Abee’s Grove

Amherst

Antioch

Asheville Street

Bethel

Bethlehem

Bridge 42

Brookwood

Brown Mountain

Burkemont

Catawba Valley

Central

Community Missionary

Community of Drexel

Connelly Springs First

Cornerstone

Cross Memorial

Drexel First

Drexel Memorial

East Valdese

El Bethel

Enon

First Hmong

Friendship

Gilead

Glen Alpine First

Grace

Grandview

Great American Cowboy

High Peak

Hopewell

Icard’s Grove

Lakeview

Missionary Ridge

Morganton First

Morganton First Deaf

Moriah

Mount Calvary

Mount Home

Mount Olive

Mountain View I

Mountain View II

Mull’s Grove

New Hope In Christ

North Laurel

North Morganton

Oak Grove

Oak Ridge

Pleasant Hill

Pleasant Ridge

Pleasant View

River of Life

Riverside

Rutherford College First

Silver Creek

Smyrna

Solid Rock

South Mountain

Southside

Summit Community

Table Rock

Trinity

United

Valdese First

Walker Road

Wilkies Grove

Zion

1812 US 70 East Morganton, NC 28655 Phone: 828-437-0137

www.crbanc.org

Rev. Larry Thompson Moderator (Calvary)

Rev. Justin Smith Church Development (East Valdese)

Rebecca Ervin Treasurer (Mountain View #2 )

Rev. Drew Dalton Evangelism (Drexel Memorial)

Phil Oakley Director of Missions dom@crbanc.org

Marlene Houk Administrative Assist./Clerk mhouk@crbanc.org Rev. Kevin Purcell Missions (High Peak) Rev. Eddy Bunton WPCC Min Coordinator (Burkemont) ebunton@burkemontbaptistchurch.org

Rev. Michael Gantt Prayer (Mount Olive)

January—March 2015

2015 Annual Meeting—Spring Session

Thursday, March 26, 2015

East Valdese Baptist Church,

101 Eldred St. Valdese, NC

Meal: 6:00 PM; Program: 7:00 PM,

Larry Phillips, special speaker, Strategy Coordinator for the Unifour Area with the NC Baptist State Convention.

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 2

Association News

CRBA Toy Store The Lord hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.—Psalm 126:3

A HUGE THANK YOU to all the churches, agencies, and individual sponsors outside our association who have generously and willingly overwhelmed the Toy Store with toys, time spent in counseling, organizing, helping, shopping, planning, and a myriad of tasks that enabled the Toy Store to run smoothly for its 20th year! May God bless you richly for your gifts to Him!

Thank you Sally Dixon!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Mrs. Jean Smith who has accepted the mantle of the Toy Store’s co-coordinator! We appreciate her willingness to reach out to others with the

Gospel of Jesus Christ through the gifts of toys at Christmastime. Please pray for her as she works with Mrs. Janet McDaniel by ‘stretching out her hands to the

needy’ and inviting them in to His Kingdom!

A HUGE THANK YOU to Mrs. Sally Dixon, our Toy Store worker of 15 years and coordinator of 8 years! We are grateful for your willingness to serve, your many hours of hard work, organization skills, and most of all your compassion for children. Thank you for your commitment to “a full selec-tion of toys at the end of the week as at the beginning,” for your ability to see God at work among His people, and for the generous offer of your gifts, skills, and abilities to point others to Jesus!

From: Sally Dixon

I thank God for the blessing of serving the families of Burke County and showing them His Love in all the ways we demonstrate it through The Toy Store Mission and Ministry. Also, I have loved experiencing The Body of Christ in action as we volunteers have worked together. It has been humbling to be a part of something that brings followers of Christ together.

Your part: Pray: for next year’s Toy Store Go: volunteer in many ways for the Lord Give: donations or new toys Rejoice: in the LORD’s work!

Left to right: Mrs. Sally Dixon; Mrs. Janet McDaniel-2014 Toy Store Coordinators

Toy Store—20th year—2014 9 precious and priceless souls have been won to the Lord! Many invitations were extended to join the local church in its service to the Lord. 669 children out of 302 families served in the name of Jesus Christ! Many volunteers from our churches and beyond have worked together to:

*Meet needs *Experience God’s corporate blessings: *Serve the Lord “doing together what we cannot do apart” *Form new friends/renew friendships *Create new stories of grace and mercy *Fellowship and strengthen the body of Christ *Invite others to know Christ as Savior

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 3

North Carolina Baptists On Mission will host a night of

missions inspiration as we experience what God is doing

through North Carolina Baptist volunteers in our state, our

nation, and around the world. Included will be times of wor-

ship, mission testimony, videos, and updates on mission

opportunities. Mark your calendars now for this exciting missions event

for men, women, and youth.

