Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association

Blackabys are coming to Madison May 13-14

2011-03-24T21:02:00.001-05:00

Henry and Richard Blackaby will be with us in Madison the weekend of May 13-14. You can register online at www.wisconsinbaptist.org. We encourage you to make your reservation online and pay online so you can reserve your spot.

Please take a moment to register. We look forward to the weekend with you.

Join Us On January 22 at East Madison Baptist Church

2011-01-10T09:54:00.000-06:00

The Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association will conduct the first quarterly meeting of the year at East Madison Baptist Church on 4917 E. Milwaukee St. on Saturday, January 22. Pastors and lay leaders are invited to participate in the meeting. Refreshments and lunch will be provided by East Madison Baptist.

Leo Endel, Executive Director of the Minnesota-Wisconsin Baptist Convention, will be our guest speaker. Back in May of 2010, our pastors heard Leo share at our annual pastors' retreat. After hearing Leo share about the Cooperative Program and how missions works in churches and around the world, they asked Leo if he could return to share more about how our churches can be involved.

As we have prepared for this meeting here is what Leo shared in his own words with us about the content of the meeting:

"Last words are important. Jesus spent three years 'making his disciples' then he challenged his disciples to 'make disciples' among all peoples. They responded and changed the world. If they could do it then, imagine what the possibilities are today. Let's talk about the challenges and the possibilities of what we can do together. Let's embrace Jesus' command and find our place in His ongoing mission in your community, in Southern Wisconsin, in North America and in the world."

We encourage you to join us on Saturday, January 22 for this very important meeting to kick off the year in 2011. Here will be the schedule for the day:

9:00 a.m. - Refreshments, Registration, and Fellowship
10:00 a.m. - Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association Quarterly Meeting
12:00 p.m. - Lunch
1:00 p.m. - Dismiss

Happy New Year!!!

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We want to wish you a Happy New Year in 2011!!! God has much in store for us this year. Our name has officially changed to the Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association.

Even though our name has changed our mission continues to be the same, "Plant and develop prevailing churches." Our prayer is that the Lord will continue to bless our existing churches and that we will see new works get started to see lives transformed in Jesus' name.

May we all follow God's leadership this year as we walk with Jesus in our personal lives and as we worship Him in our churches and work collectively together as an association.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

2010-12-16T12:53:00.000-06:00

As we take a look at the year in review for the churches of the Central Baptist Association we are very grateful for the way the Lord has worked in 2010. We praise the Lord for the generosity and cooperation of our churches. This year all of our churches in the CBA have seen the Lord at work.

When a year comes to an end there comes a time to reflect on what has taken place. This year in 2010 we have seen four churches get started in the form of Red Village, Brotherly Love International, United Hmong, and Iglesia Hispana Madison. We have seen increases more than 300 volunteers come through our churches to serve in carrying out the Great Commission. We give God the credit for the increases in baptism, church giving, and worship attendance from the totals of our CBA churches in 2010.

One changed life that is represented from these numbers is Becky Strait-Campobello. Becky gave her testimony at our annual meeting in November and she shared with us how the Lord has changed her life. A little more than a year ago she was an alcoholic and without Christ. Through her church and her family she accepted the Lord Jesus as her Savior. She entered a treatment center and has given her life totally to the Lord. Becky shared with us how her teenage daughter has also come to Christ in 2010. Today she is leading a victorious life because God is working through the people who have surrounded her.

We rejoice with Becky and the many like her who now have different lives because of their salvation and discipleship experience in our churches. Yet we know that many are still in need of the Savior who came at Christmas and we look forward to how God is yet to work in 2011 and beyond. With that in mind we want to thank you as partners for being part of our mission to plant and develop prevailing churches.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!

CBA Name is Changing to Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association

2010-11-19T11:27:00.004-06:00

At the November 6 annual meeting the messengers of the Central Baptist Association voted unanimously on a new constitution and by-laws that also brings a name change. The name of the association will become the Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association officially as of January 1, 2011.

Why have a name change? That is a really good question that has been talked about the past two years. Back in 1967 when the CBA was first started the association was truly central as it was in the middle between the Lakeland Association of the Milwaukee area and the Northwoods Association which covered Minnesota. Since that time several more associations have been added and divided up the territory.

