JOURNAL OF THE BAPTIST MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION OF MISSISSIPPI

APRIL 15, 2011 VOL. 65 NO. 8

Executive Director of Missions Dr. John David Smith presents the new missionariesat the closing commissioning service at the 2011 BMA of America meeting in WichitaFalls, Texas.

2011 National Meeting Highlights New Discipleway Process

BMA of America Holds 2011 SessionDiscipleWay GetsGreat Reception atNational Meeting

by Tommy and Judy WallaceDiscipleway Training Coordinators

What an awesome response! We arethrilled and excited by the receptionof DiscipleWay at the BMAA meetingat Wichita Falls. Approximately onehundred and fifty people signed upsaying they were interested in havingthe DiscipleWay training come to theirarea.

The first step in the process is fortrainers to be trained. That will takeplace May 23-25 at Camp Bethanynear Shreveport, Louisiana. As a tes-

timony to their support and commit-ment to this process, the first people tobe trained will be the directors of ourBMAA departments and members ofthe Coordinating Council. Since spaceis limited to a small number of partici-pants, only a few other people will beable to go through this initial training.

Once we have trainers in place, wewill then begin scheduling training invarious areas of our work to help pas-tors and lay people in our churchesknow how to effectively use these newtools. Training will be required beforechurches can order the materials. Eachtraining will take place over a threeday period and will include intensiveand complete coverage of the Bible

continued on page 3continued on page 3continued on page 3continued on page 3continued on page 3

by the Editorby the Editorby the Editorby the Editorby the EditorThe 2011 session of the Baptist Mis-

sionary Association of America washeld in Wichita Falls, Texas, April 11-13. Messengers representing churchesfrom around the nation assembled atthe Convention Center to care for thebusiness and hear reports of the vari-ous ministries.

All current officers were reelectedto serve for the next year. Serving arePresident Paul Bullock, 1st Vice Presi-dent Ed Stephenson, 2nd Vice Presi-dent Jason Altman, and Clerks JeromeCooper, Greg Medenwald and JamesRay Raines.

There were 508 enrolled messen-gers along with 175 visitors represent-ing 251 churches. An additonal 306churches were represented by letter.

The annual message was broughtby former Director of Missions GradyHiggs. His message was "Don't StopAt The Burning Bush" with the em-

phasis on a continuing active minis-try. The sermon was very challengingand is worth each individuals atten-tion. Space does not permit us to printthe messge, but it is available for read-ing on the web site of this paper atwww.msbaptist.org.

The 2012 Annual Message will bebrought by Bro. George Reddin, outgo-ing director of LifeWord BroadcastMinistries. The alternate is Bro. VernHolifield of Mississippi.

The 2012 meeting will be held at theConvention Center in Jackson, Mis-sissippi on April 16-18, 2012. The mes-sengers approved the Committee onArrangements recommendations forthe 2013 meeting to be held in Norman,Oklahoma, April 22024, 2013 and forthe 2014 meeting to be held in LittleRock, Arkansas, April 28-30, 2014.

All the recommendations printed inthe 2012 Recommendations Bookletmailed to the churches were approved.This included two changes to the State-ment of Principles of Cooperation. Oneconcerning the Coordinating Councilmaking it possible for members to suc-ceed themselves one time. The other

Former Missions Director Grady Higgsbrought the annual message at thisyear's meeting. His subject was "Don'tStop At The Burning Bush".

was adding the North AmericanRevolvoing Loan Fund and the Inter-national Loan Fund to the list ofStandinng Committees.

New ChurchesNew ChurchesNew ChurchesNew ChurchesNew ChurchesThree churches petitioned member-

ship at this year's meeting. They areGrace at Post Falls, Idaho; MajesticValley at Elbert, Colorado; andLeakesville at Leakesville, Mississippi.

New LeadersNew LeadersNew LeadersNew LeadersNew LeadersDr. John David Smith completed

his first year as the Executive Directorof Missions. His report was well re-ceived as he challenged our churchesto partner with the Missions Office toreach more people for Christ.

Lifeword Director George Reddinresigned after over 30 years with thisministry and has reentered the pas-torate. Steve Crawley was elected atthis year's meeting to assume the po-sition of Executive Director. He previ-ously served as LifeWord's chief oper-ating officer and financial officer.

Photos and additional informationare found througout this issue.

2 April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

News articles shouldcontain information that will beof interest to the general public

who are not members of thechurch that is reporting.

CHURCHNEWS

Some of the 2011-12 Brotherhood officers are pictured above.Officers elected at this year's meeting are President Colin Jones, !stVP Van Widger, 2nd VP Josh Awtrey, 3rd VP Brent Riddle, Sec/TreasRobert Bynum, Asst. Roy Caldwell, Editor-Promoter Arthur Smith,Galalean Promoter Kenneth Colbert, Asst. don Williams, SongLeader Paul Gothard, Asst. Matt Hudson and Pianist Billy Huffmaster.

