Houston Herald

March 2020
A publication of
Houston Baptist Association
Reaching Our World For Christ
From Your Associational Mission Strategist
I just returned home from Moldova and Ukraine with a team of eight people. We were blessed to be able to preach the Gospel and give out eyeglasses at our clinics. The team that I was with in Ukraine preached to more than 1,500 people. It was great to see the churches filled with a lot of unbelievers that came for the eyeglass clinic and they were able to hear the wonderful good news of the Gospel. The churches have the same issues we face in trying to reach the unbelievers in their area. When I consider the amount of lost people that were in the churches while we were there, my mind went to how we are struggling to see churches grow over here in the United States. It would be great to see many unbelievers attending our churches each week. I was made aware of a statistic last week from our Southern Baptist Convention that stated that from 2000 – 2018, we have seen a decline of 38 percent in baptisms in 12-17 years of age. That is a very alarming statistic and it should cause us to come to the realization that we are not as intentional as we should be in reaching the lost in our communities. Several weeks ago we had Hal Seed with us for a Pastors meeting and he was discussing how to be more evangelistic and one of the things he encouraged us to do was to pray that God would give us a passion for the lost. He challenged each of us to pray this prayer for 90 days, “Lord, I don’t ask for much but one thing I ask, that you give me a heart for lost people”. He stated that when he began to pray this prayer, he was more intentional about sharing the Gospel. I challenge all of our churches to pray this prayer everyday and see how God will help us to reach more people with the glorious news of the Gospel. May God help us to stay focused on our vision of seeing 300 people saved, baptized and discipled in the churches of our association! This can happen if all 39 churches baptized 7 people each year. My prayer is that we will fulfill this vision and then celebrate it at our annual meeting in September!
Bro. Gary

The Houston Baptist Association is grateful for the life of Ruthel Patrick. We are especially thankful for her service as serving as the Houston Baptist Camp Committee chairmen for many years. She was instrumental in the camp ministry and God used her as she led our Association in the support of our camp. She will be missed, and we pray we can continue her legacy in working together to ensure we have a successful camp ministry in our Association for many more years!
Moldova/Ukraine Mission 2020
Church
News


Vienna First will have Spring Revival Meetings March 22-25 Sunday: 11:00 A.M. & 6:30 P.M. Monday through Wednesday: 6:30 P.M. NightlyDanny Singleton will be their Guest Preacher and Joe & Kim Stanley will be their Music Evangelists

Hatley Church will have revival services March 8-11 at 11:00AM and 6:00 PM Sunday and 7:00PM Monday -Wednesday with guest preacher Larry Wilbanks.

Please pray for

■Asssociational Missionary Gary Leutzinger
■Church planters Drew and Shannon Cunningham, Santa Cruz Area, California
■Pregnancy Care Center
■Lost and unchurched people
■Revival in HBA churches
■Unity in our churches and unity among our churches
■Churches without pastors
■TV ministries of Cordele First, and Pinecrest churches 
■Our schools, teachers and students
■Raymond Gibbs
■All the events and activities mentioned in this newsletter
■Shawn and Kelly McNulty- Mission Trip to Kenya

Church Positions available

Smyrna Baptist Church is seeking a Music Director. Job Description is as follows : Must have music related experience, ability to work with different age levels, and must be cooperative with pastor. Primary function will be to provide leadership of the church’s Music ministry. Responsibilities and duties include: Direct music for Sunday services, revivals and other church related activities, be responsible for Special Music for both services and for seasonal musicals, direct adult and children’s choirs. There is one week paid vacation and absence on special occasions as arranged with the church music committee. Call (229) 268-6852 or send resumes to P.O. Box 382 Vienna GA 31092

Please contact the HBC at 229-273-4127 if you would like to feature an available church position in the monthly newsletter.

March 12 at 6:30 PM.
Prayer Ministry Roundtable. 
At least one church member and their Pastor are encouraged to attend 
Light refreshments will be served .

Opportunities
coming up

Houston Baptist Association events are printed in bold. HBC is an abbreviation for Houston Baptist Center.

Tuesdays Men’s Prayer Breakfast, 8:30 am, HBC

March 1 to 8 Annie Armstrong Week of Prayer and Easter offering

March 19 Pastor Wellness Listening Session, Leesburg First Baptist, 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

March 2 Men’s Ministry Meeting, 6:30 PM, Pleasant Grove

March 12 Prayer Roundtable, 6:30 PM, Pinecrest 

March 15 Church Planting Emphasis Sunday

March 19 Sons of Jubal Concert, Northside Baptist, Valdosta, 7:00 PM

March 29 Substance Abuse Prevention Sunday
Mission Opportunities

June 15-22 Pittsburg Mission Trip- For more information or to sign-up Contact Gary Leutzinger.

July 11 Day Trip to Baxley Children’s Home- More Details Coming Soon.

July 17 & 18 Mission 24, Clarkston, Georgia- Mission 24 is a 24-hour mission trip experience that is a part of the Reach the Nations effort to reach all nations. This missions experience is unique in that it helps to financially aid one or two refugees per team. Unfortunately, many refugees struggle to find work because of language, cultural, and transportation barriers. For every team that participates in Mission 24, RTN will pay two refugees for helping prepare and serve food for two meals. Not only will you be able to feed the community spiritually through Mission 24, you will feed some families physically. Mission 24 is for teams of all ages that desire to come for one overnight trip. The cost is $25 and a pack of hot dogs per person. This will cover the overnight stay at a church, breakfast and lunch on Saturday, and the financial aiding of two refugee volunteers. T-shirts are an additional $5. If you are looking for a way to get started with missions than this opportunity is for you. Contact Shawn Mcnulty- 229-712-0855 or call the HBC.
WHY IS THE EASTER OFFERING IS NAMED FOR ANNIE?
In 1895, an offering was first collected for the work of the Home Missions Board. In 1934, this offering was renamed the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for Home Missions to honor the work of Annie Armstrong as a tireless advocate for giving, praying and going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who did not know him.

THE ANNIE ARMSTRONG EASTER OFFERING TODAY
Today, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering goes to train, resource, and send more than 5,000 missionaries across the United States and Canada. One hundred percent of gifts given to this offering goes directly to the missionaries for their use in the field. None goes to administration.
Blood Drives
What to do with all those old Sunday School books?  

Don’t throw them away–bring them to HBC

Bring your old SS literature to Houston Baptist Center. Chad Harris will take it to a Edwin L. Hodges Ministries collection site to send overseas. ELHM is a Christian literature ministry that collects donated Bibles, books, magazines, tapes, and tracts from American Christians and ships them to Bible schools, churches, missionaries, and ministries overseas. ELHM is a non-denominational, nonprofit, evangelical ministry.
Partner with Lifetouch to create a no cost, updateable directory for your leadership, staff and families and start 2018 with new tools to help your church stay connected.
Be a Church Host or Volunteer in times of disaster!
If you would like your church news or events featured in the Houston Herald please send it to secretary@houstonbaptist.org