NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE

NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE

Bethel: "'And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us' Psalm 90:17 The hands of the folks at Bethel Baptist Church have been busy in the work of the Lord, including a spring revival, Vacation Bible School and Kentucky Changers. Bro. Tim Cole shared the Word during a four night revival, kicked off with the annual fish fry and fellowship. Interim Pastor Tom Hughes has been bringing the Word in such a thought-provoking, challenging way that we’ve seen three recent conversions and four baptisms. Sunday School attendance has been averaging 100, with a good attendance also at "Saddle Ridge Ranch" VBS. Several youth and leaders attended Kentucky Changers, truly giving of themselves in this area of ministry. Bethel has been blessed with the return of Bro. Calvin Wilkins and his wife, Norma, who have been serving at Briensburg. It’s good to have them back in the fold. The Holy Spirit is moving in our midst. We just pray that the community around Bethel does indeed see the beauty of the Lord upon us as we strive to serve and please Him."

Bethlehem: "Whee! Is it hot or what? If this is a slight indication of what hell is going to be like, aren’t you glad you are going to Heaven? I surely am. Last month we presented Bibles to our High School Graduates; gave all the ladies of our church flower pots with biblical verses printed on them for Mother’s Day; collected (& are still doing so) canned food, clothing, etc. to go to Eastern Ky in July. On May 30th we had our 5th Sunday Night Singing. We always have a wonderful time on these nights. On June 6th we welcomed our new Interim Pastor, Brother Matt Jackson and his wife Victoria, with a fellowship breakfast. We are so thankful to have them at Bethlehem. God is good-he’s good all the time."

Gilbertsville: "Summer is in full swing here at Gilbertsville. We are glad to see our campers back in service with us. We have several campers that attend worship with us while they are camping. We have had our annual fish fry, which means lots of food and fellowship. We had several visitors from the neighborhood attend. We just finished up with V.B.S. Bible school is a lot of work, but the rewards make it worth it. We enrolled 44 students this week and averaged 33 nightly. We had a lot of fun this week, on Friday the kids got to see a horse and the fire department brought over their water cannon for the children to play in. Best news yet, we had 4 saved in V.B.S. and 2 with questions (Amen). Three of these young people were just visiting in the neighborhood, the other came forward to be a candidate for baptism on Sunday. This is what makes all the work worth it. Our prayer is that all the churches have a successful V.B.S. Continue to pray for us at Gilbertsville as we still seek a pastor."

Grace: "Greeting from Grace Baptist Church. May began with our seniors being honored on May 2nd. Walter and Carolyn Bell were chosen as ‘Senior Adults of the Year.’ The choir was made up of seniors. The seniors enjoyed a meal at Sirloin Stockade. We are supporting Life House Crisis Pregnancy Center through the ‘Baby Bottle Campaign’. The bottles will be returned on Father’s Day, hopefully filled with spare change or better yet, bills. Honored Mothers in the church on Mother’s Day with gifts to the oldest mother, youngest mother and mother with most children. Baby Dedication was also held on Mother’s Day with four babies being dedicated to the Lord. We honored our 2010 high school graduates on Sunday, May 16th with a meal right after church. First Place 4 Health Orientation was held on May 16th. May 30th was a great day for Grace Baptist. We were challenged by Brother Sammy to have a 5th Sunday Offering to reduce our Family Life Center Debt on May 30th. We owed $7,77.40 and our offering was $12,578.00. We will celebrate by having a note burning at our Homecoming on July 11th. God is good. Our children enjoyed an outing at the Magic House in St. Louis on May 1st. Our monthly Finger Food Fellowship was held on Sunday Evening May 23rd. The third Saturday Monthly Worship Service was held at Fern Terrace Nursing Home. We are continuing to collect snacks for Murray Calloway/CCU waiting area, as well as pull-taps for the Ronald McDonald House. "

S. S. Avg.: 107, 1 addition by baptism, 5 by letter

New Bethel: "Here at New Bethel on May 4th, our Young At Heart Seniors traveled to Chicago Pizza in Mayfield for their monthly outing. May 15th we had a Ladies Bible Study Event in the FLC, led by Shawna Mohler, & many of our ladies attended & had a great time of learning, fellowship & food. May 16th in the evening service, it was awards night for our AWANA kids, a wonderful group of kids, & afterwards food for the kids & AWANA leaders & helpers. AWANA is dismissed for the Summer until school starts back in Aug. May 23rd in the evening service it was Academic Awards Night as we recognized all our graduates with a Processional ‘Pomp & Circumstance’, Special Speaker Robert Cozart, Presentation of Certificates by Pastor Mark & Presentation of 14 New Bethel Educational Scholarships of $500 each by Collis Duncan to our young people & adults who are intent on furthering their education. There were 5 graduates from Preschool, 3 from Kindergarten, 2 from Grade School, 3 from Middle School, 1 from High School & 3 from College. We are so proud of all these kids & young adults for their accomplishments. Afterwards there was a church-wide meal & time of fellowship for everyone. May 30th in the evening service we had The Lord’s Supper, an ordinance given to us by our Lord Christ Jesus."

S.S. Avg.: 86

New Harmony: "Many prayers have been offered on behalf of those traveling, both vacationers and summer missionaries. Our missionaries returning from Montana will have praise reports for which we are thankful. We will be hearing about the proceedings of the Southern Baptist Convention when Brother Rodney and his family return. One member is going on the mission trip to Poland and we are very enthused over her opportunity for service. Our Women on Mission enjoyed an enlightening presentation by Tom Baker, repeat missionary to Poland. Quite a number of young people plan to attend Youth Camp (July 5-10) and they, of course, have our prayers. We are proud of the efforts of our Relay for Life Team, as well as the offering that was given to that great cause. Praise the Lord for a recent profession of faith as a young family joins our church. Also deserving of prayers are: WOM, June 21; VBS, nursery through high school---July 12-17; Homecoming, July 25, with special speaker, Brother David Brasher; boys’ camping trip; two Holiday World trips; and mission trips by various members. We ask blessings upon our numerous graduates and God’s grace upon the family of Joyce Hamlet Shemwell."

New Zion: "Psalm 92:1 'It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High.' This month we thank our most High for the first year anniversary of Bro. Rodney and Ms Gail. Their labor of love has truly blessed us all. Congrats to Bro. Lucas and Ashley on their engagement and our Blacklight group held their first performance. With school out we say goodbye to Wed. night meal ministry and thanks to our kitchen crew for the amazing meals. A reception was held for our graduates and the youth held a bake sale at Wal-Mart. Relay for Life collected over $3,000. Thanks to Brandi Johnson for heading up our team for this great cause. 5th Sunday singing had toe tappin and hands clappin. Due to our growth, a visionary meeting was held, please pray that God will guide us to fulfill His plan. Soul Survivor on Danger Island (VBS) averaged 140 per night, collected over $1,700 for Sunrise Children's Home and saw two souls saved. Now that's something to sing about! Thanks to all who labored so hard for the Lord. Senior Saints, WMU, Brotherhood, visitation, new members class, children's church and Monday morning prayer are all going strong. Bro. Rodney and Ms Gail are attending the SBC in Fla. this week and we ask God to give them comfort in the passing of Ms Lillian Story. We praise God for the saved souls and letters of transfer this month. We thank and sing praises to our most High."

Symsonia: "Congratulations to our seniors that recently graduated: Crystal Brewer, Shelby Crowley, William Ellington, & Joey West. All graduates were honored in May with a luncheon and was presented a Bible. We welcome our 2 newest members, Kayla Parham and Ty Cobb. We will be baptizing Kayla and Ty soon. We also honored our Senior Adults in May. A luncheon was served and we had a special guest speaker, Mike Gates. Bro. Mike shared his testimony and information about the ministry he is involved in, The Outreach to the Blind, in Mt Vernon, KY. Everyone is gearing up for VBS which is June 14-18. We will be having a VBS Kickoff on Sunday, June 13 with food, fun, and a giant inflatable. Everyone is invited! Please be in prayer for our Youth Leaders and all youth attending Youth Camp in July and also those going on missions trips to Hazel Green and Mt. Vernon."

S. S. Avg.: 99, 2 additions by baptism

Vanzora: "We had a wonderful Spring Revival with Bro George Culp in late April, a spirit-filled Fifth Sunday Singing in May, and joyous Homecoming services in June with Bro Terry Mathis. On Memorial Day our services included special recognition and remembrance of those who have or are serving in our military. We also participated in the Marshall County Relay for Life, honoring our survivors, remembering those who have passed on and raising money to continue the search for a cure. We are looking forward to another great Vacation Bible School this year. Everyone is invited to join us for Saddle Ridge Ranch July 12th to 16th at 6:00pm each evening. Several members are also preparing for the upcoming Mission Trip to Eastern Kentucky. We are proud of these members for their willingness to serve the Lord in this way, and offer our prayers and support to them."

Walnut Street: "Sunday May 2nd we held Homecoming. We started with The Smith Brothers singing then Bro John Sheppard brought the morning service. Both were a blessing to everyone. Afterwards we had lunch in the gym. The food and the fellowship was wonderful. Then Sunday May 9th was Mothers Day. Thank God for Mother's, where would we be without them. As a fund raiser for the mission trip to the Arizona Indian reservation there was a yard sale held at the church on the 13th & the 14th. There was a lot of items donated for the yard sale. There was about $700 collected. Thanks to everyone that donated or helped. Thanks to Tommy for grilling hamburgers. Josh has some other things in the works in order to raise money for their trip. We had new addition to our church on the 13th with the birth of Anna Elizabeth Sexton. She is the daughter of Chuck & April Sexton. We have several members that graduated from high school and also we had one from middle school then one from Murray State Univ. We gave the ones graduating from high school a bible. We wish each one best wishes for their future. On Sunday the 30th we took a moment out to honor the men of our church that have been in the military. Where would our nation or our churches be without the sacrifice that has been made by the men and women of America. God Bless each one."

S. S. Avg.:79

MAY NEWSLETTER

MAY NEWSLETTER

Dexter: "Greetings from Dexter Missionary Baptist Church! April has been a blessed month for us in so many ways. We began the month by celebrating the Lord’s Supper and praising our Lord for all that He does for us. We were blessed with the wonderful Evangelism Crusade which was so inspirational-Praise God for His mighty works! We were also honored to have Bro. Royce Dukes as our guest speaker on April 11th and were blessed to witness the baptism of our newest member, Lukas Howe. Our teen girls had a ‘lock-in’ with 18 attendees and even though it stormed during the night, they were blessed with God’s care and had a great time. It is so good to have our youth together and to watch them grow in the Lord’s ways. We finished out the month by having our annual ‘Spring Cleaning’ day at the church, and as always, were blessed by the love and unity of our church members as they pitched in to help with the chores. We are looking forward to VBS and our annual community fish fry that will be coming up soon. May God’s blessings, peace and joy be with each of you."

S.S. Avg.: 26, 1 addition by baptism

Gilbertsville: "God continues to bless us here at Gilbertsville. March and April have seen decisions made for the Lord, Whitney Fulks joined by letter, Kathy Odom joined by baptism and as I write this, we had baptism tonight for Jordon Montgomery. In March we had our Easter Egg hunt for the children, they always enjoy getting to come to the activities building and just run. We had our quarterly fellowship on the last Sunday night in March, we also welcomed Spencer Pace as our organist at this time. Our Wednesday night youth service has been averaging 20 plus kids, Curtis has had as many as 30 at one time, praise God and thanks to Curtis and Jim for working with the youth. We are planning for our fish fry and V.B.S. in June, I see this as a busy month. Continue to pray for our church as it still seeks a pastor."

Grace: "April began on a high note at Grace Baptist, with Sunrise Service and at 10:00 A.M. a concert by Mitchell Jon and then our regular service. What a glorious Easter Sunday. Followed up by the ‘Find It Here Evangelism Crusade’, April 11 thru April 14th held at South Marshall Middle School. Our WMU goal for Annie Armstrong was $1,500.00. Praise the Lord we made our goal with a final total of $1,565.00. Any contribution to Home Missions means the word will be heard and taught throughout the United States. The Women of Grace hosted a retreat on April 24th. The theme was ‘Crowned With A Purpose’. Guest Speaker was Patti Webb from Nashville, who spoke in an uplifting and positive manner about our role as women and our relationship with Christ first and then with each other and our friends and families. Awards were given for the best-dressed and most creative princess theme attire. A delicious noon meal was enjoyed by all. A finger food fellowship was enjoyed after the evening service on April 25th. We are continuing to collect individually wrapped snack items for the MCCCH/CCU waiting areas, along with pull-tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. There were a number of bridal and baby showers held in the Family Life center during this month. The church outreach service was held on the third Saturday of the month at Fern Terrace Nursing Home."

S. S. Avg.: 122, 2 additions by baptism, 4 by letter

New Bethel: "Here at New Bethel on Apr. 3rd, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt & the kids & adults had a great time, & enjoyed grilled hot dogs, chips, snacks & drinks afterwards. Apr. 4th, Easter Sunday & we celebrated the death, burial & resurrection of our Lord & Savior, Christ Jesus. Apr. 6th, our Young At Heart Seniors resumed their monthly outings after a winter layoff with a trip to Lamberts. Apr. 18th was High Attendance Sunday, & attendance was great & we had a fellowship meal in the FLC afterwards. Apr 25th, our Choir, with help from some of our friends, along with a string quartet, piano & percussion, led by our Music Minister David Bivins, presented a musical program ‘Shelter:A Service of Comfort and Hope’, at 11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. It was fantastic!! God is our Shelter in the storms of life. Young Garrett Mohler, 4 year old son of Pastor Mark & Shawna Mohler, had an idea; he wanted to sell Root Beer to raise money to help feed people who didn’t have any food & he persisted in this idea until Root Beer for Missions was born. After 2 set-ups, Garrett, with help from Dad, Mom & little sister Emma, raised over $800.00 selling Root Beer & Lemonade, & another set-up will be coming up in May in Murray. All the money raised will be used to help feed those who are in need in Eastern KY."

S.S. Avg.: 103

New Harmony: "Words cannot express the blessings God’s people receive when souls are saved and join the body of Christ. New Harmony was recently blessed with a beautiful Sunday morning Baptismal Service as a father and daughter were added to the church. We are praying for them to grow in God’s grace, the key to every Christian’s walk with Him. We are also praying for many of our members who are no longer able to attend church due to heath issues. We know it is difficult for these faithful ones to miss the fellowship of the believers and the joy obtained through worship. Speaking of joy: we are looking forward to the JOY Trio joining us in the evening service May, 23; we enjoyed Brother Gary Frizzell who filled the pulpit in Brother Rodney’s absence (speaking at the Homecoming at Muddy River); and a wonderful fish fry was enjoyed by members and guests May 15. A number of our ladies attended the quarterly WMU Meeting gaining intriguing information about Haiti’s needs. Bible School will be July 12-17. Sympathy to the families as we will miss: Emma Smith, oldest member, baptized 1939, Lewis Reeder, baptized 1946, and Verda Smothers, baptized 1969."

New Zion: "Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not faint.. Aren't you glad God only passes out ever-ready batteries? Our saying 'It's a God thing' continues on. We had High Attendance Sunday, Bro. Rodney held revival at Owens Chapel with six souls saved, Praise the Lord! Our 24 hr of prayer energized hearts and put a spring in our steps. Thanks Bro. Lucas. The youth group who has grown to 27 held 50's night and raised almost $900 for their mission trip. Our ladies conference truly bloomed and Anita Vance encouraged us to continue to grow. We pray God will continue to bless her ministry. Carla you really out-did yourself pulling this one together. Relay for Life is running full speed with T-shirt and pan sales, photo shoot and a yard sale. Senior Saints rolled on to Lambert's for food and fellowship and don't take off those tennis shoes yet, VBS is just around the corner. Children's Church is at full throttle, two souls surrendered to Christ this week. (Lord please keep your hand upon that ministry) and the beautiful bells on Mother's Day filled the Heavens with sweet music. God bless those who are teaching our children to expand their gifts for God. As we wind up our Beth Moore Tuesday night study, we thank Ms Gail for leading this amazing journey. WMU & Brotherhood have several projects going and thanks to all who attended the National Day of Prayer. "

Salem: "Spring has sprung at Salem! We had a wonderful Easter egg hunt. Bridget Straw did a good job telling the little ones about Jesus using the Resurrection Egg story. Prizes were awarded to the children finding the most eggs. Then on April 17 we had a community spaghetti supper. Liz and Jimmy Williams were instrumental in putting this together. It was delicious and we all enjoyed the fellowship. The ladies of the church and the ladies in WMU have been busy collecting coloring books and new toys for the sick children at Murray Hospital. We celebrated Mother's Day by honoring all mothers present, and it was a very large group! A corsage was given to the youngest mother and the mother with the most experience. The mothers played Bible trivia regarding famous mothers in the Bible. We are now busy getting ready for Vacation Bible School June 6 through 10. We are looking forward to teaching a large group of boys and girls. You're always welcome at Salem."

Sharpe: "Sharpe had a wonderful Easter Sunday. Our pastor brought a powerful message, and we were blessed to have 55 people in our choir that morning. That evening, we observed the Lord’s Supper. We welcome new members: Brent, Shannon & Brooklyn Young. Our church was blessed to have two wonderful guest speakers this month: Bro. Billy Byrd, from Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in Montana and Bro. Damian from Romania. They reminded us about how important mission work is, and the blessing that it brings. We had a special afternoon filled with writing our favorite scriptures inside the new activity building before the sheetrock and flooring was installed, surrounding this building with His word. Our youth did daily mission projects during spring break, and also got to make a really exciting trip to Fall Creek Falls for a weekend of hiking and devotions. LLL went to Casey Jones Museum in Jackson TN. One of our members, Stan Griggs, brought his wood carvings for a lesson for KFC kids. Looking ahead in May: Homecoming on May 23rd, Awana’s Awards Ceremony and Skating Party, and Kamp Kids beginning on May 26th, with sessions every Wednesday night during the summer. See our website at www.sharpebaptist.org."

Spring Creek: "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...but our schedules fill up faster each day. After drawing a deep breath at the end of 2009, we "hit the road a runnin'." Our men have put together picnic tables, and then mega slides for the playground, and have requested that the next thing we purchase be in one piece... We filled buckets for Haiti, and filled and delivered bags for "Find it Here" On May 8th we served 87 guests at a pancake breakfast for the neighborhood/ community. And on May 9th the men honored the ladies with a "Men's cake Bake" Sunday night. Even though they were delicious, Paula Deene has nothing to worry about. All of our mothers received potted geraniums on Sunday Morning. We are looking forward to Vacation Bible School on June 5-6th. We have two leaders and 6 youth going to Centrifuge for the week of July 5-22. We wish to acknowledge our gratitude to Bro. Tim Cole for filling in for Bro. Terry Powell during his illness in March and part of April. He was a blessing to us all, and he lifted us up at a time when we were feeling low. Bro. Terry and the whole church has a new respect for Director of Missions...God used you in a wonderful way....Thanks again."

Symsonia: "Our Youth group attended the Casting Crowns concert in April. Our children enjoyed our annual Easter Egg Hunt. Lunch was eaten after all the hard work finding eggs. A good time was had by all. We appreciate all those who supported the Associational Crusade. Thanks also to everyone who met and helped on Clean Up Day at church. Many in our church are preparing for upcoming mission trips and preparing for Vacation Bible School. We have lots of activities coming up in May!"

S. S. Avg.: 91

Walnut Street: "We started the month off with celebrating Easter. We had over 200 in our a.m. services. Bro Joel's sermon was very moving. Praise God that Jesus died for us, arose & still lives today. Several adults & youth are planning a mission trip this summer to Arizona to the Indian reservation so they have planned several things to collect money to help with the expenses. The weekend of Tater Day, they had a dunking booth set up in town, they are selling Walnut Street tee shirts and planning on having a yard sale next month. We cancelled our p.m. services on the 11th and the 14th so anyone that wanted to could attend the Crusade Revival at South Marshall Middle School. Instead of having ball teams in a league this year, Bro Josh has put a sign up sheet for anyone that wants to play can. He hopes to get enough interest so he can have 2 to 3 teams. It will be just for fun and fellowship. Bro Josh is doing a wonderful job with our youth and he has a lot of great help. Bro Glenn Cope & Mae have left to go serve at Flint Baptist Church. We are going to miss them but we wish them the best. Also Spencer Pace left to go to Gilbertsville Baptist Church to be over their music. He has been a blessing to our church. We are going to miss his smiling face and that wonderful voice he has. We wish him the best. Kathy Frizzell celebrated her birthday on the 27th. Please continue to keep Mike Miller in your prayers. He is facing surgery later on. God Bless"

*S. S. Avg.: 87, 1 new member

May 18

This month has been an exciting one. Many are gearing up for the summer mission trips. They come into my office and share the excitement they anticipate. What’s even more exciting is, I know how more thrilled they will be when they come back from the mission trip. I once heard someone say this statement ‘What does the Association do for my church’? It’s really not what does the Association do for my church as much as it is ‘What can my church do for the Association’. Many church members are really getting involved in the Associational activities, and when they do they discover great needs to accomplish our mission. Because of that, we have purchased a 2009 Chevy van to use on mission trips and for churches to use when they need a van. That really blessed my heart. It has been a great need for sometime. We also have purchased a cooker to use on mission trips and for churches to use for any occasion they may have need of. The purpose is to feed those who are hungry physically and while they are there we will share the gospel to feed them spiritually. Another milestone we have endeavored is building a new garage to store our mission trailers and Baptist Builders trailers and our vans in. We will begin this project on June 2. Here’s where we need the churches' help. When we voted to do this at the board meeting, here’s what we agreed to. That the Association would contribute 10,000 dollars to this project and the churches would match that. So I’m pleading that we become convicted to do our part and give unconditionally to this huge need. While I’m in the begging stage, we have another need and that is our Disaster Relief monies are quickly running out. If there were a disaster today, we would not be able to fully respond. It takes money to operate this ministry and we are asking churches to help us send relief. Our Disaster Relief Director has put out a plea for all of our churches to contribute 200 dollars to this dire need. These are good problems. It states that we are actually doing ministry. It states that we are pulling together to help those in need. What a wonderful feeling to know that we are pleasing God. Isn’t that our goal anyway? I am absolutely thrilled of all that is taking place within our Association. Every morning when I wake up I’m like a kid in a candy store wondering what is God going to do today, and I’m never disappointed. As we continue doing His will, we will see results. Remember we only water and plant but God gives the increase. Thanks for believing in the Association. Keep up the good work that is in you. May God bless.

