Jesus Camp 2010 Registration Forms (doc)

Jesus Camp 2010 Release Forms (doc)

Jesus Camp 2010 Rules (doc)

Jesus Camp 2010 Sign Up Junior (doc)

Jesus Camp 2010 Sign Up Teen (doc)

In my last report, I spoke of an opportunity to go on a mission trip to Bolivia this summer and go up the river on the M.S. Arrington medical boat, the “River of Blessings”. Pastor Haguewood and Bro. Phil Knott are coordinating a 10 day mission trip and we they would like to invite you to come along. To encourage our pastors and our laymen to go, the Meramec association voted to match a church’s gift to send one of their men, up to an amount of $500. That is, if your church will help one of its men with at least a $500 offering, the Meramec Association will match it with a gift in kind. So far, we have had 4 churches to take advantage of sending their pastor “up the river”. The total cost of trip, per person, will be approximately $2500 and the space on the boat is limited. The trip begins August 8, 2010 and we need you to sign up before the end of June. If you need more information, contact Pastor Haguewood.

The camp committee has been busy planning this summer’s camp. We were fortunate to be involved in a bidding war for some used bunk beds at Fort Leonardwood. We owe Pastor Brad Banderman much appreciation for securing 200 more beds for our use. You will notice that in our financial report that the cost of purchasing the beds and for transporting them to camp came to nearly $2000. The cost is worth it…if we will fill up our camp with kids. The theme this year is “No More Excuses”. Are you making plans to attend camp?

We have all seen the above saying written on the side of some kind of transportation that was headed on a long trip deemed to be an adventure. A group of men are determined to make it to Bolivia and ride the M.S. Arrington. Pastor Jamie Haguewood, Bro. Phil Knott, and myself are putting together a mission trip to Bolivia on the medical riverboat, the M.S. Arrington. We will be leaving the states on Monday, August 9 and return on August 19 (tentative schedule). As we travel the river we will stop at various villages and minister to the people. Some of our activities will include distributing solar-powered MP3 players downloaded with the gospel story; giving eye exams and providing prescription glasses; and assisting the medical personnel who will be traveling with us.

The cost of this trip is approximately $2000 which includes airfare for two plane trips to where the boat is docked, fuel for the boat, food and hiring of cook, etc. Realizing that this is a great deal of money, the Meramec Association voted to assist any pastor or one man from each Meramec Association church who will sign up for this mission trip. If any church within our association will give their pastor or layman a $500 love offering toward the trip, the association will match that gift up to $500. The matching gift is limited to only one gift per church. With the help of the church and the association, a pastor or layman has raised half the funds necessary to go.

Meramec Churches….Please consider sending your pastor or a faithful layman on this trip. This is one of those mission trips that can change a man’s life. We are limited to how many men can go, so please let us know as soon as possible for this is a “first come, first served” enrollment. Deadline for enrollment is May 31, 2010. If you have further questions, please contact Pastor Jamie Haguewood at 573-438-2389.

One of the challenges and opportunities that was presented was the opportunity to take a mission trip to Bolivia this summer and go up (or maybe down) the river on the M.S. Arrington medical boat, the “River of Blessings”. Pastor Haguewood, Bro. Phil Knott, and I are coordinating a 10 day mission trip and we would like to invite you to come along. To encourage our pastors and our laymen to go, the Meramec association voted to match a church’s gift to send one of their men up to $500. That is, if your church will help one of its men with at least a $500 offering, the Meramec Association will match it with a gift in kind. The total cost of trip, per person, will be approximately $2000 and the space on the boat is limited. The trip begins August 9, 2010 and we need you to sign up before the end of May. If you need more information, contact Pastor Haguewood.

Another great mission symposium is planned for our state associational work on Friday evening, May 14. Please read elsewhere in this issue of the paper about this exciting event.

