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FORT WORTH, TX (BP) – Eighteen months into life, my son has learned to say the word "puppy," to drink from a straw, to drag his dog around by the leash and to respond, "Jesus!" when asked "Who died for the whole world?" And yet, I'm positive I'm the one who has done the most learning the past year and a half. I thought marriage taught me a lot about biblical truths. Then came parenthood. From the pilot seat of my mom-mobile, I frequently find myself chiding my small son for this or that. I don't even get a whole sentence of correction out of my mouth, though, before I take a hard gulp and wince a little, seeing my own sinfulness come into clear view. "Just because you didn't get your way does not mean it's OK to throw a fit." Gulp. "You need to obey right away and with a happy heart." Gulp. "You need to choose to have a good attitude." Gulp. I could go on and on. Perhaps the only bad behavior my son exhibits that I don't is biting. At 29, I do not have a biting problem. But patience issues? Yep. Tendencies toward grumbling? Unfortunately, yes. Attitude adjustments? Need them all the time. Here is just a glimpse of the lessons the Lord has assigned me this year: 1. Rejoice in the Lord always (Philippians 4:4) The Lord has reminded me that this instruction is a command. I often tell my son, "This is not a choice. I am not asking you, I am telling you...." The same goes for this directive. The Lord is telling me, not asking me, to rejoice always. No matter how bad the day has been -- how hungry I am, how tired I feel, how much discouraging news I've received -- I am commanded to make a choice to actively rejoice. There is always something worthy of rejoicing, and I've found a great place to start is to literally start counting blessings. 2. Do everything without complaining or grumbling (Philippians 2:14) Wise parenting mentors taught me that obedience without a "happy heart" is not obedience at all. Certainly, I've been passing along this admonition to my son, but having it on the top of my mind makes me painfully aware each time I too have missed the mark in this area. 3. Have the same attitude as Jesus Christ.... (Philippians 2:5) Well, this is a tall order. But this is the bar that Scripture has set for us. As sin-infected people, we won't always live up to this, but this standard is where we point and aim. I must actively set my attitude, and when I do, it needs to be others-focused and selfless. For my son, this sometimes looks like waiting quietly in his high chair while his dad tells me a story at the dinner table. For me, this sometimes looks like pausing a story I'm telling my husband so that he can take an important phone call. If only getting a handle on selfishness were as easy as eliminating biting. If only. This Mother's Day, I am grateful that God uses parenthood to prune and mold me. What humbling and deeply rewarding work it is. Deuteronomy 6 gives clear instructions to parents to teach and train their children. Who could have known that God would use that very system to concurrently train the parents? How infinite is the wisdom of our God, and how incredibly high and masterful are His ways compared to our own! ABOUT THE TRUTH Sharayah Colter is a writer in Fort Worth, Texas, and owner of Colter & Co. Design. #MAY18

GRAPEVINE, TX (BP) – For some Christians, the Holy Spirit is some thing we experience intellectually through songs and hymns but not some one we consciously relate to on a daily basis. We know He exists, and we know that He is a part of the Trinity of God, but because we don't know what Scripture teaches about Him, we tend to ignore Him. There can be plenty of confusion, emotionalism and even misuse of Scripture when it comes to the doctrine, presence and work of the Holy Spirit. However, if we don't desperately yield to and depend on the Holy Spirit in our daily lives, we can never expect to walk and live in the freedom and victory that only comes from the Spirit of our great God. Consider these truths about the Holy Spirit that we simply can't ignore: 1. The Holy Spirit authored the Scriptures Anything that we know about God and how to live with Him comes from the Bible, authored by the Holy Spirit through the pens of men. Key Scriptures include 2 Timothy 3:16 -- "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness." -- and 2 Peter 1:20-21 -- "... no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." When we fail to engage Scripture on a daily basis, we starve our souls of knowing Him intimately. 2. The Holy Spirit exalts Jesus Any kind of work of assertion that puts more focus on "giftings," "expressions" and "fillings" than on Jesus, you can be sure it is not the Holy Spirit. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to exalt Jesus. The Spirit has come that we might be deeply impressed with the person of Jesus Christ and His work. As Jesus said in John 15:26: "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me." To the extent that we exalt Jesus, the presence of the Spirit becomes more palpably real in our lives. 3. The Holy Spirit makes us the church The church is a not a building, but rather the church is a people. When the Spirit of God makes His home inside of us as believers, we become the church. We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit sent to tell the world that Jesus is alive! "Do you not know that you are God's temple," the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:16, "and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" As we seek out fellowship with other believers, the manifestation of the Spirit becomes more evident in our lives. 4. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin The Spirit awakens us to the reality of sin and the need of a Savior. Then, as born-again children of God, the Spirit in us will awaken a heightened sense of sin. Where things may not have bothered us before, now there is a grieving that takes place when we sin. As Jesus said of the Spirit: "And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:8). The closer we draw to the Spirit, the more consciously aware we are of strongholds of sin in our lives. 5. The Holy Spirit guides us in everyday life We're completely dependent on the work of the Spirit to help us understand His Scriptures, to guide us to live according to the Word and to direct us in the ways of righteousness and holiness. As Paul put it: "... the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22–23). These qualities of the Holy Spirit are not character traits we work up; they are the natural expressions of the Spirit radiating from us. 6. The Holy Spirit seals believers until the day of redemption One of God's great desires is for His people to feel secure in His love and power as they go into the world to be witnesses. Everything else in life may be unpredictable and unstable -- our health, job and relationships -- yet our identity in Christ and our eternal destination are completely sealed, and nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Key Scriptures include Ephesians 4:30 -- "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" and Romans 8:38-39 -- "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." The more we rest in the Spirit, the deeper is our assurance that this world is not our final home. Lord, make us Spirit-filled Christians who faithfully proclaim the Spirit-authored Scriptures to a people who are being Spirit-awakened for the glory of God to be witnesses to a lost world that's in desperate need of the Spirit's work. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Shane Pruitt is director of evangelism for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. This column first appeared at his website, shanepruitt.com. #MAY18

FENTON, MI – It’s early, too early as I am writing this column, so I’m recovering with a tall coffee and an early morning pause at Panera Bread. One cream and two Splenda. I awoke at 3 AM. I went to the office at 4 AM to straighten up after another blessed executive board meeting. Finished with clean-up by 5 AM, I drove to Plymouth, Mile City Church’s new location, at the Burroughs Building. Knowing I had 3 hours before my meeting would start, I decided to check emails and write this column. So, here I sit. Last night, at the state’s executive board meeting, I unloaded a lot on everyone. As I rushed through the report describing God’s movement over the last 3-4 months in Michigan. I often remind others that I am simply reporting the obvious or the “seen;” Far before I get to testify to what God is doing in our state, the Lord is at work in unseen ways in people's’ lives. The high points went something like this: 1. Last church planter assessment retreat we endorsed 4 new couples to start new churches in Michigan: Bridges, Caldwell, Guyer, and Ruffin. Three of those four couples are from Michigan. One couple is from North Carolina. 2. Antonio & Jessica Wimberly will create a new church in Inkster, late in 2018. Thank God for Middlebelt Baptist Church and Pastor Larry Johnson who are encouraging a second church in their local community and by sending out their associate minister. 3. Seth & Taylor Springs, being trained on the westside of the state at Redemption Church in Grandville, will move to Highland, Michigan, this summer, where Pastor Rob Freshour and Highland Baptist Church and Motor Cities Metro Baptist Association will help them plant a new church in Waterford. 4. Chris Gentz, along with a launch team, will create a new church in Kalamazoo on the campus of Western Michigan University, midyear in 2018. 5. Torion & Jasmine Bridges will create a new church in Redford in 2019. 6. Roland & Tedirika Caldwell, along with a launch team, will start a new church in Detroit in 2018. 7. Michael & Emily Guyer, within 3 days, found an apartment into which they can move in June of 2018 so they can plant a new church on the campus of the University of Michigan Ann Arbor. Launch team members will join them in August, moving their lives from North Carolina to Ann Arbor. 8. Ray & Mariama Ruffin are making plans to plant a new church in Redford during 2018. 9. John & Jane Doe (will reveal their real names later) are exiting their current ministry in Tennessee during June to create a new church in the Greater Grand Rapids area. 10. Two couples, who will remain nameless for now, have finished their initial online assessment. They are making plans to attend our upcoming assessment in October and if they pass will partner with us creating new churches in Marquette and Traverse City. 11. Austin & Lesley Wadlow, part of a large collegiate church planting network in Iowa, announced they will come to plant a new church in East Lansing on the campus of Michigan State University. Within 5 days of their life-changing announcement, Austin and Lesley had over 60 Iowa students attending an information meeting seeing if the Lord wanted them to move to Michigan for the new church start. 12. At the time of this writing, two pastors in the Saginaw/Bay City area are packing so they can attend a re-planting assessment retreat in Georgia. If things go well, one will become a Sending Pastor and the other will become an endorsed re-planter leading an existing church on an upward trajectory. 