Event Location: Penelope Baptist Church 3310 Main Ave NW Hickory, NC 28601 Event Date/Time: Monday, February 16, 2014, 6:00 PM—8:30 PM Event Cost: FREE! But you must have your reservation no later than February 9, 2014. To register, call Mary Alice Landis at 1-800-395-5102 x 5596 or register online at www.BaptistsOnMission.org/events/regional-rallies/mission-rallies

NC Baptist State Convention and WMU Events

To read the online maga-

zine, go to this link:

http://goo.gl/0wCHB1

The missions and ministries of the North Carolina Wom-an’s Missionary Union are made possible by your gifts to the Heck-Jones Offering. They include: Restorative justice (prison ministry) Camp Angel Tree Ministry NC Baptist Nursing Fellow-ship Camp Mundo Vista Ministers’ Spouse’s support Military Ministry Multicultural Ministry Missions Training and Mis-sions Leader Training NC Christian Women’s Job

Corp/Men’s Job Corp Missions Partnership Missions Organization Start Up Missions Organization Support Promotion:Missions Awareness Missionary Start Up Short-Term Missions Volunteers ...and many more!

Week of Prayer February 9—15, 2014

Woman’s Missionary Union—Children’s Ministry Day

Join thousands of children across North America in hands-on ministry in your community on Saturday, February 14, 2015 for Children's Ministry Day! Over the years, more than 150,000 people have been involved in Chil-dren’s Ministry Day

TM! WMU invites all

children in grades 1–6 to participate. More information? Call our associational leaders: Marie Swink (828) 397-6253 or Kay MacVicar (828) 584-0822 or: Email: children@wmu.org NC WMU: (919) 882-2344 Website:

http://goo.gl/A5lG7v

http://heck-

jonesoffering.org/

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 4

Church News and Announcements

Youth Rally—Area Wide!

Cost: $ 10.00-advance tickets; $12.00 at the door, call/text Tonya Williams (828) 443-6412 or the church at (828) 437-7803

Program: Keynote Speaker: Chris Allen, www.ChrisAllenMinistries.com/

Speaker: Kesha Nichols, speaks out against bullying Testimony: Sarah Poteet Harrison, Triple Negative Breast Cancer Survivor Music: Three16 Band, www.three16band.com/

Oak Ridge Baptist Church—Singing 7449 Oak Ridge Church Rd. Connelly Springs, NC Sunday, January 4, 2015, 6:00 PM

Cornerstone Baptist Church—Singing 300 Lovelady Rd, Valdese, NC

Sunday, January 4, 2015, 6:00 PM

Everyone is invited to attend this special worship service.

Quartet: Purpose,

A love offering will be taken.

Mount Home Baptist Church—Singing 2272 Mount Home Church Rd. Morganton, NC Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, 6:00 PM A love offering will be taken.

Mount Home Baptist Blood Drive Red Cross Blood Drive,

Tuesday, February 10, 2015,

3:00-7:30 pm fellowship hall

(828) 437-0593

Scan this qr code

with smartphone to

hear, “How Great

Thou Art” piano

solo by Kim Col-

lingsworth

When: Saturday, March 28, 2015, 3:00 PM

Where: Amherst Baptist Church, 1024 Amherst Rd., Morganton, NC

Three 16 Band

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 5

WHO IS ANNIE?

Each year, we honor the life and advocacy of Annie Walker Armstrong (1850-1938) when

we give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American missions. As a tire-

less servant of God and a contagious advocate and supporter of missions efforts throughout

the world, Annie Armstrong led women to unite in

missions endeavors that ultimately led to the formation of Woman’s Missionary Union, for

which she served as the first corresponding secretary. Annie believed in and followed Christ

with all her heart, but it was her hands that expressed that belief in tangible ways. She spent a

great amount of time typing and handwriting letters in support of missions. Many of these

letters were quite lengthy and all were filled with conviction that more could and should be

done in our missions efforts. Annie also never hesitated to use her hands to reach out to hug

a child or distribute food, clothing and the Word of God to those in need. Her hands held her

own Bible as she studied to know how best to share Gods love with others. And, most im-

portant, Annie was a woman of prayer, folding her hands in prayer to intercede for the mis-

sionaries and for those they were helping discover Christ. Annie rallied churches to give

more, pray more and do more for reaching people for Christ. As modern-day missions advo-

cates unite to continue that work today, we can be confident that her legacy will also be ours.

