The Big Picture Storybook- $20.80

Books only $8.00 each “Not a Fan”

“Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook

Books only $9.00 each “The Story” NIV or NKJV

“Praying God’s Word” by Beth Moore “Beyond Boundaries” by Dr. John Townsend

Travel Mug– Think God Can’t Use You? $9.50

Plastic Travel Cup- $6.00

“Do You Believe” ABC tract with cross- $1.50

Bible Sale- 10% Off

March 23-31

Coming April 1st

One Day Sale

10% off everything in Bookstore

North Grand River Baptist Association

The Encourager 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Volume 39, Number 3

March, 2015

“Churches working together to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission.”“Churches working together to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission.”“Churches working together to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission.”“Churches working together to fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission.” Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18Matthew 28:18----20202020

North Grand River Baptist Association 1108 N Main Director of Missions

Trenton, MO 64683 Rev. E.J. Barnes

Fax: 660.359.0200 Ministry Assistant

E-Mail: ngrmission@sbcglobal.net Debbie Dickinson

BSU Telephone– 660.654.0785 BSU Director

DOM’s Office– 660.359.3365 Telephone – 660.359.3897 Diann Barnes

Web Page– northgrandriverbaptist.com

North Grand River Baptist Association’s Purpose- “To mutually and prayerfully support, encourage and challenge one another as churches to exalt Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, to edify and equip His disciples to serve him and one another, and to evangelize those who have yet to come to know Him personally.” Matthew 28:19-20

Union (Coon Creek) Baptist

Saturday, 8:00 am

March 21, 2015

All Men Invited!

MARCH 14 Charlie & Lou Bullman 20 Diann Barnes 24 Debbie Boone 25 Deryl & Linda Niffen 28 Cyndy Munday 29 Ron Ratliff

Alpha

Edinburg*

Gallatin

Galt

Jameson

Jamesport

Laredo

Lineville

Medicine Valley

Mercer

Modena

Princeton*

Ravanna

Rural Dale

Salem

Shelburne

Spickard

Tenth Street

Trenton First*

Union

U

N

I

T

E

D

O

N

M

I

S

S

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First Baptist Church of Princeton is seeking a God called man to Pastor full time. Mission minded, conservative, supporter of local missions, MBC and SBC.

Accepting resumes' through April 15, 2015. Send resumes' to: First Baptist Church Attn: Pastor Search Committee 1308 Main St., Princeton, Mo 64673

Please continue to remember the Finance Committee in prayer. They will be meeting with the Administrative Committee on March 2nd to review the financial status of the as-sociation.

ST. PAUL WASHINGTON, D.C. MIAMI TORONTO LAS VEGAS CLEVELAND PITTSBUR

SALT LAKE CITY SAN FRANCISCO VANCOUVER NEW ORLEANS ST. LOUIS NEW YORK

KANSAS CITY LOS ANGELES PHILADELPHIA COLUMBUS SANDIEGO EDMONTON SEA

BALTIMORE SEATTLE BOSTON PORTLAND DETROIT VANCOUVER CLEVELAND SALT

INDIANAPOLIS NEW YORK CITY COLUMBUS PITTSBURG EDMONTON CALGARY ST.

PAUL WASHINGTON, D.C ATLANTA HOUSTON LAS VEGAS SPRINGFIELD BOSTON LA

MINNEAPOLIS PORTLAND PHILADELPHIA CHICAGO KANSAS CITY COLUMBUS CINC

SAN FRANSCISCO NEW YORK CITY VANCOUVER ST PAUL WASHINGTON, D.C. DETR

Church Giving Church Service Times

January 2015 Reports

Monthly Inc.

BSU Inc. SS AM PM Weds.

