MARCH 2021
In this edition:
  • Dr. Mac's Minute: Holy Boldness
  • It Happened at a Board Meeting
  • Dakota Vision 2025 Task Force
  • Paul O'Dell Accepts New Challenge
  • Youth Camp in Crystal Springs
  • Emily Meyer's Senior Project
  • Pastors/Family Retreat
  • Colorado Cake Artist Defends Religious Liberty
DBC Executive Board establishes
Dakota Vision 2025 task force
At their March meeting, the DBC Executive Board established a new task force to “develop a comprehensive plan to carry out the mission of the Dakota Baptist Convention through 2025.” DBC president Paul Young was named chairman of the task force. Young is also the pastor at Dakota Baptist Church in Fort Totten, ND.

The starting point for the task force will be the four guiding principles that the executive director Fred MacDonald shared with the Board when they interviewed him for this role last year. He also shared the principles in his annual message at the October 2020 Dakota Baptist Gathering.
The guiding principles are:

#1—Build relationships that foster unity among our churches and encouragement/strengthening of our pastors and their wives.

#2—Continue the process begun to shape the DBC future by:
1) staying focused on the mission of helping churches fulfill the Great Commission and Acts 1:8,
2) cultivating partnerships that enable us to accomplish the mission, and
3) striving to become a Convention that is decreasingly dependent, increasingly independent, but always reflecting cooperation because,
two are better than one” (Ecclesiastes 4:9).

#3—Recognize the special responsibility and opportunity God has given us as Dakota Baptists to evangelize, equip, and mobilize the unreached, underreached, and often overlooked people groups in our midst.

#4—Develop young Dakotans to reach Dakotans.

In addition to Young, members of the task force include Steve Ford, Grace-Vermillion; Jon Ballard, Connection-Spearfish; Kristy Wallace, Hope City-Bismarck; Sam Ellyson, Sovereign Grace-Aberdeen; Stephen Carson, Connection-Belle Fourche; and Steve Osage. Osage served as a pastor in the Dakotas for many years and continues to work with the churches of the First Nations Association in North and South Dakota.

The task force will hold their first meeting by Zoom on April 1. The purpose of this meeting will be to get to know each other as a team, organize and orient themselves to the task, and spend significant time in prayer. If needed, they will form subteams that involve other Dakota Baptists to examine specific areas of ministry.

An initial report and any goals or strategy recommendations will be presented to the Executive Board meeting at their August meeting in Pierre.


After six and a half years on DBC staff, Paul O’Dell takes on new challenge
For the past six plus years, Paul O’Dell has been the first voice people heard when they called the DBC office. That changed a few weeks ago when O’Dell accepted a role with Black Hills Works, a community-based organization in Rapid City that works with developmentally disabled adults.
O’Dell served as an associate pastor at Cornerstone FBC in Williston before moving to Rapid City where he was brought onto the DBC staff to help with various logistical needs. Over the years his role has grown from basic office management to include website design, videography, Baker State Mission offering promotion, and retreat/meeting planning. He also served during this time as the worship leader at Foothills Church in Piedmont and has provided pulpit supply in several DBC churches.

O’Dell has agreed to continue helping one day a week with the financial duties from his role with the DBC until a replacement has been hired. He will also help train that person when the time comes.The DBC office is also being assisted virtually by Marissa Shimer. Marissa is a member at Restore Church in Yankton. She provides assistance with tasks such as sending out the newsletter, weekly updates, and maintaining the DBC website.
Youth Camp returns to Crystal Springs in June;
Online registration open

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! If you love summer camp, that is. So, mark your calendars for June 7-11 because it’s almost camp time again!

Camp will return to Crystal Springs, North Dakota, after a one-year virtual hiatus. Last year’s camp was held via Zoom. 

This year’s theme is, “Let Go.” The camp will look at the idea of letting go of the past and what that means through God’s eyes. The focus will be on the story of Moses as he led the Israelites and how looking back constantly backfired on them. Campers will be challenged to let go of their past and their sins and look ahead to Jesus.

Camp pastor this year will be Chris Wallace, pastor at Hope City Church in Bismarck. Todd Fuehrer, pastor at The Gathering Place in Bismarck/Mandan will lead worship.

Other activities will include the high ropes course, water activities, roller skating, and other great camp fun.

Camp registration is open online for both students and leaders at the DBC website, https://dakotabaptist.com/event/youth-camp-2021/.
Custer teen uses senior project to impact the elderly

Emily Grace Meyer is like most other high school seniors you meet. She is working to finish her final year of school. She is busy with school activities. She is studying hard to prepare for her final exams. She is planning for college. What distinguishes this Custer Wildcat, however, is her love for Jesus. It is this passion for serving Christ that prompted her senior community project.

Emily is a member of Grace Family Fellowship. At her church she helps with children’s ministry and the music ministry, often leading worship and singing specials on Sunday morning. 

The Custer senior is enrolled in a class called “senior projects.” Students are required to select a community-focused project that relates to an area of life that they hope to be involved in after high school. Emily, who plans on pursuing a career in nursing, chose a project focused on some of the neediest persons in her community . . . the elderly.

Read more about Emily including an article that she wrote....
Pastors/Family retreat in August in Aberdeen

Plans are underway for the annual pastors and wives retreat with one big difference; this year’s retreat will be for the whole family. Pastors from DBC churches are invited with their wives and children to come to Aberdeen, SD, August 19-21, for a weekend of fun, fellowship, food, and encouragement. The retreat will be held at the Ramkota Inn.

A mission team from First Baptist Church in Artesia, NM, will be coming to provide programming for the teens, children, preschoolers, and babies. John Hinze, pastor of First Baptist in Tucumcari, NM, will be there with his wife Marcia to lead evening and morning sessions for the pastors and wives. His focus will be on building cherishing relationships. 

A centerpiece of the retreat will be an all-family picnic on Friday afternoon at Wylie Park in Aberdeen. The park features paddleboats, mini golf, “water wars,” and other fun activities. It also has a walkthrough park for children called Storybook Land, similar to Storybook Island in Rapid City. The Brown County Fair is also in town that weekend.

The retreat is provided each year at no cost for Dakota Baptist pastors and their family. Registration information will be coming out soon. 
Colorado cake artist again defending religious liberty - ...

DENVER (BP) - Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips is again defending his freedom to practice his Christian faith in a case that is part of the ongoing, legal faceoff between religious liberty and sexual liberty. Phillips - who won a significant,...

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