So with that in mind the new name of the Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association gives a more accurate description of the current geographical location. Many people here in Wisconsin and outside of our area ask, "Where is the Central Baptist Association?" Now our name will give people a much better idea.

There are currently at least 12 different associations in America called the Central Baptist Association. This name will help people know where we are and who we are just through the first mention of our name. People from inside our association and outside our association will identify much easier.

So with all that in mind, please begin sharing with church members and partners that we are making the name change. We will continue to be the same group of believers gathered together to plant and develop prevailing churches.

Preaching Workshop Covers Wisdom Literature

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A workshop on preaching on the wisdom literature books of the bible was conducted at East Madison Baptist Church from November 9 to 11. Pastor Mitch Freeman ( left in the picture) served as the host pastor. Mitch serves the Church Development Team Leader for the Central Baptist Association.

The two instructors for the event were Doug O'Donnell, middle, and Dr. Mike Graves (right). Doug is a pastor of New Covenant Church in Naperville, Illinois and Mike is a professor of Old Testament at Wheaton University.

More than 20 pastors and leaders were gathered for the event throughout the three days of teaching and interactive workshops. The books of Job, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon were the books addressed during the workshop time. Many insights were gleaned by all in attendance. Many thanks goes to Mitch and East Madison Baptist for hosting the event.

Annual Meeting Will Be Highlighted with Experiencing God Author

2010-10-08T13:54:00.004-05:00

This year our annual meeting of the Central Baptist Association on November 6 will be one to remember. We have a very special guest who will be with us for the day in Claude King. Claude is the co-author of Experiencing God and many other books. Claude will be sharing with us on the call to follow Christ and being consecrated before the Lord.

On the business side for the day, we will have some very important business items. We will be voting on a new constitution and by-laws. As we vote on that item, we will also be voting to change our name from the Central Baptist Association to the Southern Wisconsin Baptist Association. The purpose of the name change is to better identify our geographical location.

This year the annual meeting will take place at Transformation Church in Sun Prairie. The church is located at 2340 Manley Drive in Sun Prairie which is also home to the association office.

We encourage you to let us know if you are coming to the annual meeting by letting us know by October 29. You can e-mail Amanda in the office at amanda@cbaow.net or call in at 608-825-9946. We look forward to having you with us for a great meeting and day together.

Below is a detailed schedule for the day:

Schedule for November 6, 2011 CBA Annual Meeting

9:00 a.m. - Registration and Refreshments

10:00 a.m. - CBA Quarterly Business Meeting

12:00 p.m. - Lunch

1:00 p.m. - The Call To Follow Christ with Claude King

4:30 p.m. - Dismiss

A Great Weekend in Our Churches!!!

2010-10-04T13:19:00.005-05:00

This past weekend was a great time of spiritual refreshment in our churches in the Central Baptist Association. In seven of our churches we had weekends of Experiencing God and Fresh Encounter. These meetings went from Friday night through Sunday morning.

In the picture to the right you see attenders at Waterbrook Community Bible Church in Tomah. Those who came heard testimonies, studied the Bible, and participated in small groups. For the next few months these churches will either be going through Experiencing God or Fresh Encounter.

Results that took place this weekend include people who have made a decision to follow Christ, rededicated their lives, and people who experienced God in fresh ways. We are thankful for the 90 plus people from 15 states who came to serve and to share in our churches. We are also grateful for the pastors and churches who allowed these teams to come in and allow God to work. We will be sharing with you more reports as we get them in the days and weeks to come.

Experiencing God and Fresh Encounter

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This weekend of October 1-3 we are very blessed to have 91 people from 15 states coming to lead 7 of our churches in the studies of Experiencing God and Fresh Encounter. There are seven churches from across the Central Baptist Association who have been preparing and praying for these weekends. The purpose of these weekends is meant to help churches hear from God and follow Him in obedience as individuals and as a church body.

Don Gibson of Blackaby Ministries and the Texas Baptist Men has been working all year to coordinate seven different teams who will be working with us. These teams will come prepared to pray, lead in Bible study, share testimonies, and serve in many different ways. Please be in prayer that God will use this weekend and the weeks following to stir the hearts of our people and draw us closer to Him.

Last year we had five churches go through Experiencing God. This year we have three churches going through Experiencing God, three using Fresh Encounter, and one is going through Experiencing God Together as a church. This past year we saw many results take place as lives were changed and churches were transformed.