Week of Prayer for North American

Missions and The Annie Armstrong

Easter Offering Goal for 2015:

$60 million

March 1—8, 2015

Grace Baptist Church would like to welcome Rev. Divin Hildebrand as the new Associate Pastor and Youth Min-ister. His wife’s name is Twyla, and

they have three children: Beau, Taylor, and Jess. They will begin on January 4, 2015. Grace is excited to have he and his family join together with them in serving the Lord.

www.anniearmstrong.com/

Scan this qr code

with smartphone

to see a video

about Annie

Armstrong.

For more than twenty-five years, Dr. Thom Rainer has helped churches grow, reverse the trends of decline, and has autopsied those that have died. From this experience, he has discovered twelve consistent themes among those churches that have died. Yet, it’s not gloom and doom because from those twelve themes, lessons on how to keep your church alive have emerged.

http://thomrainer.com/2013/04/24/autopsy-of-a-deceased-church-11-things-i-learned/

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 6

___________________CRBA-Calendar_________________

January

Jan 5— Ministers’ Conference – Prayer Jan 6 – Missions Team Meeting – 9:00 AM Jan 7 – Admin. Team Meeting – 1:30 PM Jan 12 – Ministers’ Conference – 1:30 PM Jan 19 – Ministers’ Conference Jan 26 – Ministers’ Conference

February

Feb 2—Ministers Conference – Prayer Feb 9—Ministers’ Conference Feb 14—Children’s Ministry Day, www.wmunc.org or booklet Feb 16—Ministers’ Conference Feb 16—Region 8 Baptist Men’s Rally, see article, page 3 Feb 18—Admin. Team meeting 1:30 PM Feb 23—Ministers’ Conference Feb 23—State Evangelism Conf. 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

March

March 2 – Ministers’ Conference – Prayer March 9 – Ministers’ Conference March 16 – Ministers’ Conference March 23 – Ministers’ Conference March 26 – Spring Meeting, March 26, 2014, East Valdese Baptist Church, 6:00-meal; 7:00-program March 30 – Ministers’ Conference

How to lead others to the LORD

Videos by Dr. Steve Parker, Zion Baptist Church Morganton, NC

Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Burke County Pastors’ Network: a network of biblical and faith based cler-gy and church liaisons whose objective is to build a permanent infrastructure of like-minded clergy who:

Affirm Scripture’s authority/encourage revival

Obey Jesus’ command to be “salt and light” to culture

Encourage informed Christian thinking about contemporary

social issues

Examine public policy issues without politicizing pulpits,

using well-prepared teaching and preaching resources Engage congregations to take part in our political process

President: Dave Kistler, Evangelist (828) 302-2060,

www.facebook.com/ncpn2013, www.ncpastors.net Email Newsletter: request at ncpn2013@gmail.com

Rev. Burt Wilbur—Pleasant View Baptist has written a book called, Building A Pyramid Of

Understanding about our relationship to a multi-dimensional God.

He is available for training in this book. Call the office (828) 437-0137

http://goo.gl/XFalkk

Catawba River Baptist Association Page 7

From The Director’s Desk… We enter into a new year with a great deal of anticipation as we seek the Lord and anticipate what He has in store

for us. I look at things from a global perspective as I work to encourage our churches to be involved in ministry to

the people of Burke County and beyond. We live in a world that is in bad shape and we must be desperate to share

with our world the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him Crucified. We must also be desperate to focus on discipleship

as we individually seek to become greater disciples of Jesus and then lead others to become disciples with us. This

will be so that we can make an impact on others so that the Kingdom of God can expand around the world.

