The choices that Jesus gives for His disciples are only two.  Either we will pray, or we will give up.  Either we will pray or we will faint.

Prayer connects us to our Father in heaven.  Jesus prayed throughout His time on earth.  He rose very early in the morning, He left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.  When it was time for Jesus to select the 12 who would be His disciples, Jesus spent the night in prayer.  As Jesus spent His last time with the disciples we have His recorded prayer in John 17.  When Jesus was facing the cross, He prayed in the Garden.  And even as Jesus was nailed to the cross, Jesus prayed.

Do we pray?  Do we pray as we ought?  If Jesus gave His time to prayer, to spending time with the Father, do we think that our lives will matter for the Lord and His kingdom when we fail to pray?

As an association of churches, we need the power of prayer.  That is why we have made prayer our first strategy.  Without prayer we will be like an army in the desert without water.  We can have all the weapons, we can have all the strategy, we can even have all the best soldiers.  But without the power of the Lord through prayer, we will never prevail.

How can you pray?  We have resources on the HOKSBA website, www.hoksba.org/prayer, to assist you in praying for the churches of the association.  There you can download a Prayer Guide and connect with a prayer list that will send you the needs of the churches of HOKSBA as we are made aware of them.

The Lord Jesus prayed and taught us to do the same.  Do we think that we can get by without prayer?  I don’t know why our prayers matter to the Almighty Sovereign God of heaven.  But His Word assures us, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

Will we pray?

Moved by the desire to fulfill the Great Commission and a clear awareness of the changes in the community, Woodland BC has decided to offer its building to Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida, a Spanish speaking church so they can continue the task of sharing Christ with people in north Wichita.

On July 27^th, after a beautiful message, Pastor John Minor from Woodland BC handed the keys of the building to Carlos Carreon, pastor of Nueva Vida. The emotion and meaning of this moment is difficult to explain. After the service, the two churches had a great time of fellowship. Throughout the celebration God received all of the honor for His faithfulness and His work in the north part of our city.

Woodland Baptist Church is an example of lives totally submitted to God and a total commitment to the proclamation of the gospel. We thank God for each member of Woodland Baptist Church and their great gift they have made to the Hispanic community in Wichita.

The speaker this year will be Dr. Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay. Formerly He was the Director of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism at South Baptist Seminary. Dr. Rainer has written many books on evangelism, discipleship and church planting. Please come and join us for this inspiring meeting.

It is not too early to start praying about going on an evangelistic mission trip next year. Each year we take a group to an evangelistic event the day before the Rose Bowl parade. We usually leave on December 30^th and return January 1^st. Each year we see numerous lives changed and many people touched by the Gospel. Also, in mid February we take a group to New Orleans to do street evangelism at Mardi Gras. We hand out over 50,000 tracts each year and share the Gospel with many people. This is a very important mission field that we need to reach. We usually leave early Thursday morning and return late Sunday afternoon.

The Midtown Good Neighbor center is temporarily closed. Richard and Sam Simmons have decided to leave that ministry and concentrate on Harmony Baptist Church where Richard has been called as the pastor. Victory Baptist, under the leadership of Pastor Jermaine Pennington, is going to start a church there and very soon restart the Good Neighbor Center.

Several churches in Arkansas have been bringing food up with them when they come for mission trips which has been a great help to all of our GNCs.

Please continue to pray for this ministry and your involvement in it by donating your time or providing funds for Bibles and other needs. In particular, we need youth pastors and workers who could give a Friday night every few months or so to help in JDF. This would give a connection for them to continue being discipled after they are released. Some of these kids have never really had someone who loved and cared for them and they desperately need that.

In the last couple of weeks we had a mission team from Arkansas work at the Set Free house and got a good start on the electrical installations. They bought ceiling fans for all the rooms and got most of them installed. They also installed most of the electrical outlets. This team contacted Mark after they got home and want to come again and do more toward finishing the building.

We still need work groups from our churches to finish up the drywall and painting. Over 95% of the drywall is hung and the second floor has been painted. Once we finish hanging the drywall and painting, we can start the flooring, cabinets and finish carpentry. Please contact Loren Phippen at HOKSBA with questions.