Our prayer is that God will do a new work this year as this weekend approaches. Thank you for your faithfulness to pray for the churches of the CBA. May the Lord's hand be on the leaders, churches, and members as we go through this weekend together.

Thank You for Coming and for Your Prayers

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Yesterday we had our our Central Baptist Association quarterly business meeting and we had Day One of our two day On Mission Celebration. We want to thank all the people who came to the meeting and for the many people around the country praying for us. We would also like to thank Caryn Jette, our OMC coordinator, and River of Life Church for hosting us.

There are some important items of business that came about from the business meeting. The Administrative Team voted on the new constitution and by-laws to be approved. This approval is another step in the process so that they will now go to the messengers at our annual meeting on November 6 at Transformation Church in Sun Prairie.

What does this mean to change the constitution and by-laws? Well there are two major results. First, these documents of the CBA will now more accurately reflect the current practices. Second, the name of the CBA will change to Southern Baptist Wisconsin Association.

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, November 6, at our annual meeting in Sun Prairie.

In the next few posts we will have more highlights and news from our OMC. Continue to be in prayer that God will mobilize us into missionaries for His gospel!!!

Why Should Someone Come to Our Meeting this Saturday at River of Life Church in Portage?

2010-09-15T07:51:00.004-05:00

As we get ready for our meeting this Saturday, September 18, I ask myself the question, "Why should someone come?" That is a really good question. We are asking people to invest most of the day on Saturday on travel and attending our meeting at River of Life Church in Portage.

Here are a few reasons that I would like to share with you who might be thinking about coming this Saturday or wonder if it is worth the effort. Because your time is valuable and there are many other things you could be doing.

First, we will start our time off in prayer. The churches who pray together stay together. We are having a prayer time at 7:30 a.m. that will be for each other and for God to be at work.

Second, this time together will help you get to know each other. We have several new pastors who plan on coming and we would like to introduce you. Because we live a good distance apart, this time when churches come together from several hours away is not very often. Yet we know that the friendships that exist among our pastors and members is important. This time of meeting together facilitates time together.

Third, God is at work around the world as the gospel of Jesus Christ is being proclaimed to all nations. On Saturday you will have the opportunity to meet missionaries here in American and around the world who are sharing the gospel and making disciples. This type of opportunity has not been extended to the CBA since 1994.

So we encourage you to make the most of every opportunity by joining us this Saturday. We look forward to seeing you. Once again, here is the schedule for the meeting that will be held at River of Life Church which is located at 102 Franklin St. in Portage.

7:30 a.m. - Prayer

9:00 a.m. - Refreshments and Registration

10:00 a.m. - CBA Quarterly Business Meeting with Tom Canady, 30 year missionary to Honduras giving the keynote message

12:00 p.m. - Lunch

1:00 p.m. - Missions Fair and Breakout Sessions

4:00 p.m. - Dismiss

Experiencing God and Fresh Encounter Weekend - October 1-3

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This past year we have been very grateful for the way God has been at work among us. One example of a church that has had major impact is Waterbrook Community Bible Church in Tomah. Waterbrook has seen people repent in their chuch and discover their need to be in a vital relationship with God. On the weekend of October 1-3 the Central Baptist Association will have 7 churches participating in a weekend on prayer, discipleship, repentance, and spiritual awakening.

Be in prayer that God will work through the 91 people coming form 15 states. In the picture in this post you see a portion of the people who will be coming. Pray that our churches will have a heart of gratitude and expectancy as these servants come to teach. Pray our churches will be open to having a fresh encounter with the Lord so God’s Holy Spirit can move in a mighty way. Here is more about the rationale for these weekends.

All Christians should be experiencing an intimate love relationship with God. The Lord expects spiritual growth in all those who truly follow Him. All Christians are expected to be on mission with God. All Churches are expected to be on mission with God.

BASIC RATIONALE FOR EXPERIENCING GOD WEEKEND EVENTS

Henry Blackaby's life message has impacted thousands and awakened them to join God in His eternal purposes.

God has blessed churches that have intentionally set their hearts together as they corporately study these timely messages to His Body.

Salvation is an ongoing spiritual process that leads to an enhanced love relationship, a transformed life, and an increased emphasis and involvement in being on mission with God.

