11th Annual Fellowship Golf Tournament

Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Hesston Golf Park

Tee Time: 8:30 a.m. (check-in 7:30 – 8:00)

Regular Scramble Format

Cost is $55.00/person (includes: golf, cart, range balls, lunch, prizes)

Lunch will be served at the golf course immediately following tournament.

Lots of Quality Prizes – Tee Box advantage for seniors – 2 Free Mulligan’s/person

All entries with registration fees must be received in the association office by April 16, 2011

Late entries will be accepted on a case-by-case basis

Individual entries are highly encouraged – this is a Fellowship event. All entries are individual or 2-some – you will be paired with people from other churches.  Husbands & Wives will play on the same team (unless otherwise noted) and a family can play on the same Team.  Requests to sign up as a 3-some or 4-some will only be considered if all are in the same family.  This event may also be used for church Outreach.  Note: In case of bad weather, we will play if at all possible.  Should you have any questions, please contact the Tournament Director, Charley Powell at 650-1959 (c), 977-0675 (w), 691-1215 (h), or xtremegolfer2@cox.net

The competition ended up being to memorize the first forty verses of Psalm 119, and in whatever English translation they preferred. So, on Sunday, six international students, only one of which was English their first language, said Psalm 119:1-40 to me. Another student set different parts of it to different tunes including “Row, Row, Row, Your Boat,” and sang it to everyone! I would like to tell you about a few of these students.

I wrote about Karen in the last HeartBeat. She’s a Chinese Malaysian who has only been a believer for about two years, and has went through a crisis of faith over the last year. She went back home with her brother, also a new Christian, over Christmas break and ended up taking her father to church there. She’s the one who sang her way through the forty verses.

Michelle is also a Chinese Malaysian, and has been a believer for about three years. She and her older sister Melissa are the only believers in their family. Michelle has only been fluent in English for about two years. Michelle memorized all forty verses, and Melissa the first twenty.

Vinosha and Felicia are Malaysians. One is Indian and the other is Chinese. Neither of them are believers. Both of them said the forty verses nearly flawlessly.

It wasn’t just girls, there were two guys: Jase from Vietnam, and Norman from Malaysia.

In the end, Vinosha, the young Indian lady from Malaysia who is not a believer, said the verses back to me the best. I pray that as she has hidden God’s word in her heart, it will not return void!

In recovery, people are looking for quick fixes with very little commitment. This is true in all forms of “hurts, habits and hang-ups.” Just recently I talked to a man with whom I had counseled over 5 years ago. He struggled with alcohol and did well for a while, then relapsed. He lived a yo-yo Christian life. He is like a lot of Christians, we make commitments, but when the going gets rough, we throw in the towel and give up.

This man did not know how to handle temptations and life’s problems. He did not have the ability to persevere. He wanted quick answers to prayer and quick results with a minimum of effort and discomfort.

In talking with this man, we concluded that when one is saved, God gives the desire to live and serve Him and the tools to fulfill that desire. Without using God’s tools, one will die spiritually and fall. Today, this man is involved in church, discipleship, Bible study, memorization, witnessing and Celebrate Recovery. He is using God’s tools of recovery and now has over two years of victory. When one quits using God’s tools of recovery, they will go down the tube.

Celebrate Recovery is a tool God is using!

As I have mentioned before, an intricate part of the Set Free ministry is to have a discipleship “ranch” to take people to after they come in off the street. They would stay there sixty plus days. The property needs to be a good distance from town, but close enough for churches to help with Bible Studies and other volunteer ministries. An ideal location would have an old farm house and about 5 acres, either donated or have a reasonable long term lease, but we will look at any and all options. Please keep this in prayer and let us know if you know someone who could help with this.

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

Please continue to pray for these youth and for them to stay in God’s Word and get into a good Bible believing church when they get out so they can turn from their old life style. Also pray about how you could be involved in possibly mentoring some of these youth.

We will be leaving March 3^rd to do another outreach at Mardi Gras in New Orleans. This year there will be 7 of us going and we will try and use the horse shoe ministry to reach people for Christ in that spiritually dark area. We will do the horse shoe ministry during the day and handing out tracts on Bourbon Street at night. Please keep us lifted up in prayer.

The speaker at this year’s E Rally will be Dr. Ron Clements who is the Director of evangelism and prayer at the Colorado Baptist convention. Ron has done many seminars on prayer and is deeply involved in evangelism and outreach.

Mission projects this year are: Money or Food for the Food Banks and the Pregnancy Crisis Center: Diapers sizes 2, 3, 4;Wet wipe, Powdered formula-generic brands are fine. You can bring items to the Women’s Conference.