This summer, HOKSBA is hosting twenty-three summer interns! With that many students working in our association, the chances are pretty good that your church will be impacted by their service. The twenty-three students are divided into six different teams.

The Association Team will be working in at least five different Vacation Bible Schools, helping with promotion for a couple of others, serving as staff at Kids Kamp, and going door to door in neighborhoods with our Director of Evangelism, Loren Phippen. Catrina Gibson, a student at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, is working closely with Mark Jackson to organize, follow-up with and support the hundreds of volunteers coming to Wichita this summer for a mission trip to serve our churches and ministries.

Journey the Way, True Life Church, and Aviator Church all have intern teams helping with the events they have planned for the summer. Each of these churches are using the interns to reach out to their neighborhoods through service projects, day camps, and other creative outreach events. Aviator Church has used intern teams for the last three years, and they have been key to their success in reaching families in the Derby area. Journey the Way and True Life Church hope to do the same in their communities.

Finally, a team of six Hispanic students from Rio Grande Bible Institute are working with our Hispanic Church Planter Strategist, Abraham Arevalo, and the four Hispanic churches scattered throughout Wichita. They are also helping with a new church that is just beginning to form in Newton.

You can follow some of the intern’s activities, as well as stay updated with what’s going on in the association at our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/hoksba. Click on “Like” to connect with us, and share the stories we post with your friends. Let’s let others know what God is doing in the Heart of Kansas!

One issue that we are dealing with is “huffing”. One person in our group who started huffing at age 17 gave his testimony. He spent 4 years huffing almost every day and it has caused a lot of damage to his brain and motor skills. He accepted Christ as his Savior on April 28, 2010 and Jesus has taken away his addiction, restoring many family relationships and his health is slowly improving. Pray for him.

Are you looking for a CR group? We have two in our Association: Metropolitan Baptist on Monday evenings and Midway Baptist on Tuesday evenings. Want to start a group? Contact Tom Melton at Midway Baptist.

Progress is being made on Set free house, your time and talent are still needed.

We missed South City Baptist Church, but hope to see them next year.

Jimmy from Valley Center came with his caregiver Kay Lacy – What a gift from God! Some of our regulars brought guests and some heard about the cookout by word of mouth. God has blessed us. We handed out stickers and tracts and we pray that we made a difference in a life.

Our next event is our trip to the Zoo on July 10^th. I will be sending out flyers to everyone as we are growing and will need an RSVP. A special thank you to the following people for making the event a success: Mike & Judy Wilson, Fred & Carrie Reed, Greg McBride, Michelle Williams & family, Louis and Betty. See you all at the zoo! ~Mary-Lou Pratt

Have you ever questioned – “What do we expect from the Sunday School ministry of our church?” If you have not, I challenge you to begin to do so. Statements such as the four listed below can guide us in planning, implementing, and leading an effective Sunday School ministry:

• We expect newcomers in Sunday School every week.
• We expect participants to have a dynamic Bible study experience each week.
• We expect members to say “yes” to opportunities to serve God.
• We expect each class to grow and to plant new classes.

Within the past few weeks, your church received a copy (or perhaps several) of David Francis’ new booklet “Great Expectations: Planting Seeds for Sunday School Growth”. I encourage you to find this resource and read it. Pull together the leadership of your Sunday School ministry and discuss the contents. Begin to assess the condition of your Sunday School ministry and prescribe changes that could be made. Emphasize your strengths. Minimize your weaknesses. Growth does not come quickly, nor does it come easily. However, as Sunday School leaders we are to be faithful stewards to the task which God has given us. Expect more of yourself, your Sunday School leadership and the Sunday School ministry of your church.

UPCOMING SUNDAY SCHOOL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

“TRANSFORM”
August 20-21 at First Baptist Church, Raytown, MO
For more information and to register go to: http://www.lifeway.com/event/?id=360 or call 1-800-254-2022

“FLIGHT SCHOOL”
Monday, August 23^rd from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Metropolitan Baptist Church, Wichita
This is a FREE training event. No Registration is Necessary.

We collected $105 for the Yvonne Keefer Memorial Fund for the elevator at Webster Conference Center. We need to pray about reaching our goal for the elevator.

