News of Ministry and Mission
The Mainstream is a twice-monthly publication of the American
Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region, 3940 Pintail Drive,
Springfield IL 62711 Phone: (217) 726-7366 Email: [email protected]
Web: www.abcgrr.org To subscribe or unsubscribe to The Mainstream
or to change contact information, please send an e-mail to Debbie
Naugle with your request: [email protected].
The MainstreamCentral Baptist ChurchQuincy, Calls New Pastor
Central Baptist Church of Quincy, IL has called Rev. Jason
Sommer-feldt as Senior Pastor. He began his ministry with the
church on January 11, 2018. Jason and his family moved from
Pennsylvania but he has lived in many places including Illinois.
He received his Bachelor’s degree in Youth and Family Min-istry
from Cen-tral Christian College of the Bible in Mober-ly, Missouri.
After serving in different min-istry positions, he received his
Masters of
Divinity degree with an emphasis in Pastoral Care from Liberty
University. Jason and his wife Constance have two children, Justin
and Addison. Central Baptist Church is very happy to have called
Jason as pastor and looks forward to seeing how the Lord will use
him in the ministry of the church.
***********************GRR Website
E-mail GRR Webmaster, Richard Ricks: [email protected]
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February 2018 No 2 Email: [email protected] web: www.abcgrr.org
Online edition interactive
Clergy Spouse Retreat“Growing Into an Effective
Minister’s Wife”
Friday Evening, April 27 - Saturday Afternoon, April 28,
2018
Lake Springfield Baptist Camp5878 Iron Bridge RoadSpringfield,
IL
Retreat Leader:Sharon Malone, is a member of St. Luke Baptist
Church in Rockford, Illinois, where she serves as teacher, mentor,
and counselor.
All spouses of clergy (pastors or church staff) are welcome to
attend.
Cost: $40.00 $20.00 First Timers
Send Registration To: Judi Mills7812 Hunt RoadSpringfield, IL
62712
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Mainstream ContactInformation
Send your stories of mission and ministry. Please also send the
names of new members to:
Linda Ricks232 Devron Circle
East Peoria, IL 61611
[email protected]
2018 CalendarMarch:
2 - 3: ABWM Regional Board
10: Area V Annual Gathering Grace Baptist Church Kansas City,
MO
11: Area II Annual Meeting FBC Moweaqua, IL
April: 14: Area III Annual Meeting
15: Area IV Annual Meeting FBC Murphysboro, IL 20 - 21: Face To
Face
27 - 28: Clergy Spouse Retreat Lake Springfield Camp
28: Area I Annual Meeting Blackhawk Baptist Camp
June:
8 - 10: ABWM GRR Annual Conference, Northfield Inn & Suites
and Conference Center, Springfield, IL
September:
27: GRR Ministers Conference
28 - 29: GRR Annual Assembly The Chateau Bloomington, IL
Be a vessel that God can pour his love through. Let It Flow
Area II Annual MeetingFirst Baptist Church of Moweaqua
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Registration will begin at 2:00 p.m. and dinner will be at 5:45
p.m. The cost will be $15.00 including dinner.
Dr. Saul Ebema will be sharing his tes-timony with us. He was
born in war-torn South Sudan. He is a graduate of Northern Seminary
where he earned a Masters of Divinity and a Doctorate of Ministry
from Northern Seminary. Today, he serves as the senior pas-tor of
the Lombard Bible Church in Lombard, Illinois. He also serves as
president of the Saul Ebema Founda-tion, which helps children
affected by South Sudan’s civil war.
Rev. Patty Bilyeu will be delivering the message during
worship.
Dr. Ryan Follis and the No-komis Praise Team will be leading us
in praise and worship throughout the after-noon.
mailto:debbie%40abcgrr.org?subject=Mainstreamhttp://www.abcgrr.orghttp://www.abcgrr.orgmailto:revrick4%40comcast.net?subject=Mainstream%20Contacthttp://www.abcgrr.orghttp://www.abcgrr.org/mainstream/archive.cfmmailto:Ricks4LR%40comcast.net?subject=Mainstream
Area III Annual Meeting“To Know and Be Known”
Making our churches known and attractive to our communities
Saturday, April 14, 20189:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Peoria401 W Lake AvenuePeoria, IL
Keynote Speaker:Dr. Gene Crume, President of Judson
Uni-versity
Huntley Brown will be leading worship.