Bro. Tim

APRIL’S NEWLETTER

APRIL’S NEWLETTER

Bethlehem: "We are still requesting your prayers for our church as we are still seeking a new pastor. During this time of being without a Pastor, we have had some great Supply Preachers & we thank the Lord for all His guidance. All our members were very eager to go door to door visiting & inviting neighbors to church for the “Find It Here Campaign”. Hopefully we’ll keep up the visitation program. Our children had a marvelous time at our Easter Egg Hunt - lots of eggs filled with candy and money for numbered eggs. A party followed the egg hunt. The BR Mission Board Meeting was held at BBC this month and our ladies really enjoyed fixing a meal for these wonderful men. Seems they enjoyed the food (especially the desserts). Pray for all our people going on the mission trips. God Bless!"

Dexter: "Everyone at DBC is so grateful for the first signs of spring-and praise God for each new bud and leaf that is dotting the landscape. Spring is a time for renewal and we are looking forward to not only a renewal, but a resurgence in the activities at Dexter! Our Sunday school classes are growing, as is the Children’s Church, and we are so blessed with both. “Kids for Christ” is a new ministry we are starting for our youth, ages 9-14, to be held on Sunday night, and we will be reaching out into our community to bring in as many young people as we possibly can. We spent the month of March studying and praying for the Annie Armstrong Mission and our offerings far exceeded our initial goal of $300-Praise God for blessing this wonderful and important mission work and for the generosity of the DBC members! We have also been lifting up in prayer the upcoming Associational Evangelism Crusade and are looking forward to a wonderful meeting with the salvation of many souls. Plans are already underway for VBS, which is right around the corner and we are anticipating a great time with our youth the first week of June. May our wondrous Lord bless each of you as we welcome the beauty of Spring into our lives."

S.S. Avg.: 24

Grace: "Once again greeting from Grace Baptist Church. God continues to bless the ministries at Grace. We set our goal for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for $1,500.00. Our final offering was $1550.00. Praise God for his blessings. Celebrated Youth Sunday on March 14th. The youth made up the choir, led the music and brought the message. What a wonderful example of the gifted youth at Grace. Held an Easter Egg Hunt for the children on March 27th for all ages 5th grade and under. They enjoyed games, snacks and of course the Egg Hunt. The Seniors had a meal at Cindy’s Restaurant and then toured LBL on March 20th. We are continuing to collect snacks for the CCU Waiting Room at Murray Calloway Hospital and coke tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Louisville."

S. S. Avg.: 117, 1 addition by baptism

Locust Grove: "We are continuing to see God move at the Grove. We welcomed a new member by profession of faith in Christ, Chris Cox, to our church family. The Find It Here distribution went well and covered two half Saturdays. All of the bags were distributed, so we hope and pray the gospel went forth. The choir continued to work on their musical "I Know My Redeemer Lives." Bro. Ryker assisted other men in loading the buckets of hope for Haiti at the associational office. We continue to minister to the residents at Glendale Place and at Hickory Woods every month. We are looking forward to seeing and hearing about the "fruit" from Find It Here!!"

New Bethel: "We are beginning our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering here at New Bethel & have set a goal of $3000.00. Our WIN (Widows & Widowers in Need) Offering is being taken in Sunday School on the second Sunday each month & in Mar. we received over $100.00. Our Haven of Hope Baby Bottle Offering totaled over $575.00 this year. The Buckets of Hope for Haiti Campaign here helped the overall project to be a huge success. Mar. 19 & 20, D-Now Weekend was great for the kids grades 6th thru 12th & several of our kids made decisions & reaffirmed their salvation. Mar. 28, The “Find It Here” door to door campaign went well as our church members delivered information packages to door steps & door knobs in our area to invite folks to attend church services. Several of our members are looking forward to going on the Hazel Green Mission trip that is upcoming. Our F.I.S.H. Sunday School outreach ministry is slowly getting underway. Coming up on Sun. Apr. 25th we will have a presentation of “Shelter:A Service of Comfort and Hope”, a musical program involving the choir, a string quartet, piano & percussion at 11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. here at New Bethel & everyone is invited.."

S.S. Avg.: 95

New Harmony: "Blessings, blessings, blessings!!! We are mightily grateful for God’s blessings on the association and churches who participated in the Find It Here Crusade, Brother Jerry Spencer, the musicians, prayer warriors and all volunteers. We are thankful for the association’s Crusade organizers and Brother Tim, as well as all who participated to make the event run smoothly for God’s glory-including our county’s school system permitting the use of SMMS. Most of all we are thankful for the salvation of souls this week, seeds that were planted in hearts, and bonds of Christian friendship that were strengthened as churches worshiped together. More exciting events are forthcoming as our members look forward to High Attendance Sunday (April 18), as well as, summer missions’ activities and Vacation Bible School. Our wonderful Youth Committee organized a tremendous Easter Egg Hunt for ages 10 and under--enjoyed by all who attended!!! Our choir performed a lovely cantata on Easter Sunday as we praised God for sending His Son and the blessings of redemption through Him. One of our life-long members, Floyd Feezor, lost his battle with illness; our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to his family."

New Zion: "Matthew 28:6. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come see the place where the Lord lay. Easter is the most exciting holiday to the Christian. Our life was made eternal. Bro. Rodney's sermon on the crucifixion left no doubt of the horrible death He suffered for us. Praise God the tomb was empty. Our choir, musicians and song leader did an amazing cantata and Stephanie's solo was beautiful. Thanks to David, Mitch and Linda for their faithful service. Our church was so blessed to have both ordinances fulfilled in our evening service, The Lord's Supper and 3 baptized. (Praise the Lord) Thanks to all who helped make the egg hunt a success. We had over 50 members disperse Find It Here bags. Let's pray that souls will come to know God through this outreach. April 7 @ 6-6:50 pm Bro. Tim Cole started a class for new members. The Evangelism Crusade April 11-14 truly was a blessing. May God's seed be planted throughout our county. April 24-25 our youth is hosting a 24 hours of prayer to thank God for our growth and will host a fund raiser April 25 after the evening services. Ladies don't forget our May 8th Women's Conference. WMU is in need of items for our service men and women. Thanks to Barbara Cothran for being such a devoted director. This month Children's Church workers saw the fruit of their labor with one profession of faith. To all those involved in this exciting ministry, we thank you for your tireless dedication."

Pleasant Valley: "WOW!! What a month, four more new members. Lindsey Tolbert, Nathan, Karen and Abby Walker all joined Pleasant Valley, such a blessing. Lindsey, Nathan and Abby were all baptized Easter Sunday night and Karen joined on her statement of Faith. The members of Pleasant Valley had the rare opportunity to observe both church ordinances the same night. Following the baptism, we observed the Lord's Supper. It was an amazing Easter!! The day before the little ones of the church family had an Easter Egg Hunt. Lots of little darlings filled their baskets with goodies. A special thanks to the ones that worked so hard to plan the fun for all. Our Homecoming will be celebrated the first Sunday in May. Please join us for this special day. Our prayers go out to members, family and friends who are not feeling so well. As always, we'd love to have you visit us anytime."

S.S. Avg.: 52; 3 additions by baptism; 1 by statement

Sharpe: "’For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.’ (Song of Solomon 2:11,12) Spring’s arrival has inspired Sharpe to get busy preparing our fields. Our “Find it Here” volunteers passed out 300 bags in our community, praying this will encourage our neighbors to allow us to minister to them. Our church family has grown! Welcome Ezra Darnell, Cody Dycus, Carson Denfip, Matt and Rene Tucker, and Matt, Danette, and Dylan Coursey! The youth group attended “Discipleship Now", returning with testimonies about closer relationships with Christ. KFC had an outdoor play-day; what great weather we had! Also, the KFC sanctuary is being transformed into a beautiful rainforest retreat. The LLL club’s monthly fellowship at the Pork Peddler was fantastic. Awanas is preparing for our year-end award ceremony and skating party. Bro. Marvin and Teresa Medford presented a slide show of their mission work in Nicaragua. A love offering was given to buy school uniforms and bibles for children in need there. We appreciate our three pastors and their wives for the work they are doing in our church and our community, our hard working secretary, and the many volunteers that work behind the scenes to ensure our church programs, building projects, and activities run smoothly. Praise God for all His blessings! Next Month: Easter!, Annual Easter Egg Hunt, Crusade Services, and Youth Camp-out. See us at www.sharpebaptist.org."

Symsonia: "We had a great turnout in March to distribute our Find It Here packets. Seventeen buckets were filled for the Buckets of Hope Project. Our Sunshine Friends hosted a Sundae Party in March to benefit Smile Train. Over $1000 was donated for this wonderful organization! Some of our members will be traveling to Hazel Green and Mt. Vernon for mission trips in the near future. Thanks to the choir and others who participated in our Easter Cantata. As always, it was great! We welcome Shane Cobb as our newest member of Symsonia Baptist. We look forward to celebrating Easter and the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ!"

S. S. Avg.: 98, 1 addition by baptism

Walnut Street: "March was a very busy month for us here at WSBC. On the 10th was our monthly Feed The Kids night. Thanks to everyone that helps with this ministry. On the 19th thru the 21st was The Disciple Now weekend. We had about 30 kids from our church along with several adults that helped out. Thanks goes out to Josh & Deidra for doing this for the kids and for everyone else that helps out by donating time, food & their house for the weekend. It was divided between our church & First Baptist Church. On the Saturday everyone came to our church for lunch. Josh said that we fed between 250 - 300 people. Then on Sunday the 21st was our Youth Sunday. The ones that had been involved with The Disciple Now led the service with Josh bringing us the message. It was a very moving service and there wasn't many dry eyes by the end of the service. We have a group that is planning on taking a mission trip in June to the Arizona Indian Reservation, so we took up an offering to go towards that mission. Thanks to everyone that gave very generously. On the 18th thru 21st there was 5 from our church that went to Cedamore on Adult Changers. Then on 25th thru 28th there was 5 from our church that went to Jonathan Creek for Adult Changers. On the 24th we lost one of our dearest members, Mrs. Della West. She was a very sweet lady & we will miss her. She is now sitting beside God in Heaven. She leaves behind several children which three are also members of our church. Our prayers go out to them in this difficult time. On the 27th we held our Easter Egg hunt. It was a little on the chilly side but all the kids had a wonderful time hunting for the eggs then opening them to see what was inside. Thanks to Donna Ethridge for doing this each year for the kids. Please continue to pray for the ones in the nursing homes or hospitals and for the ones that are going thru difficult times. God bless"

S. S. Avg.: 95

April 19

I am absolutely speechless! Well not really. I have something to shout about. I have that right since I’m almost Bapticostal. The Crusade was a big blowout. It was fun and exciting. I am so grateful that you choose to attend. Just think what you would have missed if you did not go. I have to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who had a part in the Crusade. It would not, nor could not, have been possible without you. I know that God made it all possible, however He chose you to be a part in His plan and that should make us feel special. It also showed that you all care about the people within our Associational boundaries. I know there were countless hours on our knees in prayer for loved ones and friends. God did a work during the Crusade. Several souls were saved and added not only to the church but to the kingdom. What a joy to know that lives were spared from the pits of Hell. I believe Satan was and still is bound from our associational churches, therefore let's continue the Crusade within our church walls and down our streets. It brought tears of happiness to my eyes watching our churches come together for a common cause and seeing your smiling faces when you entered the building. Watching church vans pull in one right behind the other for an hour was breathtaking and almost overwhelming. Your cards, letters, e-mails and texts expressing your satisfaction and compliments made me feel good inside. I believe it has made a change in all of us. The unification of our churches within our Association is very strong and we are staying Kingdom focused. I believe this makes God extremely happy. We will see the results of the Crusade for years to come. Many of you have shared that we should do another one soon. I will share that to the Evangelism Committee. Many other things are happening now in our Association but I’ll have to come down from cloud 9 before I can share any more. No, make that cloud 10. You all mean so much to me. I am proud to say that I am the Director of Missions of the Blood River Baptist Association. I think about you all often and I also talk to my Heavenly Father about you every day. We have a pretty good conversation when it comes to Associational churches. Thanks Pastors for believing in the Crusade and pushing it in your announcements. May God richly bless all of you.

Bro. Tim

NEWSLETTER FOR MARCH

NEWSLETTER FOR MARCH

Bethlehem: "Spring has sprung and so has ‘Find It Here Campaign’. Aren’t you excited? Our church is currently in the process of visiting and praying for a great response from this campaign. And the Crusade in April is going to be just awesome - we need to all be on fire for the Lord and really pray and invite people to this event. We have had, & are having, a lot going on at BBC. We are currently collecting unused ‘Eyeglasses for the Hispanics’ and ‘Coats for Kids’. We got ‘Buckets’ to send to Haiti and filled them full of prayers along with the much-needed items. Fellowship was wonderful at our Valentine’s Banquet - great food and loads of fun with games and prizes. We want to invite everyone to come and participate in our ‘Family Basketball Games’--Nothing professional-just friends having fun. For more info. you may contact Todd Smith at 705-8333 - we were meeting on Monday nights but that has been changed to Sunday nights right after church. Church starts at 6:00 & playtime starts at 7:00. We praise God for a young man who accepted Christ as his Savior and was baptized last week. We ask for God’s guidance in his new walk of life."

Gilbertsville: "God is Great and still blessing us at Gilbertsville. Things have been busy at Gilbertsville since the first of the year. We enjoyed January Bible Study with Bro. Charles Blair, it is always very educational with Bro. Blair. February was Great! We added four by baptism; Patricia Hawkins, Stephanie Heflin, Ally Hill, and Michael Turley. Bro. Johnnie Davis came back to baptize one of the young people and we had a fellowship afterwards to welcome these four young people. We participated in the ‘Change for Life’ campaign with the Baby Bottle Offering for the Haven of Hope. We finished out the month with Bro. Tim coming to share about the W.I.N. program, which we had voted to make a donation to. March is starting out with another blessing from God. We had Doug Sanders from Bethlehem come speak to us. Doug is a former member and has surrendered to the ministry. Pray for Doug as he seeks God’s will. We have gotten all our Find it Here Bags passed out and pray that we will get responses. We also have one more candidate for baptism. We are enjoying and love Bro. David as our interim, but continue to pray for our church as we seek a pastor."

Grace: "Greetings from Grace Baptist this rainy cool morning, but we know that spring is just around the corner. We were busy as usual during the month of February. On February 13th a Valentine’s Banquet was held in the Family Life Center and a good time was had by all. The Seniors enjoyed a fellowship at Catfish Kitchen on the 28th. Several members participated in the Baptist Center Ministry Luncheon for Murray State Students on February 24th, by providing food and serving at the luncheon. Thanks to those participants. A Children’s Lock-in was held on Friday 26th from 6:00 A M. until Saturday morning at 9:00 A.M. for children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. They were treated to ‘hot dogs, chips, etc, games, movies and a Bible Study.’ A Finger Food Fellowship was held on February 28th. We are continuing to collect snacks for the CCU Waiting Area at Murray-Calloway Hospital. The regular Fern Terrace worship service was held on February 20th."

S. S. Avg.: 126, 2 additions by baptism

New Bethel: "Feb. 17th, our congregation was invited to play ‘Battle of the Sexes’ & enjoy some great pizza with Youth Minister Josh Amyx & the Youth Group & it was a whole lot of fun. Josh is doing a great job with our young people. Our Music Minister, David Bivins, has our Choir & some friends practicing for Shelter, a Service of Comfort and Hope, featuring live musical accompaniment from Murray State University, which will be presented here at New Bethel, Sun. April 25th at 11:00 a.m. & 2:00 p.m. & everyone is invited. Feb. 21st, gospel group ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ performed in the evening service-they were great! Two of our young ladies here at New Bethel found Salvation in our Lord Jesus this month & both followed our Lord in Baptism. Hallelujah!! On Feb. 28th, Steve & Christine Miller from Houston, TX became members by Statement of Faith. Our F.I.S.H. outreach ministry is still in the beginning stages, but we expect great things out of this program. We also have a new children’s ministry on Wed. nights, Read, Pray & Play for grades 1-5. We are also participating in Buckets of Hope for Haiti, an Associaton project to aid that earthquake devastated country."

S.S. Avg.: 96; 2 additions by baptism, 2 by statement

New Harmony: "Praise the Lord for KBC’s wonderful ‘Find It Here’ Strategy. Each participant has truly found it a joy to be so graciously welcomed by the community, and we are confident that our efforts will make a difference in individuals through His amazing grace. We have realized blessings from outreach, worship and fellowship: ongoing opportunities include the Wednesday evening meal/fellowship prior to services, provided by some very gracious, loving hands (which are greatly appreciated). Meals are also delivered to shut-ins and elderly members. Our Sunday AM and PM worship services typically include special music from within our church family, but mid-March has us singing praises with GRACESONG and renewing our spirits as we prayerfully anticipate: Easter services, the Associational Crusade, Sunday School High Attendance Day, and the many blessings God has in store for us through the coming months. We are grateful for our youth committee's efforts in organizing various fun fellowship events throughout the year which included a ski trip to Paoli Peaks in February. We also extend thanks to our Church League Basketball team members, coaches, league organizers and other volunteers for a season ending with terrific records for both teams and in a terrific Christian spirit."

New Zion: "Malachi 3:10 'I will open the windows of heaven for you, I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.' How true that verse is! This month God graciously allowed us to purchase a second van for the continued growth of our outreach ministries. His hand is surely upon our children's church and workers. Bro. Lucas and 10 youth attended Winter Jam in Nashville and have a $10 Spirit Card fundraiser started for the next mission trip. A special thanks to Connie Thweatt for her continued support with the youth. Monday morning prayer service sets the tone for the week and starting Feb. 23rd each Tues. from 6 pm - 7:30 pm Bro. Rodney will teach a men's class on 40 Days With The Father, Ms Gail will teach 'Breaking Free' by Beth Moore to the women. Feb. 11th our senior saints had finger foods and Jason Lane of the Marshall Co. Police Dept. spoke on safety tips for the elderly. We pray that God will protect those who work daily to protect us. Feb. 13th our young men cooked breakfast for our women. Hats off to the guys! Feb. 26th we hosted the Couples Night Out, 70 plus attended. Vicky Geurin catered the meal. May 8th we will host our Spring Women's Conference with Anita Vance as our speaker. For details please contact the church at 437-4654."

S.S. Avg.: 142; Children's Church: 50; 3 professions of faith; 3 additions by baptism; 1 by letter. Happy Birthday Bro. Rodney.

Pleasant Valley: "Hope everyone remembered to Spring forward, sunny days are just ahead. Our Sweetheart Banquet was amazing, but maybe there won't be anymore visits from the ugly step-sisters!! Seriously, we truly appreciate all the hard work of our youth and the adults who give so much time to work with these young people. You all did a fantastic job!! Now we're looking forward to the R. A. Racer Event on March 20th. Boys and girls, young and old come out and enjoy the races and the hotdogs. Our annual Easter Egg Hunt will be the Saturday before Easter for ages Nursery to 5th grade. Good Luck all, hope you find the Golden Egg or at least lots of other eggs. Sunday, March 7th Hannah Marie Tolbert joined Pleasant Valley on the promise of Baptism. We look forward to watching our young sister in Christ grow and learn. We get the pleasure of enjoying our Signers, Salutes to Silence, regularly. We now have our Jr. Signers, Jayln and Maci blessed us with a performance on March 7th. They did a great job!! Then on Sunday, March 14th Jayln and Maci shared a beautiful song for our special music. Keep up the good work girls, you are truly a blessing to everyone. Thanks for sharing your talent with us. As usual, our doors are always open and you are welcome anytime, hope to see you soon."

