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Issue 20 Let’s Fish. Bible Fellowship Churches sharing resources to evangelize the world. A place for the exchange of ideas on short term missions projects and local outreach. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."
All responses can be sent to office@bfcbom.org
Current and past issues can be found on the web at: www.bfcbom.org look in “Mission Events” then Let’s Fish
191 Days till Urbana
Greetings from Allentown!
3. Watch for these upcoming events! 4. Trips in the works (updated weekly) 6. Mission Bible Study Competent to Serve
Fallout 2003 is just 3 months away and do we have a line up for you!!! Bands like Audio Adrenaline, Five Iron Frenzy, Skillet, Daniels Window (coming to Fallout and Sno-Glo 2004)...Sports all day with a 3 on 3 basketball tournament, 6 on 6 volleyball tournament, skatepark and bike park...acoustic cafe for your kids to come and show us their talent...youth leaders free lunch at 3:00pm sponsored by Compassion and a whole lot more!!!
Fallout 2003 is an event sponsored in part by the BFC and the date is
Saturday September 13th
from 12:00noon to
9:15pm.
Tickets for groups will be $20 for 15 or more people and $22 for individuals.
Tickets are on sale at www.itickets.com, Hackmans
Bible Book Store, Provident in Souderton or get from Billy Dunn at the Emmaus
Bible Fellowship Church. (editor’s note: See You at the Pole should be a MUST for all H.S. Let’s Fishers. Standing outside your high school and praying with other believers may be a bolder step for you to take than was your missions experience this summer. BE BOLD! For your post H.S. Let’s Fishers Fallout requires a host of volunteers. Why not be involved in this great event by volunteering your time! E-mail Pastor Billy at wdunn7@aol.com. It will take 250 volunteers to work this mammoth event.)
I just received the following e-mail. The person will remain anonymous, but let me simply say she is a college student. The exciting thing is that this is just one of two letters I received on the same day from our college students. Both wanted to remain in contact with the prayer needs of our missionaries! Several things should be noted after reading this letter. 1. Our college students are turned on to prayer for missions. 2. Both of these students have or are on a short term missions trip. (This always has a lasting impression.) 3. Such a letter should motivate each of us to promote prayer in our local congregations!
…. Anyway the reason I emailed you was to ask you if you could send our church ___ BFC in ___, Pa more of the board of missions prayer calendars since they do not seem to have any extras to give to people that are not on the missions committee like myself. I like using them in my prayer time but have not been able to get one this month since our church is out. I would appreciate it alot!
In Christ ___
Hi Pastor Weller,
I trust you and Lanette are doing well. Blandon had a short term missions trip from May 9th to May 18th to Minnesota with the Pollocks. Team of 5 adults for work projects
Thanks Mike Littlejohn (Editor’s note: please inform us of any trips taken in 2003 even if they are already completed. We are keeping year long statistics.)
Write me. I love e-mail! office@bfcbom.org
3. Watch for these upcoming events! (repeat announcement)
Hello!
By now,
many of you have received the registration form for our exciting upcoming
Young Adult Retreat. If you have not received this mailing and would like to,
please reply to this email and I will get one out to you right away!
MissyBKauffman@aol.com ________
Can you believe there are OVER 40 short term events taking place this summer by BFC churches. Some of these are in the church’s own community while others are nearly half a world away.
The Board of Missions is sponsoring a Short Term Debriefing Round-up this fall. The Round-up will include dinner and an evening of sharing the best and the worst ideas from each short term experience. There will be seminars on a variety of subjects that will enable each church to be even better equipped for their next trip. The evening is designed for the leaders of each and every one of the forty trips, potential leaders of future trips as well as pastors and mission chairpeople.
This will be a “can’t miss” event. Watch for the date and details right here in a future Let’s Fish publication.
4. Trips in the works (updated weekly)
The Board of Missions is keeping statistics of all short term missionary trips (both by teams and individuals). Please let us know all the important information about your trip. WHO, WHAT, CHURCH, MISSIONARY, COUNTRY, and DATE. Contact: office@bfcbom.org
To Date the following ministries being done by BFC’ers have been registered with Let’s Fish.