Alpha $ 208.75 $ 25.00 9:30 10:30 6:30 7:00

Edinburg $ 452.93 $ 50.33 10:00 11:00 6:00 7:00

Gallatin $ 990.36 $ 50.00 9:30 10:40 6:00 7:00

Galt $ 162.00 $ 25.00 10:00 11:00 6:00 7:00

Jameson $ 227.85 9:30 10:30

Jamesport $ 25.00 $ 25.00 9:45 10:45 7:00 6:30

Laredo $ 303.70 9:30 10:30 6:30 6:30

Lineville $ 147.10 $ 49.03 9:45 10:45 6:00 6:00

M. Valley $ 60.45 $ 50.00 9:30 10:30 6:00

Mercer $ 246.00 $ 25.00 9:30 10:30 6:30 6:30

Modena $ 70.67 $ 100.00 10:15 9:00 6:00 6:00

Princeton $1,304.49 $ 50.00 9:40 10:40 7:00 6:00

Ravanna 9:30 10:45

Rural Dale $ 738.12 $ 75.00 9:45 10:35 7:00 7:00

Salem $ 102.50 $ 35.00 10:00 11:00 6:00

Shelburne $ 633.08 $ 75.00 10:00 10:55 6:00 6:30

Spickard $ 70.00 9:30 10:30 6:30

Tenth St. $1,199.59 $ 199.93 9:30 10:30 6:00 7:00

Trenton FB $1,290.98 $ 286.88 9:30 10:40 6:00 6:00

Union $ 178.71 $ 448.03 10:00 11:00 6:00 6:00

Total $8,412.28 $1,569.20 Join any of these churches in worship

Chilli, FBC $ 45.00

MBC $ 460.00

Gilman BC $ 200.00

From My Heart to YoursFrom My Heart to YoursFrom My Heart to YoursFrom My Heart to Yours It is not too early to be praying about these ministries: (1) Vacation Bible Schools this summer– Pray for the directors, teachers, helpers and churches as they plan and man these schools. Pray for all who come as students in these schools that many will be “born again” and others who know our Lord will grow in their relation-ship with Him. Pray for Dianna Crawford and Associational VBS team as they at-tend the State VBS Clinic at Macon FBC on March 3rd. (2) Summer Missionaries– Pray that our Lord would call out those who need to serve this summer and that

they will be obedient in their response. Pray for Diann as she oversees them in this ministry and contact her quickly if you want to secure a summer missionary for your VBS or some other minis-try. (3) Summer Camps at Grand Oaks– Youth Camp June 22-26 and Children’s Camp July 27-31. Pray for the children and youth who attend, the cabin leaders (would you be willing to serve this year? Let us know if you would), camp Pastors, Kitchen Staff, camp Missionaries, camp Worship leaders, Bible Study leaders, nurses, parents of campers and the Camp Committee that meets each month to prepare for the camps (includes Camp Directors and Assistant Directors).

Remember our Associational Theme Emphasis for 2014-2016 is ACTS 1:8 ON MISSION FO-CUS”. The “Samaria” focus ministry is our Partnership with the Lennox, Iowa church plant. Pray for Pastor Mitch Green and his family. Contact him at 712-621-6501 if you or your church is led to help this ministry. It is not too late to partner with the BSU on a mission trip there March 19-22. Contact Diann Barnes (660-654-0785) if interested in helping and/or going.

Let’s pray fervently and consistently for these ministries that our Lord would be glorified, souls would be saved and the Kingdom of God strengthened.

Thanks again for your prayers and support for Diann and me these past 10 years.

For His Glory,

E.J. Barnes

P.S. Also, be praying about the Jean and Nellie Osborn North Grand River Associational Mis-sion’s Offering to be taken in May, which will greatly benefit the afore mentioned ministries and others– as well as the annual Annie Armstrong Offering in March for North American Missions.

January 2015 NGR Account Beginning Balance $5,488.62 Income $12.526.57 Total $18,015.19 Expenses $10,431.93 Ending Balance $7,583.26

Line Items in General Checking Designated Funds $4,595.34 General Fund $2,987.92 Checking Balance Total $7,583.26

NGR October 2014– January 2015 (Does not Include designated funds)

Income $45,590.87 Expenses $43,547.33 Difference $2,043.54

Seminary Checking $263.21 Seminary Savings $2,291.01

Benevolent Savings $769.05

NGR Savings $425.43

BSU– January– Income to Expense Beginning Balance $1,776.75 Income $1,981.17 Total $3,757.92 Expenses $1,733.28 Ending Balance $2,024.64 General BSU Fund $1,014.14 Designated BSU Fund $1,010.50

Pastors Prayer & Fellowship Time

at Pizza Hut 2nd Monday

of each month

English as Second Language Training Downstairs NGR Mission Center

At BSU

March 5th-7th Cost: Students $10.00 NGRBA Members $15.00 Others $20.00

VBS Training Clinic

Monday- April 27th

Tenth Street Baptist Church

NGR VBS Director Dianna Crawford

Gallatin- We would like to welcome our new Minister of Youth, Wood Marshall! Youth meet each Wednesday at 5:30 pm, and Sunday eve-ning at 6 pm, except on the second Sunday evening of each month.

