This last Tuesday, genuine "material evidence" was found for the ark. You need to check this out. It's for real. Go to:
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=local_news&month=january2008&file=local_news2008011955044.xml
Just copy this and paste it in your web browser.
It was very interesting to see this come out of the Qatar Peninsular paper.
David
Friday, February 22, 2008
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Ministry News Alert for David P Smith/XSTREAM GM
Landmark Missionary Baptist Church
391 Arthur Rd. Martinez, CA. 94553-1401
Phone (925) 228-2580 Fax (925) 335-9453
Web Site http://www.lmbcmartinez.org
Federal Tax ID 68-0432672
February 12, 2008
Dearest Brethren,
It is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I write this letter informing you that Bro David Smith is no longer our church planter. Joy, because I just returned from Angleton, Texas where we planted a new church with 108 people going into the organization, and sadness because Bro.Smith will no longer be our missionary as Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship in Angleton has called him as their pastor.
Bro and Sis Smith have served the Lord as missionary church planters through our church for the last 8 years and we have developed a great, loving relationship with them. I cannot speak highly enough of Bro. David and Sis. Alice. They are truly friends.
Bro Smith will continue to go where the Lord opens doors through XSTREAM Global Missions, opening new fields and taking teaching teams with him while pastoring the new church. I will continue to serve on the Board of Directors for XSTREAM and do all I can to help. I would also like to ask that the churches that have been so faithfully supporting Bro and Sis Smith to redirect their salary support to the XSTREAM Global Missions ministry for the travel fund. By doing this you will greatly aid in helping Bro. David to plant new churches world-wide. XSTREAM Global Missions will continue as a viable ministry with Bro David leading it under Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at (925) 228-2580. I am convinced that God has some great things in store for the Smiths and Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship. They are a great, loving and supportive church and I look forward to a long, active relationship with them.
Please begin sending your offerings for the Smiths and XSTREAM to Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship, PO Box 1356, Angleton, TX 77516-1356. Thank you very much.
Yours for the Cause of Christ,
Pastor Bill Gurnett
Sponsors of:
Rod Shaull, Missionary to Clyde, Ohio
Dennis & Charlotte Carrell, Missionaries to Mongolia
Gary & Charlene Max, Missionaries to New Zealand
391 Arthur Rd. Martinez, CA. 94553-1401
Phone (925) 228-2580 Fax (925) 335-9453
Web Site http://www.lmbcmartinez.org
Federal Tax ID 68-0432672
February 12, 2008
Dearest Brethren,
It is with a mixture of joy and sadness that I write this letter informing you that Bro David Smith is no longer our church planter. Joy, because I just returned from Angleton, Texas where we planted a new church with 108 people going into the organization, and sadness because Bro.Smith will no longer be our missionary as Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship in Angleton has called him as their pastor.
Bro and Sis Smith have served the Lord as missionary church planters through our church for the last 8 years and we have developed a great, loving relationship with them. I cannot speak highly enough of Bro. David and Sis. Alice. They are truly friends.
Bro Smith will continue to go where the Lord opens doors through XSTREAM Global Missions, opening new fields and taking teaching teams with him while pastoring the new church. I will continue to serve on the Board of Directors for XSTREAM and do all I can to help. I would also like to ask that the churches that have been so faithfully supporting Bro and Sis Smith to redirect their salary support to the XSTREAM Global Missions ministry for the travel fund. By doing this you will greatly aid in helping Bro. David to plant new churches world-wide. XSTREAM Global Missions will continue as a viable ministry with Bro David leading it under Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at (925) 228-2580. I am convinced that God has some great things in store for the Smiths and Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship. They are a great, loving and supportive church and I look forward to a long, active relationship with them.
Please begin sending your offerings for the Smiths and XSTREAM to Greater Heights Baptist Fellowship, PO Box 1356, Angleton, TX 77516-1356. Thank you very much.