Sharpe: "Sharpe welcomes our new Associate/Youth pastor Jason Medley, and his wife Ashley. They took the youth to Nashville for a day of laser tag and devotional services. We celebrated Valentines Day with a banquet and the not so new newlywed game. We enjoyed hosting the BRBA association monthly meeting and meal. We also hosted an informational meeting, led by Cheyenne Albro and Chief Chaplain Mike Chambers, about the need for a long-term, faith based drug and alcohol rehabilitation center in our area. Brother Tim took our KFC kids to Chuck-E-Cheese for an afternoon of fun. Nathan Herron came to sing this month, we were blessed by his message in song. Our LLL club got to visit the Elk and Bison Prairie and enjoyed a delicious lunch at the Crossroads restaurant. Our Youth had a great basketball season, we are proud of the way they represented God and their church. We were so happy to sponsor the Haven of Hope Baby Bottles, collecting $800.00. Thanks to our ladies Sunday School class for making the Buckets of Hope their mission this month. We thank God for the mission opportunities and activities He has provided us with this month. See us grow at www.sharpebaptist.org."

Symsonia: "In February everyone enjoyed our annual Chili Supper. The food was delicious as usual! Our Children's Ministry collected change for missions recently. Some money was sent to Filling His Nets Ministry in Africa to support a child for one year. The remaining donations were sent to Samaritan's Purse to purchase food and clothing items for children. Individuals and Sunday school classes purchased buckets to send to Haiti. We filled 17 buckets altogether for the Haiti project. Everyone is now getting ready for Youth Week coming up in March and the Find It Here Events."

S. S. Avg.: 100

Walnut Street: "On the 10th was our monthly Feed The Kids night. There were about 100 kids. Thanks to everyone that helps with this mission every month. To celebrate Valentine's Day there was a celebration held on the 13th with dinner and a movie. Thanks to the church for having this and to everyone that helped. On the 20th there were about 11 people that traveled to Clarksville to eat. Thanks goes to Wilburn & Garnella for getting this together. Our church asked for donations for Buckets of Hope for Haiti and then Dora & Richard delivered them to the Blood River Association building. There are several mission trips being planned for the next several months. Please pray for these that are willing to give their time & money to go & help teach others of God. Josh, Deidra & several others are planning another trip to the Montana Indian Reservation in June. Bro Josh brought God's message to us on the 28th while Bro Joel & Kathy were visiting at Briensburg Baptist Church. Our church is truely blessed with having Bro Joel & Bro Josh to lead us in God's teachings. We have several in our church family that are having tests done this month, we pray that God's healing hands will heal them as only he can. Bro Mike Miller was back at church so we prasie God for taking care of him. Please pray for the ones that are sick, in hospitals & in rest homes. God bless."

S. S. Avg.: 86

March 20, 2010

“Well I guess by now you have seen my beautiful picture on the front page of the Murray Ledger and Times. That would not have been possible had you all not participated in the buckets of hope. Out of six states that participated, a total of 150,000 buckets were collected. 10,000 from Kentucky and as the article stated, 800 from 8 associations that brought them to our office and out of those 800, 200 of them were from our 43 churches. At a cost of approximately 40 dollars a bucket times 150,000 buckets brings the grand total of 6 million dollars. What a wonderful ministry. Now a child’s belly can be filled and at the same time read a gospel tract in their language about the love of God and their heart can be filled also. Many results are popping up from the Find It Here Bags. Some of you have shared great God stories. One is that after delivering these bags folks who were unchurched are now attending on a regular basis. Souls are being saved and lives are being changed. Now we need to get as many as we can to attend our Find It Here Crusade in April. So many of you have expressed how you just can’t wait and are looking forward for a great revival to explode within our two counties. God is stirring up Marshall and Calloway County. He is stirring up within the hearts of our church members, and that’s exciting! It’s fun to watch babes in Christ grow to Spiritual maturity. Remember to Follow up with all prospects from the Find IT Here Campaign. Our goal is to have a extremely large attendance on Easter Sunday. Be sure and distribute information cards to your guest so that you can invite them back to High Attendance Sunday April 18. Our Disaster Relief will host a Phase one training April 30 and May 1. Please make this a huge prayer concern. We will be performing a mock set up to help better train us for a disaster. I can tell you that our funds for disaster Relief are very low and we are in dire need of additional funding. The reason for our funds to be low is because we realized during the ice storm we weren’t as prepared as we thought we were. We have made some great improvements on our equipment and are updating our communication system as well. If God leads you to help us, make out your check to Blood River Baptist Association and in the memo put Disaster Relief. One other thing I want to talk about is our upcoming Mission trips. If you haven*t signed up yet, you need to very soon. Space is limited and we want you to go. There are six opportunities. They are Poland, Montana, Maryland, Hazel Green, Christ Outreach for the Blind and Oneida. You can call the office for more details or ask your Pastor, he has all this information too. My heart is doing back flips because of all the phenomenal work that is being done for the glory of God. I’ll write again next month. Maybe I’ll be more excited. ( ha ha )

Bro. Tim Cole

NEWSLETTER FOR FEBRUARY

NEWSLETTER FOR FEBRUARY

Grace: "Happy 2010, Trust that God blesses our churches and Association in a mighty way this year. We had several activities in January. ‘First Place 4 Health Orientation’ was held on January 10th and Monday, January 11 at Blood River Baptist Association. Held a Blood Drive at the church sponsored by Murray-Calloway Hospital on January 20th. . The Senior Adults enjoyed a Chili Supper on January 16th in the Family Life Center. A Game Night was held for Children ages 5-9 on Saturday 23rd. Food and games were enjoyed by all. The WMU met on January 19th to plan for the coming year. We enjoyed music by Mitchell Jon on January 17th. A ‘Finger Food Fellowship’ was enjoyed on January 24th after the evening service. Monthly Service was held at Fern Terrace on the 16th. We are continuing to collect snacks for the CCU unit at Murray Calloway Hospital, as well as pull-tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Louisville."

S. S. Avg.: 126

Locust Grove: "The month of January began with many of our members assisting First Christian Church in staffing the community warming center/shelter at St. John's Episcopal church in Murray for a full week. Our youth staffed it one evening and held their Bible study at the shelter site. The shelter was utilized by a few people that got to experience the love of Christ through the members that served. This month we also began to minister at Hickory Woods (the last Monday in the month at 2 PM), and Glendale Place (the last Friday of the month at 8:45 AM). Come out and join us sometime! We have many in our church who have been praying for the homes surrounding our church for Find It Here. We are all looking forward to seeing the harvest!! Our fifth Sunday night singing was cancelled due to the snow, but everyone enjoyed the beauty of the Lord's snowy landscape."

New Bethel: "All of us here at New Bethel hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas & a happy New Year. Jan. 3, our AWANA Clubs began meeting again after the Christmas break & it was great to get back to learning more about Jesus with the kids. F.I.S.H.-Finders, Inviters, Sharers, Helpers. This is a new outreach program we hope to use to get more people into our S.S. classes & everyone already in our S.S. classes can be one of these types & be involved. We have donated $3120.00 to Lottie Moon, which exceeds our goal of $3000.00-we support missionaries in the foreign mission fields & that is where all of this money goes. We are again participating in the Haven of Hope baby bottle campaign, & plan to fill up several baby bottles with change to help fund the programs of this wonderful organization-we also support mission programs right here at home as well as those in the foreign fields! Josh Amyx continues to work with our young people as Youth Minister, David Bivins continues to challenge & inspire our Choir as Music Minister & Pastor Mark Mohler continues to bless us with the Word of God & he & Shawna, Garrett & Emma are truly a blessing to all of us."

S.S. Avg.: 93; 1 addition by letter

New Harmony: "As in 2009, Brother Rodney’s New Year’s Challenge to everyone is to read through the Bible. The Lord is blessing us with sermons from Judges. We are prayerful that studying Israel’s history will help us prevent the mistakes made repetitiously by God’s people. Our faith is established upon eternal truths and we cherish our religious convictions drawn from the scriptures. Proclaiming our Baptist beliefs, we recently displayed the Church Covenant in our main auditorium, a revival of the document in the original frame that was displayed in the old building in 1969. An interesting history of the Church Covenant can be found on the SBC website. For New Harmony’s History and Statement of Faith you might enjoy visiting www.newharmonybaptist.net. February activities included a Valentine’s Banquet for everyone and Upward Basketball-our 14 dedicated players and 4 coaches making us proud. We are assembling ‘Buckets of Hope’ for Haiti. We are also proud of our WOM who work with dedication on many projects and are prayer warriors for our missionaries; they attended and enjoyed the WMU Quarterly Meeting. We proudly welcome two new members, yet were saddened in the passing of life-long member, Ms. Patsy Scillion."

New Zion: "Galatians 5:25 "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.' Praise be to God for this month! What an exciting time we are having. It started with a concert by 4 His Call with Daniel & Nicole Adams. Ms Gail held a class on witnessing to our young children and 21 Senior Saints had lunch, then fellowship back at the church. WMU is busy making Buckets of Hope, Mile of Pennies, snack baskets for hospitals and encouragement cards to those who work so hard for the Lord. We hosted the Quarterly WMU with 50 attending. Bro. Lucas' youth group held a spaghetti dinner to raise funds for their mission trip and will be attending Winter Jam in Nashville, TN. Our 5th Sunday singing truly praised our Lord & 19 attended the Evangelism Conference in Princeton. Relay for Life involved our youth by making Valentines for shut-ins, started "That's my Pan" fundraiser and pledge cans. Wed. night meal ministry prepared a special Valentine's dinner (thank you) and God is blessing us with pledges for our new church bus. Bro. Rodney & Ms. Gail celebrated their 46th Wedding Anniversary and Don & Barbara Cothran their 50th! May God continue to hold and bless them. Church lets keep walking for the Lord!"

S.S. Avg.: 132; Children's Church: 47; 2 professions of faith; 1 addition by baptism; 2 by letter.

Pleasant Valley: "The snow has been pretty, but most of us are ready for warmer weather. God's handiwork has been absolutely beautiful. Spring is just around the corner and the recent sunshine does a lot to lift our spirits. We will be hosting the R. A. Racers event March 20th, we look forward to seeing all the racers compete and seeing their craftsmanship. They put so much hard work and creativity into crafting their cars. Our Sweetheart Banquet will be soon and the Youth and their Leaders have been busy as bees, can't wait to see what they have planned this year. Relay For Life is coming up in June, we challenge our sister churches to form a team and help fight Cancer. We have many members sick or facing health problems, please join us in praying for them. As always, you are welcome here anytime, hope to see you soon."

Sharpe: "The Lord says, 'Look, I am making all things new.' in Revelation 21:5, and He truly is for us here at Sharpe. January brought many new things for us at SMBC. After much prayer, the Lord has blessed us with an Associate Pastor and his wife! We are delighted to welcome Brother Jason Medley and his wife, Ashley, into our mission field! They will be working closely with our youth and college students. We are also excited to welcome some new members into our fellowship. Welcome Tom and Sue Lester, and also the Fisher Family, Brent, Janice, Clint and Darrel. We are so happy you have chosen to serve alongside us here at SMBC. We are so excited to see the new progress that the contractors have made on the activity center. Thank you, Lord, for the good weather. How quickly they are able to work when the weather allows! Our men had a fantastic Men’s Day, beginning with a HUGE breakfast, and then a men’s choir, and testimonies from several men in our congregation during our worship service. The men were not the only ones to be blessed by the service!! We are so grateful for the opportunities that God allows us to have to learn about Him and fellowship with His children. Sunday School, AWANAS, KFC, Children’s Church, Youth Rush, Basketball, Choir and LLL club are just a few of the ways we can grow together in Him. We thank all the people who make these ministries run smoothly. We know that the Lord has more new things in store for SMBC, and we welcome the opportunity to serve Him alongside our wonderful Pastor, Associate Pastor, and Children’s Pastor! See our website at www.sharpebaptist.org"

Symsonia: "Thanks to all the men who participated in our Men's Prayer Breakfast. The men cooked a great breakfast. Thanks to Matt Woodsen and Scott Allison who shared with us how God is working in their lives. We have 2 Bible studies that started in January, one for the men and one for the ladies. Our Sunshine Friends have been busy collecting money for "Change for Missions". They have several hundred dollars in rolled coins that will be donated to missions. We welcome our newest member, Cherry Copley to our church family."

S. S. Avg.: 103; 1 addition by letter

Walnut Street: "Hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year. On Sunday night January 3rd we observed The Lord's Supper. Our church has been blessed this month with 5 new members, 2 by letter and 3 by baptism. We welcome Bro Glenn Cope & Mae to our family. They will be a blessing to us and to our church. Our Wednesday night classes are growing, so Bro Josh has asked for more teachers to help with this ministry. We had over 100 kids one Wednesday night. We are sure he won't have any trouble finding volunteers. Praise the Lord for our youth. On the 12th there was a devastating earthquake that struck Haiti. There has been numerous out pouring of money and relief items being sent over to them. Continue to keep that nation in your prayers. For the month of January our gym and fellowship hall has been closed due to remodeling of the kitchen. We can't wait for it to get done. On the 23rd Josh & Deidra took about 35 youth and adults to Murray bowling and then out for pizza. The kids had a great time. Josh and Deidra are getting a group together again this year to do the Disciple Now event. It will be held in March. This is a weekend event so please pray for everyone involved. On the 30th our church lost a very special member of our family, Russell "Bunk" Larkins passed away. He will be greatly missed at our church, but we know he is now with the Lord. Sitting up there with that big smile on his face. Please pray for his family and for our church. Bunk we will miss you very much."

S. S. Avg.: 89; 3 additions by baptism, 2 by letter

February 20th., 2010

You all just amaze me. When we put out the plea to do the buckets for Haiti, you all jumped at the mission. My thoughts were each church may at least do one bucket, I didn’t expect you all coming in and asking for twenty plus buckets per church. That’s overwhelming and a wonderful feeling inside to know that we at Blood River Association care deeply for world missions. We still have buckets if you need them. Be sure and get them to me by March 4. Our Find It Here mission is quickly approaching. Your bags and inserts are here at the office. The Evangelism team is working extremely hard on the Find It Here Crusade. I’m sure your Pastor is pushing this very hard. If not, please ask him to. The Crusade is April 11 - 14 at the South Marshall Middle School. We would like a huge turnout. Let’s show our two counties that we care about them enough to invite them and also attend faithfully. We have four predates for Associational churches to come and pray together at the office. Ask your Pastor about these dates, then show up to expect great things to happen. Wouldn’t it be exciting to see souls saved and become a part of His church and Mission? The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering is coming up as well. I pray all of our churches participate in North American Missions through this offering. We have been using your dollars to fund many missions. One is Easter Baskets for children whose parents are in jail or prison who otherwise wouldn’t receive an Easter Basket at Easter. The great news about this mission is that children are coming to our office to put these Easter Baskets together. We call this mission ‘Children helping Children’. Doesn’t this touch your heart? It does mine. We are also putting together children’s school supplies, to be distributed on our Mission trips. Our Mission trips are starting to fill up. Be sure and get signed up soon. We have six trips offered to complete the Acts 1:8 challenge. Call the office for more details. Your Pastor has all this information too. Don’t forget to get involved in the R.A. Racer event. This is always a big turnout for us. Thanks to all who make this possible. It is also time to begin preparing for V.B.S. The Statewide clinic is March 13 at Edgewood Baptist Church in Hopkinsville and is open to all who want to go. Children’s Bible drill is just around the corner, ask your students to start signing up for this fun event. I am so proud of all of our churches and Pastors. I feel we are working till Jesus comes for His glory. It’s a blessing to be in the position that I’m in. Without your cooperation it would not be possible, so I thank you. Please keep on keeping on. May God bless.

Bro. Tim

JANUARY NEWSLETTER

JANUARY NEWSLETTER

Bethlehem: "We truly pray that everyone will have a great 2010-year. We’re sure everyone’s month of Dec. was as busy as our. I suppose our two most inspiring occasions were the Live Nativity Scene and our Children’s Christmas Program. The recreated Live Nativity Scene at Mike Miller Park was just about perfect. A donkey, goats and sheep were all rounded up and really added to the stable scene. The weather was just right & the people driving by were just great. We handed out candy and the condensed story of Jesus’ birth. Some of the cars would stop & explain to their children who all the manger people were representing. But then again, some of them wouldn’t stop at all - for the candy or story of Christ we were giving out (some thought we were collecting money). Which we felt was sad, because to some-the nativity scene meant nothing. Our Annual Children’s Christmas Pageant was very good this year, as usual. Our children never cease to amaze us with their talent. Again we want to remind everyone that we have Monday Night Family Basketball from 6-8 PM --Nothing professional-just friends having fun. Everyone is welcome to come play & bring some friends. For more info., you can call Todd Smith at 705-8333. Last but not least: We want to ask you all to be much in prayer for one of our dear members, Brother Doug Sanders. Brother Doug has surrendered his life to the ministry to do God’s work. We are so very proud of him. And if you remember, we are still without a Pastor so we need your prayers in many ways. God Bless!

Dexter: "The month of December was a bittersweet time for DBC. We celebrated the wondrous birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, in many ways-the annual Children’s Christmas Play, special dinners and with lots of Christian fellowship, but at the same time, we were saddened and heartbroken from losing one of our dearest members, Mildred Adams. Heaven has surely been blessed with the addition of Mildred, for she was truly an angel who walked on this earth. Her ready smile, her big hugs and her beautiful voice will always be remembered by all of us at DBC who loved her. We are looking forward to the New Year and know that God has special plans for us. We are excited, dedicated and honored to have the opportunity to serve our Lord as He leads and directs us. May each of you be richly blessed in 2010 with the love, unity, peace and joy that comes only from our wondrous Father."

S.S. Avg.: 32

Elva: "We are trying to hit the ground running for the new year. We are looking for ways to minister more and we have gotten many good ideas from our members. We pray that some of these ideas will be in accordance with God's timing. Our first game night of the year was a big success. Our Children's Church is going great and we invite all our parents to bring their children for this age-appropriate worship service."

Grace: "Happy New Year to all. Trust the new year brings all of us great joy in our service to the Lord. Grace Baptist had a busy December; we kicked off the month by entering a float in the Murray Christmas Parade on December 5th. On December 6th we celebrated with a church wide Christmas Dinner with lots of excellent food and fellowship. A good time was had by all. Didn’t reach our Lottie Moon Goal but we did collect $1,998.33. Collected $810.00 for the Sunrise Children’s Service. Christmas Fruit Baskets were delivered to shut-in and seniors of December 12th. Our Senior Adults enjoyed an evening at Willow Pond and then toured Patti’s to see the lights and decoration. Our children ages 3 years to 5th grade enjoyed a ‘Birthday Party for Jesus Celebration’ on December 16th, with pizza, drinks, cake, games and small gifts. The church went caroling at Spring Creek Nursing Center on December 16th. The regular Fern Terrace service was held on December 19th. We wrapped up the month with a concert by Eric Horner on December 23rd that was enjoyed by all."

S. S. Avg.: 122; 2 additions by baptism

Locust Grove: "Happy New Year to all of our sister churches! We sure hope that you are starting the New Year off right...with Christ as your life! We featured Eric Horner in a Christmas concert with the Locust Grove choir and had a packed house that evening. Several members from our church body spent an evening Christmas caroling our shut-ins and some people in the community. We had a great Christmas service that concluded the pastor's series A Christmas That Is Out Of This World (Revelation 12). We want to especially welcome our new members Greg Conner, Tyler Cheatham, and Jared Tabers to the Locust Grove church family. A group of 16 youth and chaperones went to the Strength To Stand Conference in Sevierville, TN to close out a wonderful month of ministry. The trip was led by Bro. Aaron Wilson, our youth pastor."

2 additions by profession of faith; 1 addition by letter

New Bethel: "Here at New Bethel on Dec. 6, in the morning service, our children’s Christmas Musical, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’, was wonderful-the kids were just great & in the evening our AWANA Clubs had their Christmas Party, Jesus’ Birthday Party, & everyone had a great time celebrating. Dec. 13, our adult choir’s Christmas Musical, ‘Hope Has Hands’ was our morning service, & it sure brought the message home about what Christmas is really all about-Jesus is the reason for the season. Afterward we had our annual Christmas Meal with lots of great food & fellowship. Dec. 13, in the evening, our AWANA Clubs T&T kids & their leaders went Christmas shopping for a needy family in this area & did a great job. Several choir members along with our Music Minister David Bivins & our Pastor Mark Mohler & his family went Christmas Caroling Dec. 16, visiting Britthaven & the Stilley House & also one of our shut-ins at their home. We made & delivered several Christmas baskets to shut-ins & other needy folks Dec. 19. We’re still collecting for Lottie Moon & already have almost $2500.00 at this time. We donated well over $300.00 to the Jail Ministry for Christmas gifts for inmates' kids. Merry Christmas & a happy New Year from New Bethel."

