April/May 2015

From the Moderator Pg. 2 Traveling Wall Pg. 2 Moody Pastors Conference Pg. 2 Mining for God Pg. 3 Port Ministry Pg. 3 Pastors/Wives Appreciation Pg. 3 Church Anniversaries Pg. 4 On the Calendar Pg. 4 Property Improvments Pg. 4 Missional Connection Pg. 4

in this issue

Serving the Palm Beaches for 75 Years Palm Beach Baptist Network * 5710 N Haverhill Rd. * West Palm Beach, FL 33407

561.640.7522

Stewardship for Pastors Wednesday, April 8th, 10 AM Palm Springs Baptist Church 3300 10th Avenue N * Palm Springs 561.965.8970

Markers for Measuring Discipleship Pastor Edward Johnson speaks from experience. With 25 years’ experience as pastor at First Baptist Ocala, he led that

church from a $300K budget to a multi-million dollar budget, and through $22 million in building programs. Today the church is debt free, and Pastor Johnson has retired to serve our state as Director of the Cooperative Program Department of the Florida Baptist

Convention.

Pastor Johnson will be speaking on Wednesday, April 8, at our an-nual stewardship meeting, hosted this year by Palm Springs Baptist Church. The gathering will last from 10 AM to Noon, and lunch is

provided.

Pastors are encouraged to attend and to bring the financial deci-

sion-makers with you.

There are new resources that will be made available for budget and stewardship in your church, and new on-line resources will be unveiled. Visit our website at www.PBBN.org, to register for this

important opportunity.

Tuesday, April 28th, 7 PM First Baptist Church

Delray Beach Moderator & Pastor Steve Thom-as will be sharing the Network’s vision for the future and report-ing on behalf of the Coordinating Council. Reports from Leadership Development, Mobilization, Church Planting and Church Strengthening Teams will also be made. Join us for an evening of praise, worship and giving God the glory for His blessings in our Network! For pastors, staff and laypersons.

Join Us for the April Pastor’s

Conference April 2, 2015

10:00 to Noon

Common Grounds Coffee BarLake Worth

Pastor Mike Olive has planted a church in downtown Lake Worth. He has faced opposition with love and patience. He and Steve Thomas will lead a discussion on how the church can function in love in the midst of opposition.

From the Moderator Steve Thomas

Many of you have been praying and working for the future of the Palm Beach Baptist Network. It is exciting to see what God is beginning to do in our network. The Coordinating Coun-

cil is working hard to move our network to be effective in church planting, church revitalization, leadership de-velopment, and church mobilization. Here are some of the highlights: Connect Church West, a plant from First Baptist Church of Royal Palm has had its soft launch with over 150 pre-sent. Please pray for Dale Faircloth and his team as they move toward their full launch on Easter Sunday. The Jess Moody Pastor’s conference was a success as many pastors were able to receive excellent training from PBA professors as well as other outstanding pastors. The Re-Charge Bible Study Conference was a success as our network partnered with the Florida Baptist Conven-tion to provide excellent training from lay leaders. In addition, David Whitten of Fishhawk Fellowship provided great insight for pastors on the challenge to assimilate guests.

Here’s what’s coming up: The April Pastor’s Conference will meet at the Common Grounds Coffee Bar in Downtown Lake Worth. Pastor Mike Olive and I will lead our time as we discuss how Mike’s church is seeking to be a blessing to his communi-ty even as they face opposition from city government. The church I pastor, First Baptist Church Delray Beach, will host the Semi-Annual meeting on April 28 at 7:00. Our praise team will lead worship and I will bring the message. In addition, there will be updates on ministry areas and important business to transact. Please make plans to be our guest on April 28. This fall we have several events in the planning stages including our first ever Ministry Wives Appreciation Din-ner. This event is designed to honor and encourage the ones who often have a difficult and thankless job. Other events we are working are a one-day expository preach-ing conference called “Next Level Preaching.” This con-ference will focus on helping preachers take the next step in becoming an outstanding preacher. Finally, we are planning to host a member of the Ethics and Religious Lib-erty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention to help us deal with issues concerning the definition of mar-riage especially as it relates church by-laws. As you can see, there’s a lot going on. Please continue to pray and give faithfully as we work to spread the most important news in the world. Steve

We need your stories and photos!