13. I cannot be any more specific than this, except to say that an associate minister from one of the top ten most notable Southern Baptist churches in the nation, will revisit Michigan during 2018 to see if this is where he should come to plant a new church. 14. Talking with our church planting catalysts and our Send City Missionary in Detroit, I would estimate that we might have 8-9 candidate couples attending our upcoming October church planter assessment retreat. 15. In further conversation with our church planting network teammates, it appears we may have an additional 40-50 people within our church planting pipeline headed toward becoming church planters in Michigan. As I come to the final lines of this rapid report, I hope you sense the same anticipation that I do. Not only do I see what God is doing within our state, but I believe the Lord is doing even more, in unseen manners while he prepares our region for a major movement of God. If you want to participate in or provide provisions for this movement contact me. I can share ideas on how you can help. In the meantime, keep watching because God is up to something miraculous. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Tony Lynn is the State Director of Missions for the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. Before coming on staff at the BSCM, Tony served as lead pastor for more than six years at Crosspoint Church in Monroe, Michigan. He and his wife, Jamie, also served with the International Mission Board in Africa and in Europe. #MAY18

ALPHARETTA, GA (BP) – One October morning in 2017, a young lady visited a new church in Montréal. She didn’t have a positive view of Christianity, but something struck a chord with her that morning. “She came up to me after the service and told me she didn’t understand what she was feeling,” said Jackson Ntumba, pastor of La Chapelle Ahuntsic, a church plant that launched in September 2017. “She didn’t know Jesus, but she wanted to know more about Him.” She spent time after La Chapelle’s Sunday services in the church’s one-on-one ministry which is designed to facilitate conversations about Christianity. She gave her life to Christ and was baptized the following month. La Chapelle in Ahuntsic is the second church to be birthed out of La Chapelle in Montréal, which itself was planted only five years ago. The young church averages between 350-400 people and has already baptized nine people. Each year, Southern Baptists start hundreds of new congregations across North America. Most receive logistical and financial assistance from outside sources. Those sources include Sending or Supporting Churches, state Baptist conventions and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) Send Network. As the national entity with the assignment to assist Southern Baptists with church planting, NAMB offers all Southern Baptist planters membership in its Planter and Spouse Care Network. NAMB also provides funding, training, coaching and other resources for many church plants and planters. In 2017, Southern Baptists planted 691 new churches in North America. An additional 284 churches affiliated with Southern Baptists, bringing the total number of new churches added to 975. “We are incredibly grateful for every new church that was started last year and for the missionaries who are leading them,” said NAMB president Kevin Ezell. Bridging generations in Colorado Trailhead Church launched in January of 2017 in Wellington, Co. One of the church’s first baptisms was a 72-year-old man named Gene who attended their final preview service in 2016. After months of discipleship, church planting missionary John Richardson baptized Gene on Sept. 24, 2017. “Gene has only missed one service since he first came,” Richardson said, “and he’s become a regular volunteer and encourager in our church.” Since Trailhead’s launch, they have baptized 17 new believers and are currently averaging 157 in weekly worship attendance. They also have 102 people engaged in small groups. A church for the campus and the community Drew Stevenson and Jordan Adams have been a part of the collegiate church planting movement and launched Salt City Church in Minneapolis in Sept. 2017. Already, they average around 225 people in worship attendance. They have baptized ten people and seen at least 15 salvations, two of those being an engaged couple. Stevenson emphasized the importance of NAMB and the Southern Baptist community. “I just had my sixth child. My son Jude was born with a congenital heart defect,” he said. “Within twelve hours of tweeting about it, Micah Millican, [NAMB’s director of planter and spouse care], reached out to me. Then Kevin Ezell retweeted the tweet, and I felt like family when people started praying for us.” Through Send Network, NAMB emphasizes to church planters that their SBC partners—churches, associations, state conventions and entities—operate like a family. The Send Network team also regularly finds ways to improve its strategy so the Southern Baptist churches NAMB helps plant get off to a solid start, are built to last and are designed to multiply. Since 2010, NAMB has restructured the way it counts church plants to better track and assess progress. Churches that newly affiliate with the SBC are separated out from the annual count. Every new church plant is required to have an identification number to ensure churches will be included only once in NAMB’s tally. The updates and improvements, coupled with NAMB’s more rigorous assessment process for planters, have led to a drop in the number of churches planted since 2010. The changes have allowed for increased accountability in Southern Baptists’ church planting efforts. The result has been church planters who are better equipped for ministry over the long haul. Overall, 81 percent of churches planted since 2010 are still active in the 2016 ACP report. Since an average of 900 churches die or otherwise drop off Southern Baptist roles each year, Ezell says Southern Baptists need to plant around 1,200 new churches annually. “We need more qualified church planters,” Ezell said. “A lot of our work right now is focused on helping churches identify and develop leaders in their church who might someday feel called to plant. There is a huge harvest, and we all need to pray for more workers.” ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brandon Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board. #MAY18