Cost: $25.00
$30.00 after April 1
************************Area I Annual Meeting
Please save the date on your calendar. On Saturday April 28th,
the Area 1 Annual Meeting will be held at BlackHawk Baptist Camp
with the theme “Working, Not Weary.” Rev. Muriel Johnson, Area
Minister for Area V, will be our guest speaker. Registration will
begin at 9:30 with program begin-ning at 10:00 AM. More information
will become available as the day gets closer.
Area V Annual Gathering
“Sharing Our Faith”
Date: March 10, 2018 9:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Grace Baptist Church3101 NE Vivion RoadKansas City, MO
64119(816) 452 - 0212
Dr. Jeffrey Johnson will be speaking. His work with American
Baptist Home Mission Societies (ABHMS) involves refining and
developing the Got Style?™ personality-based evangelism training,
coaching members of the National Evangelism Team (NET) with
introductory and enhanced NET training sessions, and reading and
staying knowledgeable about the field of evangelism as a resource
to churches and their leaders.Registration Cost: Adults:
$10.00Teens: $5.00, Children - Free
Mail registration forms and payment to:Area V Registrar, PO Box
30698 Columbia, Missouri 65205-3698 Pre - Registration Deadline
March 5, 2018
Find contact information for each area meeting:
http://www.abcgrr.org/areas/annualmeetings.htm
A Word From PaulGibson, ABCGRR ExecutiveMinister
“Be rightly related to God and find your joy there, and out of
you will flow rivers of living water. Be a vessel that God can pour
His love through”. Oswald Chambers.
Two major headlines involving death were in the news the past
couple weeks and there has been a lot said about both. In one, a
student went into a school and started shooting, killing seventeen
and wounding many more. Since then there has been a debate on
almost every level about gun control, the second amendment, and
mental health issues. And, if you are follow-ing it, kind things
are not being said. People are mad, blaming, accusing and
preaching…and that is what Christians seem to be doing. Dur-ing
this time, would you check your responses and comments with the
statement above from Oswald Cham-bers? Can people see God pour-ing
His love through you by your responses and comments?
The second headline is about the death of one person, Billy
Graham. He really lived out Chambers’ state-ment. He gave good
counsel to ev-ery president and continued to pray for each one, no
matter the party. He truly was a vessel that God poured His love
through. I was fortunate to be the coordinator for the youth part
of the “University of Life” crusade in Reno, Nevada in 1980 and got
to meet Rev. Graham. He allowed God
to flow through him to each presi-dent. Blessed.
Our Area meetings begin in a couple of weeks. I do hope that you
would consider attending the meeting that is in your Area. I would
love to see you.
Puerto Rico Sister Church Plan. We will be hearing the details
about this in a few weeks and will pass that information as soon as
we receive it. In the meantime, be praying about the possibility of
becoming a sister church. The Great Rivers Region provided the
funds to get this pro-gram started.
CRI – Church Revitalization Initia-tive. We will be putting the
finishing touches on this in March and then will share it with all
of you. Please be praying for Wally Holt and his team as they work
to get things finalized.
This, again, is my answer to all the “stuff” being said about
shootings, etc. – “Be rightly related to God and find your joy
there, and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Be a vessel
that God can pour His love through.” Paul
************************Church News
On January 28, Grace Baptist Church in Kansas City, MO
rec-ognized the 18 people who joined the church in 2017. The
service of “Membership Affirmation” reported that 4 had joined the
congregation by baptism, 11 by Christian experi-ence, and 3 by
transfer of letter. Total church membership for 2017 rose by 14. We
rejoice with these new members who have joined in the ministries of
Grace.
http://www.abcgrr.org/areas/annualmeetings.htmhttp://www.abcgrr.org/areas/annualmeetings.htm