Project receipts for this past year were $8,337. The 2011-12project is ISELP. The goal is $10,000.

2011-12 Brotherhood Officers

Rick Russell (left) of LifeWord Broadcast Ministries presents Georgeand Jerene Reddin some gifts and recognition items. George hasresigned as Director of LifeWord and will be entering the pastorate.

Reddins Honored ForYears of Service at LifeWord

Mississippi coupleapproved to Africa

Bro. & Mrs. Dale Broom wereapproved as self-support mis-sionaries to Ghana, Africa. TheBrooms will be doing deputationwork and most likely begin theirservice on the field in the Fall.

Family ArkMinistries

Travis Plumlee

Family Easter CelebrationsEaster is the greatest holi-

day in our family. Christmas iscelebrated because of whathappened at Easter. For Chris-tians, there is no more impor-tant event than the crucifix-ion, resurrection and salvationbrought at Easter by our LordJesus Christ. If you ever cel-ebrate anything as a Christian,you ought to make a big dealabout this. This is the wholeenchilada for us. This is thereason we live, the reason wehave heaven, the reason oursins are forgiven. And there isno other way that we might beforgiven except at the name ofJesus. We cannot have a rela-tionship with God unless webelieve and accept what hap-pened at Easter. He arose!

Plan traditions that reflectJesus and what happened, andalso traditions that demon-strate our Christian heritage.Here are some ideas.

1. One of the biggest changesour family has made in recentyears is to celebrate the Messi-anic Haggadah. We have aPassover celebration in ourhome and make it fully Chris-tian. If you don't know how todo one of these, there is a wealthof information on the internet.They can tell you very specificthings to do.

While this can be a major,drawn out and involved event,you have the choice of makingit unique to your family. Youdon't have to do everything. Itreally helps adults and chil-dren alike understand the Pass-over. It brings home the Last

Supper. It focuses on Christand what he was trying to teachhis disciples about his bloodand his crucifixion. It is fasci-nating to know the lamb that iseaten at Passover can have no

broken bones.The middle of the Trinity of

matzah bread is buried, hid-den and then returns. Whodoes this sound like? Jewishpeople celebrate Abraham,Jacob and Isaac. At our Chris-tian Passover Celebration wemake it about God the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit.There are also books availablenow at the Christian bookstoreson how to do this Easter cel-ebration if you don't have theinternet.

I am encouraged to also seemany Baptist churches doingchurch wide re-enactments ofthe Passover to help fill us withthe awe and wonder of the sea-son.

2. Break bread together. Chris-tian families broke bread to-gether. This was a command ofthe New Testament church. Toshow hospitality and breakbread together. If you havelittle kids or grand kids around,this is another opportunity to

bake some memories. Gatherthem into the process and bakesome sugar cookies and thensit around and laugh, and talkand eat. All Christians oughtto embrace this aspect of thefamily celebration. Let's eat!!

3. Get out the family Bible andgather everyone around andread the Easter story. Howmuch you read is up to you. Leteveryone old enough to read,get a few verses. Explain thisis what it is all about. Explainsome of the traditional thingsthat Americans associate withEaster and bring home the res-urrection/new life message tochildren.

Bunnies and chicks and eggsare symbols of a new life. Afresh life. Jesus gives all of usa new life in Him. ColoringEaster eggs is a fun traditionfor the whole family. Even oldgrumpy people should be en-couraged to join in and have anight of fun. The Easter egg isnot only symbolic of a new life,but of hope. Eggs are symbolicof hope. Jesus is the hope ofglory.

4. Serve. As with all traditionsin your family life, we mustalways realize that Christ callsus to serve. Invite people overfor dinner. Color some Eastereggs and take them up to thenearest children's hospital andleave them for some child thathas less than 3 weeks to live.Take them to a nursing homeor shelter for abuse victims.Put a card in the basket thatsays something like, "Jesusrose from the grave to give younew life". You don't have tosign it. Just encourage someone with some flowers, brightlycolored eggs, a word about ourLord and a smile. You neverknow what it might do.

5. Go to church all the time forthe next year. Many Chris-tians get out and try to make itto church on Easter Sunday.Sadly, by the next month, mostwill have fallen away again.This Easter, celebrate Jesusby making a new Easter tradi-tion. Make a commitment toattend church year round. Cel-ebrate the resurrection of ourLord every Sunday from Eas-ter to Easter. Going to churchis one of the greatest blessingsin life.

Be sure and pray.What kind of holiday is it if

Christians don't pray on that

day! Set aside a time for per-sonal reflections in prayer, andthank God and Jesus for allthey have done. Then be sureand draw the family in togetherin a circle and have a familyprayer, thanking God for send-ing Jesus to save us all. Nowthat's an Easter celebrationyour kids will remember.