WMU Council Meeting March 12, 2011 at Metropolitan Baptist Church. If you are a WMU Director and/or Women’s Ministry come and join our council.

HOK Summer Interns who qualify through the North American Mission Board will be in for a great summer here in Wichita. They will be involved in hands on mission with various churches of our association. There will be a significant investment in the development and discipleship of those students. The focus will be on both character and skill development. The summer will include an international mission trip to Winnipeg, Manitoba paid for by HOK. These students will spend a week in Winnipeg working with our partners. The deadline to sign up is April 20th.

This program was design by BUA (Baptist University of the Americas) to train church leadership and workers regardless of their level of formal education. Even though the Diploma is oriented primarily to those being called to be pastors and church planters, this program is also great to prepare other leadership in the church.

The purpose of “BEREA training Center” is to prepare local leadership for our new church plants and our local churches. Please help us to pray for our students, for their commitment to this two year program and for their financial needs. If you want to know more about “BEREA” you can contact us at the Associational Office.

As we have all become accustomed to instant information, we find ourselves often sending out information in our newsletter that most would no longer consider news.  We will continue to offer up to date information through the website.  We will also email short paragraphs of relevant information to your church office for them to include in your church bulletin as deemed appropriate by your office staff.

This transition is one that has already been made by some of the churches of HOK so may be something that you have already adjusted to.  But if this is a change for you that difficult, we trust that you will recognize that our effort is intended to make the best use of the dollars we are given for communicating with our churches.

Karen and Lawrence (their English names), are ethnic Chinese from Malaysia. Karen came to Wichita about three years ago and came to The Mission along with some of her friends who were believers. She said she became a Christian after going through a Judgment House, but never showed much interest in growing and did not want to be baptized. In the last few months she has been asking a lot of hard questions about beliefs that she and her family hold dear. She has even had dreams in which those questions were answered, and she was encouraged to take a real step of faith. Karen still has lots of questions, but she has submitted herself to Christ’s salvation and leadership.

Karen’s younger brother, Lawrence, has been in Wichita about two years. Lawrence has come to The Mission with Karen since he arrived. He has always been quiet, but engaged, and always willing to help. One of the older students from India took him in, and has spent countless hours with him. Over the last few months, Lawrence finally opened up and began asking many questions that he has had from all that he had been learning from the teaching on Sundays, and the small group he had been attending. Slowly those questions were either answered or he began to realize his need for God was greater than his need for answers. He has now placed his faith in Christ.

Hopefully this brother and sister will be baptized in early 2011. There are many exciting things happening at WSU, and especially in the international student community. Please pray that we would be prepared to join God where he is working, and would be faithful with the fruit that he gives us.

* the term Malaysians often use to describe themselves when they hold to a mix of agnostic and traditional Chinese beliefs

Someone has said, “The greatest need in the church today is for people who know God by something other than hearsay.”  God has promised to show Himself to all who seek Him with their whole hearts.  We desperately need a fresh encounter with the Living God.  That will only come as we acknowledge the idols that have taken God’s place in our lives, as we confess and repent and humble ourselves in prayer.

Would God use a Solemn Assembly in your church to draw you back to Himself? You may contact the HOKSBA office for further helps with conducting a Solemn Assembly in your church.

I believe that those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol have an addictive personality. They are going to be addicted to something. Many have victory over their addictions because they become addicted to more socially accepted addictions such as exercise, sports, work, etc. I want them to become addicted to Jesus Christ, the Word of God, and their Church. An addict can become one of your best workers because they will become addicted to serving Christ and the Church. We have seen it happen countless times. A practicing alcoholic or drug addict will come to the Lord and totally surrender his or her life to the Lord. The key to freedom is the willingness to surrender all and making up your mind to serve Jesus Christ. Celebrate Recovery is a place where on can find freedom and support to stay free.

As I have mentioned before, an intricate part of the Set Free ministry is to have a discipleship “ranch” to take people to after they come in off the street. They would stay there sixty plus days. The property needs to be a good distance from town, but close enough for churches to help with Bible Studies and other volunteer ministries. An ideal location would have an old farm house and about 5 acres, either donated or have a reasonable long term lease, but we will look at any and all options. Please keep this in prayer and let us know if you know someone who could help with this.

Be praying how you could use this ministry at your church. We have a core group of trained volunteers that would help with your event and train your people. The cost is reasonable with just the cost of the shoes and minimal material.  I would be happy to work with you on this exciting ministry.