S. S. Avg. 82

New Harmony: "We are filled to the brim with ‘glad tidings of great joy‘ and are eager to answer God’s call! Brother Rodney continues to strengthen us spiritually and to encourage us to expand our ministry to our community and world. Included in our Nov.\Dec. projects were the Freeda Harris Toy Drive, participation in Christmas for the Troops, collections for Sunrise Children’s Homes and the Lottie Moon Offering, and fruit baskets for our elderly and shut-ins. Fellowships were attended with enthusiasm, starting with our Senior Saints’ Dinner, church-wide Christmas fellowship, and New Year’s Eve get-together. The children’s Christmas program extolled Jesus’ birth-what a great job the teachers and young people did! Our Lottie Moon Offering was also promoted by our children, as they hand-delivered Christmas cards within our church; in lieu of postage stamp expenses, donations were made to the special offering. We are always thankful to be able to promote the gospel through our monetary gifts. It is with humble praise to our Father that the following is mentioned: New Harmony was recognized by the KBC for reaching the million dollar mark in contributions to the Cooperative Program. Please offer a prayer of thanks for God*s generosity."

New Zion: "Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. We give God the glory for the wonderful things happening here. Bro. Rodney ended the year with a sermon that challenged us to do as Joshua 24:15 says (As for me and my house we will serve the Lord). We looked back at all God's blessings, looked forward at opportunities He will provide & looked upward to ask God's help as we seek His Will. The words heard here is 'It's a God thing.' Our bus ministry is seeking more transportation, children's church needs more teachers & we thank those who work so hard to coordinate this ministry. The Children's Christmas play packed the house & all received a blessing. Thanks to all who helped. We decorated the remembrance tree, relay for life sold balls in honor of loved ones & WMU & Brotherhood carried gifts to shut-ins. God graciously answered our prayers for a youth director. We welcome Bro. Lucas Nance. Dec. ended with another baptism & we kicked off Jan. with two more. We lost our Senior Saint, Bro. Bill Calvert, who will be greatly missed. Let's all use our gifts from God so we can continue to hear 'It's a God thing!'"

Owens Chapel: "December has been a world-wind of activities and blessings. We participated in gathering items to send care packages to our soldiers overseas. We need to always remember those who put their lives on the line to protect this country and our freedom. The Christmas season is always a joyous time of year, not only to celebrate our Lord's birth but also to stop and appreciate all the blessings He gives us every day. Our Children performed a wonderful music concert playing the bells for the church. They all did a terrific job and we are blessed to have such an active youth group. The Freeda Harris Toy drive was a big success again this year. We collected dozens of toys to send to those who are less fortunate and in need of an out-reached hand of love. We also adopted two families this year to help them make the Christmas holiday special for their children. Our youth did the shopping for all the gifts and was able to feel the joy of giving to others who are in need. We also braved the cold one Sunday afternoon to deliver our annual fruit baskets. It was accompanied by Christmas carols and love for all who were involved. "

Pleasant Valley: "Praise God, what a wonderful way to finish 2009!! Three young people decided to accept Christ as their Savior and follow their Lord in Baptism. Jayln Bedwell made a profession of faith Dec. 2, Isabella Runkle accepted Christ as her Savior Dec. 13 and Blake Casteel came forward to make his profession of faith Dec. 27!! All three were Baptized during the evening service on Dec. 27, 2009. Two of these children are the great-grandchildren of Clarence Uzzle, one of our Deacons. Bro.Clarence was given the authority by Pleasant Valley and had the honor and privilege of baptizing them. Our Youth and Youth leaders are hard at work planning and practicing for the upcoming Sweetheart Banquet. The theme is a secret, we can't wait to see what they have come up with this year. It's always spectacular. Stay safe and remember, Spring is just about 2 months away!!"

S. S. Avg.: 65, 3 additions by baptism

Sharpe: "Sharpe is so blessed and grateful to be in a country that is free to celebrate the true meaning of CHRISTmas. Thank you, Jesus! Because of God’s blessings, we had many opportunities this month to reach out to our community, providing toys, gifts, and meals to many wonderful people through several different programs in our community such as the Freeda Harris Toy Drive and Needline. We were also able to provide some supplies and goodies to our troops serving overseas by collecting items and creating care packages for them. Our KFC (Kids For Christ) were so blessed to be able to stuff 40 19” teddy bears to send to St. Jude’s. Each bear was prayed over, and a heart with ‘Jesus’ was placed inside. We also were able to provide, through a love offering, $890 for the ‘Set Free Bible Training Center’ in Greenville. This is an 8 month Drug rehabilitation program that currently provides for 32 residents. In addition, we were able to provide them with several ricks of firewood and lots of groceries, thanks to some additional donations. We had a fantastic time doing our ‘What Christmas means to Me’ choral program. Our annual Christmas Fellowship was, as always, outstanding! We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who had a part in these many different ministries within our church and our community. Please visit our website at www.sharpebaptist.org.

Symsonia: "As always, December was a very busy month at Symsonia Baptist! We would like to welcome our new Youth Pastor and his wife, Adam & Monica Stephenson to our church. They began their ministry here the first of December. Our Deacons honored our widows/widowers with a dinner in December. Fruit baskets were also given out. Our children presented a program titled, The Birthday of a King and our choir presented a special, I'll Be Home for Christmas. For our Lottie Moon, we did something different this year. Each family decorated a container for their Christmas cards. We had some very beautiful and original entries! We collected around $850 for Lottie Moon missions."

2 additions by letter

Vanzora: "November and December have passed so quickly and 2010 is already here. We enjoyed a wonderful joint Thanksgiving service with our brothers and sisters in Christ from Sand Hill, New Zion & Pleasant Valley and a great time of praise at our Fifth Sunday Singing both in November. Then in December the youth traveled to Nashville for ICE and returned to collect donations for Needline at Miller Park. We also had our first ever Christmas Cantata and annual Children's Christmas Program. Another first this year was a Birthday Party for Jesus to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Also in December was dedication for the newest member of our church family, Robert Ethan Brooks. We began 2010 watching the Rose Bowl Parade. We are very proud of Brian Jarvis, this year's Kentucky FFA President who carried our state flag in the parade with the FFA float. We also begin the year grieving the loss of another church family member, Jennifer Hicks. Please keep this family in your prayers."

Walnut Street: "December has been another busy month at WSBC. On the 4th we held a Christmas party for the kids out in the gym. Everyone had a great time. Santa even came by for a visit. Thanks to everyone who helped on this. Bro Joel and Kathy celebrated their wedding anniversary. Congratulations to them both. On Wednesday the 9th was our monthly Feed The Kids night. On Sunday the 13th after our morning service we held our Christmas dinner. The food and the fellowship was great as usual. Everyone enjoys this time we spend together. Then on Sunday the 20th,our youth and our adults did their Christmas program. They have all been practicing very hard. Everyone out did themselves. Thanks to Angela and April for devoting their time. They took us back in time to a little town of Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus Christ. Hope every one had a Merry Christmas and took the time to pause to remember the reason for the season. On the 31st Josh and Dedria held a lock in for the middle school kids and up. Josh said they had about 50 kids and about 10 adults to help out. They played games and ate. Josh said that no one went to sleep the entire night. Josh and Dedria have several things planned in the upcoming months for our youth. Our church is very blessed to have Josh and Dedria to help direct our youth towards God. God Bless”

S. S. Avg.: 87

Bro. Tim’s Blog:

January 20, 2010

As we begin this new year, I’m not surprised that you all would hit the ground running. And as always your hearts are as big as the state. Many of you have shown compassion toward the people of Haiti. You all want to help in some way. As of right now, we are accepting monetary donations until February 22. Be sure to make your checks out to the Blood River Baptist Association. In the bottom left corner of your check put Haiti. In the future we will be putting together care kits to be taken over there. Our Disaster Relief team currently is on stand by. As soon as we get updates we will let you know. You all can call the office at any time and ask any questions you may have. A couple of new local mission projects that we are implementing is collecting new and used coats for children and used eye glasses for our Hispanic ministry. If you have any of these items you wish to donate please bring them by the Associational office in the next two months. You also have provided snack packs for the family resource centers for both Marshall and Calloway county school systems. I want to thank you for that. It is a great need and you all fulfilled that need. Through your generous giving to the Association makes all these ministries possible. Our summer mission trips have been set in stone. We have opportunities for you to go to Montana, Poland, Maryland, and three different trips to Eastern Kentucky and they are Hazel Green Academy, Christ’s Outreach for the Blind and Oneida. We will be sending to your church a flyer with all the date and deadlines to sign up sometime this week. Ask your Pastor about these trips. Our local Baptist Men on Missions group has been busy with the W.I.N. (Widows in need) program. They have repaired several homes within our Association and have two projects coming up soon. If you would like to help in any way just call me and let me know. The Baptist Builders helped at New Providence Baptist Church last month and everyone had a great time together. We have given out scholarships to pastors who are furthering their education. The men’s breakfast last week at East Marshall was a huge success. Don’t forget that the R.A. Racer event is just around the corner. You need to come and pick up your cars and be getting them ready for the big race. Well this looks like a good place to stop right now. I’ve thrown out enough information for you to soak in for a little while. As you can see, working together we can accomplish great tasks for the cause of Christ. Seed planting can and is fun. Thanks again for all you do. May God Bless.

Bro. Tim

NEWSLETTER FOR DECEMBER

NEWSLETTER FOR DECEMBER

Dexter: "November was a busy and blessed month for Dexter Baptist Church. We enjoyed the service, fellowship and good food at the annual Thanksgiving dinner at Northside, and extend our thanks and appreciation to all who helped make it such a memorable evening. We praise God for bringing two of our young girls to accept Christ as their Saviour and were baptized on Nov. 15th. Our Youth Sunday was a wonderful and blessed day, with Bro. Aaron Wilson as our guest speaker and his youth team from Locust Grove, who performed a heart-wrenching skit that spoke boldly about having faith and trust in Jesus and turning away from all the evil influences that are around us. Our youth are already practicing for the annual Children’s Christmas play and we look forward to the Christmas season with love and anticipation. We pray that the love, peace and joy that comes only from having a personal relationship with Christ will prevail in the hearts of each of you throughout the upcoming season and that we never forget the real reason for Christmas-God’s gift to each of us-Jesus Christ, our King of kings and Lord of lords. May God bless each of you." S.S. Avg.: 41, 2 additions by baptism

Elva: "Everyone enjoyed the Christmas Concert by Eric Horner. Our children did a great job on their Christmas play. We wish everyone a blessed Christmas and a joyful New Year."

Grace: "Merry Christmas to all from Grace Baptist Church. We had a busy November. Began with the Harper Family visiting us on November 1st. We collected 56 Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child, plus a $90.00 donation. We also collected $810.00 for the Sunshine Children’s Home. Donated $150.00 to the Telethon of Stars. Had fun assembling “Thanksgiving Dinners for Shut-Ins” and delivering them on November 14th. Grace Baptist Church had 12 young men and women make a commitment to God for a lifetime of purity until they enter a biblical marriage relationship in a True Love Waits ceremony. The WMU helped with the Thanksgiving with International Students at the BCM Building at MSU on Friday, November 20th. The Shut-in Ministry is growing with visits, cards and tapes, with a dedicated leader. We are continuing to collect snacks for the CCU waiting area at Murray Calloway Hospital. Also are continuing to collect pull-tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. The Senior Adults enjoyed a meal in the Family Life Center on November 13th. Our children enjoyed an evening of fun on November 7th at a member’s farm, where they had a wienie roast, hayride and enjoyed the horses. We are looking forward to the Eric Horner concert on Wednesday, December 23rd. Sunday School Average was 133. There were 7 additions to the church 2 by baptism and 5 by letter."

New Bethel: "Here at New Bethel in Nov., our Young At Heart Seniors went to Majestic Pizza & Steak House for their monthly outing. Several of our men gathered together & built a fence around the yard of a family so that their little boy could safely play outside. Our folks donated many toys for the Freeda Harris Toy Drive, & our Pastor Mark Mohler & his family have volunteered to deliver all the toys collected by the Association to the Freeda Harris Baptist Center in Lookout, KY. A lot of boys & girls will have a merry Christmas thanks to this wonderful ministry. We assembled turkeys & other food items into meal baskets & delivered them to 8 needy families for them to prepare their own Thanksgiving meal. We are collecting items for Christmas for our Troops. There are so many needs out there that it can be overwhelming, but our folks have always stepped up to the plate when it counted, & took a swing even if we didn’t always hit a home run. One thing’s for sure, no matter how much we give, we can’t out give God! We had our annual Thanksgiving Fellowship Meal on Nov. 22. Nov. 29 was Men’s Day, & the men prepared and served breakfast for our members, & that night we observed the Lord’s Supper. We pray God’s blessings on all His children."

S. S. Avg.: 95 and 2 additions by letter

New Zion: "Happy New Year from New Zion. It's been a while so let's catch up on what God's doing here. He graciously sent us Bro. Rodney and Gail Wallace this past year and what a blessing. To date 7 baptized, 16 letters (we give God the glory). Children's Church is going through the Bible, learning to sign, bell ringing, and averages 35. TeamKids meet on Wed. night and youth are learning to share the word of God. Please pray with us as we seek the person God has in mind for our Youth Director. Monday morning prayer service averages 18 and visitation is 1st & 3rd Thursdays. WMU and Brotherhood have many outreach projects going and Wed. night meal ministry has been a great success. They also feed the shut-ins. Relay for Life team is busy with several projects and our Senior Saints have an outing the 2nd Thursday. How exciting it is to seek those things that bring honor to our Lord. I can only say that being a Christian and seeing God's work is the greatest blessing of all and it's FUN!"

S. S. Avg.: 115

Pleasant Valley: "We have so much to be thankful for and seem to get so busy this time of year, we tend to forget and take things for granted. Speaking of busy, our Double Nickels group went to the Kentucky Opry Dec. 8 and then enjoyed a nice meal at Taylor's in Draffenville. The weather didn't cooperate, but they had a great time anyway. The Wednesday night Youth Group went to the Associational Office and helped fill bags for the troops the following night. Our annual Holiday Meal (called that because we have it half way between Thanksgiving and Christmas) was held on Sunday night December 6th. The fellowship was wonderful and the food wasn't bad either!! Thank you Bro. Duane and Carolyn for remembering each of us with a Christmas memento. You're too good to us! The Grace Sunday School Class presented Cora Uzzle with a plaque in Honor of her years of service. Cora retired from teaching earlier this year. Pleasant Valley's youth have been hard at work planning for their Christmas program. Everyone is invited to enjoy this program Sunday evening, Dec. 20th. Remember "Jesus is the Reason for the Season"! We have many members under the weather, we pray for their quick recovery. Until next month, Merry Christmas!"

Salem: "We're very sad at Salem that Bro. John has decided to retire. Bro. John has been a wonderful pastor, friend and leader to us for almost eighteen years. We all appreciate the work that he and Phyllis have performed at Salem and will miss them terribly. We hope and pray that his retirement years will be long and fulfilling. On another note - it's been a busy fall and winter for us. We had our annual fish fry in October. As always, we had good food and fellowship. Then in November we celebrated Thanksgiving with Sinking Springs and Oak Grove. The ladies at Oak Grove did a wonderful job, and we all enjoyed the service and the meal. Recently the Blood River Association came to Salem for their annual Christmas meal. We enjoyed seeing each of you. Our choir and Bro. Charles Peeler have been practicing for weeks on the Christmas Cantata. The choir sang a practice version for Hickory Woods Retirement Center. We are looking forward to the Cantata on December 20 at the evening service. On December 13 we caroled to the shut-ins and took them fruit baskets. They all seemed to enjoy it. We finished the day with country ham and biscuits. Salem wishes one and all a very Merry Christmas!

Sharpe: "November is here, and we wish to express how thankful we are at Sharpe! God truly blesses us! We are so thankful for our Pastor and his family and our children’s pastor and his family. God does mighty works through them. Dr. Smithwick was here from Sunrise Children’s Home, and we were so grateful to have him speak to us about this important ministry and the part that we play in it. We are busy collecting: items for our Troops in Bob Johnson’s SS class, toys for the Freeda Harris Toy Drive, and baskets for Needline. So thankful that God has given us the ability to provide the items needed for these ministries. We are beginning basketball, and are so proud of our team! Our youth are studying Christian Attributes on Wednesday Nights, and they are great illustrations of these attributes! LLL went to LBL and had a wonderful fellowship. Our men also enjoyed a time of fellowship this month. Our Thanksgiving service was a time of testimony, and it was wonderful to see members honoring God with their praise and thanksgiving. Next month: Annual Christmas Party, Christmas program “What Christmas means to me”. Please check us out at www.sharpebaptist.org!"

Walnut Street: "November has been another busy month for our church. On Sunday nights our youth & adults have been practicing for our Christmas program. Our church is blessed with a lot of volunteers to make this a success. November 11th was our monthly Feed The Kids. Thanks to all the volunteers on this. On Saturday November 14th Bro Josh and eight others took a trip to see The Garden of The Gods. It was for middle school age and up. That afternoon about 10 adults went to Lambert's for supper. The fellowship was wonderful and the food was great. Thanks to Wilburn for driving the van. Our church took up a collection for Needline. There was about $140 collected along with a lot of food. Thanks to everyone that is always willing to help others in the name of our Lord. Hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. On Sunday night the 29th after church we held a chili supper and a cake walk. There was about 110 adults & kids that enjoyed the wonderful food. The younger kids did the cake walk for toys and the adults did the cake walk for cakes. Thanks goes to Donna Ethridge and Larry Cope for getting this together. Everyone always enjoys this. We need to pray for the ones that have lost loved ones this past year, holidays can be a very hard time on them. Pray for the ones that are in hospitals and nursing homes. Pray that God's will be done. We need to remember the reason for the season. God bless" S. S. Avg.: 87

December 16, 2009

Give yourself a pat on the back because you all did it again. You came through with flying colors. We received 1200 toys for Freeda Harris Center. They have already been delivered and are ready for distribution. I found out something though. I misunderstood the total number of children needing assistance. I heard 400 when in reality it is 1400 children. I was overwhelmed when I heard this. They are really having a tough time making sure all the children have a Christmas, and I know there is no way we could do this alone. So between now and next Christmas I am going to see if I can get other Associations to get on board. I think that all that we collected could be stretched out to give at least one toy per child. Be much in prayer for this ministry. The year is winding down and we are catching our breath. But you can rest assured we will hit the ground running in 2010. We have lots of plans and we will work those plans. I want to take the time to thank all of you for all of your hard work this past year. It could not have been accomplished without your help. I know that God will bless each and every one of you for your efforts. It was a joy to see all of our ministries help so many. Lots of folks were saved in the process and to God we give all the glory. I hope you all have a very merry Holiday, no wait a minute, I mean a very merry CHRISTMAS! I hope you all share the Christmas story before opening presents. This will be the last time I will write you this year. It’s hard to believe that 2009 has come and gone. May your 2010 be better than the last and plan your resolutions early and stick with them. I am so proud of all of you and again I say thanks. You all are so very precious to me. May God Bless.

Bro. Tim

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Bethlehem: "Can you believe how busy fall has been? Our Annual Fish Fry was a huge success with great fellowship and our Fall Festival was just fabulous. We had chili, hot dogs and desserts galore - then came fun time for the kids. They were first judged by their costumes and then played all kinds of games. Prizes & candy each time they played a game. One Sunday afternoon, our Junior Church went to a Corn Maze in Murray. It had been raining the days before, so you can imagine how muddy they were. Monday nights have been set aside to play family basketball (of course mostly is played by the guys - so come on girls). Young & old alike are enjoying this time of fellowship. We would like to invite anyone who wishes to play, to come join us on Monday nights from 6-8 pm. and bring some friends. We’ve collected new shoes for Eastern Ky., toys for the Freeda Harris Toy Drive, Thanksgiving food for Needline and hope to collect items for the ‘Christmas for our Troops’. We are also getting geared up for the Live Nativity Scene at Mike Miller Park in December. Who says being a Christian can’t be fun?? No way is it boring. Ain't God Good?"

Elva: "We had a good crowd for our hayride this year and everyone enjoyed the food and fellowship. Our revival was great. Bro. Tim Allred was our guest speaker. His messages were very challenging. On Tuesday, Dec. 1, we invite everyone to join us for a Christmas concert by Eric Horner. It will begin at 7:00 p.m."

Gilbertsville: “Greeting from Gilbertsville, God has blessed us recently by sending Bro. David & Carolyn Brasher as our interim pastor. We are enjoying them being here with us but we ask for your continued prayers for a pastor. We have been busy collecting shoes and toys for the association's projects. Now we are collecting for the Sharpe - Calvert Resource Center to help provide Christmas for kids in the Gilbertsville community. We are glad to be seeing some new youth faces in the services. We have had one new addition by letter. GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.”

Grace: "Greetings and God’s peace from Grace Baptist Church. God has been moving in the hearts of Grace members through various ministries. An active Shut-In Ministry has been put in place and is moving forward in a positive manner. Some of the young mothers have begun a Prayer Walking ministry. They bring their babies in strollers and walk the neighborhood praying for the homes they walk past. Several ladies attended the Beth Moore Conference in Memphis on October 9th and 10th. We are in the process of collecting shoeboxes for Samaritan’s Purse Christmas Child Project. We are collecting for the Sunshine Children’s Service through November; we are also collecting for the Freeda Harris Center Toy Drive through the Association. The Fall Festival held on October 31st was a huge success, with Tango the Clown, games, food and a hayride. Our prayer is that some of the non-churched children and adults who attended will be touched and will begin attending and see their need for Christ. The Ladies Monday evening Bible Study just finished their current study and are preparing to begin another one. The college and career Bible Study is also near the end of this study. Our Youth attended the Judgment House on October 29th. We are continuing to collect snacks for the CCU waiting room at Murray-Calloway Hospital, we are still collecting coke tabs for the Ronald McDonald House in Louisville. We have been challenged to have 165 in Sunday School in the month of November. That would be awesome. We will be coming up on many activities and ministries in November and December so may God bless all the churches in our Association as we minister to those in need."