The following are some of the things that I envision to make such a program come to fruition:

• Pastors would identify 1 or 2 gifted individuals or couples from our churches who have express interest in being part of a bi-vocational church planting team. Pastors should look for individuals who have differing skills in evangelism, teaching, preaching, worship, etc.
• Invitations would be sent to these individuals asking them to participate in a church planting basic training at a central location. I will lead this training program and it will be done over several months with assignments being completed in their church or community. Where necessary I would bring in people who are experienced in the different facets of church planting to facilitate the learning process.
• Basic Training will be designed to walk a church planting team through an intensive journey of exploring the strategic issues of a church planting process and of assisting them in developing a customized strategy for planting healthy, reproductive churches.
• The following topics would be covered:
  • Prayer
  • Dedication
  • Vision
  • Values
  • Focus Group
  • Mission Statement
  • Evangelism Core group
  • Worship
  • Leadership Development
  • Building Relationships
  • Master Plan
  • Administrative Issues
  • Mileposts

• During training, we will trust God to pull team members together into a cohesive group that have the same heart and mission for planting a church in a viable area.
• Our aim is to put these teams on the field in bi-vocational positions where they will begin to form home cell groups within their community as they plan for a launch date within 15-18 months.

Please join me in prayer that we could see such a training program up and running in the near future. I want to wish all of our churches a very Merry Christmas and I pray that God will use your church in a mighty way in 2008.Danny Kirk

1. America has been identified as the largest mission field in the Western Hemisphere with the number of unchurched Americans now doubling between 1991 to 2001. If every church in America were to double its attendance this Sunday, there would still be 190 million people not in church to hear the good news of the gospel.

2. We are losing the battle in keeping up with our population. In 1900 there were 27 churches for every 10,000 Americans. In 1950 the ratio had dropped to 17 churches for every 10,000 people. Today there are 30% fewer churches than in 1950 but our population continues to grow. There are now 3 times as many churches closing each year than are planted.

3. Many of our churches are in survival mode. It is estimated that 80-85 percent of all churches in North America are on the downside of their life cycle. That is, 8 out of 10 churches are either standing still, declining, or dying. These churches have little or no evangelistic impact in their town or community. Nearly one half of all American churches did not baptize one soul in the past year.

4. Today’s churches are not reaching today’s young people. The vast majority of Christians are saved before reaching age twenty. Yet, today researchers estimate only 4% of all young people below the age of 22 are saved. We are losing a whole generation of young people. New churches with young pastors and leaders are our best hope for reaching millions of unsaved young people.

As a local association we have been concerned that we have not been successful in planting a new church in Missouri in the new millennium. That concern should continue to burn within our hearts so we will continue to pray for laborers, search for open doors, and give our resources to the work of missions. During our next quarterly meeting on December 1 at Landmark, Desoto, I want to share with our churches some steps that we can take to raise up new church planters. Bro. Ray Freeman from Mississippi will be our special speaker and it should prove to be a good meeting. Please make every effort to attend.

We also owe Bro. Leonard Compton a debt of gratitude for stepping up and taking care of the finances until a new director could be selected. He has kept meticulous records and has made the transition as easy and simple as possible. Thank you, Bro. Leonard!

I am in the process of having mailing envelopes printed to make it easier for our church treasurers to send in funds for missions and the revolving loan fund. It will be a couple of weeks until the churches will receive these. Until that time please send all correspondence to the following address:

Director of Missions
224 N. Hwy 67, #255
Florissant, MO 63031

I have received invitations from the following churches to come and speak about missions and/or church health: Charity, Westview, First Matthews, and Berean. Pastor, I would love to come to your church, introduce myself, and speak on behalf of missions. I have a lot of Sunday evenings open and this summer, I am available on Wednesday nights as well. If there is any way I can help you, please let me know. My office number is (314) 921-2378, Home is (314)837-8321, and my cell is (314)265-6265. My email address is pastordannykirk@gmail.com.

We are currently putting together a webpage for our association. It is under construction, but you can check it out at www.meramecassociation.org or www.meramecassociation.com. I will soon send out a questionnaire for you to complete so we can add information about your church to the webpage. Check out the Alive Youth link on our webpage. If you desire you may register for the Alive Youth Conference and pay your fees online. All Alive conference forms are available for downloading and printing.

Let’s pray that God will soon put together a missionary team that will plant a new church in Missouri. The need is great!