Yours for the Cause of Christ,
Pastor Bill Gurnett
Sponsors of:
Rod Shaull, Missionary to Clyde, Ohio
Dennis & Charlotte Carrell, Missionaries to Mongolia
Gary & Charlene Max, Missionaries to New Zealand
Friday, February 8, 2008
ABA Disaster Relief Doing A Great Work
May I just take a few lines to say that Marvin Jackson and the ABA Disaster Relief group has done an amazing work. Marvin doesn't miss a beat. He and his team are right on with where the need is. They have organized well and implement their resources to the limit. We need to really get behind this ministry and support it. It will be an excellent means by which to show hurting people that we love them and care for them. Let it be a means to win the lost and show them Jesus really cares.
May God multiply your ministry Bro Marvin.
May God multiply your ministry Bro Marvin.
More Souls Saved Should Mean More Churches
It was recently reported that over 13,000 souls have been saved in the collective work of our missionaries. This is worth shouting about!
However, without dampening the spirit of this wonderful report, we must ask the question, "why have there only been 14 new works started in six months on the foreign field and only 6 new works on the home front so far?" There is something very ominous about this. Now, I do understand that you can't get everybody baptized that gets saved, and everybody that gets baptized doesn't necessarily end up in church or part of a new church. But if only half of these people ended up in church or a new church there would have been significant church increase and new works being started and it would have been widely reported. But there hasn't been that I can tell. What's going on? Can someone answer my question? Maybe I'm missing something.
With 13,000 plus having been saved we should have heard of dozens if not hundreds of new churches being started. Someone enlighten me?
However, without dampening the spirit of this wonderful report, we must ask the question, "why have there only been 14 new works started in six months on the foreign field and only 6 new works on the home front so far?" There is something very ominous about this. Now, I do understand that you can't get everybody baptized that gets saved, and everybody that gets baptized doesn't necessarily end up in church or part of a new church. But if only half of these people ended up in church or a new church there would have been significant church increase and new works being started and it would have been widely reported. But there hasn't been that I can tell. What's going on? Can someone answer my question? Maybe I'm missing something.
With 13,000 plus having been saved we should have heard of dozens if not hundreds of new churches being started. Someone enlighten me?
Ministry Networking
Networking defined: a group, system, etc. of interconnected or cooperating individuals. (Websters dict.)
Ministry Networking defined would be: multiple ministries having the same belief system with the Great Commission as their vision, working together in ministry in order to promote the same cause (Great Commission) without compromising their particular and individual core values and at the same time maintaining their distinctivenes in ministry.
Ministry Networking defined in the ABA: Multiple ministries having the same belief systems with the Great Commission as their vision, working independently of each other.
Perhaps it is time to "consider the locust". They have no king, Jesus said, and yet they move together in one body to achieve their one aim: devour everything in sight! What a concept!
I believe that if all of the different ministries within the ABA could network together with each other that there could be significantly more spiritual results. Let me explain: Let's say that ABA leadership wanted to see more churches/missions started next year and so they called upon our church planting ministries and said will you help us train our missionaries, both interstate and foreign? Then suppose all of those ministries networked together and put a training program together for all of the missionaries. Then let's suppose there were some serious weather tragedies in certain areas of the country (like lately) and the ABA disaster relief ministry invited other ministries to come in and on purpose be part of starting new churches in those areas. Then consider mobilizing MBSF groups to come together and do major cleanup in those devastated areas. The possibilities are limitless if we could catch the vision for ministry networking. There may already be some networking but it needs to expand into an organized effort.
Ministry networking; it works! Why not try it?
Ministry Networking defined would be: multiple ministries having the same belief system with the Great Commission as their vision, working together in ministry in order to promote the same cause (Great Commission) without compromising their particular and individual core values and at the same time maintaining their distinctivenes in ministry.
Ministry Networking defined in the ABA: Multiple ministries having the same belief systems with the Great Commission as their vision, working independently of each other.
Perhaps it is time to "consider the locust". They have no king, Jesus said, and yet they move together in one body to achieve their one aim: devour everything in sight! What a concept!