May 26- Aug. 5 Alicia Billups Team Coordinator for RGBI June – August Rachel Bechtel CE summer missionary June 20 - 30 Royersford teach English and to do Evangelism in Palowice, Poland. June 21-28 Coopersburg trip to work with Bob & Donna Sloma at Blueberry Mountain Bible Camp along with Chris & Becki Merrick. June 26-28 Paradise at Lighthouse for VBS June 26-July 3 Emmaus to The Fold (Hash) room available June 28 - July 6, 2003 Oley at Oaxaca Mexico 24 teens and 11 adults. July 2- August 1 Rebecca Zurbrick from Paradise BFC will be going to Panama
Trips highlighted need our prayer support RIGHT NOW!
July 4-18 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) July 5-12, Paradise team to Thompson, CT, to assist with VBS both at the church and at a nearby park. July 5-20 Elizabeth Studenroth and Clay Martin Moscow with the English Exchange July 6-August 10 Kara Lapp from Paradise BFC will be going to Wyoming to disciple youth and lead an outreach with YWAM July 10, 24, and 31 Reading Church Good News in the Park July 11-26 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) July 12-20 Sunbury to Haiti construction and ministry July 13-20 Royersford Youth Missions Trip to Delmarva to do a VBS July 16-20 Hatfield at Toms River with Chris Merrick Work and Ministry July 26- August 3 Q’town & Lehighton missions trip to Asheville, North Carolina. July 26-Aug 3 Harleysville Ixamal, Mexico August 1-6 Terre Hill at Spruce Lake VBS outreach August 2-18 - Emmaus Ukraine Trip doing puppet shows, drama, music and coffee house ministry as well as a morning camp program with Push-the-Rock each morning. August 8-21 Cedar Crest trip to Pollocks Team of 11 teens and 7 adults for day camp among Native Americans and work projects. Aug 14-17 Harleysville Wildwood Boardwalk Chapel Aug. 15-30 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) August 16-23 - Emmaus going to Wissinoming BFC for VBS and evangelistic puppet shows. August 20-24 Pastor Carl Cassel Canada with Rob Patterson August 20-28 Cedar Crest to Morocco Work team and ministry. August 22-24 - Walnutport BFC Weekend Block Party. Emmaus will be doing puppet shows and a Saturday block party. September 18- 29 Royersford Barnabas Team to visit with the Moyer's in France and with Rick Erb in the Ukraine. September 19- 29 Royersford Work Team to put roof on Church building in Palowice, Poland. Sep. 26-Oct. 11 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available) October date to be determined Cedar Crest to Kosovo Work and ministry. Nov. 7-22 Serbia Trip Reading (spaces available)
As reported earlier, our decade long Independence Day effort has now been
divided between two days. Thought you might be interested in a brief report of
yesterday's Flag Day festivities.
6. Mission Bible Study Competent to Serve
Read 2 Corinthians 3:1-6.
1. How do you feel about being told that becoming a Christian means becoming a minister? 2. Read 2 Corinthians 3:1-6. In contrast to those who boasted about their letters of recommendation, Paul says the Corinthians are his letter (vv. 1-3). What sort of letter are they?
3. How do you respond to the idea that you may be the only letter from Christ that some people ever read?
4. In 2:16 Paul had asked, "Who is equal to such a task?" What answer does he give in 3:4-6? How could his answer encourage even the newest and humblest member of God's family?
Dana,
I think you heard from Merv Lambright that I am facilitating a Perspectives course at Calvary (Sinking Spring BFC) in the fall. I am having 5 brochures mailed to you for you to hand out to people you feel would be impacted by the course. I received one request via email today from a Terry Calhoun in Allentown. There are several from the office who will be taking the course. I am asking people to pray that we would have 30 students.
The course is also posted on the national website so people can go to www.perspectives.org for information.
God Bless Jim MacArthur
We HIGHLY recommend this course. It does require one to be highly committed, but the material in this course has shaped the direction of modern day missions.
Classes will start onTuesday, September 9th and runs for 15 weeks.