Share the story of how God is working in your churches with the Network. Send your story and photos to the Network email and we’ll put it on the website, the Facebook page and in the newsletter. Your story will en-courage and help others keep

their focus on the main thing: sharing the Gospel!

Traveling Wall a Ministry Opportunity The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be visiting our area on April 8-15, at the FAU Jupiter campus. Chaplain Tony Beazley from the local VA hospital says, “It may be a once in a life time event” for veterans, their loved ones, and civilians who may never get to go to Washington, DC, to see the Vietnam Memorial Wall. A visit to the wall can be educational to some, and a heal-ing experience to others. It is most certainly an opportunity for ministry to many in our congregations and communities. For more information, go to the web site at www.travelingwall.us.

Jess Moody Pastors’ Leadership Conference The theme “Ministry at the Crossroads: The Pastor as Leader, Preacher, Shepherd, and Evangelist” was pursued by more than 60 pastors at the annual conference presented by the Palm Beach Baptist Network and Palm Beach Atlantic University, with the cooperative assistance of the Florida Baptist Convention. This year’s conference introduced a time of round-table discussion over lunch, providing pastors an opportunity to share perspectives on the challenges of ministry. Watch your email and this newsletter for updates on a planned conference in the fall of this year.

Coordinating Council Monday, April 13, 10 AM

Port Ministry: Safe Harbor

Ken and I went to visit the cruise ship Grand Celebra-tion on March 11th. When you are dealing with govern-ment rules and unsaved peo-ple, sometimes you never know what to expect. I want to tell you about the flood gates that were opened wide by God on this visit. We had collected from 3 Sunday school classes 2 thirty gallon garbage bags of toiletries to give away to the crew members as well as money with which I had purchased 234 pound contain-ers of laundry detergent. This is a heavy load to carry from the cruise ship parking lot all the way to the crew mess where these items were to be distributed. We pulled up to the securi-ty guard shack and told the civilian guard what we had from the church for the crew and could we please be allowed to drive our van right up to the gangway of the ship? The security guard said, "Let me get this straight, you want to give away all these things from the church?” Nodding in the affirmative, the guard said, "Not only am I going to open the gate, but here is a card to put on your car saying you are on official business. You drive right up to that crew gangway, unload your car and park it right under the ropes that anchor that ship. If anyone even looks at you funny, you tell them to come see me and God bless you for what you are doing." We arrived in the crew mess room and proceeded to give out all of the toiletries, plus over 100 copies of the Daily Bread. I was able to bring a good salvation message and one crew mem-ber from India came up to me and asked if I would get him a Bible in English. He said that he was Catholic, but he always wanted to have a copy of God's Word by his side. Crew mem-bers asked us if we could come back at Easter time and we certainly are planning on doing that. In fact, we want to make up over 200 Easter bags to give to some of the crew. There are 650 crew members, but we can probably only manage 200 bags. Would you help us please? In each bag we want to put a small amount of jelly beans, a small chocolate bunny, a pair of work socks (VERY MUCH NEEDED) and a salvation Easter tract which we have ordered in different languages. These people are away from their countries and their families and it would go a long way in building a relationship with them to give out this gift. Please send your financial contributions only so that we can buy in bulk. Send these Easter gifts to the Palm Beach Baptist Network and in the memo put "Port Ministry." Thank you. I saved the best news for last. Many of the crew members wanted to know which church sent these gifts and we told them Family Baptist. Then they wanted to know how many minutes away the church was from the port. When told it would be 15-17 minutes, they looked at one another and said, "Then that means you can arrange for a van to come and pick us up and take us to church with you." When God opens the gate, you had better go through it.

