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John V. Upton, Executive Director |
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Dear {FIRST_NAME},
Welcome to the latest edition of Advance Notice. We hope that this monthly eNewsletter provides you with relevant, useful information and resources.
“True March Madness: Living with Teenagers in their Natural Habitats”
In the dead of winter it is often fun to reflect on former days when life bordered on madness and we didn’t know it. Only in reflection do we gain an appreciation for the joy of life as we know it now. It wasn’t long ago that my wife and I had a fresh reminder of what life is like living with teenagers. We had a young lady live with us for five or six months as she dealt with some major issues in her life and past. Deb and I were thrilled at having a young, vivacious, and engaging presence in the house. It was a thrill, but there were some things we had forgotten.
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There is no doubt that strong, positive, spiritual leadership is necessary in order for a church to share the love of Jesus with people in their community and around the world. In order for a church to carry out the Great Commission, beginning with her own community, dramatic change has to take place in the DNA of that church. Learn how at the Pastor-Deacon-Church Leadership Retreat, May 11-12, 2007 at Eagle Eyrie. Online registration is open!
The “Seeds” workshop is only for folks who are ready to grow. The theological difference in “organic” leadership is that it believes down deep that the church of Jesus Christ is really alive and practices an approach to leadership that honors that dynamic life. We’ve been taught that the church is a machine...so we lead mechanically and too often end up breaking churches. Learn more from Dr. Bob Dale in this series of workshops in SW Virginia.
Summer youth workers and youth ministry interns...get an Extreme Makeover that will help you re-tool and upgrade your youth ministry program for this summer. And, full-time and volunteer youth ministers, take advantage of workshops that will help you craft new blueprints for your year-round programs.
IMPACT! is now the “umbrella” program name of a variety of youth mission camps offered by the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. Check out Impact Virginia!, Impact NOW!, Impact Metro!, and Impact International! by clicking the graphic above.
The Virginia Baptist Mission Board is offering a specialized training with national certification from the North American Mission Board in the areas of Royal Ambassadors, Challengers, Baptist Men, Church-Wide Missions, and Lay Renewal.
In March 1877 – 130 years ago – a dedicated Baptist layman named Milton Thomas Fristoe died at his home in Front Royal, Virginia. He was only 49 years old, and yet he had already accomplished an outstanding record as a civic and church leader. He also made a momentous personal decision which cast him into the role of a philanthropist. With his death, a noble cause ultimately would benefit. But I am ahead of my story.
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 Each month, we will provide you with downloadable calendars to guide you in reading the Bible through in 2007. This month, we are including the April 2007 calendar. We are strong believers in reading God’s Holy Word, and we pray that these calendars will help you and your church in reading the Bible regularly. Each calendar is provided in two formats (8.5 x 11 and 5.5 x 8.5, the latter designed for bulletin inserts) and may be viewed and downloaded here.
As always, we want to hear from you with your feedback. How can we better communicate with you? How can we better serve you? Let us know your thoughts by sending an e-mail to Paige Peak at paige.peak@vbmb.org.
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Each month in this space we feature a different BGAV ministry partner. We hope these articles will help you gain a greater understanding of the Baptist General Association of Virginia.
 Piankatank Camp and Conference Center was purchased by Virginia Baptists in 1961 to be a Royal Ambassador camp. In its early days, boys camped out in platform tents and wagons. Today Piankatank is a co-ed camp and conference center with modern facilities. All of its comfortable cabins have bathrooms and air conditioning. The dining hall, which is also the main meeting area, can seat about 120 people. And plans are in the works for a state-of-the-art family conference center, which will sleep about 100 guests with a gorgeous view of the Piankatank River.
Camp Piankatank provides a Christ-centered environment in which boys and girls can enjoy activities such as daily worship services, archery, canoeing, sailing, kayaking, swimming, sports, climbing a rock wall, swinging from a V-swing, zipping down a zipline, and much more. The 2007 summer camp programs include father/son weekends, adventure camps, sailing camps, and water adventure camps.
Visit Camp Piankatank’s Website
- That last year 650 campers attended summer camps at Camp Piankatank and over 1,000 guests came for retreats in the fall and spring?
- That Camp Piankatank’s summer camps often include a tater-tot-eating contest? (Legend has it that one winner ate 80 tots in 60 seconds.)
- That Camp Piankatank is looking for a few highly qualified, college-age Christians to serve as camp counselors this summer? For more information, visit the Camp Piankatank website.
- That Camp Piankatank will host an Open House and Family Fun Day on Saturday, June 16, 2007 (rain date: June 17), from 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM? Families and church groups are invited to this free event for games, tours, swimming, music, snacks, and a taste of what Camp Piankatank is like.
- Seeds are needed to be sent to Liberia, considered the poorest country in the world. Twenty-five years of civil war has left the country with virtually no sustainable infrastructure. But there is hope—renewed hope. The civil war ended with the resignation of President Charles Taylor. Order is slowly replacing the chaos of civil war. Let’s bring renewed hope through Liberian Baptists to the larger community through “Seeds of Renewed Hope,” while bearing witness to the hope we have in Jesus. Visit www.vbmb.org/seeds to learn how you can help.
- The Committee on Boards and Committees is seeking nominations of individuals to serve on BGAV boards and committees. A downloadable nomination form is available here. You may download it and mail to the address on the form. Your help is greatly appreciated!
 If you visited all of the missions and ministries around the world that are funded in part by Virginia Baptist Cooperative Missions gifts, you’d earn a lot of frequent flier miles. And when you returned from Armenia, Austria, Brazil, the Caribbean, China, the Czech Republic, England, Hungary, India, Iraq, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Moldova, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, the Ukraine, and a few other countries on five continents, you’d have more than just a bad case of jet lag. You’d have a suitcase full of memories of how Virginia Baptists and our ministry partners are carrying God’s love and the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
When we’ve been cleared for take off on mission, we can go to the ends of the earth through the combined giving power of over 1,400 Baptist General Association of Virginia Churches to Cooperative Missions.
For free downloadable ads for use in your church bulletin, eNewsletter and/or website,
click here.
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