Easter! It's the most won-derful time of the year.

Harmony Association MeetsHarmony Association MeetsHarmony Association MeetsHarmony Association MeetsHarmony Association MeetsThe Harmony Association

held its quarterly meeting withGrace Baptist Church, Baldwynon April 4. Our speaker for theevening was Bro. Bob O'Neal.After special music he fromPhillipians 3:10, entitled "ThatI May Know Him.

There were nine churchesrepresented with 51 present,including 3 visitors. A reportwas given that further meet-ings were planned to discusspossible merger of associations.Misssionary Committee reportand budget was passed withdiscussion. Reports were givenby Bro. Vern Hollifield, Bro.Lavelle Lee, Bro. Mark Jones.The speaker for next quarterlymeeting on July 11 at New Hopein Mantanchie will be Dr. Mar-

tin Jameson.Moderator Martin JamesonReproter Tony Marolt

Tombigbee Association reportTombigbee Association reportTombigbee Association reportTombigbee Association reportTombigbee Association reportThe Tombigbee Association

met April 7,2011, at HopewellBaptist Church with 70 in at-tendance. Bro. Grover Lairdbrought a great message fromPsalm 63: 1-8 entitled “HowMuch We Who Are Saved NeedThe Lord".

Reports were given by Bro.Vern Holifield on the SeniorConference to be held at FirstBaptist, Mantachie, on May 3.He encouraged all to attend.Bro. Joseph Oyeleye reportedthat Maple Street Baptist (Mis-sion) would organize into a NewTestament Church on May7,2011, at 2:00 pm and expectsall to attend. Bro. Thelbert Hilldismissed in prayer.

Moderator, Bro. Gary SmithReporter, Debbie Franks

3April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

SoutheasternBaptist College4229 Highway 15 NorthLaurel, Mississippi 39440, (601) 426-6346 Dr. Medrick Savell

President

Serving Christ With a Biblical World View In A Christian Atmosphere

Crawley ElectedNew Directorof LifeWord

Native Mississippian SteveCrawley was approved as thenew director of LifeWord Broad-cast Ministries at the recentmeeting in Wichita Falls, Texas.Crawley previously served aschief operating and financial of-ficer. He is the son of the lateLaVay Crawley and LouiseCrawley of Wiggins, Mississippi.

study discipline, an overviewand sample lessons from five ofthe other disciplines, and a oneday introduction to EverydayEvangelism (EV2) called ShareYour Faith which is being usedas the witnessing discipline forDiscipleway. A complete EV2training may be offered at alater date in the various train-ing areas.

We continue to ask for yourprayers and patience. This hasbeen and continues to be aslow, methodical process butone that we feel will be worththe wait. Depending on ourMay training we hope to beable to schedule three and pos-sibly four training sessionsthroughout our work beforethe end of the year. Pleasecheck the DiscipleWay website(www.discipleway.com) on aregular basis for updates andlistings of trainings. We willpost them as they are sched-uled and will take applicantson a first come, first servedbasis since training size will belimited to approximatelytwenty-five participants at atime. How thankful we are forthe sweet spirit of our associa-tional meeting and for the ob-vious theme of this year’s gath-ering. It is apparent that dis-cipleship is still on the heart ofour Heavenly Father as it al-ways has been and that He hasnow placed it on the hearts andminds of the churches of theBMAA as well.

If we can answer any ques-tions, please contact us viaemail atwallace@discipleway.com.

DiscipleWayPresented

from page 1from page 1from page 1from page 1from page 1

Pictured left to right: Pete Reynolds, Ray Matthews, JonathanWilliamson, Chase Elkins, Samael Barahona, and Donnie Loggins.

Revolving Loan Fund ScholarshipsAwarded to SBC Students

BMA Vice President Jason Altman (left) welcomes messengers ofnew churches joining our National Associaiton.

New Churches Welcomed

Senior Adult Conferences A Joy!

Dr. John David Smith

The Heismen Quartet, based in Corinth,Mississippi, has traveled extensively for overforty years spreading the Gospel in song.They are members of Wheeler Grove BaptistChurch and are all ordained deacons. God, inso many ways, has blessed their ministry.

The North Mississippi Senior Adult Conferencewill be held in May at FirstBaptist Church, Mantachie.Don't miss this exciting event.

Dr. John David Smith, ex-ecutive director of missionsfor the BMA of America, willbe the speaker for the day atthe North Conference withspeical music by TheHeisman Quartet.