Pioneer Club, Sunday was held at Gallatin First Baptist Church on Sunday, February 22, 2015. All our Pioneer Club children and workers were encouraged to wear the Pioneer Club Shirts and bring their families and enjoy our morning ser-vices with Pioneer Club heading up the morning worship at 10:40 a.m. Phil: 4-8. We will also be hosting a Missions Emphasis Night on Wednes-day, February 25, 2015. Join us in the game area for a trip around the world to explore mis-sions. Missionaries will be in attendance! Every-one who attends will earn a Missions Award Badge! “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news.” Isaiah 52:7

Sunday, March 1, our guest speaker will be Mitch Green, Church Planter from Lenox, Iowa, and on Sunday, March 15, Gideon’s will be here during morning worship.

Keenagers will be hosting the monthly luncheon on Thursday, March 5 with a representative from the VA presenting the program

Medicine Valley- Mabel and I were privileged to attend the MBC Evangelism Conference on Thursday and Friday, February 5 and 6 in Spring-field and to spend that week, February 1 through 7 at a condo in Branson.

We had determined on Saturday the 1st that it would be expedient to cancel services the fol-lowing day due to forecasts of heavy snow.

Consequently, we were able to travel south ahead of Saturday night’s snowstorm, staying overnight at Mt. Vernon with our daughter and son-in-law, Pamela and Darrel Campbell, and to attend church with them on Sunday morning.

Medicine Valley Continued-

We were privileged to have as our guests for several days, E.J., Diann and Christina, who came down Wednesday on roads already ice covered and making for slow driving.

We were twice blessed in the services on Sun-day, January 25, with the baptism of one adult on profession of faith and the licensing of an-other to the Gospel ministry.

We continue to need volunteer workers to assist each third Thursday afternoon in our food minis-try. Volunteer help is also needed on the Tues-day morning preceding the third Thursday of each month.

We fill food boxes on Tuesday between 9:00 a.m. and noon. Food is distributed to those in need from 2:30 TO 4:30 pm. at Newtown and from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Humphreys.

Volunteers are needed at Newtown on Tues-days from 9:00 a.m. till noon and on Thursdays from 2:00 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. and at the Commu-nity Center in Humphreys from 4:30 to 6:15 p.m.

We continue to pray for the Lord to provide dedicated Christian leaders and workers for our Sunday School and worship services at New-town and for our Tuesday night Bible Study and Celebration Station for children, and our Wednesday night Adult Bible Studies at Hum-phreys.

We continue to welcome the assistance of all whom God leads to give of their time, talent and resources in support of these ministries.

We thank God for the prayers and endeavors of all who make possible this, “Mission in your Own Backyard”.

Trenton FBC– February 9-15th we ob-served WMU Focus Week. We had displays of some of our ministries on the 15th during the morning worship service. We showed slides of some of the ministries that we have been involved in this year. The RA’s, GA’s, and Mission Friend’s received their vests and badges they have earned. We were also blessed with Sonshine Preschool sharing some songs with us. We also had a Gideon Speaker sharing with us which is always a blessing. Senior Adults had a Game Day on Friday Feb. 20th and a finger food fellowship was enjoyed by all. We thank our sister churches for pray-ing for us during our interim time.

Youth Camp- June 22-26, 2015

Children’s Camp- July 27-31, 2015

Baptist Global Response (BGR) is the Southern Baptist international dis-aster relief and community development organization with a heart for helping people in need. BGR connects people in need with people who care.

The BGR Hospice Bucket Kit is a collection of medical/hygiene supplies placed in a 5 gallon, heavy-duty plastic bucket with a sealable lid that will provide as-

sistance to caregivers and quality of life to homebound terminally ill patients. These buckets will go to countries like Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique and South Africa where HIV/AIDS is crippling populations, and in many cases, wiping out communities. In addition to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, thousands in Sub-Saharan Africa die each year from sicknesses like cancer, tuberculosis, malaria and other devastating diseases.

Our area is responsible for Ziploc gallon-size freezer bags; .35 oz SQUEEZABLE Carmex Lip Balm tubes (suggest 3 ct. pack for economy) and 8-10 oz FRAGRANCE FREE moisturizing body lotion. NO PUMP bottles (suggest Equate (Wal-Mart) for economy).

If your church chooses they can fill a bucket or collect the items above and bring to the office be-fore April 1st. There are ladies going to the WMU Annual Meeting and they can take them. This project will be for the year and there will be other times that items can be delivered to collection points as they are announced through the year.

Information has been put in the church mailboxes at the Mission Center and you can go online to www.gobgr.org/buckets.

OUR SINS PUT HIM

ON THE CROSS,

BUT LOVE KEPT

HIM THERE.