SS. Attendance 117 and 4 additions, 1 by baptism and 3 by letter.

Hazel: "October was a full month for HBC. It started with our Hazel Day activities which included an all-you-can-eat fish supper cooked by our men and a gospel singing with The Moreheads. We estimated that over 300 came by the fish tent. Our float won first place in the Hazel Day Parade. It was a miniature train built by Warren Sykes with the theme "Come get on board with Hazel Baptist Church." Sunday evening the 4th began our tent revival with Bro. Russ Cooper preaching. The rain and cold didn't discourage us as we had great crowds for every service. Our Senior Adults had their monthly potluck supper and had lots of fun eating and playing games. We ended the month on a high note with our "Trunk 'n Treat" festivities. There was chili and hotdogs for all and the cutest kids all dressed up. This year was a huge success as we signed up over 100 children who are not yet a part of our Children's Ministry. What an outreach!"

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. This month our Young At Heart Seniors had a Pizza blowout at Mr. Gatti’s in Draffenville for their monthly outing. Our Pastor’s wife, Shawna Mohler, is leading a 7 week Ladies Bible Study on Wed. nights, ‘The Frazzled Female’, attended by many of our ladies. We continue to practice for our children’s Christmas Musical, ‘Don’t Be Afraid’, & our adult choir’s Christmas Musical, ‘Hope Has Hands’. Our Music Minister, David Bivins, has picked out a couple of great programs, filled with great songs, to celebrate the birth of our Lord & Savior, Christ Jesus. We gave 49 pairs of new shoes to the Association to be distributed to needy kids in Eastern KY., & are now collecting new toys for the annual Freeda Harris Center Toy Drive. Our AWANA clubs had their annual Fall Party, Sun. Oct. 25th, & everyone had a great time. We are just beginning to feel out a new outreach Ministry here called F.I.S.H., brought to our attention by our Pastor Mark Mohler. Oct. was Pastor Appreciation month, & we want to thank Pastor Mark, & all our Ministry leaders here, & in the Association, & all those leaders everywhere who are in the Ministry of spreading the good news about Christ Jesus. We love & appreciate you all."

S.S. Avg.: 91

Oak Grove: "God is Good All The Time, All the Time God is Good. How true is that. Here at Oak Grove, we have been seeing the Goodness of God. We recently collected 41 shoe boxes of toys to send to an Alaskan Indian Village. We have seen our Sunday School attendance rise, and our Worship Service grow, and Sunday Night & Wednesday Night service Grow. We have had 9 additions to our church family. 6 by letter and 3 by baptism. We're so excited to see what God has in store for us. May we always be thankful for all the blessings we receive."

Additions: 6 by letter, 3 by baptism

Owens Chapel: "This fall has been full of excitement at Owens Chapel. In the past couple of months, we not only enjoyed a wonderful homecoming celebration with Bro. Gary Frizzell as speaker and ‘For Heaven Sake’ as our special singer; but we also participated in a few community activities. We collected several pairs of new shoes to send to Eastern Kentucky for the shoe drive as well as collected food items for both the Marshall and Calloway County ‘snack pack’ program which sends home food for needy children. We also hosted our annual ‘trunk or treat’ festival on Halloween night for the community to come together to have a fellowship meal, enjoy a campfire, and of course all the sweet you could eat. We have also added a fourth service on Tuesday night that we use to come together and pray for our church, our community, as well as any special need that might be laid on someone’s heart that can be lifted up to the Lord. God has continually blessed our church and we pray He will continue to bless us and that we glorify Him in all that we do and help bring others to know Jesus."

Sharpe: "Sharpe has had a wonderfully busy October! Our youth went geocaching in LBL and had a great time. They also got to enjoy playing laser tag during fall break. They wound up the month with a trip to the Judgment House and four of them made professions of faith. Please pray for us as we try to mentor to these youths! We also had our Annual Trunk or Treat, which provided the Sharpe Community with a safe place to trick or treat and also a fantastic chili supper and hayride! We loved the opportunity to reach out to the community! The kids had a great time, and the adults did too! Our Senior Adults ‘LLL Club’ went to Reelfoot Lake and ate some delicious fish and some Famous Flippins fried pies that were fresh out of the oven.. Our senior adults always have the best time together! Our Building Project is really coming along, thanks be to God for the good weather He has blessed us with. Excavation is underway and footers are being prepared! We are so thankful to everyone for the work that they are doing in this project! We have so many church members who are helping out! We are so thankful for our Pastor and his family and also our Children’s Pastor and his family. We enjoyed showing our pastors how much we appreciated the work they do for their church family and the community during ‘Pastor Appreciation Month’. We strive to show them our appreciation throughout the year. Looking ahead to November, Christmas Program preparation, Thanksgiving Services, and Fifth Sunday Night Singing! Please check out our website at www.sharpebaptist.org."

Symsonia: "We had a fun night at our annual Weiner Roast and Hayride in October! The youth also enjoyed a fun Fall Party with a hayride, games, etc. Our Sunshine Friends are busy working on shoeboxes and we are also collecting toys for the Freeda Harris Toy Drive. We want to thank everyone who has helped out with our Youth as we continue to seek God’s leadership for a Youth Leader. We want to welcome Kasie Smith as our newest member at Symsonia Baptist Church. Congratulations to Brent and Holly White on the birth of a son, Easton Brent, born Monday, October 26th. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!"

SS. Avg.: 85, 1 addition by letter

Vanzora: "October was another busy month serving and praising the Lord at Vanzora. We were blessed to host the Association Annual Meeting on Tuesday morning and are thankful for our many members who helped with this event. We were glad to have Bro. Aubert Rose Jr with us on Sunday October 11th while Bro. Randy was at Dexter for their Homecoming. About 70 children and adults enjoyed fellowship at our Fall Festival, and about 60 children came for Safe Trick or Treating. The Lord was praised and his presence felt during our Fall Revival. Bro. Darvin Stom brought wonderful messages and we were blessed by many specials. We are looking forward to November including the meal for the Hispanic Ministry on November 8th, sending our boxes to Operation Christmas Child, a joint Thanksgiving service with Sand Hill, New Zion and Pleasant Valley on Sunday evening November 22nd, and our Fifth Sunday Singing on November 29th. As always, everyone is welcome to join us for any service or activity!"

Walnut Street: "Fall is here and we have had a very busy month at WSBC. We helped Bro Joel celebrate his birthday on the 4th with cake and ice cream. Then on Saturday the 10th we held our annual Hot Dog Roast followed by a hay ride. There was about 140 that went for the ride and then about 20 stayed behind to stay warm by the fire. It was a great time for everyone. Thanks to everyone that helped on this. On Saturday the 17th the Old But Serious went to Clarkesville to eat. Its a miracle they made it there and back!! Oct 18th was open house for the Marshall County Exceptional Center. Our church took up a donation in the amount of $800.00 Sunday the 25th was High Attendance Sunday and Appreciation Day for Bro Joel and Bro Josh. We held a luncheon after church. Our church is very blessed to have these two special people. Bro Josh is doing a wonderful job with our youth. Then for Halloween Bro Josh and Dedrie had our second annual Trunk or Treat in our church parking lot. There was about 13 vehicles set up ready for all the treat or treaters. Bro Josh figured there was about 200 treaters. They did a great job and a great time was had by the adults and all the treat or treaters. There was also tables set up where others were cooking hot dogs and hamburgers with chips, drinks and desserts for anyone that wanted to stop and eat. They cooked about 170 hot dogs and about 150 hamburgers."

S.S. Avg.: 85

November 17, 2009

It seems like I just wrote a letter yesterday. I guess time flies when you're having fun. That’s exactly what I’m doing. Having fun. I must have the best job in the world. Let me share with you the excitement about our ‘Find It Here’ campaign. Most of our churches have completed their prayer walking and many have shared what a blessing it was. We should receive the bags to distribute in January. We will place these bags on the doors of the homes in our communities in March of 2010. Then on April 4, 2010 which is Easter we will have a grand time celebrating the resurrection and all of our guests who have arrived from our efforts of prayer walking and bag distribution. Then April 11-14 we will have a ‘Find It Here’ crusade at the South Marshall Middle School with Dr. Jerry Spencer from Tennessee to be our Evangelist. We will have music by Mark Bishop and the Dill’s. We will have a glorious time together sharing and praising the Lord. I can’t hardly wait. Then on April 18 we will have in all our churches High Attendance Sunday which will stem from extensive follow up on our new prospects. Talk about a huge ministry, this is it and we should all get involved. Now let me share that our shoe distribution was a great experience. One thing about ministry, you have to fully rely on God. When we arrived at the orphanage, it wasn’t what we thought it would be. To make a long story short, God knew the time and place for distribution and the mission team followed His lead and it became a terrific ministry. 1000 winter shoes were given to those who were less fortunate. It should make us feel good inside that we are carrying out the ministry of Christ. I believe this is what Jesus would do. I do want to let you know that we are a little short of toys for Freeda Harris. You all are helping as much as you can, and I know this. We’ve collected 750 of the 1200 asked for. Do you think with God’s help that we can reach our goal? I do. So I’ve extended the deadline for toys to December 9th, 2009. If at all possible would you pray and ask God to help us come up with these toys. Let’s make these children happy children. I know we are busy with our own families preparing for Thanksgiving and Christmas. But remember we have been blessed to even have Thanksgiving and Christmas with our families, that alone should convict us to participate so that other families can experience family time like we do. Well the year is winding down and we are already planning ministries for 2010. As they come along, I get the message out to you all. Just keep reading our newsletters so we can keep you all updated. Thanks for all you do. Oh yea. We are also collecting items to make gift boxes for the soldiers. We will also accept monetary donations to purchase military phone cards as well, to send to the troops for Christmas. The deadline for these items is December the 9th as well. We need their addresses as well. Please help keep the spirit of Christmas alive for the men and women in uniform. We need not forget them during this time. Your Pastor has the list of items needed for these gift boxes. I guess we are busier than I thought. But it is for a good cause. We are seed planters and it is God who gives the increase. I am so glad to be a part of the family of God. Aren’t you? You all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. You folks are special to me. May God bless.

Bro. Tim

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

OCTOBER NEWSLETTER

Dexter: “Greetings from Dexter Baptist Church, and may God’s blessings be with each of you. September was a busy month, and our annual “Fall Housecleaning” was our first chore in preparation for Homecoming Sunday, to be held next month. Chores turn into blessings when Christians gather together to do God’s work, and what fun we had working together! The Christian Youth Group began their new series on “The God Who Created Us,” and, again, what a blessing for both young and old. A new children’s choir has been formed, calling themselves “The King*s Crew,” being led by three of our older girls, Hannah O’Bryan and Arista and Allison Manning. May God bless them for this wonderful addition to our ministry. We also had a Labor Day Youth Celebration for our young people and everyone had a great and blessed time. Our Eliza Broadus Missions celebration was ongoing throughout the month and we are so thankful for the generosity of DBC to this wonderful mission. We ended the month by celebrating our Lord, Jesus Christ, by observing the Lord’s Supper-what a poignant moment in time it is when you feel the spirit of Christ amongst you. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”

S.S. Avg. 36

Elva: "Our Revival is coming up Oct. 25-28 with Bro. Tim Allred as our evangelist. Services will be 11 am & 6 pm on Sunday. We'll have a potluck meal after the morning service. Monday - Wednesday nights we will begin at 7 pm. We invite you to join us. Our youth plan to attend the Judgement House on the 24th and we also will have a hayride that night. Our annual Fall Festival will be on Nov. 7 and everyone is welcome."

Grace: "September with a church wide fellowship with lots of food and the Dills blessed with their praise thru song. The Sunday School year began with new teachers in some classes and some children moving into higher grades. The Baptist Men and WMU held their monthly meeting. We collected $490.00 for the Eliza Broadus State Missions Offering. Some of the Senior Adults attended the Senior Adult Rally on September 18th at Sharpe. The Senior Adults were treated to a spaghetti supper generously provided by Tom and Faye Robinson. The scheduled third Saturday visitation to Fern Terrace was held on September 19th. The monthly church wide fellowship was held after services on September 27th. Provided a meal on September 30th for the students at Murray State BCM building. The monthly senior bible study was held on September 28th. Our WMU is busy with a number of projects. We collected 33 pair of new shoes along with $200.00 for the Blood River Association drive for children in Eastern KY. We are continuing to collect snacks for the Murray-Calloway County Hospital CCU Waiting area and Pull-tabs from Coke cans for the Ronald McDonald House. We also have a new ministry for shut-ins who cannot attend church. The average for Sunday School was 124; there were 5 additions by baptism and 10 by letter or statement."

Locust Grove: "Locust Grove began revival and renewal 2009 Sunday morning the 13th with Bro. Spencer Pate pastor of the Sedalia Baptist Church. Bro. Spencer brought some great messages to us and our guests through Wednesday night. We had a special youth service Wednesday night with Jordan Blankman leading worship. After the service ice cream was served to the students present with Aaron Wilson, our new youth pastor, organizing a wiffle ball game. It was a blessing to see so many come to the services. A couple of young men in our church assisted in putting a new roof on a home in the Blood River community with some other Baptist men. The Grace On The Move Outreach team visited several new neighbors in the community the last Saturday in September. Our pastor concluded his series "What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?" Locust Grove will celebrate 168 years of ministry during the month of October!"

1 addition by letter

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. Sep. 1, our Young At Heart Seniors had a Bar-B-Que Picnic in Miller Park for their monthly outing. Sep. 12, Singing & Fun on the Lake at John & Gale Chambers place, was a lot of fun with lots of folks & lots of kids, & everyone had a great time. We are participating in our Association project to send new winter shoes to needy kids in Eastern KY, & many pairs of shoes have been donated. We are also participating in another Association project to install a new roof on an elderly gentleman’s house in the North Marshall area, with donations of money & a helping hand. Another project we are involved in is donating brown bags of food & snacks for kids to take home with them after school on Fridays for the weekend, for those kids who don’t have enough food at home. We have begun rehearsals for “Don’t Be Scared”, our Children’s Christmas Musical on Wednesday nights & also “Hope Has Hands”, our Adult Choir Christmas Musical on Sunday nights. We have just started a new Couples Sunday School Class taught by Bro. David Belcher & we have also started a Wednesday night music class for 2 year olds. There’s a lot going on here at New Bethel as we continue to be blessed by Pastor Mark Mohler, Shawna, Garrett & Emma."

S. S. Avg.: 98

Pleasant Valley: "We’ve made it through the summer and now we’re enjoying the beautiful season of autumn. The trees are just beginning to show their colors, God is a wonderful artist. As usual, we’re busy as bees at Pleasant Valley. The Young Adult Sunday School Class recently enjoyed a night out at Patti’s in Grand Rivers. Our children and the young at heart had a Pumpkin Pickin’ last Saturday. Everyone had a GREAT time. The Annual Fall Festival is just around the corner. We’re going to be celebrating Bro. Duane’s 60th birthday soon with a Church wide Fellowship. What a Blessing Bro. Duane is to our Church Family! We are so fortunate to have him and Carolyn serving the Lord with us. Our new Church Officers and Sunday School teachers are settling into their positions. We had more changes this year than usual, we’re so blessed to have people willing to step us and fill positions when needed. Again this year we plan to participate in the Relay For Life and challenge each church to consider forming a team and helping fight cancer. There probably isn’t a family in this county that hasn’t been touched in some way by cancer. If you are in the neighborhood, you’ll hear our Church Bell ringing every Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m. What a beautiful sound! We invite you to come and worship with us during any service; you’re always “Welcome”!! Please pray the flu season will not be as bad as predicted this year."

S. S. Avg.: 64

Sharpe: "Sharpe is so thankful for the blessings God gave us in September. We had a ground-breaking ceremony for our new activities building, and we pray for the safety of those involved in this construction process. Our Friends and Neighbors Weekend, with Chagy the Clown, who came to teach about the love of Jesus through his unique performance, was awesome! Our youth went to New Harmony to perform their interpretive movement ministry. What a blessing they are to us! Our Kids For Christ and AWANAS programs are both in full swing. God has given us a great children’s pastor and spouse, two wonderful AWANA coordinators, and many helpful volunteers in these programs! Our LLL Club is having a great time fellowshipping together and were instrumental in coordinating this year’s Association’s Senior Adult Rally that many attended and were blessed by the message, fellowship, and music. Looking forward to October: Pastor Appreciation month, Trunk or Treat, and Pumpkin Patch. We are so thankful to God for our pastor and his family, and pray for them as they continue to serve the Lord, their church, and their community. Check us out at www.sharpebaptist.org."

Symsonia: "Thanks to all who helped with our Fish Fry. The food was wonderful and we had a good crowd. Our children have been collecting new shoes to benefit the kids in Eastern Kentucky. We have a box full! We have a Search committee busy as we are seeking a Youth Leader. Thanks to all the volunteers that will be working with the youth until God sends us someone to fulfill that position."

S. S. Avg.: 103

Vanzora: "Vanzora was blessed to welcome new members Brad & Nikki Brooks to our church family in August. We were also blessed by another wonderful Fifth Sunday Night Singing on August 30th. Everyone is encouraged to join us for our next singing on November 29th, and anyone is welcome to sing or play a song to praise our Lord. Our annual Fall Revival will be Sunday October 18th to Wednesday October 21st with Bro. Darvin Stom. We will kick-off our revival with a Fall Festival on Saturday October 17th. We're also very excited about our upcoming Joint Thanksgiving Service with Sand Hill, New Zion and Pleasant Valley on Sunday evening November 22nd. As always, everyone is welcome to join us for any service or activity! The Lord has greatly blessed us here at Vanzora and we are thankful to be able to participate in several mission projects and ministries, including our Food Pantry & More, the BRBA New Children's Shoe Drive; Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry."

Walnut Street: "On Sunday the 6th Brother Thomas Belchan from Trindad brought the morning service. He told of the new building that they are building and how they now are needing windows. A lot of good things are happening for Brother Belchan and his mission. We took up an offering of $525.00 Please continue to pray for Brother Belchan. A special business meeting was held that Sunday night to vote on the teachers and officers for the following church year. A special thank you goes out to everyone that is so willing to help in anyway that our church needs them. Wednesday night the 9th was Feed the Kids event. The kids look forward to this each month. Our Wednesday night classes are growing. This is in thanks to Josh Hodges, Trent Lovett, Chuck Sexton and all the teachers. We had 95 kids one Wednesday night. The kids are our future. We need to pray for each child that comes to learn about God. On the 20th several from our church and from other area churches went to Oneida on a mission trip. There was about 20 that went for the week. Thanks goes to each one that is so willing to donate their time to help others that are in need. On Sept 20th our church helped Max and Martha Lou Lawrence celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They were actually married on Sept 5th. Max sang a very touching song to Martha Lou. Family and friends joined them in the church activities building that afternoon to celebrate. Bro Jared Baker brought the morning and evening services on the 20th as Bro Joel was out of town. On the 27th in the evening service we observed The Lords Supper. Please pray for our church members Jason & Wendy Dunigan & their kids. They lost their house & everything in a fire. Our church took up a love offering for them in the amount of $2097.00 Several in our church have also donated clothes for them. There are no words that could be said for the out pouring of love and support they have received from friends and family. Continue to pray for the ones that have lost loved ones this past month and for the ones that are in the hospitals and nursing homes."

October 15, 2009

It didn’t surprise me. I knew God would work through our churches once again. I am so glad that all of our churches are mission minded. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the number of new shoes that we collected for Hazel Green. I hope you are sitting down because this is overwhelming. We collected 3000 pairs of shoes. That’s right 3000. We have separated the winter from the summer. We will be taking 750 pair of winter shoes to two orphanages in Eastern Kentucky but that’s not all. Listen to this. Our churches also sent us $700.00 and we are going to purchase socks and underwear and more shoes. Isn’t that breath-taking? It makes you glad to be a part of the Blood River Baptist Association. We will leave on Friday November 6 and we have room for twelve more for our mission team if you want to go. We have contacted the small churches around the orphanages to also pick up shoes for their children in their churches. The conversations on the phone were moving. It was hard for both of us to try to keep from joyfully crying. It has been so fun watching our churches do prayer walking for the Find It Here campaign. Many of you have shared how moving it was and how that the Holy Spirit was strong during this time of ministry. I believe in Prayer and I know without a doubt that God is already answering them. I can’t wait to see our church houses filled on Easter Sunday April 4 from these results of prayer walking. Toys are already coming in for the Freeda Harris Center in Lookout Kentucky. It is great to know that we care about God’s children. Lets try to out-do ourselves from last year. We collected only 900 toys last year. I believe we could easily collect 1200. That would allow each child to receive 3 gifts each. When you’re out shopping, swing by the toy aisle and pick up a 10 to 12 dollar toy and take it to your church or just bring it by the Association. The deadline to get toys to us is November 11 so don’t forget. The Kentucky Baptist Convention is November 9-11. Make sure you send your Pastor to this Convention. He would have a great time and would be refreshed. It always benefits your church when you do so. Believe it or not we are already planning mission trips for 2010. Some are already on the calendar. For sure we are going back to Hazel Green the third week of July and we are for sure going to Oneida the third full week of September and we are going again to Poland in July for sure and speaking about Poland we are having an open house at the Association on November 21 from 1 to 3 to meet the team from last year and to see a slide presentation and opportunities for you to be a part. We are really needing sponsorship for this ministry. Our missionary, Tom Baker, is putting in countless hours for preparation to minister in Poland. Why don’t you plan to come by on that date and be blessed. Well it*s time to try to close out my part of the newsletter. But I promise you I could go on and on. Sometime when you're out this way come in and see me. If you have never been to our office I’ll give you the grand tour free of charge. Please pray about contributing to our causes. They are all for the Lord. Every cent goes directly into ministry. The more we get, the more ministry we can do. You folks are so sweet and I love you all. Keep up the good work and may God bless.