NORTH CONFERENCE SET FOR MAY 3

April - May 2011

Our GoalWinning Souls

For Christ In 2011

State MissionsState MissionsState MissionsState MissionsState MissionsEmphasisEmphasisEmphasisEmphasisEmphasis

Hate for God's people 'alive and well' in U.S.OneNewsNow -OneNewsNow -OneNewsNow -OneNewsNow -OneNewsNow - As officials try todetermine whether an explosionat a Jewish synagogue in Califor-nia was an accident or an inten-tional attack, one Jewish leadersuspects anti-Semitism.

Ron Hirsch, a 60-year-old home-less man, apparently placed ahomemade explosive device at asynagogue in Santa Monica beforehe left town. Prior to the attack,authorities say the drifter had beenseen at Jewish centers like theChabad House in search of char-ity.

After the explosion, Hirsch leftLos Angeles on a Greyhound busand headed for New York. But hewas arrested in Ohio when au-thorities received a tip. The blastleft no one injured, but DavidBrickner, executive director ofJews for Jesus, believes it was ananti-Semitic attack.

"Jewish people have been verygenerous to help [the] homelessand people in need, so I don't un-derstand what was the motiva-tion behind this man's actions,"Brickner notes. "But it certainlywasn't because he was turnedaway."

The device Hirsch planted wasinitially believed to be a bomb,and the explosion that followedwas then deemed an accident.Later, however, authorities de-cided the blast was intentional.

"I think it's sad, but not sur-prising, that people who hate Godwill also hate His people - theJews," the Jewish leader laments."We've seen evidence of thisthroughout history, and it's aliveand well in our own country."

Prior to the attack, the home-less man was frequently seensleeping near the synagogue. Po-lice are now trying to determineHirsch's motive.

4 April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

Opinion PageJournal of the Baptist Missionary Association of Mississippi

Don J. Brown, EditorE-Mail - editor@msbaptist.orgWeb site www.msbaptist.org

USPS 353-960P.O. Box 8181

Laurel, Mississippi 39441-8000

Phone 601-426-3293Fax 601-763-4430

PRICE$20.00 Per Year by Mail

$10.00 Per Year by EmailCHURCH PLAN$ 1.30 Per Month

Published on the 1st and 15th of each month by the Baptist MissionaryAssociation of Mississippi. Periodical postage paid at Hattiesburg,Mississippi 39402.

Postmaster: Send address changes to the Mississippi Baptist Paper,P.O. Box 8181, Laurel, MS 39441-8000.

Church of the Covered Dish BY THOMAS TAPP

Don BrownEditor

A Good Meeting in TexasThis issue is a few days late due to the scheduling conflict

with our national meeting. We met in Wichita Falls, Texas, thispast week.

It is evident that God continues to blessthe work of the BMA of America. Progressive,optimistic reports were given by each area ofour work and the enthusiasm of our leaderswas encouraging to this editor and the mes-sengers gathered in Texas. Information aboutthe various ministries, activities and bless-ings are found beginning on page one.

The DiscipleWay program was formallypresented and endorsed by each of ourdepartments. A great amount of time, effort and expense hasgone into its production. Training sessions will get underwaysoon, and if endorsed and used by our pastors and churchleaders, it will prove to be a great benefit in the area ofpersonal spiritual growth.

In our last issue I shared my concern about attendance atmeetings by our pastors, churches and our general member-ship. The meeting is Texas highlighted for this writer the issueof attendance.

Churches represented by messenger for the 2011 annualmeeting numbered only 251. An additional 306 were repre-sented by letter only. The 2010 director lists 1,222 memberchurches. Surely we should expect more that 21% of ourchurches to attend this most important meeting. Of theremaining 79% of member churches only 31% thought itnecessary to be represented by letter. This leaves 665churches who made no effort to have input into our nationalwork.

It seems that if we are going to evangelize the world andsupport those men, women, and works that are working toreach the masses, it will take a more cooperative effort.

The ministries of the BMA of America are worthy and arebeing led by dedicated men and women. They are doing agood and productive work. How much more could weaccomplish, how much more effective could we be, whatideas and suggestions are not considered due to the lack ofparticipation.

I don't know. God does. Surely we would be doing more anddoing it more effectively with more participation.

Pastor Denny Patterson acceptsa certificate from the NationalBrotherhood on behalf of GoodHope Church, Columbia for lead-ing the Association in Brother-hood Project donations for thepast year. The Good Hope Broth-erhood gave $2,000.00 to theproject.

Good Hope, ColumbiaBrotherhood LeadsIn Project Donation

Sunday School Literature from DiscipleGuide

God’s Library of HopeConcludes this Summer

by Charles Reddin, adult editorby Charles Reddin, adult editorby Charles Reddin, adult editorby Charles Reddin, adult editorby Charles Reddin, adult editorDiscilpeGuide PublishingDiscilpeGuide PublishingDiscilpeGuide PublishingDiscilpeGuide PublishingDiscilpeGuide Publishing

LeakesvilleChurch Sparedfrom Tornado

by Editor Don Brownby Editor Don Brownby Editor Don Brownby Editor Don Brownby Editor Don BrownThe devastating tornado

that swept through Leakesvilleon Friday, April 15, did majordamage to businesses and resi-dences throughout the town. Ispoke with Bro. A.W. Kirkland,pastor of Leakesville Mission-ary Baptist Church, on Satur-day morning to get informa-tion concerning the churchproperty and the members. Heinforms us that the churchbuilding did not suffer any dam-age and that as far as he knewat the time, none of the mem-bership suffered any injuries.One couple in the church didlose their home to the storm.

