a blessing. Twenty eight pastors came to the retreat and we went over the 7 principles of Experiencing God together. It was awesome to be with these eager pastors. They seemed genuinely pleased with the experience, and are excited about the pastor's family retreat, November 10-11.

The pastor's will begin studying the Bible for credit beginning in February and they will be meeting in our mission church at Antiguo Cuscatlan! Folks have given to this project and we are buying tables and mattresses for the pastors.

Say a special prayer for the pastors as the learn and lead their congregations...thank you FCC for allowing me the privilege to attend this first pastor retreat and for being so supportive!

Let's also pray for FBC, Chalmette (our partner church) as they weather the coming hurricane...pray that the building that is being rebuilt will stand that it will be a lighthouse in the community...

For the Kingdom!

Experiencing God

Well I leave for El Salvador Pastors Retreat on Monday, August 25 and will return August 26. I will be traveling by myself to meet up with approximately 45 pastors! We will be going through Experiencing God together...I have 45 Spanish versions to give out to the pastors.

Last blog entry, I mentioned that we had financial needs for the pastors and we have had an amazing response...approximately $2300 has been given! Wow. Thanks to all have given. In addition to our FCC family giving, Trinity Baptist Church from St. Mary's has also sent a donation. The money that has come in will buy the Experiencing God books, give the pastors scholarships for the retreat, and purchase cots and mattresses for the pastors. We even have some left over to help us with the November retreat.Please pray for the following:

1. Travel mercies.
2. My daugther Bethany who begins college on Monday.
3. My wife Grace and daughter Tori who hold down the homefront.
4. An ability to communicate with encouragement to these eager pastors.
5. The churches that each pastor represents.

We hope to finalize our Dec/Jan church-wide trip next week.

I will write more when I return. Thanks for praying...thanks for giving!

For the Kingdom!

El Salvador Pastor Training

Who would have known what God had in store when our church agreed to partner and plant a church in El Salvador three years ago. Our church in Antiguo Cuscatlan is growing and learning what it means to be the bride of Christ. Their pastor, Rolando Rivas, is doing an awesome job of ministering to the congregation. But in God's timing and creative imagination, He had something larger for Rolando, our church, and the pastors of our local area.

Rolando is now coordinating training for Baptist pastors in El Salvador. Starting in January their will be accredited Bible classes that will meet in FCC's mission at Antiguo Cuscatlan! The pastor's will meet for a week at a time...sleep on cots...and study during the day. I believe there will be a class offered each quarter.

In the meantime, we are putting together some pastor conferences:

August 25-29, I will be traveling to El Salvador to teach 30 to 35 pastors, Experiencing God in three days...we will also have recreation and worship together.

In November, Dan Hale, FBC Millersville, will be leading a group to plan a retreat for pastors, families. There will be a track for pastors, spouses, and pastor's kids...plus family worship and recreation. This will be an awesome event!

You can help this effort with El Salvador Pastor Training in three areas:

1. Prayer--this is a God thing! We need prayer that God would raise up pastors in Missouri and in El Salvador to come together. We need prayer for the finances of this project.
2. Going--if you know of a pastor that you be interested in this project, please pass this on!
3. Finances - We are trying to raise additional funds for the project (this project is not in any church's budget). Here are some of the monies we are needing initially:

Mattresses $18.00 x 35 = $630

Tables $ 114.00 x 4= $456

Repair of pastor car = $400.00

Pastor scholarships = $500

Training Materials = $500

This does not include expenses for pastors in Missouri to travel to El Salvador. If you are interested in contributing above your normal tithes and offerings, you can send a check to Fruitland Community Church, 6040 Hwy 61 North, Jackson, MO 63755. Make sure you indicate "El Salvador Pastors" on the check memo or envelope.

If you have questions, you can e-mail me at pastormike@fruitlandcommunity.com or call me at 573-450-4134. It is awesome to partner together to build the Kingdom!

Dreaming for the Kingdom...

Kingdom Ripples

We have a church that loves to 'GO' in to all the world...Charleston, New Orleans, and El Salvador have all been destinations of FCC. We now have FCCers in China and Korea! It's awesome to be a 'sending' church...but part of being a missional church is also being a 'receiving' church. These past couple of weeks we have had teams come to us to do work in our Jerusalem.

Last week we had 6 students come to do a Sports Crusaders Soccer Camp. They did a great job and kids from our community heard about Jesus through the vehicle of soccer. We had two kids give their heart to Jesus at soccer camp!! A big thank you to all who housed them, fed them, and prayed for them!