All Christians should be experiencing an intimate love relationship with God.

The Lord expects spiritual growth in all those who truly follow Him.

All Christians are expected to be on mission with God.

All Churches are expected to be on mission with God.

Unfortunately, both individuals and churches can find themselves consumed by activity and needs, and depleted of spiritual perspective and energy. As such, Blackaby Ministries International coordinates weekend events designed to bring about spiritual renewal in the hearts of God's people.

A visiting team is invited to provide leadership for each Experiencing God Weekend event. Each weekend is designed to overview the basic life message found in the complete book that is to be used as a follow-up study. God will do His greatest work during the follow-up studies as He speaks to His whole Body simultaneously.

On Mission Celebration is September 18

2010-09-04T07:54:00.005-05:00

After many months of planning our On Mission Celebration will be here the weekend of September 18-19. We really want to encourage leaders from all of our churches to be present on Saturday, September 18. Missionaries from both the North American Mission Board and the International Mission Board will be with us to share about their work on the mission field.

What makes Southern Baptist churches so special is that we have the Coooperative Program which allows us to pool our money together among 48,000 churches. This money goes to help fund and resources more than 5,000 missionaries across North America and more than 5,000 missionaries in 180 countries of the world. This weekend is your opportunity to become more fully informed of how God is at work on the mission field.

Please e-mail the CBA office at amanda@cbaow.net to confirm your reservation by September 10 or call in at 608-825-9946. Here will be the schedule for the entire Saturday to be held at River of Life Church in Portage, 102 Franklin St:

7:30 a.m. - Prayer Time - All CBA leaders and friends are welcome

9:00 a.m. - Refreshments and Registration

10:00 a.m. - CBA Quarterly Business Meeting with Keynote Address being given by Tom Canady who served as a missionary to Honduras for 30 years.

12:00 p.m . - Lunch

1:00 p.m. - Missions fair and breakout sessions with missionaries

4:00 p.m. - Dismiss

United Hmong Baptist Open House

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On Sunday, August 22, more than 140 people from Hmong churches came to celebrate the beginning of United Hmong Baptist Church in Sun Prairie. First Hmong Milwaukee brought their choir, seen in this picture to the left, and many other people. Members also came from the Twin Cities and Appleton Hmong churches.

President Sam Vang of the Hmong National Baptist Association preached a sermon on unity. President Vang and his wife traveled from Dallas to be here for the special occasion. Words of greeting were brought by various leaders including Pastor Tongber Vang of First Hmong, Pastor Nengmay Vang of United Hmong, and Pastor John Goertz of host church Living Water.

Our prayer is that United Hmong Baptist will be a healthy, unified church that will reach many new Hmong people who are without Christ in the Sun Prairie and Madison area. Please pray for Pastor Nengmay Vang and the members of United Hmong that they would be agents of God to fulfill the Great Commission in the Hmong community.

Meeting Our Neighbors from Iowa

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Michael and Ginny Roberts, NAMB Director of Missions, Northeast Iowa

Mike and his wife, Ginny, are natives of southern Minnesota. Their ministries have always involved church planting or church-planting sponsorship. Ginny focuses her ministry on encouraging pastor’s wives and missions education.

Come hear how God is at work through church planting in Iowa!

Trey Turner from Wisconsin Rapids

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Trey and Leanne Turner, Church Planters Church at Wazeecha, Wisconsin Rapids, WI

Trey and his wife, Leanne, recently relocated to Wisconsin Rapids from Texas. Trey is developing a house church network, coming alongside Chris-

tians, calling people out from churches into people groups that need a witness for Christ. These people work to be an expression of Jesus Christ and to make disciples in their ordinary contexts instead of inviting them to a church or Christian meetings. This deliberate discipling process is intended to help people read the Divine Word for themselves for life transformation, live out the Christian life in the context of nurturing relationships and then empowers and equips each person for mission engagement through apostolic mission or being sent to new people groups.

Come hear how God is at work in Wisconsin Rapids!

Introducing Rick Seaton

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Rick Seaton, NAMB Missionary Missions & Evangelism Team Missouri Baptist Convention

Rick and his wife, Stacy, serve the Missouri

Baptist Convention. His ministry focus is Men’s Missions and Disaster Relief. He has previously served as pastor of various churches over a span of 22 years.