Pray for the recovery of thetown of Leakesville and for theLord’s blessings on those ef-fected by this storm, as well asthose affected by the rash ofstorms across the country thispast week.

Can you summarize theBible relying on six memorablewords that give the skeleton ofthe Old Testament era and sixthat summarize the New Tes-tament timeline? You shouldbe able to do that after youhave studied the adult SundaySchool literature fromDiscipleGuide Church Re-sources for the summer.

The quarter will conclude ayearlong Bible survey entitled“God’s Library of Hope.” Em-phasizing book studies in chro-nological order, the survey hasincluded “Hope Takes Shape”in early Old Testament writ-ings, “Hope Survives DarkDays” in later Old Testamentwritings, “Hope Embraces theSavior” in the times of the Gos-pels and Acts, and — for thesummer — “Hope Endures tothe End” in later New Testa-ment writings.

Uniquely, nineteen New Tes-tament books were written af-ter the Bible’s historical narra-tives were concluded. Withouthistorical books after the closeof Acts, later writings and secu-lar history provide the follow-ing rough framework of thetimes of “Hope Endures to theEnd.”

In the A.D. sixties morebooks of Scripture were writ-ten than in any other decade inhistory (though other decades

may match this one in volumeby word count). The fourteenbooks God inspired during thesixties include Paul’s PrisonLetters, most of the GeneralLetters, and Paul’s PastoralLetters. Lessons of the sum-mer will pinpoint the key mes-sages in seven of these books.

Near the end of the sixtiesthe Christian heroes Paul andPeter were martyred. In A.D.70 the Romans destroyedJerusalem after pressing anoppressive hand on Jews andChristians throughout Pales-tine and the rest of the Romanworld. For the next twentyyears there were no new in-spired writings.

Then in A.D. 90 the apostleJohn emerged in Ephesus towrite his Gospel account andthree letters. Some five yearslater he wrote Revelation. Thesummer quarter will includefour lessons from John’s writ-ings.

So, to summarize the NewTestament timeline, just thinkJ-J-J-W-S-W: Jesus, theJerusalem church, the journeysof Paul, the writings of the A.D.sixties, the silence of the sev-enties and eighties, and thewritings of John.

If you want to know how tosummarize the Old Testamentin six words, see pages 9-10 inthe summer Compass.

5April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist5

Piano CDs for Churches to Sing By!If your church doesn’t have a pianist or needs an option for when

your pianist isn’t available, Christian piano CDs can be a wonderful

solution for your congregational singing or small group gatherings.

The challenge is finding accompaniment CDs with instrumentation

appropriate for your congregation or small group – and one that

is easy to use. Worship Service Resources provides a solution! At

DiscipleGuide we are partnering with them to make these worship

resources available to you. Log onto

www.DiscipleGuide.org/PianoCDs

or call 1-800-333-1442.

SOAR 2011 Set For San Antonio!San Antonio, Texas will be

the host city for the 2011 edi-tion of SOAR, July 4-6. In its21st year, SOAR continues todraw students from all acrossthe United States and is thelargest annual gathering ofBMA Baptists in the world.With over 3,000 students ex-pected to attend this year, at-tendance at SOAR grows everyyear. The impact of SOAR con-tinues to grow as well. Hun-dreds of students have come toChrist through the ministry ofSOAR. Many more have madelife-long commitments to min-istry, life dedication and areasof service during SOAR. SOARhas become the launching padfor a student mission’s move-ment in the BMAA. God hasused SOAR to strengthen theChristian walk of countlessnumbers of kids and has be-come a rallying point for ourBMA work.

The 2011 SOAR theme isiServe. “This year we will befocusing on God’s desire for usall to become servants of Christand of others,” saidDiscipleGuide Conference Di-rector, Donny Parrish. “We are

going to look to the greatestservant who ever lived, JesusChrist, as our model. Jesusserved with passion. He servedprivately. Heserved power-fully. And, Heserved with pur-pose. Our goal isto inspire stu-dents to go homeand serve Jesusthrough their lo-cal church.”