Their presence did something else, however, it served as a catalyst for renewed interest in the care of God’s house.  When the people of the church saw the glorious transformation of the classrooms, they wanted to see more changes made.  I am pleased to report that since the visit of the work crew sent by the Association, the people of the church have worked on the fellowship hall, the sanctuary, the bathrooms, the lobby and the prayer chapel.

Thank you so much for sharing the vital resource of assistance.  By your kindness, our entire church body has been refreshed.

While growing up in Alabama, my family spent a lot of weekends at the lake, boating and water skiing.  So when our sons were growing up, we took them to the Lake of the Ozarks.  My parents had a lake house there, so that was a vacation spot we could afford.  The sport changed from water skiing to wakeboarding.  We spent summer vacations at the Lake of the Ozarks, and our sons worked on improving their skills on the wake board.  They would try the tricks that they saw others pull off, and they did well.

One trip they decided it was time to try to attempt a flip.  It looked easy on TV, but when it came time for them to make the attempt, it was difficult to get the nerve to really go for it.  When talking about what made it hard to try, one son said that just as he was ready to make the attempt, his sense of self-preservation would override his sense of adventure.

When we consider the coming of this New Year, we look forward to another opportunity to make new resolutions and set new goals.  The anticipation for this season comes from the desire in our lives to do things differently, to improve on what we have done in the past.  We want to improve in our personal walk with the Lord.  And we want our churches to experience new life and new health in the Lord.

We dream of Sundays when the seats are filled with people, and the people are filled with anticipation that God is going to speak.  We pray that God’s Spirit would be present in power and that people without Christ will come to hear the gospel and respond by yielding their lives to Him.  We hope for new Sunday School classes or small groups where lives are really shared and changed by the love and encouragement given.

We dream of 2011 being a year when something new and exciting and wonderful will happen in our churches.  But often it ends as a dream.  Often, the dream of doing a flip on a wakeboard, and the dream of real growth and health in our churches ends for the same reason.  Our sense of self-preservation overrides our sense of adventure.

If you knew that God was calling your church to greater things in this new year, would you be willing to develop the strategy, to take the risk, and to do the work that it would take to become more of who He wants you to be.

As your Director of Missions, I stand ready to help the churches of this association take the next step in that journey.

Galatians 5:1 “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.”

John 8:31-32 “…If you continue in my word, than you are truly disciples of mine; and you shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.”

When Christ comes into your life through salvation, a genuine believer receives the gift of the Holy Spirit that sets us free. We must appropriate the power given to us by the Holy Spirit and feed upon his Word and Spiritual ministry. When one stops feeding themselves with God’s Word and Spiritual ministry then they become weak and place themselves in danger of relapse.

When we have a testimony of victory it is because they have learned to persevere through life’s problems and life’s disappointments. Stress, frustrations, depression, impatience, self-pity, exhaustion and boredom are triggers for relapse, but not the cause of relapse.

People that are relapsing need Celebrate Recovery!

I did play several times the first summer I was here, but I never really fell in love with the game.  The next year I played fewer times.  And this year I have played 9 holes once.

My strategy when I play golf is try to hit the ball with whatever club is suggested by the closest player who looks like he knows what he is doing.  Sometimes I just use the same club he used.  And to the frustration of real golfers, I rarely keep score.

Such a strategy for golf, as you can imagine, is not very effective in making me a real golfer.  And such a strategy in leading our association or our churches is not very effective in our area of calling.

We know the mission in golf is to put the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible.  And we know the mission in church life is to make as many authentic disciples of Jesus as possible.  But many pastors and DOM’s don’t have a real strategy for accomplishing the mission God has given them in the context where God has called them.

We often just look around to find someone who appears to be doing well, and try to play our game with their club.  We are like David in Saul’s armor.  It FAITH Evangelism Strategy worked for them, if GPS, or small groups, or contemporary worship worked for them, we try their strategy in our place.

When I play golf, I just hit the ball, and then go play it wherever it lies.  There is really little strategy because I don’t really have much of an idea of where the ball is going to end up.  Sometimes I hit it long and straight.  Most of the time my problem is that I find myself standing too close to the ball after I hit it.

What is the solution for my golf game?  That is not the point.  The point is that we need to lead our churches with much more intentionality and skill.

The mission is clear and compelling.  The strategies must be set based on our context and the assets at our disposal.  And the tactics we use must be measured to impact the strategies designed to accomplish the mission.

It is time in our ministries for us to swing with a known target in mind.  Remember that the score in this game really does matter.