Bro. Tim

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

Bethlehem: "August weather has been just great & now Sept. Does God know what He’s doing or what?? We are still seeking a new Pastor and still ask for your prayers. God has sent us several good men to bring us His message and we’re praying for Him to guide us in selecting just the right one. In the mean time-we are looking for a Song Leader. Our dear song leader for 20+ years says he feels he needs to step back & let someone else take over. He has done a fantastic job & we know his steps will be hard to fill, but again we ask for God’s guidance in finding someone to lead our congregation in songs. Mud Volley Ball-- I know you’ve heard of it but probably never played it. Well, the young people of our church (& one ‘old man’) ha got together a team and went to Bethlehem Bapt. Ch. in Cunningham in play in ‘Volley Ball for Missions’. This was a great way to raise money for Missions but boy was it a muddy game. Lots of fun and fellowship with other churches and groups. Proves we can serve God in many ways. We are now collecting new shoes for the ‘New Shoes Drive’ to go to Eastern Ky. Winter is coming quickly & the children need shoes, so dig into those pockets & go purchase a new pair of shoes God will bless you for doing so. May God Bless everyone and don’t forget to pray for each other."

Dexter: “August has been a quiet, prayerful month for DBC. We continue to pray fervently for our members who have been stricken ill, and the Lord has blessed them and us by granting each of them much improvement. Praise God-He is so awesome! We had a fantastic Youth Sunday with Bro. Scott Pile as our special speaker, and everyone enjoyed the fellowship and good food at the potluck dinner following the morning service. Two of our teen girls taught the Ladies Sunday school class on this special day, and it was so wonderful and inspirational to witness these two young ladies show their love, faith and commitment to the Lord, and for them to share it with us. The Youth Group that meets on Sunday evening will begin a new study course in September entitled, ‘The God Who Created Us,’ led by Bro. Anthony and Teresa Manning. May God’s blessings be on them and each member of this class. We have also elected new officers and teachers for the upcoming year, and are so blessed and excited to have so many in our midst who give so much to DBC, and to our Lord. We send our love to each of our sister churches and pray that the Lord will bless you in all ways.”

S.S. Avg. 39

Grace: "Greetings and God’s blessing to all from Grace Baptist Church. As always there are lots of things happening here at Grace. The Monday Night Women’s Bible Study began a new study on August 3rd. They are studying ‘A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place’. We participated in the Baptist Campus Ministry Mounds and Mounds of Cookie Night at MSU on August 18th at the Baptist Campus Center. The seniors enjoyed a breakfast outing at Lacey’s Restaurant in Benton on August 8th. We enjoyed a church wide fellowship after the evening service on August 23rd. Observed the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper on Sunday, August 30, during the evening service. We are participating in the New Shoe Drive to help the Blood River Association send NEW shoes to children in Eastern Kentucky. Our Missions Friends are collecting empty shoeboxes to fill for the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry coming soon. The WMU and Baptist Men are meeting again now that summer is over. Our Middle School children visited Holiday World on August 26th and have completed the ‘True Love Waits’ Bible Study. Our youth were very busy in August serving God though ministry in St. Louis. They worked in a homeless shelter for pregnant women, cleaning bathrooms, etc. They also served food in a Food Kitchen for the homeless. In addition they attended a two day retreat in Brandon Springs."

S. S. Avg.: 125, 2 additions by baptism, 1 by statement

Ledbetter: "Work on the new addition is coming to completion. We had a fellowship meal in the new addition this month. The new baptistry is installed and we have 7 to be baptized. Children and youth ministry is growing by leaps and bounds thanks to our Youth Leaders. Members Bro. Jack & Judy Studie are hosting an eleven day Israel and Jordan tour, March 21st from Nashville. For a color brochure, contact Pastor Jack Studie at jstudie@aol.com."

Locust Grove: "Locust Grove went into August with the mission of Christ on our mind!! We began with VBS, "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything", and saw about 30 children and 20 adults in attendance. We are grateful for the parents and the children that we had the privilege to minister to. We had a team of 5 from our church to go with a group from other associational churches on a mission trip, "Embrace Baltimore". The team returned and shared of the experience of doing an inner city sports camp. There were 16 decisions made for Christ that week!! We held for the first year, but many to come, the Locust Grove A"maizing" Corn Maze. We saw over 700 people from the community go through and several hundreds we presented the gospel to. We are looking forward to next year and have already begun planning the event. People are still calling wanting to go through! We began September by calling Aaron Wilson as our new youth pastor. We are very excited and grateful to have him on board! "Sing to the LORD, bless His name; Proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day. Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." Psalm 96:2-3"

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. Aug. 2-8, our Pastor Mark Mohler, David Bivins, Ryan Graham, Scott Adair & other folks from this area traveled to Arizona on the Hikiwan Mission Trip, & successfully ministered to the Native Americans. Aug. 4, our Young At Heart Seniors went to Parcell’s Deli & Grille in Draffenville for their monthly outing. Aug. 9, our AWANA Program kicked off for this school year with Puggles, Cubbies, Sparks & TnT, ages 2 yrs. old thru 5th grade & they meet Sun. evenings 5:45 p.m.-7:15 p.m. There was also a Back-To-School Ice Cream Social afterwards. Several of our men have been involved in installing a TV & Projector system here, & it is now up & operating great. Our new Youth Minister, Josh Amyx, continues to work with our Youth Group & is doing a great job. Aug. 30, we had New Bethel Missions Celebration in the Sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. those who were on the mission field in Arizona & in Panama City, FL shared their trip with us & at 11:00 a.m. those who were on the mission field in Hazlegreen, KY & Orlando, FL also spoke about their trip. It was a fantastic morning hearing how God worked thru them to accomplish His work. In the evening service we observed the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him, as He ordained. Lot’s of things going on here at New Bethel, & it’s exciting to be here."

S. S. Avg.: 95

Oak Grove: "We are very proud to announce that we have a new pastor Bro. William Beasley. We are very excited & Bro. William is very excited. We can't wait to see what God has in store for Oak Grove. We want to thank Bro. Paul Veazey for being our interim pastor since February. It's been a while since we wrote, but we have been doing great. We had a successful VBS. We enrolled 120. We didn't see any salvations, but we know that we planted seeds for future growth. Our youth will be going to "One Weekend" retreat at Jonathon Creek Sept 18th-20th. Be in prayer for them, that they will grow closer in their walk with Christ. Our Women of Hope has started meeting again after a summer break, they revealed their secret pals that they've had throughout the year. Our church will be hosting the Mission Board Meeting September 10th @ 6:30. It's great to be part of such a loving and family-like church. May we all continue to praise God for who is he, and the love he shows us daily. God Bless :)"

5 additions by letter

Sharpe: "We thank the Lord for all the blessings this August at Sharpe! On August 2nd, we had a ‘Moving Up’ ceremony for our children and youth at church. Our 3 year olds moved up to Children’s Church, our Kindergartners moved up to KFC, and our 6th graders moved up to the Youth Group. Our church family was so excited to see how our kids are growing in the Lord! On August 9th, KFC went fishing at Mike Miller Park to say farewell to the 6th graders and welcome to the Kindergartners. Everyone had a great time! Kamp Kids had an end of summer Kamp Out at church. The kids enjoyed a real camping experience as they celebrated this wonderful summer ministry. As the summer comes to a close, we look forward to the beginning of a new AWANA year beginning this September! Bro Tim, Katrina, Addie Beth and Nathan celebrated their 2nd anniversary with us at Sharpe. We are so thankful that God sent them our way! We say thank you to Bro. Chris and Bro. Tim for their leadership and being there for our church family. Our youth group continued with YOUTH RUSH and working on their interpretive movement ministry. They look forward to a visit to New Harmony in September to share with them. Praise the Lord as the church voted to begin construction on our fellowship hall. We look forward to what God is going to do with this project! Our choir welcomed many new members as we began working on new music. Our 5th Sunday singing had a long list of participants as each one blessed us with their musical talents! Thank you to each one who shared with us! A new ministry is developing at Sharpe. We will have a ‘Clothing Closet’ which will be an outreach to those in need in our community. We pray that God uses this ministry to bless others. God is good, all day, everyday!"

Symsonia: "Thanks to all the men who helped to make our Men’s Night a success. We had a wonderful steak supper cooked by the men and the ladies brought delicious desserts. Bro. Ricky Cunningham was a guest speaker. We welcome our newest member, Karlie Hatton. Our ladies have started a new Bible study on Monday nights. Please remember to pray for those recovering from surgeries and illnesses and continue to pray as we seek a Youth Minister."

S. S. Avg.: 110, 1 addition by baptism

Walnut Street: "Bro Joel & Kathy welcomed a new grandson into the family. Proud parents are Matt & Hollie Sharp. Isaac Milton Sharp was born July 29th. Congratulations to everyone. On Aug 2nd our nominating committee held a meeting to start filling positions in our church for the upcoming new year. Our church is blessed with very willing people to help serve our church and God. School started back on Aug 6th, where did the summer go!! On Sunday Aug 9th Bro David Brasher was our speaker for the morning and evening service. He did a wonderful job bringing us God's word. The Old But Serious held their monthly Feed The Kids on Wed. Aug 12th. On Sunday Aug 16th we celebrated with Wilburn and Garnella Norwood in renewing their wedding vows. They have been married for 50 years. There was a celebration tea held in the gym afterwards. They are a blessing to our church. We wish them many more happy years. Our prayers go out to our church members that have lost loved ones this month."

S. S. Avg.: 73

September 22

I don’t think I have caught my breath just yet. We are going strong at the Associational Office. We are working on the end of our fiscal year for our Annual Meeting for October. But let me tell you about a grand trip I took to Ridgecrest. It was a convocation for Directors of Missions. There were 700 Associational Missionaries who attended. We discussed many issues of ministry and we were able to spend some one on one time with each other. I really needed this and I came back refreshed. Thanks for allowing this time to happen. Many of our folks attended Super Saturday. I am so glad our churches participate in this event provided by the K.B.C. It is an opportunity to learn more about our positions in our churches especially Sunday School. Be much in prayer for a new ministry this is developing with us and two other associations. We are praying about a Hispanic missionary who will research our areas to plant new churches for Hispanics. We are in the beginning stages and we hope to bring you more info as it arises. Our local mission projects has taken off from the ground. We are getting calls almost daily for home repairs for those who can’t help themselves. We are calling this ministry W.I.N. It stand for Widows/Widowers in need. This past Saturday several went and replaced a roof for a nice family. One thing about this ministry is we need addition funding for this ministry. If God leads you to help financially, just put the word win in the memo when you send a check to the association. Let me tell you about our Senior Adult Rally it was a huge success. We had so many seniors there I couldn’t believe it and the atmosphere was sweet and fun. The meal was delicious and the singing afterwards was awesome by the Smith Brothers. Thanks to Dr. Stom for putting this together. A group has left for Oneida as we write this article. I ask that you pray for them as they go and do ministry there. Our Pastors/Wives, Deacons/Wives retreat is this Friday. I hope all will turn out for this event. It is a time for us to relax and have a good time. We are doing a Hawaiian theme, so get out you Hawaiian shirts and maybe even your grass skirts. We will be having a laughable time with Leslie a comedian called the Laundry Lady. The event will be at Memorial Baptist at 6:00 p.m. I really want you to come to this please. Pray for our Annual Meeting that we conduct ourselves in a Christian manner and that God will be the total focus during this time. On the 10 of October we will be having family night at West Fork Baptist. We are going to have a big bon fire with a weenie roast and a hay ride. I know you won’t want to miss this. Just a reminder, Don’t forget to continue collecting shoes for Hazel Green. The deadline to turn those in is October 2. And of course it is time to begin purchasing new toys for Freeda Harris Center in Lookout Kentucky. I am so happy that our Association believes in missions. I think is great that we constantly look to see where God is at work and plug in to His ministries. I don’t think no one can say that we are doing nothing. If you here that let me know and we’ll track them down and put them to work. It’s great when churches call and say we want to do some type of ministry is there anything available. My mind starts spinning and I’ll say there is so many can you be more specific. I just thank God every day, no sometimes 10 times a day that we are able to cooperate with Him in reaching the whole world. My desire is that all of Marshall and Calloway be saved. That reminds me I hope our churches have done their Prayer walking already. The bags have been ordered. They will be here January 1. We will place on every door in March for the Find it here Campaign. Ya’ll just keep up the good work and may God Bless.

Bro. Tim

Dexter: “July was a quiet month for DBC, with the exception of several of our members suffering from major illnesses

August Newsletter

Dexter: “July was a quiet month for DBC, with the exception of several of our members suffering from major illnesses. Our prayers are always with them and we lift them up knowing that our Lord will always be with them in their time of need. Our newly-formed Prayer Partners meet once monthly and we are so grateful for the many blessings that our Father has bestowed upon us through the power of prayer. Even though July is vacation month for many, our Sunday School classes are still growing and the ActTeens are continuing to visit the local nursing and rehab homes each Wednesday night, singing praises to God for the elderly and infirmed. What a blessing these young girls are to all of us! Our own Teresa Mabe has returned from two more missionary trips and will be bringing to us an update on her journeys. She has told us that she has been truly blessed by this work, and it shows…as she “glows” when talking to us about it! May God’s blessings be on each of us and our sister churches, and may each of us walk in the center of His will always. Through God’s awesome love, we are all united as His children…and we give him all the praise, honor and glory for His love.”

S.S. Avg. 37, 1 addition by baptism

Elva: "We had a great time at VBS. Our attendance was good and we thank all the workers who helped and all the parents who brought their children. Thanks to Ms. Cathie, we have a prayer blog that is kept up- to-date with prayer needs. This is a great tool for our prayer ministry. If you would like to check it out go to elvabaptistprayer ministry.blogspot.com. She also maintains a site for our children who attend Children's Church. It is elvabaptistcc.blogspot.com. This is a great help for parents to know what their children are learning in church."

Grace: "God’s Blessings to all from Grace Baptist Church. July was an exciting month with lots of activity. We began with celebrating the 43rd Homecoming of Grace Baptist on July 5th with special music by Kevin Royalty and a great message by Harrell Riley followed by lots of good food. There was a lot of Mission Action in July. Brother Sammy Cunningham joined a team to go to Trinidad-Tobago to participate in a crusade. A church wide fellowship was held on Sunday evening July 26th, after Brother Sammy shared his experience in Trinidad. Eleven lay people traveled to Hazel Green along with others from the association to minister to folks in that area. Also 2 ladies joined a group from the Association to minister in the inner city area of Baltimore, Md. Our children were able to have fun at Holiday World the first of July. They also enjoyed participating in a “Children’s Camp for 5th grade and under” at Brandon Springs on July 31-August 2nd. We are continuing to collect snacks for the Murray-Calloway County Hospital CCU waiting area. Ladies Bible Study was held on Monday, July 27th led by Brother Charles Long."

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. July 7, our Young At Heart Seniors went to Taylor’s for their monthly outing & had a great time. July 12, there was a Fellowship meal after the morning service & as usual, our ladies brought plenty of great food to go along with the Fellowship. July 19-25, Ron Nelson & several other folks from the Blood River Association traveled to Hazel Green, KY on a Mission trip involving several different outreaches. Also, during this same time, Kristen Nelson & Chase Carper, along with other folks from this area, were on a mission trip to FL & Kate Thomas has just returned from a summer long Mission trip she was on in Orlando, FL. July 24-25, our Youth Group, lead by Youth Director Josh Amyx, had a Lock-In here at the church from 9:00 p.m.-8:00 a.m. & everyone had a Blast! Then on July 29, the Youth Group traveled to Mid-Continent University for Water Wars competition with other Youth Groups. Also on July 29, Kevin Cartwright, Jessica & daughter Hope (they also have a son Christopher) were here at New Bethel speaking about his IMB appointment to Africa & their return to Africa around the beginning of next year. AWANA starts back up Aug. 9-there will be Puggles, Cubbies, Sparks & TnT & a great time with Jesus for everyone."

S.S. Avg.: 91

Pleasant Valley: "Where has the summer gone? It's hard to believe the new school year has already started. Watch for the school buses on the road. I'm playing catch up, I missed last month's newsletter. Our VBS was great, with an average attendance of 80 and 4 saved....What a week!!! Sarah Chambers joined the church the week after VBS and was baptized. Praise God for our new sister in Christ! Bro. Duane and Vicki Jo Reed went to Trinidad with the mission team from this area. God is good all the time, approximately 500 decisions were made (professions of faith and re-dedications). It was a very successful mission trip, and we're glad to have everyone back safely. Double Nickels (55 and over) is planning an outing on the 29th of this month, sounds like fun. Remember to pray for our country's leaders, they need our prayers now more than ever."

Sharpe: "July brought many blessings to our church family at Sharpe! We began the month with the intention of sharing our float in the Ameribration Parade at Calvert City. Due to bad weather, the parade was cancelled, but we had a good time of fellowship preparing the float! We really appreciate J.B.’s hard work coordinating our float. Hopefully, we will share it another time. Our youth group went to camp and reported that souls were saved during the week. Hallelujah! Our VBS kids presented a love offering to Phil Justus of Sunrise Children’s Services. Mr. Justus was thrilled to receive this offering. It is our prayer that children in need will be blessed by this offering. KFC went park hopping and swimming as well as enjoyed a treat at DQ. A big thank-you goes out to Tim & Kim for hosting the swimming party and providing lunch! A new year for KFC will begin as our 6th graders will move up to the youth group and new Kindergartners will join KFC. We were extremely blessed to welcome Bro. David Miller in revival this month. His messages touched our hearts and lives as he shared God’s Word. Youth Night was also held during the revival, and our youth presented special music with interpretive movement. The youth group also participated in many activities this month after Sunday night RUSH. As a new school year is upon us, we pray all the students, faculty and staff will have a safe and successful year. A new year of AWANAS will begin soon, and we invite you to bring your children on Wednesday nights to this wonderful ministry! God is good, all day, everyday!"

Sinking Spring: "What a month we have had at Sinking Spring!! We ended July with our Revival and wow did we get REVIVED!!! Bro. Tim Cole brought the messages and the Lord held nothing back. We thank Bro. Tim for being such a great servant for the Lord....keep up the great work. We are sad to say that we lost a very dear friend and Deacon. Bro. Lowell Key has gone to be with the Lord and Mrs. Jane. He was such a God loving man and we all loved him so much. He will be missed, but he is so happy now. The Church had a good old fashioned watermelon bust at the first of the month. Its hard to beat good cold sweet watermelon. We have alot of great events coming up next month and can't wait to tell you all about them next time. Please pray for every Church as they elect new officers and teachers for the upcoming year. God Bless You All!!!"

Symsonia: "Our Youth attend Youth Camp at Crossings at Cedarmore. Everyone had a great time. An Ice Cream Social was enjoyed by all also this month. We had 3 people from our church that recently returned from Hazel Green, Ky. They enjoyed ministering to others and they all shared their experiences with us Sunday night. We will celebrate Homecoming August 2nd."

Vanzora: "Vanzora was blessed to welcome new members Joey & Sharon Olson back to our church family on June 28th. We held our quarterly observance of the Lord's Supper on Sunday July 5th, in remembrance of the sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. Vanzora transformed into the Australian Outback for our Boomerang Express Vacation Bible School July 13th to 17th. Thanks to the hard work of so many we had incredible decorations, wonderful lessons, great meals and a lot of fun! We had a total enrollment of 94, average attendance of 78 and total offering of $421.69. We are extremely proud of nine Vanzora members who went on the 2009 BRBA mission trip to Hazel Green, KY. We enjoyed their presentation Sunday night August 2nd, and pray that God will continue to bless them and all who participated. We are continuing to pray for all our children and youth as they are returning to school in August. And we are collecting school supplies for this year's Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Ministry. Our musicians are busy preparing for the next 5th Sunday Night Singing, and we invite everyone to come out and join us on Sunday evening August 30th at 5:30pm."