F e a t u r e dspeakers foriServe includeMark Livingston, Pastor ofFirst Baptist Church in Keltys,Texas and Jason Aultman, Pas-tor of Antioch Baptist Churchin Conway, Arkansas. KentWiles, Director of Student Wor-ship at Fellowship Church inForney, Texas, will lead theSOAR Band. Host for the eventwill be Shawn Hammontree,Student Pastor of Antioch Bap-tist Church in Conway, Arkan-sas. Featured for SOAR 2011are recording worship artistsGungor along with comedianBob Smiley. One special latenight option for SOAR 2011 is

Extreme Serve Night and isbeing advertised as an event“for hard-core Christians only.”

Registration for SOAR 2011is $70 and isavailable on-linea twww.DiscipleGuide.org.(Click on the“Conferences”tab.) The SOAR2011 headquar-ter hotel is theM a r r i o t tRiverCenter, lo-cated directly onthe world famous

San Antonio River Walk. Res-ervations at the RiverCentercan be made by using the dedi-cated SOAR Reservationwebsite at https://r e sweb .passkey . com/go /2011SOAR or by dialing 1-800-266-9432 by the cutoff date ofJune 10. Special SOAR pricingfor Six Flags Fiesta Texas/White Water and Sea Worldare also available at the SOARwebsite. Direct any SOAR ques-tions to the DCM office at 501-513-3726 ortricia@DiscipleGuide.org. Seeyou at iServe SOAR 2011.

Sofilthy'sAttic

by Barbara White

Laughter IsGood Medicine

I was reading a book the other day and it said thatscientists have "found" that life-enhancing chemicalsare triggered by laughter. They can energize a person'simmune system and help it ward off diseases, includ-ing cold or flu.

It went on to say that melancholy people had higherlevels of cortisones associated with stress and candamage people's ability to fight disease.

Scientists are finally learning the truth that God'speople have been privy to for a long time; "A merryheart doeth good like a medicine." Proverbs l7:22

God has given us a prescription for joy. All we haveto do is fill the prescription. Laughter is my drug ofchoice!

6 April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

GMA GirlsGMA Promoter - Beth Caldwell

166 Twin Creek Rd, Lucedale, MS 39452601-947-6011

Sunbeam Promoter - Linda Dertinger132 HowardHill Road, Soso, MS 39480

601-729-2908

Mississippi W.M.A.Blinda Lee, President

77 Morrow Rd., Purvis,MS 39475601-596-3417

blinda.lee@lamarcountyschools.org

Corresponding SecretaryMrs. Shirlene Smith

730 Hwy 533, Laurel, MS 39443601-729-5638

You Are Invited to…

Tiger Creek Baptist Church’s Annual Ladies Conference

April 30, 2011 from 9 a.m. to Noon

Touch Me AgainIn honor of Sister Bobbie Thompsonwho is looking down from Heaven.

All women and young ladies are welcome.Lunch will be provided. There is no cost for the

event but please R.S.V.P. at 601-344-7331

Northeast District Ladies’ RetreatEast Amory Baptist Church hosted the annual

Northeast District Ladies’ Retreat on April 2, 2011,from 9:00 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. Heritage decorationsof wedding clothes, hats, gloves, and shoes, carriedout this year’s theme, “If the Shoe Fits, Wear It!”

Bro. Travis Plumlee of Ar-kansas was the speaker andthe Lord spoke to our heartsthrough the sessions he con-ducted. We were challengedto allow the Lord to help us inovercoming any unhealthyshame in our lives and to haveBiblical self esteem ratherthan acknowledging theworld’s idea of this. In thefinal session, Bro. Plumleespoke of our high calling in theLord and of the putting on of“The Glass Slipper.” The HolySpirit was truly present with us.

The ladies were blessed by special music pre-sented by Amber Taylor and Dianne Hall of EastAmory. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch preparedby Becky Williams, which was graciously served bymen of the East Amory Brotherhood. Numerousdoor prizes were given away during this time.

The Northeast District WMA will meet on August16, at Providence Baptist Church in Amory, with ameal served at 6:00 p.m. This meeting will includethe election and installation of the 2011-2012 Dis-trict WMA officers. Please join us.

Bro. Travis Plumlee

Contributions for the State GMA ProjectMarch 31, 2011

1. Bethel Baptist Church, Fulton $1,000.002. Big Creek Baptist Church, Soso 115.003. Buffalo Baptist Church, McLain 50.004. Teresa Broom 15.005. First Baptist Church, Bay Springs

(Barbara White) 50.006. Good Hope Baptist Church, Columbia 40.007. Homestretch Baptist Church, Cleveland 170.008. Hopewell Baptist Church, Laurel 100.009. Mildred Sumrall, Laurel 100.0010. Movella Baptist Church, Lucedale 105.0011. Paramount Baptist Church, Perkinston 135.0012. Pine Grove Baptist Church, Purvis 230.0013. Rhymes Baptist Church, Lucedale 105.0014. Rocky Branch Baptist Church, Sumrall 30.0015. Shiloh Baptist Church, Mt. Olive 136.0016. Skyway Hills Baptist Church, Pearl 305.0017. Temple Baptist Church, Lucedale 581.2418. Ten Mile Baptist Church, Wiggins 105.00

