MARBC News & Notes – February 2007

CASS CITY, First Baptist Church (Eric Holmgren) – Recently the AWANA Clubbers at First Baptist Church took the challenge to raise money to ship AWANA materials to children in Nigeria. For several weeks the clubbers faithfully brought in their money for the missions project, and were able to raise over seventy-eight dollars. The money will be sent to Christian Resource International in Fowlerville, Michigan, who is responsible for shipping the materials. Great job, clubbers!

MARLETTE, Marlette Baptist Church (Pastor Frank Judson) – welcomed their new pastor, Rev. Frank Judson and his family, on December 10. Brother Judson comes to Marlette from Williamson, New York, with his wife Lisa and children, Alyssa, Faith, Jake, and Bo.
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FLINT, Emmanuel Baptist Church (Harold Constant) – On January 8, 2007, The Emmanuel Baptist Church of Flint, completed its first year of Karate for Christ. The program is a biblically based discipline that emphasizes the development of the spiritual, mental, physical and emotional being. It is a team dynamic that promotes respect for self, others, and authority, all in a spiritual atmosphere. Each weekly session, includes a Bible study that is coordinated with the discipline learned that evening. The program also includes the memorization of Ephesians 6: 10 – 18. Two new adults signed up for the new session, as White Belt members. The program is open to the public, and is another outreach ministry of the church.

Mickey and Mary Tanslerley, both of whom hold Red Belt II rankings, are the instructors, and with the help of their two daughters, Shelby and Emily, who also have Red Belts, conduct the weekly program. At the conclusion of the third twelve week session, three Orange Stripe rankings were awarded, twelve Orange rankings were earned, and eleven Yellow rankings were awarded. Those receiving rankings included two of the staff pastors!

GRAND RAPIDS, Berean Baptist Church (Duane Duhon) – Pastor Joseph Balbach retired from his position as Associate Pastor of Evangelism at Berean Baptist Church on October 31, 2006. Pastor Balbach has been in the ministry for over 50 years, and has a long and rich legacy of service for Christ. His dedication and faithfulness to ministry has impacted many lives, and the fruits of his service are many. Berean has been blessed to have him on staff, and we are privileged to have Pastor Balbach as one of our members.

GRAND RAPIDS, Forest Hills Baptist Church (Jeff Burr) – Forest Hills Baptist recently commissioned member Phil Burgess to engage in Bible translation work in Cameroon, West Africa. He is fluent in French and acquainted with pigeon and several other local dialects. Cameroon is strategically situated as a gateway country to the Islamic portions of North Africa. There are 286 recognized languages in Cameroon.

LAKE ODESSA, First Baptist Church of Sebewa (Pastor Larry Saunders) – Greg Mattson was ordained by the First Baptist Church of Sebewa on Sunday, December 10, 2006. Greg is a Word of Life missionary to Finland, along with his sweet wife, Vonda, and their five children. Pastor Larry Saunders highly recommends Greg to the churches in our fellowship for prayer and financial support.

MARBC messenger: The Messenger is a regular communi­cation from the MARBC to our pastors and churches. With the transition of state representatives, we want to insure that our email records are up-to-date. Several MARBC Messengers were sent in the months of December and January from the new MARBC office. If you have not received emails from the MARBC office recently, be sure to Email Ken or Email Sharon. Thank you!

ADDITIONAL NEWS

“Equipping God’s People for Ministry” Church Ministries Conference – sponsored be the Grand Rapids Association of Regular Baptist Churches, is just around the corner, March 9-10, at the Calvary Baptist Church in Grand Rapids. This year there will be more than 75 ministry workshops, along with many resource tables and displays. The main session speaker will be Dr. Erwin Lutzer, senior pastor of the historic Moody Church in Chicago. Dr. Lutzer is a well-known Bible conference speaker and the author of several helpful books. Pre-registration cost is $20.00 for the entire conference (which includes Saturday lunch), or $10.00 for the Friday evening session only. Pre-registration deadline is February 26. Cost for the conference is $25.00 at the door. All churches should have received conference brochures and registration information in the mail. Each year more than 1000 from around the state attend this very profitable conference!

“DECLARING HIS GLORY” BIBLE CONFERENCE – On March 27, 2007, West Cannon Baptist Church will host a one-day pastors and ministry leaders seminar designed to equip and encourage leaders to be men of God and servants of the Church. Speakers at this year’s seminar include:

• Jerry Bridges, Best selling author and conference speaker
• James Grier, Distinguished Professor of Philosophical Theology
• Gary Gilley, Pastor and author of “This Little Church Went to Market”
• Doug Crawford, Conference host and Pastor of West Cannon Baptist Church
• Dwight Peterson, former youth pastor of 19 years and current faculty member at Baptist Bible College, will lead a special student ministry track during the seminar specifically aimed at encouraging those who work with Junior High and High School students.

Registration and continental breakfast will begin at 8:30 AM. Sessions will begin promptly at 9:00 AM and run until 3:30 PM. Lunch and relevant resources are included. The cost of the seminar is $25 per person, payable at the seminar.

To register, please contact West Cannon Baptist Church by February 28, 2007:
www.westcannon.org/pastorsseminar
Email
(616) 874-6740

A two-night Bible Conference for everyone will also be held on Monday and Tuesday evenings, March 26-27 from 7:00 -9:00. These evening services will be filled with wonderful music and challenging messages from our speakers, Jerry Bridges, Jim Grier, and Gary Gilley. Special programs will be provided for children infant through sixth grade. No registration is necessary for these sessions. For information you can visit the Bible Conference Info page or call (616) 874-6740.