 |  | We had a great Association Annual meeting on September 8th at Unadilla First Baptist Church. I am grateful to everyone who came as we conducted business for the new year and experienced a great worship service. During our business session, the messengers elected Terry Ryan as Moderator and James Kelly as Vice-Moderator. The 2025 budget was approved as well as the nominating committee report. I shared a report that you will see in my article below. We enjoyed a great time of fellowship with some delicious finger foods. While we were having our time of fellowship Bro. David met with the youth and shared with them. Our worship time together was phenomenal as Jeff Cleghorn led us in worship. The Association choir sounded great as they shared a message in song. We were blessed to have David Burton bring a very inspirational and challenging message. Those who were present left with a zeal to win people to the Lord. I am looking forward to next year as we will meet at Pinecrest Baptist Church on September 14th. I want to thank Unadilla FBC for hosting our meeting. They welcomed us and served us well!
Bro. Gary
AMS Report
Welcome to the 194th Annual Association Meeting. I look forward every year for our churches to come together not only to conduct business but to worship together as churches. Since our last annual meeting, I want to share some highlights from this past year.
Our First Equip Training Conference on February 29th went very well. We had approximately 80 in attendance. There was some very positive feedback about the training. We had training for ministry leaders to help give resources and to equip our leaders to lead in their ministries as we desire for our churches to be healthy churches reaching people with the Gospel. We do plan to hold this event on an annual basis.
On May 6th we had our Annual Men’s Ministry fish fry at Harmony Baptist Church. We had approximately 70 in attendance. We had a great time of worship with Brad Marchman preaching and encouraging us in Evangelism. Men are still the key to leading their families to Christ as well as setting the example for others to make Disciples. We are planning on having other events in our association to encourage and equip our men to be strong men of God. If there is anything we can do to help your church to strengthen your Men’s Ministry, please let us know.
Our three summer camps went very well. We had a total of eighteen campers at each of our camps. The Directors and camp missionaries did a phenomenal job leading. We had a total of thirteen salvations. I will reiterate like I do every year when I report the results from our camps, that we cannot have successful camps without the support of our churches. I want to thank each church that supports the camps by giving supplies, preparing and serving meals, and praying for our camps. Our goal is to continue to increase the number of participants each year. I would like to encourage our churches to use the camp to send children to the camp you know who are not attending church. This can be a wonderful way to share the love of Christ with families you are ministering to who need a relationship with Christ.
You will notice in the Evangelism/Mission team report that there were 700 homes reached as great resources about the Gospel were shared. At our Annual Meeting last year, we encouraged our churches to participate in the “Saturate” outreach effort. I am grateful for the churches that went out into their communities to share the Good News of the Gospel. Many Pastors told me that as a result of this effort, many visited the churches, and some have become members of one of the churches involved in this outreach effort. I want to encourage all the churches in our Network to help us by ensuring that every home in our association's geographical area receives the Gospel. This is also a great way to prayer walk and pray for the homes surrounding your church. I have a lot more material to be distributed to the thousands of homes in our counties that need to hear the Gospel! Please help us get the Gospel to every home!
I am so grateful to serve as your mission strategist. This November I will have been serving this great association for 14 years. It is a joy every day to serve and encourage every Pastor and congregation. I love each of you and I am praying that as we leave this meeting this year, we will be more passionate about being laborers in the field and trust God for a great harvest!
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