Coming events:

Family Mission Fest  July 10-16.  We need hygiene items, over the counter meds for nurses to give out at the Health Fairs.  We need them to the HOKSB by July 5, give to Mark Jackson.

Mark you calendar for WWW Sept. 17 & 18; Nov. 1 Baptist Women World Day of Prayer at Sharon Baptist Church.

The 10^th Annual HOKSBA Fellowship Golf Tournament was held at Hesston Golf Park on Saturday, April 24th. We had 88 golfers, duffers, and hackers out for this event aimed at pulling our association together. The fellowship was absolutely GREAT! It was really a wonderful day! The weather was the best we’ve ever had. After the golf, we gathered for lunch where we enjoyed good food and GREAT fellowship. Brother Jerry Elder, Senior Pastor at Riverview Baptist Church, shared a few moments with us from God’s Word.

We had lots of winners so see the HOKSBA website for winners!

1^st Place – Championship Flight                         1^st Place – 1^st Flight                                           1^st Place – 2^nd Flight

Don Mackey – Immanuel Newton                     Gary Farris – Cedar Pointe                              C.A. Cofer – Immanuel

Carson Nuss – Immanuel Newton guest          Billy Cole – Cedar Pointe                                Ross Searl – Immanuel

Nick Mackey – Immanuel Newton                    Scott Walker – 1^st Baptist Mulvane              Don Payne – Pleasantview

David Ayres – Immanuel Newton guest          Joe Cox – 1^st Baptist Mulvane guest             Danny Payne – Pleasantview guest

Holes prizes included the normal closest to the pin, longest drive, and longest putts, but we also had shortest drive, closest to the line (and the line was not straight), closest to the rocks/water, and closest to the cart path. With 18 hole prize winners, we had one prize on every hole.

Hole Prizes were won by (you’ll have to ask them what their claim to fame is):

Dennis Brunner – Belivers                         Sam Dial – 1^st Baptist Mulvane                  Jim Ledbetter – Riverview

John LaFever – Country Acres                 Billy Cole – Cedar Pointe                            Jim Pykiet – Pleasantview

Jack Wedge – 1^st Southern Hutchison     Doug Shaffer – River Community             Mike Logue – Pleasantview

Nick Mackey – Immanuel Newton            Dean Kimple – Believers                             Chuck Thomas – Cedar Pointe guest

John Shaffer – Believers                             Kent Forfia – Metro East                            Carl Norton – Country Acres

Five people were recognized for having the dirtiest cars in the parking lot. They each won a free car wash. Ron Page (Cedar Pointe) had the dirtiest car in the parking lot and won a free super wash.

Once again there were lots of door prizes, some were presented at check-in and then there were others drawn at the luncheon. Some of the door prizes drawn for at the luncheon included a round of golf for four with cart at Hesston, Derby Golf & Country Club, Reflection Ridge Golf & Country Club, and Rolling Hills Golf & Country Club; and a set of 4 tickets to the Kansas City Royals with seats in the first row behind the Royals dugout. This year the Grand Prize Door Prize was a hand-made diamond and gold cross pendant donated by Derby Jewelers. We also gave away a 2-night stay at the Warren Family, LLC Condo in a Branson, MO.  All of the door prizes were donated by companies or individuals and we really appreciate their generosity. A special thanks to the committee for organizing this event – Charley Powell (Tournament Director), Ross Searl, Leo Helsel, Rick Bailey, and Bob Runyan. GREAT JOB! We plan on repeating this event again next spring – see you then.

We will hold our 4th Annual Fall Two-Person Scramble on October 9, 2010. Watch the newsletter for more details.

Note to church office administrators: Please put the following two items on your church calendars:

HOKSBA Fall 2-Person Scramble – October 9, 2010 (2^nd Saturday of October every year)

HOKSBA Fellowship Golf Tournament – April 30, 2011 (last Saturday of April every year)

Transform Lives through Teaching will be Saturday, August 21, 2010, from 8:30 am-12:30 pm at First Baptist Church, Raytown, Missouri. In order to make the conference available to more Sunday School leaders, LifeWay has adjusted the original two-day schedule to Saturday only, and reduced the registration fee to $25 per person. For medium- and larger-sized churches, there is a maximum cost of $500 per church. Kansas-Nebraska and Missouri Baptists have partnered with LifeWay Church Resources to bring this training opportunity to our region.