Come hear how God is at work through missions and disaster re- lief in Missouri and around the country!

Introducing Madison Church Planter James Lee

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James Woongki Lee, Nehemiah Church Planter, Madison, WI

James and his wife Lydia recently relo- cated to Madison to evangelize mainly international graduate students, scholars and professors. James received his PhD in Chemistry from UW Madison in 1994, and returned to work in Korea for a num- ber of years before sensing God’s call to vocational ministry.

Come hear how God is at work through international ministries!

Campus Ministry at UW-Madison with Lentz Upshaw

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Lentz and Amy Upshaw,

MSC Campus Ministries,

Madison, WI

Lentz and Amy Upshaw moved to Madison , WI in 2001 to help start a Southern Baptist Student ministry on the UW-Madison campus called Quest. They share the Gospel with students who are not believers and train students who are believers to reach out and make disciples themselves. They have a weekly Bible study where they consistently share the Gospel as well as address a variety of subjects Biblically. They’ve also taken missions trips to Liberia and Galveston, TX. Come hear how God is at work through Campus Ministries!

Introducing Terry McIlvain With Student Ministries

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Terry McIlvain, NAMB missionary

Director of Youth Ministries, Kansas

Terry McIlvain is affectionately known as TMac. TMac has been involved with youth ministries since 1970. His ministry vision is to train and equip youth leaders and parents to make disciples and to train students to be fully devoted Christ followers. This summer he led a team of youth to Tokyo for a missions trip and has been involved with several youth camps.

TMac works with the Kansas-Nebraska State Convention where he assists churches in those two states with student ministry. Come hear how God is at work through the ministry of TMac as he shares at our On Mission Celebration in September.

Prison Ministry with Kathy Diaz

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We have been able to know Kathy through a partnership with Bell Baptist Association. Kathy had a childhood that most people cannot imagine. Her mother was married and divorced seven times before she turned nine. She has nine younger brothers and all have different dads. Her mother went to prison when she was 11 years old. God took her childhood and her past and turned it into a ministry.

He gave her a heart for inmates and their children. She wants them to know that God loves them just the way they are, no matter what. Kathy is involved with prison ministries in the Belton, TX area. She leads multiple Bible studies, including one for inmates on death row. You can learn more about this ministry Discipleship Unlimited at their website: http://www.liferow.org/ Come hear how God is at work through prison ministries!

Introducing Our Missionaries to You

2010-08-04T08:18:00.005-05:00

As we approach our On Mission Celebration for the weekend of September 18-19 one goal we have is to introduce you to our missionaries who will be with us for the weekend. The first missionaries we would like to introduce to you are Tom and Susan Canady. Tom and Sue served in Honduras as church planting missionaries for 30 years.

As missionaries they saw the gospel spread in many ways during their 30 years of service. When they started Honduras had only about 20 churches relating to Southern Baptist work. Now the country of Honduras has about 400 Baptist churches.

Both Tom and Sue are gifted communicators. Tom will be our keynote speaker on Saturday morning at our Central Baptist Association Administrative Team meeting. Our CBA quarterly meeting is set for 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 18, at River of Life Church in Portage.

Be in prayer for Tom and Sue as they come our way to share with us about their lifetime of service. We are grateful the Lord is allowing them to come our way!!

On Mission Celebration Is September 18-19

2010-07-27T16:29:00.003-05:00

We are approaching another historic occasion in the Central Baptist Association. For the first time since 1994, our association is going to host a mission celebration that will invite both home and international missionaries to speak to us. This event is now called an On Mission Celebration (OMC) and the OMC provides us an opportunity to hear what God is doing at home and abroad. Here is the overall purpose of an OMC as noted by our planning guide.

An On Mission Celebration (OMC) will lead an association :

1. to celebrate God's activity and victories through leading Southern Baptists to be on mission with God.

2. to anticipate their role in mission.

3. to participate by committing to be on mission with the Lord Jesus.

The OMC introduces international and North American missionaries, state missionaries, and local on-mission Christians, and highlights continuing missions opportunities and needs. An OMC offers a festive and energetic atmosphere in which the Southern Baptist vision and commitment to missions is communicated in a clear and compelling manner and participants are encouraged to examine their personal commitments.

