adherence to Christianity. Many

Karen refugees (recent estimates

are around 50,000) have been

relocated to the US. Minnesota

is home to over 3,000 of them,

the largest concentration being

in St. Paul.

A local turkey processing

plant in Marshall has been ac-

tively recruiting and assisting

some of the St. Paul Karen in

relocating there for work. First

The modern missionary

movement in the USA was pio-

neered by Adoniram Judson, the

first American foreign mission-

ary. Arriving in Burma in 1813,

Judson’s life and ministry was

fraught with challenges and

setbacks, including the death of

three children and his wife, Ann,

imprisonment, and few evi-

dences of conversion amongst

those he ministered to. In the

first 14 years of his labors, the

church he started only had 18

Burmese converts.

However, in 1827, Judson

recorded the conversion of one

Tha Byu. He was not native

Burmese, but a Karen, a tribal

people who lived in the hill re-

gion of Burma. By 1840, over

1200 people were recorded as

being part of Karen Baptist

churches. Today, a large per-

centage of Karen identify, not

only as Christians, but as Bap-

tists.

Fast-forward to 2011. Be-

cause of political unrest in

Burma (now called Myanmar by

i ts occupying Buddhis t /

Communist regime), the Karen

people have been forced to leave

their homeland. At least part of

the inherent tension behind the

reasons for being deposed from

their homeland includes their

Baptist Missionary History Comes Full Circle in Marshall By: Pastor Greg Linscott

Restricted Access Ministry By: Pastor Tim Barr

This past August, the Lord

allowed me to go to a restricted

access nation as a homiletics

teacher. A restricted access na-

tion is a nation where western

Christians cannot publically

minister. I entered this country a

tourist and was met by a leader

of the indigenous church. Most

of my two weeks were spent in a

windowless attic teaching eight-

een men how to better preach

the Old Testament narratives.

Each of the pastors preached an

evaluated sermon from the book

of Ruth as the final task for the

class.

I learned the greatest bless-

ings in ministering to people in a

restricted access nation arise

from hearing their wise biblical

counsel. Therefore, I thought a

few quotes from the sermons

that they preached out of the

book of Ruth might be instruc-

tive.

“Our hope of heaven is not

based on our race, education, or

gender. It is based on our faith in

God and His mercy.”

“God does not change. He

is still willing to bless those who

are moldable. His blessings are

not always obvious but He is

faithful.”

“You need to return to God

no matter the circumstances you

face. No matter what condition

you may find yourself in.”

“We should share our joy

in seeing God’s blessing and

redemption in our lives.”

“The wealth of this world is

not the blessing that we need,

rather we need Jesus.”

“Everyone has a role in

society and being faithful in the

small roles will help us be faith-

ful in the bigger responsibilities.

We must take our small respon-

A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

October 31, 2011 Volume V, Issue 6

North Star Update

Calendar

December 12: 6 p.m. Pastor’s

& Wives Christmas Din-

ner at Fourth Baptist,

($12/person) RSVP by

12/7

January 23: MBA Executive

Cmte. 10 a.m.; Full

Board, 1 p.m. @ Com-

munity Baptist, new Pra-

gue

January 27,28: parent-Teen

Conference at First Cal-

vary, Inver Grove

Heights

April 2-3: MBA Pastors’ &

Wives’ Retreat in

Brainerd

April 20-21: MBA Ladies

Retreat @ Camp Friend-

ship

Inside This Issue: Fellowship Foundations 2

New at Fourth 2

Larry Johnson, P&W

Missionary 2

MBA State Ladies 3

Continued on page 3

Continued on page 4

Throughout our State there

are retired pastors and mission-

aries who also support the

MBA. The MBA Directory lists

those who desire to be listed as

available for pulpit supply. If,

after the publication of the Di-

rectory, a preacher asks to be

listed, the name is published in

the UPDATE.

The requirements for the

list are simple; (1) a member of

an MBA affiliated church; (2)

agreement with the doctrinal

statement of the MBA; and (3)

the approval of their local pas-

tor regarding their listing.

As Interim State Mission-

ary one of my opportunities of

service is to Pulpit Supply when

requested to do so, which is

always a great blessing. At all

such opportunities, I report on

recent information regarding

the MBA, and the progress of

the sale of Pillsbury Campus.

Recent Opportunities—

September 20 – My wife

and I attended revival meetings

at the Rockford Baptist Church,

pastor Roger Louks (Sherrie).

Rhoda was asked to serve on

the piano.

September 25 – I was in-

vited to be a part of the program

for the 50th Anniversary of the

Faith Baptist Church, St. Paul.

Pastor Julian Suarez (Kathy)

was unable to attend as he was

still recovering from recent

physical problems. Associate

Pastor Rodney Golightly

(Jacqueline) and the church

folks presented a great program.

