Churches:

Argenta

Arthur

Atwood

Boody

Calvary

Emmanuel

Fellowship

Findlay

Forsyth

Galilee

Hammond

Heyworth

Lincoln

Lovington

Mt. Zion

Shiloh

Sullivan

Summit Avenue

Tabernacle

Tri-Valley

Mission Statement

Central Baptist

Association exists to

foster relationships

among churches in

order to assist them in

fulfilling the Great

Commission.

The Vision of CBA is

to see churches collabo-

rating together to build

the Kingdom of God.

In This Issue:

Front Page-Nine

Essentials for Guest-

friendly Church Bulletins

Page 2-66th Annual

Meeting Highlights

Page 3-Coming events

and Birthday’s

Back page-News from

the Pews & Calendar

Central Baptist Association (217) 615-0192

Email: CBADecaturOffice@yahoo.com

Volume XVIII No. 8

October 2015

1255 S. Lake Ridge Ave.

Decatur, IL 62521

Website: www.cbadecatur.com

By Jonathan Howe at Thom Rainer.com

In many circles, the church bulletin or

worship folder is perceived to be old school,

the tool of staid and traditional churches.

Leaders with such a perspective are missing

an incredible opportunity to put something in

the hands of guests that, at least anecdotally,

increases the chances they will return.

It is for that reason that I see the church

bulletin to be first for guests. While church

members can benefit from it, the most

effective use comes from those who are new

to your church. I thus note nine essentials for

church bulletin with the guest in mind.

1. Worship times. Many bulletins are

retained for future use. It is thus

imperative for the worship times to be

prominent in them.

2. Physical address of church. You

want to encourage the guest to return,

so include the physical address of the

church for their GPS.

3. Website and social media links. This

is a primary means of communication

for our culture. Your church must be

speaking that language, and guests

need to know where to find you

online.

4. Email and telephone contact. Make

certain there is an email and telephone

contact so the guest can get more

information on the church. Also,

make certain someone responds

quickly to any inquires.

5. Prayer request contact. I encourage

all churches to have some type of

prayer chain, either email or

telephone. Many guests to your

church will communicate with you

through a prayer line before any other

means. Make certain those contacts

are in the bulletin, and make certain

you have someone responding

promptly to them.

6. Sermon notes. I have been surprised at

the number of guests who are eager to

take notes during the sermon. They

expect to have a place to take notes.

7. Major events. Never clutter a bulletin

with a multitude of events and regularly

scheduled activities. Most of the time,

the event should be an event for

everyone, and should be considered of

major value to the congregation.

8. Vision or mission statement. This

(hopefully) succinct statement will

communicate to the guests what really

matters at your church.

9. Order of service. Some churches have

gotten away from putting the order of

service in the bulletin. I think that’s a

mistake from a guest-friendly

perspective. Guests may not have a clue

what’s taking place in the worship

services. Make certain they have a clue.

One item that may seem like an obvious

omission is a guest registration card. We

have found that these cards are more

effective if they are placed as loose cards in

the bulletin, rather than perforated cards the

guests must tear off.

Again, let me emphasize that the

bulletin is a primary tool to connect with

guests. If you have abandoned this practice

because it does not have a cool factor,

please reconsider. It’s making a huge

difference in churches that are using it

intentionally to reach out to guests.

Added note: Please proofread your bulletins.

And then have someone else proofread them

and I don’t mean have someone glance over

them to see if they “look good.” Poor

spelling, grammar errors, and typos, don’t

make a good impression on guests.

At the same time, no one is perfect, so be

nice to your secretary, or yourself, if there is

an occasional mistake.

The 66th Annual Meeting of Central Baptist

Association is now history. We’d like to thank the

members of Lincoln Southern Baptist Church for

their hospitality in hosting the event and for

preparing the continental breakfast and lunch sides to

accompany the pulled pork. Special thanks to Marge Shore and

her kitchen crew.

We’d also like to thank Dawn Decker of Argenta for

leading the congregational singing and Marian

Blankenship for playing the piano.

There were 70 people in attendance with 52, of our

99 messengers, representing 14, of our 20, churches.

The meeting started with a prayer for Pastor Dennis

Shaw, who’s been in the St. Louis VA hospital since Sept. 23rd.

The Moderator for the new CBA year is Mark Lash,

Fellowship Baptist, Shelbyville. This is the first time a layman

has be Moderator in the 14 years I’ve been Ministry Assistant.

The Assistant Moderator and Assistant Clerk spots were left

vacant after no one was nominated to fill the positions. The other

positions of Clerk and Treasurers will remain the same: Chris

Granda, Clerk; Tom Leach, Treasurer and Dawn Brown, Asst.

Treasurer.

Randy Johnson, Senior Pastor of Tabernacle, was

voted in as the Co-Partnership Coordinator for the

Pastor’s Leadership Equipping Team and

Administrative Duties.