ROSCOMMON, MI – Every day is a new day at Bambi Lake. New challenges, new experiences, new people await you. If you don't know what I am talking about, you have not been to Bambi. Only last week, snow and ice were plentiful, making travel around the camp difficult at best. Many of the staff had vehicles stuck somewhere between home and the lodge, so walking became the best mode of travel. Melting snow brought deep ruts of mud and rivers of water running and pooling, making travel by foot undesirable, so vehicles splashing through puddles was the best mode of travel and it was fun! This week a beautiful new day dawns as the sun rises, bringing us a sunny and bright spring day. The tapping of a woodpecker and the warbling of another bird are heard, making a most wonderful song to greet the day. Two deer bound down the path and into the woods. The trees are budding and spring is finally showing true signs of its arrival. Winter is over, and the promise of a new day has come. Today the puddles have dried up. The grass is visible in many places. It is a new day! “His mercies are new every morning, great is your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:23. Spring is the best time to start the new outdoor projects for the year and clean up from the winter storms. We have many volunteer work teams providing manpower necessary to accomplish a large number of projects around the camp. Michigan Disaster Relief is coming to cut out dead trees and get our supply of firewood ready for summer campfires. North End Youth plan to clean up the grounds. Riverwalk Youth have a building painting project planned. The Chilton Builders for Christ are coming to renovate the bathhouse and build cabins in the campground. Hillsdale Baptist Church is bringing a team to tackle whatever else needs to be done before the summer camping season begins. Volunteer opportunities are always available at Bambi Lake. Another couple has joined the Bambi staff living at camp, bringing our total staff to six, and our summer staff will be joining us soon. A full staff of sixteen or more will be available to meet the needs of campers this summer. To provide the level of service we are striving for at camp, the additional staff is meeting a critical need. New camps and events are planned for the summer season. Kicking off with the first big name gospel concert being held at Bambi Lake, the Martins, will be performing on Saturday evening during Memorial Weekend. The God and Country Gospel Concert event, featuring Karen Peck and New River, will be held in on the Fourth of July. Summer camps will feature two Wild Weeks for teens with a different band for each week as well as a comedy group featured mid-week. Wild Week II will provide an opportunity to work on a ministry project with Habitat for Humanity. Girls Missions Camp and Mom and Me Camp will offer missionary education as well as outdoor fun and activities for girls, grades 3-12. "Game On" camp for kids 1st through 5th grades will feature the VBS music and activities in an expanded form-perfect for a camp setting! New this year is the Worship Arts Camp, WAC Week, for teens age 12-18. Vocal and instrument teachers will work with students. A technology component will be featured for sound and lighting. Special camp weeks are scheduled by groups as well, creating a full calendar for the summer. Having a visionary leader directing the camp makes every day a new adventure. Bambi Lake Camp is moving forward and changing on a daily basis. In addition to the new camps, retreats and events, there are always dreams and ideas of ways to make the reach of our BSCM camp more effective. To have a camp that is successful means that it is busy year round, well-attended by the people from our churches and the communities around the state, and is ministering to people where it is planted. Bambi Lake is becoming that camp! To God be the glory! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nancy Spears serves as the administrative assistant for Bambi Lake Baptist Retreat and Conference Center for the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. #MAY18