Mining for God Among the many highlights at the recent Jess Moody Pastors’ Leadership Conference was the introduction of young documentary filmmaker Brandon McGuire. A recent graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic University, Brandon has made an investigative film entitled “Mining for God.” From the website www.miningforgod.com— This provocative documentary takes us deep with-

in the American mind and brings to the surface the big ideas that have influenced the way we think about ourselves and about God. Mining For God features interviews with some of America's most prominent Christian thinkers…

The film is engaging and could serve as a basis for a small group study, discipleship tool, or a starting point for a solid conversation with one investigating the claims of Christ. You can check the trailer video at the website, and then order copies for your person-al library and for use in your church.

Pastors & Wives Appreciation Dinner Tuesday, May 12, 7 PM Guest Speakers: Dr. & Mrs. Bob Barnes Location TBA

Does Your Church Need a Web Page? A web page provides an important connection from the church to today’s digitally-oriented community. Yet, web pages can be costly and complicated to start and maintain. For those churches that do not yet have a web presence, we are considering an opportunity that will provide a web presence at an extremely low cost. If you are interested, please call Jim Carr at 561-640-7522. We are trying to assess the need for this service, so it is important that you let us know your interest.

Check out the website!

www.pbbn.org

This newsletter is a publication of the Palm Beach Baptist

Network * 5710 N Haverhill Road * West Palm Beach, FL 33407 *

561.640.7522

Calendar This! April Pastors Conference—4/2/15 Pastors Stewardship Meeting—4/8/15 Missional Connection for Men & Women Who Love Missions—Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center—April 17-18 Coordinating Council—4/13/15 Regional VBS Training , Gulfstream—4/25/15 Semi-Annual Meeting—4/28/15

Happy Anniversaries Two of our Network churches celebrated anniversaries this month:

“The Greater Glory Awaits Us” was the theme as Phila-delphia Baptist Church celebrated 28 years of ministry to the communities of central West Palm Beach. Deacon Leonard Grant is serving as interim pastor, leading this church in times of fast-ing and prayer as they seek breakthrough from the Lord. Florida Gardens Baptist Church (Pastor Travis Laney) celebrated their 35th anniversary on March 29th. Their regular Sunday schedule typically consists of two worship services (acoustic and traditional), but they held a single unified service for the occasion, with an evening fellowship time. If your church has an anniversary or other special day coming up, please let us know ahead of time (palmbeachbaptist @pbbn.org). It will be our joy to join you in celebration!

Property Improvements Benefit Churches and Community In recent months, much-needed repairs have been undertaken to patch and seal the parking lot, fumigate for termites, and re-place broken basketball goals at the Association property at 5710 N. Haverhill Rd. Progress is also being made to clear the adjoin-ing lot, also owned by our Association. The buildings house our Network offices, Jehovah Shalom Baptist Church, Crossroads Bap-tist Church, and an extension of the New Orleans Seminary.

These churches provide valuable ministry while building relation-ships with the surrounding Gramercy Park community. Local youth are to be found nearly every evening and on weekends, playing basketball. Officers from the Palm Beach Sherriff’s Office have taken notice of the churches’ influence and often coordi-nate with Pastor Wayne Padgett (Crossroads) in their efforts to reach neighborhood teens.

The Gramercy Park neighborhood has begun an initiative at Crossroads to engage the youth of the community in mentoring, tutor-ing, college and career counseling, and youth sports. These each represent opportu-nities for building relationships leading to gospel conversations, as the church con-nects with community. Even a recent break-in was used for God’s purposes as a televi-sion news crew recognized the impact the church has in the community, and that the love of Jesus extends even to the one who vandalized the property.

Who Gets the Newsletter? We hope this newsletter is a great blessing to our Network churches and that it serves to keep everyone connected and in-formed. As with any publication, greater circulation means greater effect. Do you print the newsletter to share with others? Do you forward the email? We would like to know how the news-letter gets around. Send your comments and helpful suggestions to palmbeachbaptist@pbbn.org. If you would like to “subscribe” to this newsletter, or have this newsletter sent to others in your church, we would like to hear from you, also. Please send your request to palmbeachbaptist@pbbn.org, with the subject line “subscribe.”