Walnut Street: "Happy Birthday to our country. We are all very lucky to live in a country where we are free to worship God when and where we want to. We observed the Lord's Supper on the 5th in our evening service. Then on the 8th we had Feed the Kids night. We are trying to start a Youth Choir for kids 18 yrs old and younger. Angela Bowlin and Laurie Byers are planning on having the kids practice the first Wednesday night of each month. On the 19th thru the 24th, Dora & Richard Stallons went with others in our area on a mission trip to Hazel Green Academy. They worked on a little country church doing repairs & adding kitchen cabinets. There was also plumbing and electrical work that needed to be done and God provided for them with everything they needed. They also had the chance to witness to others. They held a block party & there were about 300 people to come. There was games and food for everyone. This was a blessing to all that made the trip, despite the heat. Everyone of us need to keep in mind that there is always someone that has less than us and we need to always be ready to lend a helping hand whether its with material items or sharing with them what God has done for us and what he can do for them. God loves all of us no matter what we have or don't have. Continue to remember the ones in the hospitals or nursing homes, ones that have lost loved ones and remember all the ones that are struggling with health problems. God bless." S.S. Avg.: 82

Briensburg: "We will have homecoming Sept. 13 and revival Sept. 27-30 with Bro. Rodney Skipworth from New Harmony.

August 18

I know you all have been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for this glorious report. I have been overwhelmed by all of the results from all of our mission trips this Summer. First let me share about Poland. As expected, many were saved. To God be the glory. Everyone who participated came back with smiles on their faces and complete joy in their hearts. I have heard story after story of how God touched lives in Poland. Thanks goes to our missionary Tom Baker for heading this project. And then there is Hazel Green in Eastern Kentucky. This year's trip exceeds last year. Maybe it’s because this is our second year there. We did numerous off-campus ministries. We saw where God was at work and we all pitched in. It was touching when team members would come up to me and say “Do you think we could do this project while we’re here?” My response was always yes. I saw mothers with tears streaming down their faces full of happiness because of God’s love through our team helping them with their children. From Canned Goods to clothing to whatever was needed. I guess the biggest thrill for me was how the mission team came back with new ideas of how to help and reach Hazel Green this fall. We are putting out a plea to all churches. We want to begin collecting new children's shoes of all sizes. The deadline to get them here will be October 2nd. Please make this a heartfelt priority. The trip to Arizona was very successful. We ministered to the Native Americans. The response was beneficial to all. Hopefully in the near future we will have DVD’s for every church to see. And the trip to Baltimore Maryland was new and different than what we were used to. It was a mission to inner city children. The atmosphere there was in a poor community. It is filled with drugs and all kinds of things not suitable for children. The team definitely were out of their comfort zones. But they learned a valuable lesson on servanthood. Most teams who participate on mission trips learn how to become more humble and available for service. I believe God looked down and was pleased. I picture a smile on His face. Our Hispanic ministry has multiplied greatly. We are having around 75 in attendance. Thanks to all who help in this project. I begged for a lot of care kits and you all came through with flying colors. We received 150 care kits and they have all been distributed. The men say thanks. I have had more churches to want to help feed than there were weeks to feed. That says a lot about our Association. Let me brag even more. I found out that our Association has the most participation for the Find It Here campaign than many of our neighboring Associations. We have 41 of our 42 churches participating. I pray that all will be doing prayer walking/driving next month. And then in March we will hang the bags of salvation information on every door in Marshall and Calloway county. We had a wonderful fellowship at our Baptist Men on Missions Breakfast at Owens Chapel. Many were there who had participated in our mission trips and we gave them a time to share what it had meant to them. The WMU had a fantastic meeting as well. I appreciate all of our men and women who are mission minded. I think it is great that we keep kingdom focused. Our heart's desire is to see those around us saved. We have many activities coming up almost too many to mention in this report. Your church should have received in the mail about all of them. Just ask your Pastor and he can share them with you. You can also look at them on our web site www.bloodriverassoc.org . Well I shouldn’t wait two months to write to you because I don’t have enough space to tell you everything I want to tell you. Maybe you can see the picture I painted. I hope it made your hearts leap for joy. Without your prayers, financial support and participation none of these ministries would be possible. I just thank God that He has included us as servants for the Kingdom ministry. Until next time, may God bless each and every one of you. Bro. Tim

CHURCH BUDGET GIFTS:

July 2009

Altona $1,017.89

Bethel 511.00

Bethlehem 150.85

Blood River 124.00

Briensburg 1,553.27

Cherry Corner 0.00

Coldwater 50.00

Dexter 75.00

East Marshall 50.00

Elva 82.65

Flint 185.21

Gilbertsville First 182.59

Grace 244.55

Hamlet 243.57

Hazel 150.00

Kirksey 490.00

Lakeview 225.00

Ledbetter 0.00

Locust Grove 47.17

Memorial 131.35

New Bethel 170.00

New Harmony 582.08

New Mt. Carmel 100.00

New Providence 500.00

New Zion 688.54

Northside 1,838.00

Oak Grove 257.61

Olive 486.63

Owens Chapel 300.00

Pleasant Hope 100.00

Pleasant Valley 125.00

Salem 0.00

Scotts Grove 196.31

Sharpe 965.84

Sinking Spring 260.00

Spring Creek 0.00

Sugar Creek 200.00

Symsonia 506.00

Union Ridge 111.20

Vanzora 245.00

Walnut Street 286.47

West Fork 319.00

TOTAL $13,731.78

Over Monthly Budget by $1,905.96

Year to Date: +$7,014.43

NEWSLETTER, JULY 20, 2009

NEWSLETTER, JULY 20, 2009

Bethlehem: "We, at Bethlehem are still seeking a new Pastor. Please-Please pray for us. Most of you at one time or another have been in our shoes (& some of you still are) and know it is a very difficult situation for a church without a Pastor. But we know the Lord will provide when the time is right. Just keep lifting us up in your prayers. Otherwise, May & June were full months at BBC. On Mother’s Day, three Moms were presented with corsages-the youngest one, the one with most children & the oldest one. Bibles were presented to our two graduates: Adrian Davis and Zane Salyers. On Memorial Day we had special recognition for our service people. We collected several boxes of canned goods for the Hazel Green mission trip. Last but not least-we want to ask that you lift up one of our dear members in your prayers. Brother Eddie Durbin was in a serious motorcycle wreck last week & is in the Vanderbilt Trauma Center. Thanks be to our great God, he is going to live but has a long hard road ahead of him. Pray for him as well as his family. May God bless you all."

Dexter: "June brought to DBC many blessings, as well as a profound sadness, as we said our temporary goodbyes to Bro. Joe McKinney, who went to live with our Lord on June 5. Bro. McKinney was a stalwart soldier for Christ, and led our VBS during the week prior to his passing, with enthusiasm and love. He will be missed by everyone at DBC, and our hearts and prayers are with his wife, Hope, and the entire McKinney family. The blessings given to us are many, including a great VBS with 4 girls accepting Jesus Christ as their savior. Praise God! Our newly formed Prayer Partners continue to meet monthly, and it is so wonderful to see God’s work being made manifest within the church. The Youth Group hosted a ‘Youth Explosion’ that was a great success and enjoyed by many youth and adults! Our own Teresa Mabe traveled to Montana with the Missions Group, and presented us with a slide show and commentary of the many wondrous moments she experienced while working with the youth at the Montana camp. We thank God for her and all the missionaries who take the Good News all over the world. As always, we give our praise, honor and glory to the Lord, who has, is, and will continue to bless our church and church families with His amazing love."

S.S. Avg. 37, 1 addition by baptism

Elva: "Our youth worked really hard and earned money for a trip to King's Island in Cincinnati. They enjoyed gospel concerts each evening. Our VBS is July 27-31, nightly from 6:00-8:30. Our senior adults enjoyed a trip to Marion, KY to visit the Amish community."

Grace: "Greetings and Blessings from Grace Baptist Church. We held Vacation Bible School June 15th through the 19th with Commencement on Friday Evening June 19th. Recognized the Fathers in our church on Father’s Day. Recognized the Oldest, the Youngest and the Father with the most children. Also returned Baby Bottles for Life House on Father’s Day. Our Children enjoyed a trip to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana on June 6th. Enjoyed an evening of music by Eric Horner on June 21st. Those who are going on the Hazel Green Missions Trip are busy preparing for this adventure to glorify Christ. Brother Sammy is on a mission trip as we prepare this letter to Trinidad-Tobago. We are trusting that great things will happen and God will keep them safe until they return. We visited Fern Terrace Nursing Home for our third Saturday regular visit. The Ladies Monthly Bible Study continues under the teaching of Brother Charles Long. The Middle School is continuing their study on ‘True Love Waits’. We averaged 125 in Sunday School, had 1 Baptism, 1 by Letter and 1 by statement."

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. June 2, our Young At Heart Seniors went to the Holman House for their monthly outing. June 7 was our VBS Kick-off & lots of kids showed up for the Bounce House, games, food & drinks & to register for VBS. Our VBS, ‘Boomerang Express’, was June 14-18 & we had lots of kids, lots of teachers & helpers & a whole lot of fun while everyone involved learned more about Jesus. We had an average attendance of 81 & a total offering of about $390.00 which will be used in our mission trip to Hazel Green, KY July 19-25, where we will also do VBS along with other outreaches. Many of the decorations that our folks worked so hard on for our VBS are being used by other churches in their VBS, & it’s really great to be able to help other churches out as we have been helped in the past. VBS is all about touching kids lives with the love of Jesus. June 21 was Father’s Day, & we recognized all of our fathers & also our Heavenly Father on this special day. June 26-27, 12 of our ladies attended a Women of Faith Conference in St. Louis. June 28 in the evening service, we observed The Lord’s Supper, as ordained by Jesus, in memory of Him."

S.S. Avg.: 93

Sharpe: "Thank the Lord for all the amazing blessings this June at Sharpe! Our members of the Montana mission team returned home and reported many wonderful things from Ft. Belknap! Bro. Chris shared that the construction project was successful, and VBS was held for the kids on the reservation. During this mission trip, 12 precious souls were saved! Praise God! We thank God for blessing this trip and providing safe travel for all who attended. Bro. Tim took our ‘Kids For Christ’ kids to Nashville for a visit to the Science Museum. They had a great time! Our VBS was awesome this year as we took a ride on the ‘Boomerang Express’. Average attendance was about 90 kids a day, and 3 precious souls were saved! Hallelujah! Three offering challenges were given during VBS week. All challenges were met which resulted in the kids having an awesome time throwing water balloons at Bro. Chris, Bro. Tim and Cory Samsil! We can’t wait to give the offering to Sunrise Children’s Home. Kamp Kids was in full swing this month on Wednesday nights as well as youth RUSH on Sunday nights. Our church wide fish fry was held at Mike Miller Park along with a 3 on 3 basketball tournament. The winning team was Bro. Tim, Megan Dowdy and Tim Carner. Everyone had a great time despite the heat! We would also like to congratulate two special members of our congregation, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Fowler on celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary! God is good, all day, everyday! "

Sinking Spring: "Hello everyone! Been a month or so since we talked, but we have a lot to tell you about. First we are proud to say we had our VBS in June had a GREAT group of kids! They were all so excited about the lessons, crafts and activities! What a great time in the Lord we had. We are also proud to welcome our newest members, Mrs. Nancy Bogard and Luke and Dolly Rickman and their three children. They joined on the promise of a letter. May the Lord continue to be the center of their lives. Also we are very excited to announce that our Revival starts July 26th and goes through July 29th and we will be having Bro. Tim Cole. We look so forward to hearing him bring the word of God. Our service times are 11am and 6pm on July 26th at 7pm Monday-Wednesday. We hope all will come and worship with us. Till next time may God continue bless each and every one of you."

Vanzora: "We apologize for the lack of updates from Vanzora for several months. June was a busy month starting with a youth trip to the Creation Museum June 5th, with about 20 youth and adults. Followed by our Homecoming Services on June 7th. We received a great blessing from Bro. Max Anderson's message and the special music from the McManus', and a great fellowship meal with our church family and guests. Our Relay for Life team enjoyed a great cookout while we honored our survivors and remembered those we have lost to cancer. On June 21st we celebrated both Father's Day and Baptist Men's Day, with special messages from Kenneth Howell and Santino Marani. We have begun a food pantry as a ministry to our church family and neighborhood and it's off to a great start thanks to generous donations and the hard work of Kathy Thompson, Amy Pitt & Louawana McClure. We are preparing for Vacation Bible School coming up July 13th to 17th. Children birth to 12th grade are invited to join us for Boomerang Express! And our musicians are preparing for the next 5th Sunday Night Singing coming up August 30th."

Walnut Street: "We held VBS on May 31st thru June 3rd. We averaged 80 each night. A wonderful time was had by all the kids and they learned that it "all comes back to God". Thanks goes out to everyone that helped to make this a success. On June 13th thru 20th Richard & Dora Stallons went to Princeton KY for Changers. Dora said that 8 souls were saved so it made all the hard work worth it. We have put a box out in our foyer for our church to bring in can goods to be donated to the Hazel Green Academy. That area has been hit with several floods. We need to keep them in our prayers. June 21st was Fathers Day. We had several ladies to fill the choir and sing a couple of songs. Then on June 27th thru July 4th we had about 25 from our church to go to Ky Changers. The trip was to Lawrenceburg KY. A very special thanks goes out to each one that goes, they donate their time & their labor to help others that have a special need. It isn't easy to work outside in the heat. It seems each year that it gets extra hot during their week of work. It is a blessing to each of our workers and also to the ones they are helping out. Continue to pray for the ones that are in hospitals and nursing homes. Pray for the ones that are on our prayer lists and the ones that have lost loved ones. May God bless each one of you."

S. S. Avg.: 84

FIRST PLACE:

You are invited to hear Carole Lewis, national director of First Place 4 Health, the Christ-centered healthy living program. When Carole attended the First Place orientation in March 1981, she was unsure of where God was leading but knew she needed to make some lifestyle changes. She joined a First Place group and soon lost 20 pounds. Learning how to bring balance to her life motivated her to become a First Place leader to encourage others to achieve their goals.

Carole became the national director of First Place in 1987, and is now a popular speaker and author of ten books. Carole leads conferences, Christian spas, workshops and seminars with an emphasis on personal and spiritual balance, fitness, encouragement and temperament analysis. You can hear her speak at our August Mission Board Meeting, August 13, 7:00 p.m. at Union Ridge Baptist Church, Aurora KY.

CHURCH BUDGET GIFTS:

June 2009

Altona $963.53

Bethel 314.00

Bethlehem 242.70

Blood River 244.00

Briensburg 919.12

Cherry Corner 0.00

Coldwater 50.00

Dexter 50.00

East Marshall 50.00

Elva 76.24

Flint 444.33

Gilbertsville First 214.53

Grace 288.73

Hamlet 275.50

Hazel 150.00

Kirksey 180.00

Lakeview 331.05

Ledbetter 0.00

Locust Grove 139.89

Memorial 139.00

New Bethel 542.52

New Harmony 739.76

New Mt. Carmel 100.00

New Providence 0.00

New Zion 418.00

Northside 1,028.00

Oak Grove 253.99

Olive 312.70

Owens Chapel 300.00

Pleasant Hope 100.00

Pleasant Valley 125.00

Salem 533.71

Scotts Grove 307.82

Sharpe 2,436.01

Sinking Spring 260.00

Spring Creek 600.00

Sugar Creek 200.00

Symsonia 0.00

Union Ridge 117.53

Vanzora 154.00

Walnut Street 0.00

West Fork 244.00

TOTAL $13,845.66

Over Monthly Budget by $2,019.84

Year to Date: +$5,108.47

NEWSLETTER FOR JUNE

Elva: "We had a great Biker Sunday with about two dozen motorcycles and their riders

Elva: "We had a great Biker Sunday with about two dozen motorcycles and their riders. It was a time of testimony and song that was inspiring to all. We praise the Christian Motorcycle Association for all the work they do to spread the gospel. We look forward to making this an annual event. Our youth are busy earning money for an upcoming trip. They have been having bake sales, car washes and dinners. The group that went to Ronald McDonald House at St. Judes had a wonderful experience. The men were able to lead one young father to the Lord. Everyone there enjoyed the meal (especially the home-made ice cream) and the fellowship."

Grace: "Greetings from Grace Baptist Church. We had a busy, wonderful month of activities during the month of May, beginning with honoring our Seniors on May 3rd, with a special sermon and free lunch at Cypress Resort Restaurant. Recognized our Mothers on Mother’s Day, May 10th. Included the Oldest, Youngest and Mother with the most children. Also had the privilege of dedicating 11 babies on Mother’s Day. We also recognized the graduates of Grace Baptist. We had eleven (11) graduating from High School, four (4) from Murray State University and (2) from Western Kentucky. Our youth attended a Youth Rally at Salem Baptist Church on May 16th. The Middle School students have been studying the ‘True Love Waits’ Bible Study. We are participating in the Life House Ministry by filling Baby Bottles with our change and praying for the baby who is listed on the bottle. Enjoyed ‘The Dills’ during the Sunday Morning Service on May 24th and again a concert during the evening service. Voted to begin a meal and fellowship after the service on the 4th Sunday of each month. We were blessed with lots of Baby and Bridal Showers during this month. We are continuing to collect snacks for the Murray-Calloway County Hospital CCU waiting area. Also collecting bibles for the Hazel Green Mission Trip. Looking forward to VBS June 15-19th. We need to be in prayer for those participants in the Mission Trip to Hazel Green in July."

S. S. Avg. 126, 1 addition by baptism, 2 by statement

New Bethel: "May was a busy month here at New Bethel as we geared up for VBS 2009, Boomerang Express. Lot’s of folks worked hard to make this year’s VBS memorable. We’ve got a train, kangaroos, koala bears, exotic plants & most of all we’ve got Jesus! VBS runs Sun. June 14- Thur. June 18, 6:15 p.m. - 8:30 p.m., with kick-off Sun. June 7, that included registration, games, bounce house, hotdogs & drinks. May 5, our Young At Heart Seniors went to the Sirloin Stockade for their monthly outing. May 7, National Day of Prayer was observed with a ‘Lunch & Listen’ get-together here. May 10 was Mother’s Day & we all recognize that our Mothers, Grandmothers & Great-grandmothers are precious & wonderful. May 17, AWANA Awards were presented in the evening service & we are so proud of the teachers & especially our AWANA kids. May 24, we had our Graduation & Scholarship Awards presentation in the evening service with special speaker Scott Adair, & potluck snacks, treats & fellowship afterwards. We want to especially honor our High School Graduates, Cassie Duncan, Jordan Gilland & Meagan McClain-they have persevered & succeeded. Josh Amyx has been voted in & has accepted the Youth Director position here & we welcome Josh & Jessica & their daughter Bailey into our church family."

S.S. Avg.: 90

Pleasant Valley: "Summer is just around the corner, school's out and it's time for Vacation Bible School. At the time of this writing, Pleasant Valley is knee deep in VBS, one of the best parts of Summer break. Our VBS offering will be going to support the Trinidad mission trip VBS. Now we'll back up a little and catch up on some past happenings. Becky Harrison accepted Christ as her Savior April 26 and joined on the promise of Baptism. She was baptized that night during the evening service. We look forward to watching Becky grow as a sister in Christ and worshiping together. May 3 was Homecoming at Pleasant Valley, our guest speaker, Bro. Terry Sills, brought a wonderful message. After a good meal, we enjoyed the talents of Bro. Darvin Stom, Bro. Tim Cole,

Bro. Tim Driver and Bro. Duane Holland, along with many local specials. These gentlemen can lift the roof, it was a wonderful afternoon. A great time of Fellowship was had by all present. Our Sunday School attendance was 86 that day, widely believed to be the highest in church history. We recently participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life in Marshall County. Our team donated $2,005.01 to help with the fight to find a cure for cancer. We ask you to join us in keeping little Eric Matthew Tolbert's family in your prayers. Eric lost his battle with cancer earlier this month, he will be greatly missed. Our doors are open and you are invited to join us for any service, anytime."

S.S. Avg.: 68, 1 addition by baptism

Sharpe: "We thank the Lord for the blessings we have received this May at Sharpe! We praise him for the souls that were saved! Our KFC kids paid a visit to Lowes Improvement Warehouse to make a special gift for their mothers, and all mothers were honored on Mother’s Day with a gift from the church. A new ministry got in full swing this month. KIDS CAMP is being held on Wednesday nights this summer and provides devotion, crafts, singing and games for the kids. They are having a great time as they are learning more about God. Sharpe’s 57th Homecoming was held on May 17th. For Heaven’ Sake blessed our hearts as they presented God’s message in song. We were also very excited to hear Bro. Tim Cole as he shared God*s word with us. Our high school and college graduates were recognized during the service. Congratulations to high school graduates Candace Alexander, Blair Collins, Blaine Stokes, Katie Welch, Hunter Williams and college graduate, Alecia Thornton! A special service was held this month for our youth and adults going on the Montana mission trip. Bro. Chris preached about the importance of being involved in missions, and a special prayer was prayed for this group that God will use them in a mighty way. Plans are being made for this year’s Vacation Bible School, ‘Boomerang Express’. It will be held June 22-26th. We look forward to sharing Jesus with the children in our community! We pray that God blesses each one of you in a special way. God is good, all day, everyday!"