This week we have seen two youth groups come to our church for a mission experience. Grace Community Church, Smythville, MO and Chattam Baptist Church, Illinois have brought 45 people to work in the Fruitland area! Wow! They have made some 'Kingdom Ripples.' They have done some landscaping at the church, worked in Abby Williams yard, painted at Crosstown Baptist Church, did a free car wash, gave away 240 free sodas, and deliverered around 700 bags of information about our church to homes in our area. Having groups like this come in to work is hard work! I love hosting them, because they do make a splash for the Kingdom and I am so eager to have young folks have a good missions' experience. The youth ministers from these groups are both my former students from BSU days at Southeast (Mark Oberhauser and Neil Sanders). It has been rewarding to see how God has shaped them for ministry.

By the way, we have another group coming July 28-30 from Concord Baptist Church. We will share more about this group in our church newsletter.

It is awesome to be a 'sending' and 'receiving' missional church.

For the Kingdom!

Pastor Mike

Update on Friends

Well this week's blog, I thought I would give an update on some of our FCC friends...

1. Luke Mann is safely on his short term mission trip to Ireland. You can actually read about their work and keep up with his team by going the their Mission 2008 Blog at www.TnTTeams.org. There will be pictures and regular updates on Luke's trip. Please pray for him.
2. This past week I was able to chat with Ricky Nyhoff (China) and Callie Fleming (Korea). It was so good to hear that they are doing well. Ricky was no where near the earthquake and China and is safe. They are both coming home this summer and we will be able to hear about their work on Sunday morning this summer. Ricky will be going back in August for another year of teaching in China. Please continue to pray for these two as well as Nick Centanni (Korea).
3. Steven Curtis Chapman lost his five year old adopted daughter to a tragic accident this week. Although I don't personally know Steven, he's been my friend and encourager for along time with his music. I hurt for him and his family, but am so grateful that there are outlets to express support, and build the Kingdom! I wanted to share this site with you and you can do as the Lord leads you: http://members.shaohannahshope.org/site/PageServer

May you stay focused on the Kingdom: holding the ropes for others, and looking for ways to get involved yourself.

Have a great weekend!

Pastor Mike

Cyclones and Earthquakes

Can you make a difference? It is overwhelming to think about nearly 100,000 dead in Myanmar due to a cyclone and 18,000 dead in China due to an earthquake. That's a lot of people!! More are displaced and in need of medical attention and their are new opportunities for sharing the gospel. I was reading a secular source about how US aid is finally beginning to get through:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24590824

and then, it was good to read about Franklin Graham's effort through Samaritan's Purse. You can get a report and see pictures at:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

Then I read about what Southern Baptists are doing at this site:

http://www.baptistglobalresponse.com/main/

When we are overwhelmed by the world's needs we tend to shut down because we just really don't believe we can make a difference, or we get cynical because we aren't sure the help will actually get there (a legitimate concern). I'm reminded of an old story and I found a version of it on the internet:

Two men were walking toward each other on an otherwise deserted beach. One man was in his early 20s, the other obviously much older. The smooth damp sand was littered with starfish, washed onto the land during high tide. They were stranded there when the tide ebbed. Thousands of starfish were doomed to die in the warm morning sun. The younger man watched the older man pick up starfish one at a time and toss them back into the ocean, giving them a chance to survive. The young man thought, “Why is he doing that? How foolish. He can’t save them all.” As they came near one another, the younger one felt compelled to point out to the older man the futility in his action. “You know,” he said, “you can’t save them all. Most of them will die here on the sand. What you are doing really won’t make any difference.” The older man studied the young man for a moment. Then he bent down, picked up a starfish and tossed it into the water. He smiled at the young man and said, “It made a difference to that one.” Then he walked on, picking up starfish and tossing them back into the sea.

We can make a difference with one, two or more! If you would like to give to Myanmar relief you can give to one of the agencies listed in this blog or give through our church and we will do our best to give in the best channel possible to help as many people as possible. If you give through FCC, make sure you indicate "Myanmar Relief" on the check.

We can make a difference!

Luke Mann's Opportunity

I recently received a letter from one of our students about a summer missions opportunity. Here's Luke Mann's letter.