The Proposed Constitution changes were passed

with corrections and deletions. Those changes will

be made and sent out to all the churches in the next several

weeks.

Several of our CBA churches celebrated Anniversaries in

2015. Moderator Lanny Faulkner presented framed certificates

of recognition to the following: Tri-Valley for 20 years;

Fellowship, Shelbyville for 25 years; FBC, Lovington for 60

years; Southern BC, Sullivan for 65 years; FBC, Boody for 70

years; and Hammond Missionary for 115 years.

We had greetings from some of our

Partnership Agencies, including: Pat

Pajak from IBSA; Alan McIntire from

BCH&FS; Penny Weaver from NLPC and

Doug Morrow from Baptist Foundation.

Every year we present our CBA churches with

Excellence in Ministry Awards that we take from

the Annual Church Profile information. This year

in Baptisms, Tabernacle was #1 in Baptisms and

Giving to the CBA; FBC, Mt. Zion was #2; and

there was a three way tie for #3 with Arthur So.,

and Calvary both having 7 baptisms and Atwood with 6

baptisms. This year for giving to the CBA, Arthur SBC was #2;

Emmanuel was #3.

In percentage of

income that was given

to the CBA, Hammond

Missionary was #1; a

tie between Lincoln So., and FBC,

Lovington for #2; and Heyworth came in #3.

A new category was added this year for

Participation in Missions and Giving to Missions, with

Tabernacle being #1 in both categories; FBC, Mt. Zion

as #2 for giving to missions, Galilee

came in #3 in missions participation and

therer was a tie for #3 in giving to

Missions between Arthur Southern and

FBC, Lovington. Congratulations to all

of these churches for their achievements

this year.

A motion was made to give the Shaws money from

the Pastor’s benevolence to help with the hospital and

travel expenses they’re incurring. After a wonderful lunch of pulled pork prepared by

Lee Mix and the side dishes prepared by the ladies of

Lincoln So., we started the second session.

J.J. Hairston shared his report from the

Missions team and encouraged the pastors

to participate in the offer Manna

Worldwide Ministries was offering (see

next page for details). He asked Don Lusk

to share about Disaster Relief Missions. Pastor Don

showed some slides of the DR team from this

summer’s cleanup after a tornado in ____, IL.

Will Ferguson shared his report from

the Church Relations team. He had Marian

Blankenship and Dawn Decker share about

their experiences on Prayer Walks.

Randy Johnson shared his report for the

Pastor’s Leadership team.

Several churches gave reports of what the Lord’s

been doing in their churches.

Tim Sadler brought the Annual Message from

Ephesians 3:14-21, he titled “The Glory of God.” He

challenged us to take our eyes off of our selves and our

surroundings and keep them on the Lord God.

We ended the session with a time of prayer.

Tuesday, December 1st, 2015 5:30 PM-Meal & 6:00 PM-Meeting

At CBA Office/Emmanuel Baptist Church

Fellowship Area

Manna Worldwide Offering

CBA Pastors Trip MANNA Worldwide has recently contacted J.J.

Hairston, Galilee’s Pastor, with an offer for an all-

expense-paid trip for Central Baptist Association Pastor’s

to come to the mission field and see for themselves the

effectiveness of MANNA ministry and offer them the

opportunity to be involved in what the Lord is doing. The

trip would be Monday through Friday so no one will have

to miss a Sunday in the pulpit. The only cost to you will be

your airfare. This is a tremendous opportunity to get

yourself and your church involved in real Great

Commission/Great Commandment work. If you are

interested in this, please contact Pastor Hairston as soon as

possible (See contact information below). There are no

specific dates as yet. Dates will be determined by the

availability of those who are interested in going.

J.J. Hairston, Pastor of Galilee BC, Decatur, IL

Cell phone: 217-412-2230

KIDS Ministry Conference October 23-24, 2015

IBSA offices in Springfield, IL Friday registration starts at 6 PM

And there are two breakout sessions

before dismissal at 9:15 PM.

Saturday’s registration begins at 8 AM

and has 3 breakout sessions and

one large group session before ending at 1:30 PM.

(On Saturday-Lunch is included.)

Some of the sessions include:

LifeWay’s Preschool and Children’s Curriculum

Overviews, When the Kids are bouncing off the walls,

Discovering Prospects for Kids Ministry, Children’s

Ministry Day Site Coordinator Training, Involving Kids

in Corporate Worship, Help, I’m a New Kids Ministry

Leader and lots more.

Hannibal-LaGrange University’s

Music Department presents:

Festival of Hymns

3 PM on Sunday, November 1st, 2015 Hannibal-LaGrange University’s Roland Fine Arts Center Parker Theater

2800 Palmyra Rd., Hannibal, MO

Admission is 3 canned goods per person

that will go towards the local food bank.