For information, go to the www.kncsb.org under Bible Study Ministries or contact Marie Clark, 1-800-984-9154. To register, go to http://www.lifeway.com/event/?id=360 or call 1-800-254-2022.

Immanuel Baptist Church would like to invite the women of your church to participate in a 100-Year Anniversary Event with us this summer. On Thursday Evening, June 24, 2010, we will be hosting “Anniversaries Remembered”, a Ladies’ event that will feature Gracia Burnham as our guest speaker. Tickets go on sale Mother’s Day and the cost of $10 will include dinner. Reservations are required by Sunday, June 20 and can be made by contacting church office at 316-262-1452. The event will take place at 6:00 pm in our Christian Life Center on the church grounds, located at 1415 S. Topeka in downtown Wichita.

Gracia will have books and CD’s available for sale at the event.

Biographical Information on Gracia Burnham:

Gracia Burnham knows what it is like to have life spin out of control. While  Missionaries in the Philippines, Gracia and her husband  Martin were kidnapped by terriorists and spent the next 13 months as hostages in the Philippine jungle. On June 7, 2002 captivity ended for these two missionaries in a violent rescue that left Martin Burnham dead and Gracia wounded; their story of faith in the midst of terror and tragedy is known to millions.

Gracia Burnham is the author of the New York Times bestselling book In the Presence of My Enemies, author of the popular new book To Fly Again, and founder of The Martin & Gracia Burnham Foundation.

In our large group, we have a testimony one week and a lesson the next. Last week we heard about victories over alcohol and gambling. One week we heard about victories over sexual abuse and sexual addiction. Most of our hurts come out of needs that were never met in our childhood. Dysfunctional parents raise dysfunctional children. The lady above was raised by a mother who lived a prostitute lifestyle and she learned to act out with men starting around age 12. My bout with alcohol started when my dad taught me how to drink and make home brew at age 6.

Many will say that they don’t have those problems, but what about issues like anger, bitterness, over eating, depression, trust, low self-esteem, fear of rejection, fear of failure, abandonment, guilt and shame, love and affection.

In CR we call these issues hurts, habits and hang-ups. Maybe you need Celebrate Recovery.

The speaker at this year’s E-Rally will be Dr. Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay. Formerly he was the Director of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism at South Baptist Seminary. Dr. Rainer has written many books on evangelism, discipleship and church planting. Please come and join us for this inspiring meeting.

This year, four of us from HOKSBA churches will participate in the ICE/Crossover event before the SBC convention which is in Orlando.

• The First Generation (the immigrants) has become the largest segment of the Hispanic population in America today.
  • In mid 20^th century, the 3^rd generation and beyond was dominant and had the deepest roots in U.S. culture. ….By 1990, however, the 1^st generation (least assimilated and Spanish dominant) became the largest segment of Hispanic population.
• Hispanics are showing more receptiveness to the evangelical message than ever before in the history of this country.
  • Never in the history of this nation have Hispanics been more receptive to the evangelical message than they are now. A study done by Priest/Sociologist Andrew Greeley indicates that 23% of the Hispanic population now identifies with non-Catholic denominations, mainly Evangelicals.
• Hispanics are typically very conservative regarding social values.
  • A 2003 survey of U.S. Latinos by the Pew Hispanic Center of the Kaiser Family Foundation found that immigrants from Latin America were overwhelmingly committed to strong family ties, religious beliefs, education, and hard workers and were actually worried that the coming to the United States would have a negative impact on the moral values of their children.

What does this mean for the Churches of HOKSBA? The Hispanic presence and influence in our community is a growing reality and every church in Wichita has seen the need to reach out to this segment of our population. Traditionally, when we think about reaching to Hispanics, our first though is about the Spanish language, but the time has come to see also beyond Spanish to hundreds of young Kansans with strong Hispanic roots and English as their first language.

Every church in Kansas needs to open the dialogue about this challenge. We are not talking about a distant future, but a present and urgent need. We need to be intentional about addressing it today.