BSU @ NCMCBSU @ NCMCBSU @ NCMCBSU @ NCMC

March is the month, the BSU students are challenged to grow in their experience of missions. To do this, we enlist those students who

are willing, and take them on a Spring Break mission trip. This year our student team will be partnering with Mitch Green’s church plant in Lenox, IA. This is the church plant that NGRBA’s messengers voted to support at last year’s annual meeting. Through prayer and talks, Mitch shared that he would like the visiting team to prayer walk the community and then come back the next day, handing out to every resi-dence, homes and apartments, a 9-volt battery for every smoke alarm in that residence. Each battery will have a mailing label attached identifying Country Roads Baptist Church with a contact number. If homeowners use the battery and then replace the battery in the fall, they will see twice that Country Roads is the church who cares about them. Saturday, if weather permits, the team will be hosting an outdoor block party for the community at the park. If you and your church would like to join the BSU students for this day, there will be plenty to do. We will need all kinds of man-power to make this hap-pen. There will be carnival booths, games, food, and lots of opportunities to interact with people who need to know that Jesus loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. Pray and ask God if He would want you, your family and/or your Sunday School class to join the college students, Saturday March 21, helping Mitch’s church family share with the community of Lenox, that Jesus LOVES them. The other opportunity for mission minded people is the up-coming “English as a Second Language” training conference—ESL. If God has been telling you that He wants you to be more involved in missions, but you don’t have an idea of how or what you could do, seriously consider taking the ESL training. This training is taught by Lorraine Powers, trainer for MOBaptist, and is recognized by IMB. You will receive an Instructor’s manual to teach ESL classes and a certificate from Missouri Baptist Convention. The training will be March 5-7, 4-9pm Thursday and Friday nights, and Saturday 8:30am-5pm (Suppers and Lunch included), at the mission center. Cost for non-NGR church members is $20. A dis-count is available for NGR church members and college students. It is necessary to regis-ter by calling Diann Barnes, 660.654.0785, no later than Monday, March 2nd, so that every registrant will have their own curriculum. This ESL training is the same training that International Mission Board uses for the team members, they send overseas, who use English classes as a mission tool to share Jesus with people who need hope. If your heart has started beating faster as you read about this opportunity, call and register to be trained as an ESL instructor. This is absolutely one of the easiest ways to share Jesus, that God has ever devised. He Is Worthy to Receive the Rewards of His Sacrifice—Souls Shalom— Diann

RA Congress 2015

April 17-18, 2015

MO State Fairgrounds, Sedalia MO

All 1st – 6th Grade Boys are invited to Attend.

For help in registering or to receive a mail-in registration form, call Sharon

Paris 573-636-0400 ext. 324

Find Details and Register online at www.mobaptist.org/racongress

Early deadline: April 1st!

You will want the boys of your church to experience RA Congress! They do not have to be an RA to enjoy the events, ac-tivities, music and missionary speaker.

Association WMU met February 17 at 10:30 am with a band of mission war-riors present at the association office. The meeting was opened with what we like February as our roll call. Prayer requests were taken with two special ones being mentioned, first the families at Jameson and second Japenese missionary’s Stew and Lissa Roberson. Lissa has developed

seizures and wants medical and career guidance.

We continue to work on the buckets of Love Pro-ject with our association collecting three items for the buckets that are to be sent to Africa: Carmax Lip Balm, Gallon Zip-lock Bags and unscented lotion, non-pump 8-10 ounces. Collections are through March and will be used in April to fill the buckets.

Garrett Trunk, the pastor or Gallatin First Baptist, was our guest speaker. He talked on Church Planting in Iowa. He spent five years church planting there and is currently involved in working with our association outreach to Lenox Iowa.

At our March meeting we will work on making the three baskets for the Alberta Gilpin silent auction at the State WMU meeting in April. One basket is for the Seamstress, with material and sewing supplies. The second basket is for the Christian book reader and the third will be for the tea drinker.

The Annual State WMU meeting will be at Ches-terfield First Baptist April 10-11. Early registration is $30 until March 25, then $40 after.

Virginia Crumpacker gave the devotion on Exo-dus 6:6-8 and lead our prayer for Missionaries who had birthdays today.

We closed with a luncheon shared by all.

Philippians 1:27 Stand united, Whatever hap-pens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ. (NIV)

Shelly Sims

Mission’s Celebration- Annual Meeting April 10-11. 2015

St. Charles, Missouri

“ALL FOR YOU” Surrender—Sacrifice—Serve

Early Bird Registration Fee $30 After March 25, 2015 Fee $40

Student Fee (Grades 7-College) $10

Events Include:

• Missionary Speakers • Breakout Sessions • WMU Age Level raining • Praise 7 Worship

• Bookstore & Exhibits • Silent Auction Baskets (Alberta Gilpin Fund)