I have consulted with our leadership team for the Association and we together want to lead our churches to focus on two ma-

jor things. First, in the area of church health, I want to encourage our churches to take a look at yourselves and try to deter-

mine the degree of your health. Healthy churches are those that are seeking to minister to the community around them and

are making an impact upon the lost, showing compassion and love to try to draw people into their ministries and share the

Gospel with people. Is your church a healthy church or is your entire ministry focused on yourselves? Are you drawing

people to be involved in what you are doing or are you just ministering to your own? Are you taking the church to the com-

munity or are you just doing things in your house and asking others to come to you?

In our day, it is important to find an honest answer to these questions. It is important that we seek to become a healthy

church that reaches out into our world in ways that we draw people to the Lord. If you are not healthy, admit it. I am in the

process of asking some of our churches who are having success in reaching people to be willing to partner with another

church who wants to know how to reach out to people. These partnerships might include all kinds of things depending on

the needs of the churches who need help and the strengths of the churches who are giving the help. I have already seen some

possibilities of this kind of partnership and pray that God would help us bring these possibilities to realization that will result

in successful partnerships. I hope that you and your church would give this idea some prayerful thought so that we can help

our churches grow and develop in the way that God desires in order to build His Kingdom as we work together.

The second thing that we want to emphasize is the need to become more active in the ministry to our local college campus.

We really have the need to see that campus as a mission field and we are trying to put together ways that the people of our

churches can minister to students. These volunteers can become our missionaries to the campus and we would seek to ar-

range ways that these missionaries can connect with the students at the times that they are on campus. It might involve as an

example, law enforcement officers connecting with those who are studying and preparing for that field so that the missionary

can connect with them in discipleship ministries. Other courses of study might be targeted by people who are already trained

in that profession so that the common interest could be used to allow the missionary to share the Gospel with lost students

and reach them for Christ. This kind of ministry would make a difference on the Western Piedmont campus. It would also

require an open door to the campus like we have had in the past. Please pray that we will have that open door and that God would lead you and your church as to how you can be involved. I want to wish you a Happy New Year. May God richly bless you and your church body in a way that you would become

all that He wants you to be in this New Year.

Your Servant,

Phil Oakley

Disciple-Making Conference NEW: Women’s Track! February 23, 2015 Center Grove Baptist Church 8750 Lasater Rd, Clemmons, NC

This conference will: Prepare you to connect with unbelievers in a modern con-

text to give the Gospel Equip you with practical steps to reach the lost Enable you to create a disciple-making culture in your

church, community, and everyday life.

Ed Stetzer: Grace Church Hendersonville, Tenn

Robby Gallaty Brainerd Baptist Church Chattanooga, Tenn http://brainerdbaptist.org/

Lori McDaniel Global Mission Catalyst—IMB https://arminwives. wordpress.com

Afshin Ziafat: Providence Church, Frisco, Tex. www.AfshinZiafat.com

http://goo.gl/zFj5D1

Non Profit Organization US Postage Paid

Permit #55 Morganton, NC 28655

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. John 7:38

Happy Anniversary! Happy Birthday!

Transformation Journey- A Local Prison Ministry whose mission is to reduce recidivism by helping men rebuild their lives through a rela-tionship with Jesus Christ. Contact Ray Brewington, (828) 205-2551, or (828) 437-9241, Email: ray.brewington@yahoo.com

Jan

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Marc

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Western Piedmont Community College Campus Ministry: Rev. Eddy Bunton, (828) 443-1047 Let your students know that we provide a Bible Study, service opportunities through the campus community, leadership opportunities through stu-dent government and networking with other cam-puses through our Baptist Student Network.

Gary Cline Bethel 25

Gary Garner Enon 26

Debbie Cooper El Bethel 27

Glestia Morgan Grace 29

Pat Bland Morg 1st 10

Kenneth Mashburn Mtn. View 2 27

Orlando Mendez River of Life 29

Veronica Klapp East Valdese 13

Johnny Shelton Brown Mtn. 22

Paul Dula Lakeview 10

Jeannette Schuszler Mgtn 1st 10

Margaret Smith Pleasant Ridg 14

Brenda Parker Zion 27

Eddy Bunton Burkemont 9

Freddie Williams Silver Creek 11

Ron Cooper El Bethel 15

Earl Cross Brookwood 27

Michelle Townsend Con.Spr.1st 23

Rev. & Mrs. Ralph May Zion-retired Feb 13

Rev. & Mrs. Phil King Friendship Mar 3

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