October 16 – Having no

responsibilities for this Sunday,

we attended the Sunday School

and Morning Services at Silver

Bay Baptist. Pastor Paul

Michalski (Lisa) allowed me

time during the Sunday School

to present updates on the MBA

and the sale of Pillsbury Cam-

pus. We were able to reacquaint

with several friends that we

remembered from Koronis

days.

In the Evening, we jour-

neyed south to Faith Baptist,

Hinckley. Pastor Reed Owens

(Pat) allowed me time in the

evening service to speak con-

cerning the MBA and Pillsbury.

It was a great blessing to once

again visit that sister church.

If I can be of service to

you or your church, please con-

tact me.

Fellowship Foundations By: Rev. Robert Fuller, Sr., ISM

New This Fall at Fourth Baptist, Plymouth

incoming Seminary students for

the fall semester. God has in-

deed attended our prayers with

His rich blessing in this re-

gard. Obviously, we are con-

tinuing to ask Him to grow the

Seminary enrollment and we

are hard at work spreading the

word regarding the great things

God is doing at CBTS. With the

new students has come a re-

newed sense of energy and a

fresh spirit and commitment to

engage in the task of preparing

men and women to proclaim the

Gospel, preach and teach the

Word, and serve the Church.

School Begins at FBCS

On August 29, Fourth

Baptist Christian School began

its 46th year of partnering with

Christian parents in the disci-

pleship of their children with

over 200 students enrolled. We

now offer two kindergarten

classes: a 3-day class and a 5-

day class. New faculty joining

the school this fall are Mrs.

Jacqueline Hale (K-5), Miss

Amy Dekkers (1st grade), Mrs.

Beth Horn (Spanish III), and

Mr. Ch ar l es Ru egemer

(Woodworking). FBCS also

offers English as a Second Lan-

guage (ESL), a program to help

students for whom English is

not their primary language.

New Pastoral Staff Mem-

ber Announced

Dr. Sam Horn was in-

stalled the fifth president of

Central Baptist Theological

Seminary on Sunday, August

28, at a special service of the

Fourth Baptist Church. In addi-

tion to serving as Central’s

president, Dr. Horn is Pastor of

Mentoring and Ministerial

Training at Fourth Baptist

Church. Dr. Horn believes that

the relationship with Fourth

Baptist Church is critical to the

future growth of the seminary.

School Begins at CBTS

We are thankful for a lar-

ger than anticipated group of

Page 2 North Star Update

P&W Missionary, Larry Johnson, A Tribute

Larry Johnson, his

wife, Mary, and his

two sons (Ronald, 10

and David, 7) started

as Planting and Wa-

tering Missionaries

on December 1, 1959,

in St. Paul. Shares

were sought for $5/

month to support their

ministry. He started

by working part-time, but by

the next December, 59 ½ shares

were pledged. They still needed

29.

On January 8, 1961, after

months of weekly Bible studies

and prayer meetings, Sunday

services were started. Their first

Sunday’s attendance was 28 for

Sunday School, 38 for the

morning service and 22 for the

evening service. The church

was started on May 11, 1961, as

the Faith Baptist Church of St.

Paul. Eleven members signed

the charter on that day.

The November, 1962,

issue of the North Star Baptist

has a report by the Johnsons

that they were then working to

Continued on page 4

upwards of 30 Karen on Sunday

mornings. Arrangements have

been made with the local bus

service to provide transporta-

tion to and from the services on

Sunday morning. A Sunday

School class was recently

started, which includes some

hymn singing and Bible reading

in the S’gaw Karen dialect. A

number of Karen children and

teenagers have begun to attend

the Marshall youth

group Bible classes

and Kids 4 Truth

p r o g r a m s o n

Wednesday nights,

too.

Earlier this year,

M a r s h a l l a l s o

formed a partnership

with Pastor Dwight

DePenning of Har-

vest Baptist in Red-

wood Falls. Each

Baptist has been actively

searching for opportunities to

connect with these people,

many of whom have looked

immediately for a Baptist

church to worship in. Since

August of 2010, the Marshall

church has had a faithful con-

tingent of Karen attend services

each week. The attendance has

increased gradually, to the point

where they are currently seeing

week now, Pastor Dwight con-

ducts a Simple English Bible

Study for the purposes of help-

ing the Karen with receiving

Bible teaching as well as help-

ing them become more familiar

with the English language.

The congregation is thank-

ful for the opportunities to min-

ister to and receive these people

into fellowship. Please pray for

wisdom as the congregation and

leadership seeks to incorporate

them into the local body. The

language and cultural differ-

ences do present challenges, as

do long-standing historical ties

with Baptists here in the United

States that have long been toler-

ant of liberal theology. How-

ever, the gospel of Jesus Christ

is capable of overcoming those

barriers.

