Coming Events and Information |
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Jim's Journal May 2021
It should be to no one's surprise that this past year of isolation has led to a massive influx of sickness (physical, emotional, and spiritual) and suffering. Anxiety, depression, suicide, addiction, marital trouble have all, heartbreakingly, hit record highs. When we think about those who are sick and suffering, we often exclude ourselves from that image.
Interestingly enough, I recently read an article which discussed the practice of caring for one’s soul. Jesus states in Mark 12:31 to “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” It is evident in this verse that before we can care for the souls of others, we must first be caring for our own souls. Now, some might be thrown off by the idea of caring for one’s own soul. Let me assure you that soul-care is not about self-indulgence; it is about the renewal and refreshment of your soul. However, this can ONLY work in and through relationship with Jesus. Allow me to offer a few practical ways to care for your soul today:
• Read The Bible: There is nothing more refreshing and renewing to your soul than to read and repeat the Word of God. His Word brings life to our souls, reminds us of our identity, and paves the way for our purpose. Go ahead, open your Bible, and allow God’s Word to fill you with hope!
• Pray: This seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately, prayer can oftentimes be overlooked in our relationship with God. Pray for your needs, pray for others, pray for vision and purpose. After all, Jesus makes it clear that “apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Join our #UNITE714NKY efforts to gather 1,000 prayer warriors to create a movement in our region.
• Forgive Yourself: Why do we believe that we can’t forgive ourselves when God has already forgiven us and forgotten our mistakes? Accept His forgiveness for your life, and allow yourself to be forgiven. Guilt and shame have no place in a
believer’s life; replace those feelings with the truth of God’s forgiveness.
• There are many other ways to care for your soul, but I figured I could offer a few to help you get started. As always, your NKBA family is committed to praying for you. AGAIN, join our effort to secure 1,000 prayer warriors in NKY to create a movement #UNITE714NKY by going to www.praynky.com and make your commitment to join us! Go in peace and start caring for your soul today!
Your Lead Follower,
Jim Woolums
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PAL Meetings Resume in Person
Thursday, May 6, 6:30 p.m.
NKBA Office
PAL meetings resume an ongoing, in-person meeting schedule of first and third Thursdays of every month, beginning on May 6th. Meetings will take place at the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association office, 3001 Riggs Avenue, Erlanger, KY 41018.
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Gospel to Every Home Planning Meeting
Tuesday, May 18, 6:00 - 7:30 p.m.
Erlanger Baptist Church
116 Commonwealth Avenue, Erlanger
Pastors, staff, and evangelism leaders are invited to meet to discuss plans for The Gospel To Every Home initiative. A box dinner will be provided. Registration is required by noon on May, 17th by contacting the NKBA office at 859-727-6522 or emailing lorne@nkbaptist.org.
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NKBA Mission Reports
Here are the reports being presented at the Spring Meeting of the NKBA.
Moore Activity Center
The last written report was in November – so let me give my thanks to those who helped us provide food and gifts to our 115 families for the MAC’s Thanksgiving and Christmas Giveaways. Also, thanks goes out to those who put together backpacks for various ministries in Kentucky and Ohio. We were blessed to share 106 backpacks full of love, but also we were able to share the gospel message 106 times. One of our teenagers that we have been ministering to for years accepted Christ that day. Thank you for being a part of that by giving a backpack full of goodies. Many of you help us with our Back to School Day supplies for those we minister to – for that, I say thank you. This year we were able to provide shoes, socks, hygiene items and some cleaning supplies to 61 children and youth for our mid-year event. Children’s Missions Day was still conducted this year through the MAC – it just looked a lot different. This year, churches were invited to take part in this event for us on their own site. There were boxes delivered with supplies to help us prepare for ministry. Thanks goes out to each of the churches that worked with us. Some of our area churches helped to put together Easter Baskets for our children and youth. This year, we gave out 234 baskets. It was a blessing to watch the kids come in to pick out a basket. Some baskets were even given out on the streets – oh the look of both surprise and joy makes your heart smile. If you want to really experience my thanks for this, I encourage you to take a look at our Moore Activity Center Facebook page and see the many smiles that were pictured.
FINALLY – We have been blessed to have met 3 weeks in a row with our children and youth inside the MAC for ministry. For the past year, we have been delivering packages to our children and youth at their homes, so that we could stay connected with them. Three weeks ago, we began inviting family groups to come in for hands-on ministry. The children and youth are excited for this opportunity. I have to admit – it has given me a huge boost in doing what I love. Please continue to pray for our families. That they will not only learn about the Love of Christ through us, but that they will come to personally experience the Love of Christ through salvation.
Summer Mission Opportunities:
Simply Dinner (Tuesdays in June and July)
As of right now, I have one date still open – June 15th. We ask that you bring food to feed 100 people ready to serve to the community. We are still making plans for exactly what this ministry will look like because of not knowing the restrictions that will be placed on us. If you are interested, please connect with Amy Wilhelmus as soon as possible.
Changers Kids @ the Moore Activity Center – Kentucky WMU. June 26th from 9:30am-2:30pm.
Community Events
Looking for churches/groups to connect with us to help reach out to our community. This night would include food, games, crafts… Our purpose is to come together and share God’s Love with those that attend this event. These events are planned at different times throughout the year. The earlier you connect with us, the easier to get things scheduled. Don’t miss out on this great ministry opportunity.
Kid’s Nights/Youth Nights
Are you looking for a way to help us connect with our children and youth? We would love to invite you to connect with us individually or as a group to plan out various ministry events. This can be a one day or week long event. You might event decide to stay connected with us in this area year round. Connect with us soon so we can get these events planned.