"Dear FCC,

Well, I'm back at Emmaus finishing up a Bachelor's degree in Biblical studies. Also this year, I am attending Northeast Iowa Community College for an Asociate of Arts in Business. This is the first year of a cooperative effort between the two colleges. It's a bit more work commuting and such, but ultimately, I think it will be worth it.

This summer, I have an opportunity to go to Ireland fo ra missions trip. I would be arriving May 19th and returning June 12th. We will meet at an estate on the coast and complete 3-4 days of training. Then, we will break up into teams of 8 and spend 14 plus days in different cities doing door-to-door witnessing, street evangelism, kid's clubs, and work with the local assemblies. The last few days are going to be spent touring a few famous spots around Dublin.

Please consider teaming with me through the support of both prayer and finances. Please pray that the hearts of the Irish people we come into contact with will be malleable, pray that as a team we will have unity, and that as individuals we will have the necessary courage. The cost of the trip will be around $1400 plus the cost of a plane ticket. If you want to help financially, checks can be made out to me and mailed to:

Luke Mann
c/0 Emmaus Bible College
2570 Asbury Road
Dubuque, IA 52201

Funds must be postmarked by April 19th at the lates. Thanks so much for your support in this adventure with the Gospel!

Sincerely,

Luke Mann"

Luke if you are reading this--we expect a few pictures!! :)

God continues to give us mission opportunities. Don't forget that the deadline for registration for the Chilton Builders trip to Carlinville, is March 30. The deadline for the June trip to El Salvador is April 6. There are more details in my previous blog.

For the Kingdom!

Pastor Mike

Comings and Goings

It seems like someone is either coming or going...actually it is more correct to say someone is coming and someone is going...

They New Orleans team came back this past Friday/Saturday and they had a great trip...Karen Ward returns from El Salvador tomorrow (March 14)...our students left for a spring break mission trip this week...everybody is coming and going! I love it! Our next two scheduled church mission trips are:

• El Salvador - June 3-10. We will be doing a church-wide retreat/revival as well as evangelism in the community and building relationships with our church partners in Antiguo Cuscatlan....April 6 is the deadline for signing up for this trip. The approximate cost of this trip is $1000 and we will begin training in April. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested. So far we have 4 or 5 who have expressed going.
• Chilton Baptist Builders - June 15-20. We will be going to Carlinville, Illinois to work with the Baptist church there...folks from all over the country join this group and there could be as many as 100 raise this church building! By the way...this is Alana Beasley's mom's church! They would like to have the $100 registration fee by March 30! I have copies of the application in the office.

There is a chance that Rolando and Alexandra from El Salvador will be here in April to visit us! I've very excited and will keep you posted!

Please be praying for our Easter service and for our John 3:16 emphasis...that God will draw more souls into the Kingdom...

For the Kingdom!

Pastor Mike

New Orleans, El Salvador, John 3:16

As always, there is a lot going on in the way of missions this week...

• New Orleans. We have a team of 15 down in New Orleans helping rebuild FBC, Chalmette from the Katrina disaster...isn't amazing how long ago Katrina hit, yet the work continues. It takes commitment to see the job done, and it is my hope that we can stay with Chalmette, until the building is done...then we can plan some outreach trips for the church. I talked with the project coordinator down there and our team has been painting beds, running electrical and plumbing, finishing some siding up high, and putting some finishing touches on the church's annex. They are working hard! Please remember to pray for them this week.

• El Salvador. Karen Ward is in El Salvador and will return March 14. This will be an extremely difficult trip for Karen as she will be packing up her things and saying 'see you later' to our brothers and sisters in Christ in El Salvador. Her official missionary position is closing there because of family obligations, but her ministry through our church and even with El Salvador will continue...and our partnership with Antiguo Cuscatlan is continuing...our next trip is scheduled for June 3-10. If you are interested in going please let me know. Take some extra time this week to pray for Karen Ward please.

• John 3:16. I'm excited about spending 4 weeks beginning on Easter to share the good news about the most famous verse in the Bible. We will start off the empasis with a special prayer service on 3.16 (March 16), we will have evangelistic booklets for our friends, invitations for Easter, and have over 24 to 36 testimonies shared those four weeks in 8:00 worship, 10:30 worship, youth Sunday School, and in children's church. I am really excited to hear many of our folks how Christ has changed their lives. Please start praying for this outreach emphasis...I'll be sharing more later.

For the Kingdom!