Ladies, start planning now

for the 2012 MBA Ladies

Spring Retreat. The date for the

retreat is April 20-21, 2012

located at Camp Friendship

near Annandale, MN. The

theme for the weekend is "A

Wise Woman Builds Her

Home" from Proverbs 14:1.

We are excited to have

Marcia Phillips (Northland

International University) as our

main speaker. Marcia has lived

her entire life in a ministry

home. She has been married to

Pastor Bill Phillips of Faith

Baptist Church in Pembine,

Wisconsin for the past 32 years.

They have served churches in

the US and Canada and also

served as missionaries to Ro-

mania. She is the mother of four

adult children and grandmother

to one grandson. She has spent

her adult life juggling the de-

mands of family and ministry.

In addition, she teaches history

and missions courses at NIU,

where she is also the Archivist,

in charge of preserving special

collections. Please be in

prayer for her as she

prepares for her time

with our ladies.

Workshop sessions

will include topics on

making Scripture su-

preme in your home,

hospitality, raising godly

children, respecting your

husband, and content-

ment.

The cost for the

weekend is $75 for over-

night lodging and meals

during the retreat. Other

retreat price options may

be available as the re-

treat gets closer. More

detailed information will

be coming in January

2012. We thank you for

your prayers for this

time as our women

come together to be

encouraged and chal-

lenged with the truth of

God's Word.

MBA State Ladies Retreat, 2012

Missionary Full Circle, from page 1

Page 3 Volume V, Issue 6

reminder that God’s faithful-

ness is mankind’s only hope.

They also remind us to flee the

love of this world and remain

faithful to our Christian duties.

These same themes pervade the

sibilities seriously.”

“We will be devoured by

this world and bound to dark-

ness if we fail to turn from our

worldliness. “

These quotes provide a

preaching of our MBA

churches. It is encouraging to

hear them preached in a re-

stricted access nation.

Restricted Access, from page 1

A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION

PO Box 527 Willmar, MN 56201-0527

We’re on the web! http:www.mbaoc.org

MBA Contacts

Minnesota Baptist Association

Rev. Gerald Stephens, President

Community Baptist Church

PO Box 212

New Prague, MN 56071

(952) 758-3287

pastor@npcbc.org

Interim State Missionary

Rev. Robert Fuller, Sr.

1549 118th Lane NW

Coon Rapids, MN 55448

(763) 568-4078

rjfsr4@juno.com

MBA Office

contact@mbaoc.org

Minnesota Baptist Association

PO Box 527

Willmar, MN 56201-0527

Send Contributions to:

Mr. Brian Veth, MBA Treasurer

c/o Coon Rapids Baptist Church

11164 Hanson Blvd.

Coon Rapids, MN 55433

Send Update Articles and Pictures to:

drjfjr@comcast.net

North Star Update Editor

315 S. Payne St.

New Ulm, MN 56073

(507) 354-3323

Larry Johnson, from page 2 establish a new church in Coon

Rapids. Dr. Robert Myrant

became pastor of the church in

St. Paul during the summer and

on January 27, 1963, the first

unit of their new building was

dedicated at 296 East Cottage

Ave.

The May, 1963, issue of

the NSB states that the Coon

Rapids fellowship was growing

so fast that a larger temporary

location was needed. A Recog-

nition Council was held at Faith

Baptist Church of St. Paul on

March 31, 1964, to recognize

the new Coon Rapids Baptist

Church as a “duly organized

and properly constituted Baptist

church.” Rev. Edgar W.

Mitchell, of Pine Bluff, Arkan-

sas, became the church’s first

pastor on July, 26, 1964. In

August of 1964, the church

voted to construct a combina-

tion church-parsonage with a

seating capacity of 138-150.

Groundbreaking took place on

March 14, 1965, with a dedica-

tion service on July 10, 1966.

Brother and Sister Johnson

then undertook to start a new

church in the Johnsville-

Soderville area north of the

Twin Cities. The new work was

called the Fair Oaks Baptist

Fellowship (NSB, January,

1965). Pastor Theodore F. Jess

was called to the Fair Oaks

Baptist Church on July 11,

1965. A recognition council

was convened by the church on

October 12, 1965. The church

burned their mortgage on No-

vember 26, 1967.

The March, 1967, issue of

the North Star Baptist reported

Brother Larry Johnson was

encouraged by the progress of

the work in Duluth. At the time

of the reporting they had a nu-

cleus of 5 families and a par-

tially equipped church building.

The Bible Baptist Church of

Duluth was officially organized

on August 13, 1967.