Description of PerspectivesPerspectives on the World Christian Movement is a dynamic course where you'll discover what God is doing around the world and consider your part in His purposes. Perspectives will help you understand God's plan for our world—and for your life—as you explore the following topics:
Perspectives is offered throughout the year at extension sites around the world. Over 50,000 people have taken this course in North America alone, with over 12,000 alumni in New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and other countries. Perspectives is also available in Spanish and Korean, and other translations are in progress. Undergraduate and graduate credit is available through schools such as Trinity International University and other cooperating institutions. Perspectives is also offered online and by correspondence. In addition, over 100 schools use the Perspectives Reader in their missions courses (over 120,000 in print). With over 600 instructors and more than 150 locations annually, over 6000 people are exposed to some of the most innovative missions minds each year. Perspectives is taught by professors, missionaries, & teachers who have seen God at work all over the world. Instructors include people like Don Richardson (missionary to the Sawi people and author of Peace Child), David Bryant (author of In the Gap, former mission specialist for InterVarsity, now Chairman of Concerts of Prayer International), and Ralph Winter (missionary to Guatemala and visionary founder of the USCWM). A survey of Perspectives class alumni indicated: 73% of 20,000 alumni are praying regularly for missions 88% support missions financially 29% serve on a church missions committee
We Don’t Need Prayer this Year…We Have a Doctor!
Now I would never be so bold as to proclaim such an idea, but then again I was never so confident. This was the first time ever I would have a medical doctor on one of my trips. Medical needs in this remote part of Venezuela where we were serving always fell on my shoulders. Since all of my medical experience stems solely from my EMT training, I relied heavily on the prayers of the church back home for our safety during our three weeks of being out of contact with the modern world. We Don’t Need Prayer this Year…We Have a Doctor!
All such foolish confidence was totally shattered one night when one of our teens face as white as a ghost came running up to me, “I think Doc cut off his finger!”
It was a grave situation with our doctor holding his severely lacerated hand. He was attempting to clean yucca with a machete. No problem! He is a doctor; he will know what to do. “I could never stitch up my own hand without Novocain” was the doctor’s response!
We had all the medical equipment to do most emergency medical procedures. The doctor was there to minister to the needs or the people in our host village. Novocain however, was another matter. Earlier in the week while we were transferring our supplies from a dugout canoe to the houseboat where we would be staying, the box containing the Novocain was dropped and all of the glass vials were broken.
I could almost see God smile as He sat in heaven. How will you get out of this? So you don’t need prayer, you don’t need Me, you have a doctor!!!
As the team gathered around me, the former overconfident team leader and the helpless doctor, I called upon my vast medical knowledge and said; “we better pray!”
We were at the end of our human resources. We asked God what we should do. All of a sudden I remembered that I had some antiseptic wipes in my carry-on. I sent one of the girls to retrieve them. I placed the lacerated flesh back in place on the finger and covered it with several of the wipes. We bound the wound tightly with gauze and said we would not open this bandage for five days.
For the first two days Doc went through excruciating throbbing pain. Every day first thing in the morning and before we went to bed, we gathered together to pray for God to heal. At the end of our wait, we unraveled the bandage. I will never forget, the entire team looked over my shoulder. After all of the prayer, every one of us had a personal interested in Doc’s finger!
The piece of severed flesh was pink and living. It had reattached itself to the finger without infection and with little scaring! God had answered our prayers! God had taught us some important lessons! God had humbled our pride!
Most of those kids who witnessed that event so many summers ago, are now grown. Some have been in leadership positions on missions trips. We still talk about all that God had taught us that summer about trusting Him.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. -david
Most of all, Keep Fishing!
Dana
Reminder
November 14-16 BOM Missions RWR This annual work/study weekend sponsored by the BOM is for high school and post high school young people serious about knowing God’s will for their life and the possibility of career missions. This weekend fills up quickly so register early by e-mail to office@bfcbom.org. Name, age, church, e-mail and snail mail address, and phone # required.
Registrations are already coming in! Don’t miss out!
September (date and place TBA) Short Term Debriefing Round-up
December 27- January 1 Urbana
A cooperative effort of the churches of the BFC to win the world for Christ Your response is always welcome at: office@bfcbom.org 610 398-8776 |
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