Enjoy hearing the:Mark Twain Chorale,

HLGU Concert Choir &

Festival Choir

Singing traditional hymns

For more information: 573-629-3161 or www.hlg.edu

Birthdays

4-Julie Baker (Heyworth)

11-Lataine Crowther (Forsyth)

15-Bridget Ferguson (Argenta)

17-Taylor Smith (Mt. Zion)

21-Seth Crowther (Forsyth)

30-Katie Ferguson (Argenta)

Church Ann.

1998-Steve Lindstrom (Findlay)

2001 (10/8)-Christine Granda (CBA Secretary)

October 2015 PASTOR APPRECIATION MONTH 11th-Youth Encounter 2015 at Tabernacle

12th-Columbus Day

23rd-24th-Children’s Ministry Resource Conf. at IBSA Bldg.

November 2015 1st-Daylight Savings Time Ends (set clocks back 1 hour Sat. night)

3rd-Election Day

11th-Veteran’s Day

11th-12th-IBSA Annual Meeting at FBC, Marion

17th at 10 AM-Senior Adult Thanksgiving Banquet

26th-HAPPY THANKSGIVING-Office Closed

29th-Dec. 6th-Week of Prayer for International Missions

& Lottie Moon Off.

attend the "Women of Faith" confer-

ence in Chicago on Sept. 25-26.

We started a new Ladies Bible

Study, under the leadership of Sister

Priscilla Wall, on Sept. 29 with the

intention of reaching out to the ladies

of the community as well as the ladies

of our church. We will meet at 10:30

am each Tuesday.

Our church has led in the organiz-

ing of Sullivan participating in the

"National Life Chain." LIFE CHAIN

is a peaceful and prayerful public

witness of pro-life individuals standing

for 60-90 minutes praying for our

nation and for an end to abortion. It is

a visual statement of solidarity by the

Christian community that abortion

kills children and that the Church

supports the sanctity of human life

from the moment of conception until

natural death. "National Life Chain" is

Sunday, Oct. 4. We would like to

FBC, Atwood-We had our Sunday

School Promotion on Sunday, September

6th. Our AWANA Clubs got off to a great

start September 9th. Our Youth are planning

to attend Youth Encounter on October

11th. They also have a Hay Ride and Cook-

Out scheduled for October 24th. Pastor

Lanny continues to hold Theology Classes on

the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month. On

October 11th we will begin to prepare for

this year's Children's Christmas Program,

"Christmas Is Jesus."

Sullivan Southern-On Sept. 12 the ladies

of the Sullivan Southern Baptist Church did a

prayer walk during the morning. Afterwards

they met at a restaurant and had breakfast

together.

We have served two meals in Sept. for the

Habitat for Humanity building crew. After

weeks of promotion, we had several ladies

encouraging all the churches of CBA

to participate in your local communi-

ties. Check out the LIFE CHAIN web

site for more information.

We will again have a booth at this

year’s Octoberfest in Sullivan on Oct.

16-17. We will hand out free home-

made cookies and gospel tracts. It

gives us a great opportunity to talk

with people in a non threatening

atmosphere. They love the cookies and

will usually give us an opportunity to

talk with them.

On Oct. 31, 6-8:00 pm, we will be

doing "Holy House" again. We setup

several rooms in which "Trick or

Treaters" can journey through and hear

a Bible Story told. They receive candy

in each room. They always hear a

gospel presentation at the last

stop. They are also given a coloring

book of the stories they heard and a

gospel tract.

CBA PHONE NUMBER

(217) 615-0192

PASTOR’S LUNCH GATHERING

Thursday, Nov. 9th at 11:30 AM Meal provided—Please RSVP.

More details in November Focus.

Associational Newsletter Access The Central Baptist Association’s e-Focus Newsletter will be

done online as an email through Constant Contact twice a month to

the email addresses I have been given. If you’d like to be added to

this email list, please Contact Chris by calling (217) 615-0192 or

cbaoffice@comcast.net.

In addition, one copy of the Focus will be sent monthly to the

church pastor or secretary to be printed and given out to those who

don’t have emails or prefer a paper copy.

October is Pastor Appreciation Month. IBSA has a guide

you can download and print off with suggestions and prayer

for your pastor.

Some of the suggestions are: Send a note of encourage-

ment. Pray for him and his family. Wash his car. Mow his

lawn or make household repairs. Give him a plaque of

appreciation and a special service or reception. Take them

out for a meal. Give a gift certificate. Provide an overnight

or weekend getaway for the pastor and his wife, or family.

Celebrate achievements with your pastor and staff when

they reach certain milestones, such as: educational

advancements, years of service, etc. Provide sabbaticals,

vacations and retreats, continuing education opportunities,

health insurance, retirement. To get the booklet, go to www.ibsa.org/church_health.

(It’s 3 pages front and back.)