Funds raised at GMA Retreat:19. T-shirt profits 682.5920. Coin boxes from the churches 381.9521. Snack shop 584.0522. Silent auction 300.0023. Craft sales 284.1024. Officer boxes 44.1125. Candy grams 17.2526. Oak Grove Baptist Church, Lucedale 120.00Total received for the GMA project $5,786.29

TOTAL RECEIVED FOR THE 2010-2011 GMA PROJECT:25% General Fund $1,446.5725% Sarah Hebert, Philippines $1,446.5750% RLF GMA Mission Fund $2.893.15Total received for the project $5,786.29

Thanks to each individual and each church who gave tothis very worthy project. The Mississippi State GMA projectfor 2011-2012 is 1/3 general fund; 1/3 Alicia and Margaret;and 1/3 Nicki Prickett.

Please pray and give that these Mississippi girls may havethe needed supplies to minister to the people who need Jesusin the countries where they are serving. God bless each oneas you serve Christ.

Shirlene Smith,GMA/Sunbeam Treasurer

MISSISSIPPI STATE WMACORRESPONDING SECRETARY'S REPORT

April 4, 2011By Shirlene Smith

Total funds to account for $ 9,387.61Project funds received:

25% General Fundplus designated offerings $418.10

(This has been added to the G.F. balance)75% Maple Street Mission, Columbus 720.95

Total received $1,139.05

Funds on hand:General Fund balance $6,672.96

75% Maple Street Mission, Columbus 720.95Ladies' Retreat Fund 1,993.70

Total funds $9,387.61

Sunbeam NewsSunbeam NewsSunbeam NewsSunbeam NewsSunbeam News

Sunbeam Camp SetState Sunbeam Camp is approaching fast. We are

so excited about our camp this year and hope yourchurch will be able to attend. Our theme this year is"God's Creation". We are looking forward to learn-ing about all the magnificent things God Has cre-ated. Although registration is due on April 15, It isnot to late to register.

Our camp dates are April 29 and 30, 2011. Reg-istration will begin at 1:00 P.M. Interviews will be at1:30, so if you have not gotten your participates in toMrs. Linda Faye Dirtinger please do that soon. Wewill begin meeting at 2:00 P. M. with Sofilthy McNastyand following this we will have our Sunbeam Choir.

This year instead of posters we are asking ourSunbeams to create dioramas in shoe boxes thatpicture something about creation. Don't forget tobring your scrapbooks for the scrapbook judging. Weare also looking forward to your specials during thehouse party, so come prepared. If you would like tohelp with the snack shop, you can bring drinks,home made goodies, and snack cakes.

If you have any questions please call Linda FayeDirtinger at 601-422-5552. We look forward toseeing you there.

Goodwin to Serve asSunbeam Camp Pastor

by Linda DertingerState Sunbeam Director

Pictured above are (left to right) Mike Goodwin andRocky Goodwin of EIM Ministries.

Bro. Mike Goodwin of Evangelistic InternationalMinistries, Warren, Arkansas, will be the camppastor at the Mississippi State Sunbeam Retreat onApril 29 & 30, at Camp Garaywa. Bro. Goodwin willbe collecting Shepherd's Bags to be distributed inHonduras. Churches are encouraged to bringShepherd's bags to Sunbeam Retreat.

7April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

CHILDREN'S HOME118 LOWE ROAD, LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI 39443 - (601) 426-3928

SIDNEY DAVISDIRECTOR

The Message of the GospelThe Message of the GospelThe Message of the GospelThe Message of the GospelThe Message of the GospelWe serve a living Savior! That’s the message of

the Gospel, “Christ died for our sins according tothe scriptures…and…was buried, and…roseagain the third day.” 1 Corinthians 15:3,4.

Jesus died on the cross in order to save fromsin. He paid the penalty for sin and now lostsinners can be saved through faith when they puttheir trust in Him. The power to save from sin,death, and judgment. That’s the power that canbe obtained from the resurrection of Jesus Christ.The question is, have you allowed the power to go to work in yourlife? If not, why not trust Jesus as your Savior and experience thepower of His resurrection?

Students Recognized for Honor RollStudents Recognized for Honor RollStudents Recognized for Honor RollStudents Recognized for Honor RollStudents Recognized for Honor RollRecently at awards day at North Jones Elementary three of

our boys and girls at the Home were recognized as Honor Rollrecipients for the first nine weeks of the second semester. We arethankful for their hard work at school and the blessings of theLord upon their lives.

Continue to remember the Home in your prayers.