S. S. Avg.: 128

Spring Creek: "We have been blessed, as usual at Spring Creek. On Easter we were delighted by the children lined up on the side walk, as they spied the eggs, scattered over the grass, and then the race was on. Squeals of delight, and clicking of cameras were heard among the encouraging cheers. On April 26, we honored our Pastor Terry Powell, for twenty good years with us. He was honored with comments by the Deacons, a poem by Edna Butler, and a gift of appreciation. After his comments and a short sermon, we were entertained by "For Heaven's Sake" which preceeded a church fellowship. All of his children managed to be present, including Jay and family from Florida, and a surprise entrance by Andrew. All five grandchildren were there. One Mother's day we had our annual Men's cake bake with cakes judged in many areas including most decadent, best tasting, most likely to be made by a woman, and even one most likely to come from WalMart."

Symsonia: "May is a time to honor our high school graduates. Congratulations to Andrew Cope, Josh Doggett, and Jordan Thompson! We had a graduate’s luncheon in May to recognize them. Softball season has begun with games being played on Monday and Tuesday evenings. We honored our Senior Adults in May also with a luncheon in their honor and Bro. Johnny Phillips was our guest speaker. Everyone’s gearing up for VBS for next month as we’ll hop on board the Boomerang Express to travel across the Land Down Under!"

S.S. Avg.: 89

Walnut Street: "Our church celebrated Homecoming on May 3rd. Our church started in March 1961. The McKendree's blessed us with music. Then Bro Calvin Wilkins brought us the message. Both were a blessing to everyone that attended. Then afterwards we all went out to the fellowship hall for lunch. There was about 162 that attended. Then on May 10th we celebrated Mother's Day. Thank God for all the Mother's and all they do to guide us and help us thru our lives. There was about 5 from our church that graduated from MCHS. We wish them all the best in whatever they decide to do in their lives. May they always include God in their lives and hearts. Monday the 25th was Memorial Day. It was a day to remember all the ones that have given their lives so that we may all enjoy freedom. Some gave all and all gave some."

S. S. Avg.: 99

MAY NEWSLETTER

MAY NEWSLETTER

Bethlehem: "We at Bethlehem are very saddened because our Pastor, Brother Jack Kee has resigned from our church. He felt Lord leading him in another direction & of course he must follow the Lord*s direction. We know the Lord always knows what he’s doing but that doesn’t keep our hearts from breaking to see Bro. Jack go. On his last day to be with us, we gave him a dinner/reception to thank him for twelve great yrs. of service and to say our good-by’s. On a brighter side - two of our church members were united in marriages just recently. Brother Anthony Wallace took Rachel Lemmons for his bride on 4/18 and Sister Pam Simmons took Mike Schott to be her husband on 5/9. We wish both couples the best of everything & pray that God will always guide them. Our children had a great time at our Easter egg hunt. Our thanks to Sisters- Jane & Shawna Howard & all who helped make it possible. Coming up - Relay for Life in June - VBS - collecting canned goods for mission trips - missions in Marshall Co. - witnessing for Christ."

Dexter: "April has brought many good things to Dexter Baptist Church. We are so blessed by having Bro. Dewey and Jerlyine with us-their love, guidance and support are precious gifts from the Lord. Our Easter Sunday service was memorable, and we ended the day by commemorating our Saviour with the Lord’s Supper. We were honored on Sunday, April 19, with the moving testimony from Bro. Gary Lilly and we appreciated so much his willingness to share his love of Jesus with us. We were all blessed in a mighty way. A member of the Youth Group gave his life to our Lord and will be baptized on Mother’s Day-we are so blessed with the amazing development of our youth in the ways of God, and are so excited about the Youth Group ministry. The Children’s Church is growing by leaps and bounds and we are eternally grateful to our Lord for blessing us with so many precious children. The Praise Team is another blessed addition to the DBC family, and they have performed several times for the congregation with beautiful songs of praise-God bless them and their leaders! We are looking forward to VBS, which is right around the corner! Our love and prayers go out to each of you."

Elva: "We had a great charity auction and this past Saturday, our youth and adults went to Memphis and used the money to minister to the people at St. Jude's Ronald McDonald House. What a blessing they received! We had a baby dedication on Mother's Day with nine little ones being dedicated to the Lord. All mothers were honored. On the 3rd of May our children's church met with us in the sanctuary for their worship service. Everyone really enjoyed seeing how much these children know about the bible and how much they love praising God. We send a special thanks to our children's minister, Bro. Rick Minter and Sister Cathie for all the work they put into this ministry. Sunday, May 17, we honored our graduates and we wish them God's blessing on the next phase of their lives. June 7 will be our Biker's Sunday. We invite all "Bikers" to join us at 11:00 a.m. for a worship service with special speakers and then we will have lunch and the bikers will go for a ride. If you own a motorcycle or know someone who does, spread the word."

Grace: "Spring Greetings from Grace Baptist. I would like to offer praise for the wonderful work that is being done by the leaders of our Children’s Ministry, Middle School and Youth. It is such a thrill to see the number of youth at church on Sunday Morning and Wednesday Evening. The Children were treated to a “Movie Pizza Night” on Saturday, April 25th. Children 5th grade and under are meeting on the lst Wednesday of each month for choir practice directed by Marion Hale. Our Middle School watched “The Passion of Christ” on April 11th and enjoyed a trip to Trace Creek to see the “The Promise" Play. One teen accepted Christ. This month our Youth enjoyed a baseball/ softball game with a trip for pizza after the game. During one Wednesday night the youth made posters to decorate the room where they meet. Each poster had a name of God, in the original language and a verse where God is called by that name. A speaker from the Gideon’s visited with us on Sunday Morning April 19th with information on who the Gideon’s are & what their mission is. Our Mission Kids have been collecting socks to send to Texas to the Under the Bridge Church for the homeless. The WMU is collecting Bibles for the Hazel Green Mission Trip as well as canned goods. They are continuing to collect snacks for the Murray-Calloway County Hospital CCU waiting area."

S.S. Avg.: 128, 1 additions by letter

New Bethel: "Hello again from New Bethel. Apr. 5, our Choir, led by Bro. David Bivins, performed the Easter Cantata “In The Presence of Jehovah” & it was just great. Also on Apr. 5, we had a VBS Meeting to get geared up for VBS 2009, Jun. 14-18, with Kickoff/Registration on Jun. 13. Apr. 7, our Young At Heart Seniors went to the Snappy Tomato for their first outing in recent months. Apr. 11, we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt here at the Church with lots of people, kids, eggs & candy, fun & food & drinks afterward. Apr. 12, Easter Sunday, a large congregation gathered here to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, our Lord & Savior. He is Risen! Hallelujah! Apr. 19, Missionaries who have been in the field in Hikiwan, AZ, spoke to the congregation-this is the location that Pastor Mark & others will be visiting on a mission trip this summer. Apr. 25, we had a Spring Fling at Pastor Mark & Shawna’s home with grilled hot dogs, chips, drinks & desserts, lots of fun & fellowship, & the first chance for most of us to meet our prospective Youth Director & his wife & daughter. Our Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions goal of $3000 has not been met yet, but it’s still ongoing. Pastor Mark continues to bless us with the Message God has laid on his heart. "

S.S. avg.: 93

Salem: "The Easter Egg hunt at Salem was a big success with lots of children present and hundreds of eggs to find. The children also heard the story of Jesus' death and resurrection, the true meaning of Easter. Our eggs this year were stuffed with goodies by the residents of Hickory Woods Retirement Center. On Easter Sunday Bro. Charles Peeler and the choir blessed us with an Easter Cantata, beautiful music from many weeks of practice. Thank you, Bro. Charles and the choir for a job well done. After Easter we had our spring Revival with Evangelist, Bro. James Shutt from Savannah, Tennessee. The messages he delivered and the special music each night made that week extra special to all who attended. On Mother's Day we recognized our youngest mother and our mother with the most experience. We also recognized our deacon's wives who have been so dedicated, faithful and inspirational to the church. On May 16 we are planning a Youth Rally starting at 5:30 p.m. with Bro. Sammy Cunningham as the speaker, and the youth are getting excited about participating in that. You're always welcome at Salem."

Sharpe: "April was an eventful month as we celebrated the resurrection of our Savior! Our children blessed us with their music program, “Alive, Alive” as they shared the story of the empty tomb! Many children attended our annual Easter egg hunt and had a great time eating pizza and hunting eggs. On Easter Sunday, our adult choir shared the Easter story in song as they presented, “In the Presence of Jehovah” before Bro. Chris brought a wonderful message and baptized some new believers! Our youth group attended a revival service at Briensburg Baptist Church and performed interpretive movement. They were very excited to participate in Youth Night and share this ministry. Our AWANA ministry had a full month with Pie Your Teacher Night, a skating party and an awards ceremony. Our clubbers memorized over 1000 verses this year! Many awards were given during the ceremony and each clubber was given a new Bible to study God’s Word throughout the summer. Our Senior Adults had their monthly breakfast at Lacey*s and attended the Ham and Bean Dinner in Calvert City. On April 25th, a fishing tournament was held and members of all ages attended and caught loads of fish. Awards were given out to some of our fishermen! A very special couple at our church, Bro. and Mrs. Johnnie Sphinx, celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows. They are such a blessing to our congregation and we congratulate them! Please be in prayer for the upcoming Montana Mission Trip! We pray that God blesses each one of you. God is good, all day, everyday!

S. S. Avg.: 141

Symsonia: "April was a busy month here at Symsonia Baptist Church with Easter activities and Revival. The children enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt and our choir did an outstanding job on the Easter Cantata. We enjoyed having Bro. Tim Cole with us for Revival and thoroughly enjoyed each night*s message. We hope our pastor had a wonderful birthday as he celebrated the big 5-0! He was surprised with cake and gifts after services one evening. Our Sunshine Friends collected a total of $1365 for Smile Train. Congratulations to our graduating high school seniors this year-Andrew Cope, Josh Doggett, and Jordan Thompson.

S. S. Avg.: 95

Walnut Street: "On Sunday the 5th we held the Lord's Supper in the evening worship hour. We do this in honor of our Savior. Wednesday the 8th was our monthly feed the kids night. Then on Saturday the 11th our annual Easter Egg hunt was held at the church. It was a little on the cool side but the kids had a great time. A big thanks goes out to Donna Ethridge & Jennifer Pigg on getting this all organized. Then on the 12th we celebrated Easter. Praise God that He gave His Son to die for us on the cross so that we may have eternal salvation. On Sunday night the 26th in our evening service, we held a cookout. There were about 72 people there to enjoy the grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. Then we held a cake walk inside the gym. It was also a celebration of Kathy Frizzell's birthday. I believe she was 39 once again! We love Mrs Kathy and everything she does for our church. Thanks goes out to everyone that helped in this event to make it a special one. May is looking to be a busy one for us at WSBC, so please come join us. Continue to pray for the ones that are in the hospitals and rest homes and for the ones that have lost loved ones. Times may be hard but we always have hope, knowing one day we will be in Heaven.

S. S. Avg.: 84

NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 16, 2009

NEWSLETTER – JANUARY 16, 2009

Bethlehem: "Year 2008 was a great year and I’m sure 2009 will be even greater. All events in Dec. went very well – Children’s Christmas Play, Live Nativity Scene at park, Christmas Dinner, etc. Nov. & Dec. are always such busy months, and then when Jan. rolls around time seems to kind of stand still (don’t you think?). We are very proud to welcome into our church family two new members - Kendra Thomas and Emily Hopkins. If this doesn’t start the New Year off right, I don’t know what would. We continue to ask God to guide as we help teach these two young ladies in their new Christian life. Let us never forget, we are disciples for Christ at all times - He’s always by our side - never leaves us and wants us to tell the world about His Son Jesus."

Dexter: "December was a busy but very blessed month for DBC. We worked, studied and prayed for the Lottie Moon Mission and set a goal for $650 as a love offering. Bro. Dewey and Jerlyine generously offered to match the church collection and our total was $1,000.22! Praise God for His love and guidance and for all the wonderful folks at DBC. We had a great time at our Christmas potluck, along with the usual great food. Our children (and leaders) practiced hard for the annual Christmas play and it was a great success…everyone thoroughly enjoyed the play, the music and the delightful children who participated. What a joy they are to us, and to the Kingdom of our Lord. Several boxes of food was loaded and delivered to the needy in our neighborhood as part of our “reaching out to help others” mission. Christmas is always a wondrous and joyous time and we, at Dexter Baptist, had a glorious and moving time as we celebrated the birth of our Saviour. May God bless each of you in the upcoming New Year, and may He continue to bless DBC with his loving spirit and divine guidance."

SS. Avg.: 42

Grace: "Happy New Year from Grace Baptist, looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us in 2009. December was a very busy month, beginning with hosting a luncheon for students at Murray State through the BCM. We enjoyed our annual Christmas Dinner on December 7th, immediately after the morning service. Lots of good food and fellowship to begin the holiday season. We hosted the Associational Dinner for Pastors, their wives and Board Members and other officers of the churches on December 11th. The WMU combined the Christmas Party with a program to highlight the Lottie Moon Season of Prayer by holding a “Flavors of Africa” event on December 5th at the Family Life Center. The goal for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was $2,400.00. Final total collected was $2,144.36. Our Seniors enjoyed a meal at Willow Pond and the lights at Patti’s Restaurant in Grand Rivers on December 12th. Church members participated in the Murray Christmas Parade. Fruit Baskets were delivered to shut-ins on December 13th, also a group traveled to Mayfield to Living ChristmasTree Program. The Children’s Christmas Party was held on December 21st for children 5th grade and under. The Children’s Christmas Play was presented on December 14th. Women of the church have been participating in a Bible Study by Beth Moore. A church-wide New Year’s Eve Party was held in the Family Life Center on December 31st."

S.S. Avg.: 106 2 additions by letter, 1 by baptism

Locust Grove: "What a great time of year to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ!! Even though the world system encourages us to focus on ourselves, the economy, etc...We truly know who is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God (El Gibbor), Father of Eternity, and the Prince of Peace...Jesus our Lord (Isaiah 9:6). Locust Grove participated in the Christmas parade and got to meet several families and invite them to our Christmas program The Love Of God At Christmas. The choir musical drama the love of God At Christmas ministered to many families on Friday the 19th, and Sunday morning the 21st. During those program times we raised $100.00 for needline and a cart full of non-perishable grocery items. The financial peace university class graduated and has experienced a better way to do finances...God's WAY!! We have been blessed with several new families coming on a consistent basis. Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!!"

New Bethel: "From New Bethel, Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Day, a day to remember & thank God for all our men & women in uniform. Dec. 11, our choir & Sharpe’s choir, led by Music Ministers David Bivins, & Kevin Royalty, performed their Christmas Cantata “Emmanuel: Celebrating Heaven’s Child” at the Association’s Annual Christmas Dinner/Board Meeting at Grace Baptist Church, & it was awesome. Dec. 14, our younger kids performed their Christmas Program & they did a terrific job, & after the service we had our annual Christmas fellowship meal in the FLC & as usual, our ladies served up plenty of great food & desserts. Dec. 20, our men delivered Christmas baskets filled with fruit & other goodies by our ladies, to our shut-ins & others. Dec. 21, in the evening service our choir performed it’s Christmas Cantata “Emmanuel: Celebrating Heaven’s Child”, & all that practice paid off-it was wonderful. Dec. 24, we had a special Christmas Eve Celebration Service with some special music, scripture reading, candle lighting & just a time of celebration of our Savior, Christ Jesus’ birth. He truly is the reason for the season. Dec. 28, one of our young guys who recently got saved was baptized. What a blessing. Hallelujah! Donations to purchase toys for the children of inmates of the Marshall County Detention Center were $185.00 & our Lottie Moon offerings up to now are $1,310.00. Pray for us as we search for a Youth Minister."

SS Avg.: 93 1 addition by baptism

Owens Chapel: "It has been a wonderful Christmas season for Owens Chapel. The past couple of months have been filled with excitement and blessings. In November we hosted the association board meeting as well as the joint Thanksgiving service. For our Thanksgiving Service we were joined by Kirksey, Coldwater, Spring Creek and West Fork and enjoyed excellent food and fellowship. We also enjoyed 3 missionary speakers who all shared with our church their individual ministries. December is a time for remembering those who are less fortunate in our community. We collected numerous toys and articles of clothing for the Freeda Harris toy drive. This is a wonderful ministry we are excited to be a part of. We also adopted 2 needy families to assist them in providing a memorable Christmas for their children. Our church also enjoyed delivering festive fruit baskets and sang Christmas carols to the recipients. Our Christmas program was a big success with our youth performing a heartwarming performance playing the bells. Our youth continue to be a blessing to our church through their continuous faith and enthusiasm about serving God. On New Year’s Eve the church members enjoyed fun and fellowship with pizza, movies and games until after midnight. We are looking forward to the coming year and all the adventures it will bring."

Sharpe: "December was a time of celebrating the birth of our Savior! Our children’s choir blessed our hearts with their Christmas musical, “Glory to God in the Highest”. The adult choir shared their musical, “Hope Has Hands” with our congregation as well as the congregation at Union Ridge. Our AWANA kids brought in canned goods to donate as they visited the Christmas light display at Mike Miller Park. In addition, they brought baskets to fill with fruit and share with others in the community. Bro. Chris took our youth group shopping for goodies to donate to the Calvert/Sharpe Family Resource Center. Our KFC kids had a birthday party for Jesus, delivered gifts and sang to the residents at the Calvert City Convalescent Center. Some of our youth group joined them to share God’s message through interpretive movement. The LLL club visited the Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas lights and went on visitation. We praise the Lord for the babies that were born in our congregation this past month! Congratulations to those families! We look forward to their first visit with their family at Sharpe. As we celebrate the birth of Christ, we are so thankful for His love, the souls that were saved and the blessings he has given us this past year. Happy New Year to everyone and may God bless you! God is good all day, everyday!"

S. S. Avg.: 150

Symsonia: "Our Sunshine Friends prepared 100 Shoeboxes for Operation: Christmas Child. Our Deacons hosted a luncheon in December for our widows and widowers and gave out fruit baskets. Everyone enjoyed our Christmas Cantata. We had a wonderful Christmas Supper and Children’s Christmas program. We are still collecting money for “Change for Missions” and for our “Well in Kenya” project."

S. S. Avg.: 113

Walnut Street: "Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. On the 5th our church held a Christmas party for the younger youth. There were about 40 kids and 15 adults. There was pizza and cookies for everyone. Jimmy & Debbie Riley brought their cotton candy machine. The kids enjoyed watching them make this. Even Santa stopped by with gifts for the kids. A special thanks goes out to Donna Ethridge for getting this all planned out. On the 7th Bro Joel & Kathy celebrated their wedding anniversary with a weekend getaway, so our youth leader, Josh Hodges brought the Sunday morning message. It was truly a blessed message. Thanks goes out to Josh for all he does for our church and our youth. The 10th was our monthly Feed The Kids night. Thanks goes out to all the helpers that help with this each month. The ladies met on the 13th at Ponderosa for the revealing of the "Secret Pals." Not to mention any names but there was one person that got crazy with the butter!! On the 21st our Praise Team held the Christmas program. It was a blessing to hear everyone sing. Angela & Laurie do a wonderful job. The program was very special. The songs were very touching. December is a month that gets hectic with all the shopping and trying to find the "perfect" gift for everyone on our list, but I pray that we each stopped a moment and remembered the real reason for Christmas. Let us all pray for each other. We all have struggles and battles we have to deal with every day. Pray for the ones that have lost their jobs this past year. Pray for the ones that have lost loved ones. We need to also remember to put God first in everything we do. He blesses us each day that we live. Please come and join us, we would love to have you.

S. S. Avg.: 76

CHURCH GIFTS FOR DECEMBER, 2008

Altona.......................... $2,248.16

Bethel................................ 535.00

Bethlehem......................... 281.55

Blood River............................. .00

Briensburg......................... 801.10

Cherry Corner......................... .00

Coldwater........................... 50.00

Dexter................................. 50.00

East Marshall....................... 50.00

Elva................................... 166.34

Flint................................... 163.54

Gilbertsville First................ 439.44

Grace................................ 286.06

Hamlet.............................. 555.94

Hazel................................. 150.00

Kirksey............................. 253.00

Lakeview................................ .00

Ledbetter................................ .00

Locust Grove...................... 53.86

Memorial........................... 273.53

New Bethel............................. .00

New Harmony......................... .00

New Mt. Carmel............... 100.00

New Providence...................... .00

New Zion.......................... 444.62

Northside.......................... 988.00

Oak Grove........................ 428.34

Olive................................. 613.76

Owens Chape................... 300.00

Pleasant Hope................... 100.00

Pleasant Valley.................. 125.00

Salem...................................... .00

Scotts Grove..................... 226.74

Sharpe........................... 1,321.83

Sinking Spring................... 260.00

Spring Creek..................... 300.00

Sugar Creek...................... 200.00

Symsonia........................... 290.00

Union Ridge...................... 275.00

Vanzora............................ 186.00

Walnut Street.................... 147.37

West Fork......................... 216.41

TOTAL...................... $12,880.59

Over Monthly Budget by $1,108.04

Year to Date: +$1,234.29