Thank you so very much for your on-going partnership with the MAC.
I love each of you,
Amy Wilhelmus
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Lighthouse Ministries Food Pantry
The Lord has continued to amaze us in so many ways. It's hard to believe what He has done over the past year. While the world seemed to be completely out of control, our Lord had been completely in control. He has consistently moved us forward day by day. It's hard to condense everything down and try to explain all that the Lord has been doing. We now have our Walk-in Refrigeration and freezer units installed and working. What a blessing that has been. We are averaging around 1000 family to the farm boxes a month. We share those with around 12 different ministries at various times throughout each week. The Lord has blessed us with food supplies from multiple sources and there has been plenty to meet the needs of our ministry, as well as helping many others. We have been opening the Pantry up for families to come and shop on Thursdays 2:00 PM. until 6:00 Pm. and sometimes on Fridays. Yesterday's turnout was around 69 families who received enough food for there entire family to last a week to a week and a half. Of course, we can as needed, help the rest of the days as well. We also have been passing out the gospel of John and inviting our visitors to come and join us for church services.
We are so very grateful for all of the support we have received to help make all of this possible. Everything that has been accomplished, has only been possible because of the blessings of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So, all the praise and thanks go to Him. The Lord has brought us these blessings by way of the NKBA, Oak Ridge Baptist Church, the Horizon Funds of Northern Kentucky, The Freestore Food Bank, Master Provisions, Matthew 25 Ministries, JEE Food Rescue, many other sister ministries and many individuals. We cannot say thank you enough to all of those who have and continue to support this great work.
Without question our biggest need is prayer support. Please pray that the Lord will continue to supply us with lots of food, cleaning supplies and hygiene items for those who come. Please pray above all else that we are honoring our Lord, and accomplishing His will for our ministry. Please pray that the Lord will send His Holy Spirit to destroy the gates of Hell in our community, and break the chains of sin that are holding souls captive. Please pray that the Lord will bring salvation to many as He uses this ministry. And if you will, pray that the Lord will strengthen us with good health, wisdom, Godly love, compassion and guidance for the days ahead.
Serving our Lord together.
Byron Lile, Oak Ridge Baptist Church
For more information on these mission opportunities, contact Byron Lile, Lighthouse Ministries at Oak Ridge Baptist Church, at brlile@msn.com.
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Baptist Campus Ministry at NKU
Our KBC Vision
Created by churches, for churches, to help churches reach students with the Gospel.
Our NKU Vision
To Know Christ and to make Him known on our campus.
Highlights from Spring 2021
- Over 300 Gospel conversations were had by BCM students and staff this year.
- 3 students were saved in the same week this semester!
- Hebron Baptist’s outreach to Gateway students continues and I am in talks with another NKBA church to launch a new ministry at Thomas More in the Fall.
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BCM will have 3 interns in the Fall and our associate director, Matt Wallin will be returning for his 4th year
Ways to Help
- Bring on a Campus Ministry Intern (CMI) who will help your church reach the students in your area. We are able to train this intern to be self-funding through ministry partner development.
- Start a ministry from your church to a local, unengaged campus. The KBC will support you to bring on a Campus Ministry Leader (CML) who will be a staff member for your church and lead your college ministry.
- Help provide scholarships for students to attend conferences and mission trips.
- Financial support. This will enable us to continue reaching lost students at NKU and our other local campuses.
In many ways I am glad to see this semester come to a close next week. The hope of a more normal/less restricted upcoming Fall semester is exciting. However, I can look back now with gratitude at how the Lord worked in and through BCM students this year despite Covid.
The safety regulations we were under forced us to try new things and to hold loosely to what we have traditionally done. That provided us space to experiment with new ministry ideas we may not have attempted otherwise. The two new ministry experiments I am most thankful for, and we will continue to use next year, are ones our associate director, Matt Wallin, came up with: Fast Friday and Story Saturday. This involved students voluntarily fasting together on Fridays to pray for lost friends. Story Saturdays was about using the Discovery Bible study method with lost friends outside of the ministry center space. The Lord blessed these new efforts halfway through the semester when we had what has been dubbed, “Miracle week”. That week, three students who had been involved with BCM through intentional, Gospel centered Bible study groups, came to faith separate of each other. Each of those young people are continuing to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus and are sharing the Gospel with their friends!
Even with all the challenges of this year, God has not stopped working and we have been blessed to be a part of that work. The students have been faithful in sharing the Gospel over 300 times and they are eager to continue reaching the campus next semester. Please pray with us that the university will be able to relax the restrictions on student organizations so that we will be able to minister unhindered to this lost and broken generation.
Josh Skipper
Regional Campus Minister
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Church Softball League Forming
Harold Davis, owner and operator of His Pins (missions through archery) is interested in forming a church softball league in Northern Kentucky. If your church or group would be interested in participating, please contact Harold Davis directly. He can be reached by email at rodeo272@icloud.com
or by phone at 859-486-9724.
Requested by Stuart Chowning
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Grace Marriage One-Day Event
Saturday, June 5, 2021
Pastors, Staff and Spouses
What to expect:
- It is NOT a lecture, counseling, or group therapy.
- It’s NOT a seminar or conference and it’s not a place where attendees are forced to share deep secrets.
- It IS marriage coaching designed to enrich, protect, and grow marriages using Biblical grace-based materials.
- It IS intentional and proactive time for spouses to talk and explore ways to enrich their marriages
Location: First Baptist Church Walton,
Outreach & Fellowship Center
Cost: $10/couple
(Includes: Lunch, Materials, Gift Bag, and more!)
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Northern Kentucky Baptist Association | 859.727.6522 | nkbaptist.org
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