The weekend of September 18-19 has been set aside as our OMC Weekend. All the missionaries participating will be present on Saturday, September 18 at River of Life Church in Portage. Then on September 19 the missionaries will spread out among our churches across the Central Baptist Association to preach and speak in churches on Sunday morning and evening.

As we prepare for our large group meeting in Portage on September 18, we want to encourage you to register ahead of time by calling the office at 608-825-9946 or e-mailing us at amanda@cbaow.net to confirm your presence. There is no cost for the event but we do need to make preparations in advance. With this information in mind, please confirm if you will be attending by September 1 by calling or e-mailing us at the CBA office.

Here is the schedule for the day on September 18 at River of Life Church in Portage which is located at 102 Franklin St.:

7:30 a.m. - Prayer - All are welcome

9:00 a.m. - Refreshments

10:00 a.m. - CBA Quarterly Meeting

12:00 p.m. - Lunch

1:15 p.m. - Breakout Sessions

4:00 p.m - Dismiss

Throughout the day we will have a missions fair where our missionaries will have tables set up representing their mission field. We have both international and home missionaries who will be with us all day on Saturday.

On Saturday morning, Tom Canady, missionary to Honduras for 30 years, will be delivering our keynote address during our business meeting. We encourage everyone to be with us throughout the day.

Power Plant has come to Madison

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This week is an exciting one for church planting in Madison, Wisconsin. Power Plant, a camp designed for teenagers has come to help the church plants of Red Village Church and Brotherly Love International Church.

More than 50 people from three different youth groups are here to serve in Madison this week. In the morning students will also be taught about church planting from a local practitioner, Bob Turner. Bob has planted River of Life Church in Portage, Wisconsin and he is a native of Madison.

Aaron Jozwiak is the pastor of Red Village Church and is serving as the ministry coordinator. He has lined up numerous ministry projects the students will be engaged in during the afternoons and early evening times. Aaron is working with Pastor James Lee of Brotherly Love International Church to put together different ministry projects.

Please pray the Lord uses this week of Power Plant in mighty ways this week. Pray new people are reached for the kingdom of God. Pray also that God will raise up new laborers for the harvest by young people getting excited about church planting.

For more information on Power Plant go to http://powerplant.studentz.com.

Missions Training for Your Church Leaders

2010-07-09T06:08:00.004-05:00

Every church is to be a strategic global missions center. You can help your church take major steps to becoming more strategic through training that will be offered at Trinity Baptist Church in Reedsburg on Sunday, July 18 at 5:00 p.m. Here are the details for you to attend.

Date: Sunday July 18th, 2010

Time: 5-8 with a break for refreshments and a snack

Location: Trinity Baptist Church

Missions Champion Church Training is a great opportunity for your pastor, missions leadership and church to discover more of God’s heart for the Nations, and how YOU can join Him in THE TASK!

Discover how your church can:

· Adopt an Unreached People Group

· Partner strategically with an IMB Missions Team

· Practically equip your congregation to develop their God–given call to “Make His NameGreat Among the Nations!”

· Identify and access resources the IMB provides our Southern Baptist Mission Partners

· Understand more of what God is doing, and can do through you, as Southern Baptists/Great Commission Partners, to embrace God’s Heart for all the Peoples of the Earth

The Training will be led by:

Alan Duncan

Former IMB Missionary to Port Elizabeth, South Africa

Region 2 Missional Church Strategist – Serving Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa

Alan grew up as the son of IMB missionaries in Kenya, East Africa. He completed high school at Rift Valley Academy, a school for missionary kids in Kenya. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he started for three years as the Placekicker for the Volunteers (1978 – 1980). Alan was drafted in 1981 in the 7th Round by the Philadelphia Eagles, and played for several years with the Memphis Showboats in the USFL. He was a teammate and close friend of Reggie White, both at Tennessee, and with the Memphis franchise.

Alan married Andrea Ogle from Greeneville, TN, and after receiving his Masters of Divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1992, their family moved to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. They served in Student and Sports Evangelism, as well as planting and training pastors of new church starts. They served from 1992 – 2008 in Port Elizabeth, at which point Alan returned to serve the IMB as a representative for the IMB’s work in Sub-Saharan Africa. He assumed his current role with the IMB in March 2010.