Pastor Mike

Here I am, send me

Well, I drove to work and was listening to KHis radio and heard my favorite artist...Keith Green. They played the song: Here I am, send me...Here is a portion of the lyrics:

Oh Lord, there's just so much to be done.
Oh Lord, so many souls to be won,
Oh Lord, this world is falling apart,
Dying for love from a broken heart.

Here am I, send me, though there's really not that much I can do.
What I have seems so small, but I want to give it all to you.

There is so much to be done, and what we have to offer seems small...but He wants it. He wants to use it for a lost and dying world! What is going on in missions this week...there is so much to be done:

• The chainsaw crews are back and they will probably be back next week! They have helped clear debris from over 70 homes. They need help 'dragging.' If you are interested come to the church each morning around 8:00 am.

• We have a mission team going to New Orleans to do construction work on FBC, Chalmette, on Sunday. Here is the roster of folks that you can pray for: Scott and Mary Bechtold - FCC; Dan Dickerson - Millersville; Guy Foster -Clarkton; Ron and Jo Ann Hahs; Travis, Melissa, and Zach Hoehne - FCC; Wayne Kiester - Millersville; Mark and Billie Kiester - FCC; Mel Riehn - Millersville; Jaunita Van Dyke - Bethany; Charlene Williams - FCC. Here is Chalmette's website: http://www.fbcchalmette.org/

• Please pray for Karen Ward as she travels to El Salvador March 3-14, as she brings closure to her missionary experience there.

• One of our very own FCC students has been in China. If you would like to get missionary updates from Ricky Nyhoff in China, send him an e-mail at rnyhoff@gmail.com and he will add you to his list!

Next week I hope to write about our John 3:16 experience for Easter...For the Kingdom!

Mike

Chainsaw Ministry

Hey FCC,

What a week!! Our building has been the hub of chainsaw ministry! Disaster chainsaw teams have been in and out of our church ministering in Cape, Jackson, and Fruitland. Here is a summary of the work they have done so far:

"Cape Girardeau County requested help from The Southern Baptist to help coordinateall chainsaw work in the effected areas. A hotline was set up through the CapeGirardeau County EOC for people to call requesting help with debris. The hotline,operated (by Southern Baptist) on Saturday, Februay 16th (8am - 5pm), Sunday,February 17th (1-5pm), and Monday, February 18th (8am - 5pm). Chainsaw crews began working on Monday, February 18th (with the exception of theLynwood Unit who had already responded and completed 22 jobs by then). Volunteer workers list for hotline and chainsaw units: (This list does not includethe Lynwood group.)

Saturday, February 16th = 5 workers
Sunday, February 17th = 11
Monday, February 18th = 15
Tuesday, February 19th = 20
Wednesday, February 20th = 23
Total volunteer days = 74
Total jobs cleared 2/15 - 2/20 (counting Lynwood's group) = 64
Work order requests 201 (and still some coming in)
Jobs completed by others = 17
The chainsaw units responding are Mt Salem / Wyaconda Association, JeffersonAssociation, Lynwood Baptist."

Wow! That's a lot of work for three days...I know of one salvation and I've been given a name of someone who is searching that I will be visiting tomorrow. All because of a chainsaw and folks willing to serve! The chainsaw crews will be back next week and they need folks to 'drag' limbs! If you would like to help 'drag,' just show up at FCC at 7:00 am.

Let's keep being used of God to spread the Good News of His love!

Hey FCC,

Here is our first entry in our new mission blog!! I'm excited that we can use this blog to share our mission opportunities as well as post our mission journeys. We have students in China and Korea...a missionary in El Salvador...and on-going mission efforts. You can check here often to read and pray! Here are some upcoming opportunities for extending the Kingdom through the Acts 1: 8 Challenge!!

February 23 we are going to Bethlehem Baptist Church to work on their new building in Crosstown. You may remember that their church building was destroyed by a tornado. They are in the sheetrock phase. We'll be meeting at the church at 7:30 am.March 2-7 we are going to

New Orleans to work with FBC, Chalmette in the construction of their new building. Please send an e-mail to pastormike@fruitlandcommunity.com if you are interested in going.There will be an

Associational Acts 1:8 Conference on April 25. Details to be realized soon.We will be finalizing our date for our El Salvador trip very soon...it will probably be the 2nd or 3rd week of June. Please e-mail me if you are interested: pastormike@fruitlandcommunity.com and get your passport ASAP!!

May the Lord lead and direct you as you get involved in extending God's Kingdom to the world!

Pastor Mike