2011-12 WMA Officers

Pictured above are the new officers for the National WMAelected at this year's meeting in Wichita Falls, Texas.

Scenes From 2011 Meeting

DiscipleGuide Minis-tries gave a KindleReader as a prize duringtheir report.

Bobby Hudgins ofDiscipleGuide presentedthe Kindle to the luckywinner.

Pastor'sPastor'sPastor'sPastor'sPastor'sConferenceConferenceConferenceConferenceConferenceEncouragingEncouragingEncouragingEncouragingEncouraging

Kirk Shelton introduces thespeaker for the Pastor's andLaymen's confernce. The confer-ence this year was a great bless-ing and very encouraging.

Ed Stetzer was this year'sspeaker. Coauthor of the bookTransformational Church,Stetzer encouraged those attend-ing to be the transformers and leaders we were meant to be.

He stated that all Christians are "missionaries or they areimposters".

Left - Ed Stetzer,speaker at the2011 Pastor'sand Laymen'sConference inWichita Falls,

Texas

Remainingfirm on faithpays offOneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow - A Californiapastor says his job was "re-deemed" after he decided tostand up for his fundamentalreligious rights.

Jeff Giampa, a pastor and anelectrician by trade, accepted aposition with The Home Depotthree years ago. Giampa told acrowd of attendees at the Pa-cific Justice Institute's recentannual gala in Anaheim thathe had made it clear to manag-ers that he was unable to workSundays. But when new lead-ership came in, the new storemanager informed Giampa hecould not have Sundays off -and that he would lose his job ifhe did not comply with theterms.

"I told her, 'Listen, I'm a pas-tor. I have obligations on Sun-day - that's my day. For reli-gious reasons, Sundays [are]not an option,'" Giampa shared."And she said, 'Well, I'll giveyou 30 days to make that deci-sion.'"

Giampa began to seek legaladvice and was informed byseveral law groups to contactthem once he was fired fromhis position. However, the pas-tor decided to contact the Pa-cific Justice Institute, request-ing the law group to take ac-tion.

With tears in his eye, Giampatold attendees that his job wasnot only "saved," but he is stillemployed by The Home Depotat an even higher position. "Inow actually have a better po-sition with the store, and havenot lost any form of benefits orfuture pay raises or anythinglike that," he explained.

The California pastor sayshe now has better hours and isable to spend more time withhis family - and that God hastruly "redeemed" his position.

Stem-cell researchers: Mum's the wordOneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow OneNewsNow - The first spinal-injury patient to receive embry-onic stem-cell therapy has come forward with details about histreatment, but one doctor thinks his case is being used to giveattention to an ineffective method of therapy.

Alabama nursing student Timothy Atchison, 21, was para-lyzed from the chest down after he was in a car accident inSeptember. Within two weeks of the crash, he gave doctorspermission to inject him with the stem cells. But Dr. DavidPrentice of the Family Research Council (FRC) tells OneNewsNowthat no more information has been given about the results ofAtchison's treatment because researchers do not want to talkabout them.

"It's too early to know whether he will be developing tumors,"Dr. Prentice explains. "It's actually too early, if ever...[to] knowwhether the embryonic stem cells had any effect, because a lot ofspinal cord injury patients show spontaneous recovery duringthe first 12 months."

But he believes this case is being used as media hype to keepthe public open to the idea of embryonic stem-cell research, eventhough it has yet to produce any positive results. "In the mean-time, we're not hearing about the dozens of patients with spinalcord injury who actually have been improved with adult stemcells, as documented by the published science," Prentice la-ments.

He points out that success with that method, which does notinvolve killing a human embryo, is continuously overlooked, andhe concludes that the publicity over Atchison's case is justanother way of promoting a research method that leaves nothingbut empty promises.

Our GoalWinning Souls For Christ In 2011

State Missions EmphasisState Missions EmphasisState Missions EmphasisState Missions EmphasisState Missions EmphasisApril - May 2011

8 April 15, 2011 • Mississippi Baptist

Homecoming168th Anniversary

Hopewell BaptistChurch

1975 Hopewell Keys RoadDorsey

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday School – 9:45Morning Worship 10:45

Guest speaker: Sidney Davis(former Pastor)

Lunch after the morning serviceEveryone Is Invited to Help Us

Celebrate This Joyous Occasion.

2011 KellarAward Recipient

Bro. C.D. Walker (left) is presented the 2011Gerald Kellar Award by BMA Seminary Presi-dent Dr. Charley Holmes. Walker is thesenior pastor of Bethel Baptist Church inDallas, Texas, and previously served theBMA of Texas as Executive Director andDirector of the Baptist Missionary Associa-tion Loan Association. Brother Walker is a1961 BMA Seminary graduate

Dr. John Adams delivering the Moral Actionreport at 2011 meeting. Resolutions adoptedwill be in our May 15 issue.