I believe that if all of the different ministries within the ABA could network together with each other that there could be significantly more spiritual results. Let me explain: Let's say that ABA leadership wanted to see more churches/missions started next year and so they called upon our church planting ministries and said will you help us train our missionaries, both interstate and foreign? Then suppose all of those ministries networked together and put a training program together for all of the missionaries. Then let's suppose there were some serious weather tragedies in certain areas of the country (like lately) and the ABA disaster relief ministry invited other ministries to come in and on purpose be part of starting new churches in those areas. Then consider mobilizing MBSF groups to come together and do major cleanup in those devastated areas. The possibilities are limitless if we could catch the vision for ministry networking. There may already be some networking but it needs to expand into an organized effort.
Ministry networking; it works! Why not try it?
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Readiness, Recruitment, Mentoring, Multiplication
Readiness implies that we are ready for the task ahead. The task? Church planting. Are we ready to start new churches? What does it take to get ready? It takes a desire first and foremost. Without desire there is no effort. Do we have the desire? After desire sets in there will be an effort to get ready. That's a worthy work all by itself.
Recruitment implies that while we are getting ready we need to be recruiting laborers. That means actively seeking, and engaging those who will labor in church planting. Praying above everything else that the Lord of the harvest will send those laborers out to start churches.
Mentoring implies that those who are ready and recruited are in need of equipping, encouragement, and one on one lifting up in the work of church planting.
Multiplication implies that those recruited were ready and with great encouragmenet multiplied themselves in making new disciples and planting new churches.
Recruitment implies that while we are getting ready we need to be recruiting laborers. That means actively seeking, and engaging those who will labor in church planting. Praying above everything else that the Lord of the harvest will send those laborers out to start churches.
Mentoring implies that those who are ready and recruited are in need of equipping, encouragement, and one on one lifting up in the work of church planting.
Multiplication implies that those recruited were ready and with great encouragmenet multiplied themselves in making new disciples and planting new churches.
Church Planting a Real Concern for the ABA
Church Planting/Mission Starting is apparently a much bigger challenge than what one would think in our ABA fellowship.
When I began to reasearch the beginning of new works it soon became apparent that it would not be easy. It had never been done before. No one in Texarkana was keeping a record. No one to this day knows exactly how many new churches/missions have been started, ever! And yet we are meeting together every year to put on new missionaries.
I have learned that almost every new salaried US interstate missionary that was put on at the ABA messenger meeting last year has taken over an existing mission work and not started a new work. This ought to cause us great concern. I am glad that the existing works are being tended to but this is not church/mission planting, it is maintenance. What will it be like in 10 years? Not pretty.
It has also caused me real concern, that no one knows how many churches or missions have closed their doors in the past year. Researching that info would be a challenge in and of itself.
We can do better than this.
David
When I began to reasearch the beginning of new works it soon became apparent that it would not be easy. It had never been done before. No one in Texarkana was keeping a record. No one to this day knows exactly how many new churches/missions have been started, ever! And yet we are meeting together every year to put on new missionaries.
I have learned that almost every new salaried US interstate missionary that was put on at the ABA messenger meeting last year has taken over an existing mission work and not started a new work. This ought to cause us great concern. I am glad that the existing works are being tended to but this is not church/mission planting, it is maintenance. What will it be like in 10 years? Not pretty.
It has also caused me real concern, that no one knows how many churches or missions have closed their doors in the past year. Researching that info would be a challenge in and of itself.
We can do better than this.
David
Church/Mission Count Update
Just a quick update on the number of new works started:
Nationally: as of Feb 5th we are aware of three more churches/missions having been started in the USA. So that gives us a total of 6 so far, since July 1, 2007. Six new works in a fellowship of over 1200 churches.
Internationally: We have been able to count a total of 14 new churches/missions since July 1. 07. 14 new works. I am still waiting to hear from a number of missionaries on several different foreign fields.
Nationally: as of Feb 5th we are aware of three more churches/missions having been started in the USA. So that gives us a total of 6 so far, since July 1, 2007. Six new works in a fellowship of over 1200 churches.
Internationally: We have been able to count a total of 14 new churches/missions since July 1. 07. 14 new works. I am still waiting to hear from a number of missionaries on several different foreign fields.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