WASHINGTON, DC – Let me ask you a question: How can millions of people gathering together in prayer impact our nation? Each year since 1988, the National Day of Prayer has been designated as the first Thursday in May. A law that originated in 1952 was unanimously amended by both the House and the Senate and then signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on Thursday, May 8, 1988. This year — May 3, 2018 — will be the 30th anniversary of the National Day of Prayer. According to the National Day of Prayer website, more than 30,000 observances of the 2017 National Day of Prayer were attended by 2 million people. From sunrise in Maine to sunset in Hawaii, 40,000 volunteers organized prayer observances for our nation from small towns to state capitals to Washington, D.C. Additionally, people stopped their activities to pray for America in schools, businesses, churches, homes, county courthouses, and on the steps of city halls. The National Day of Prayer was also experienced in some way in more than 80 countries of the world and is even printed on Hallmark® calendars. The Need for Prayer in America has Never Been Greater Mobilizing unified public prayer for America may be the most important thing we can do right now for our nation. America is broken. Division is undeniable. Racial tension is alarming. Lawlessness abounds. Reconciliation appears impossible. Government cannot fix us. Politics will not heal us. America needs God now more than any time in our generation. It is prayer that precedes and forwards the advancement of the gospel. It is prayer that precedes any great movement of God. It is prayer that will precede the revival of the church and the next great spiritual awakening. In this desperate and urgent hour when turmoil and division are evident in America and security threats are very real, it is imperative that we do all we can to mobilize unified public prayer for America. Unity Is Our Theme in 2018 Each year we choose a theme for the annual observances across America. This year our theme is “Pray for America … Unity,” and our Scripture text is “Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). The culture’s dark, hopeless condition is the perfect backdrop to call America to unity. There is not one person who has lived in this nation in the past five years who would try to convince anyone that this nation is the picture of unity. Our culture is the complete opposite of unity. The National Day of Prayer is positioned to pray for our nation to experience unity. That is why we are working hard each day to become a multi-church, multi-denominational, multi-ministry, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, and multi-generational movement of prayer for America. We need to infiltrate this entire nation with the message of unity. Become Involved in Your Community’s Prayer Event In this season of my life and ministry, I am deeply convinced that one of the greatest things we can do is rally millions of people to pray for America. A great spiritual revival is the greatest need in the church, and the next Great Awakening is the greatest need in America. Prayer must and will precede our generation’s realization of these great needs. That is why I have taken on this calling to lead the National Day of Prayer. I cannot do this without you. In your community, please help us mobilize unified public prayer for America. Whether you are a layperson or the God-called pastor of a local church, God can use you to make a difference through the National Day of Prayer. Here are five ways you can prepare to be involved on Thursday, May 3, 2018: 1. Begin to engage with us now. You can begin to participate with us by signing up for our newsletter on our website (see the banner at the top of the page). You will receive various articles and communication about all that is occurring between now and May 3. We will communicate consistently to keep you informed. 2. Plan now to participate in your community’s prayer events. Find an observance in your community or region, and plan to attend. If you do not know of an observance, start one with some friends or through your church. 3. Begin an additional or a new observance of the National Day of Prayer in your community. Our team is ready to talk to you about what this means. If you go to the “Volunteer" section of our website and you can find out how you can create an observance. We will equip you to do it. If you are ready to ask others to be part of your team, together you can plan an event somewhere in your community. You can pray for America in schools, businesses, churches, homes, county courthouses, and on the steps of city halls. Your observance may last only 30 minutes in a business setting or as long as 90 minutes in a large event in your community. Regardless of how long it lasts, we can assist you in planning what is most important. 4. Involve your church in prayer for our nation. If I had the opportunity to personally speak with every pastor and church in America, I would explain that the National Day of Prayer provides a unique opportunity to engage all kinds of people in their communities who love America and hope for its best. Some of these community members may not know Christ personally, but this service or observance can introduce them in a positive, non-threatening way to the things of God and the claims of Jesus Christ. Therefore, talk to your pastor about your church leading an observance of the National Day of Prayer. A church can host an early morning observance as well as another one at a different time of day. Just think what would happen if each pastor and church in America established a service or observance on the National Day of Prayer. Realize you can create as many observances in your community as desired and there will still not be enough to mobilize your entire community to pray for America. May 3 should be a day in America where at least 100,000 gatherings occur in observance of the National Day of Prayer. It is my hope that every Christ-follower would want to join with others to pray for America. 5. Support the National Day of Prayer in prayer and with a financial gift. For 364 days a year, we prepare for the National Day of Prayer on the first Thursday of May. Additionally, it is our desire to see God create a great prayer movement in every community that would become a catalyst for the revival in the church and a spiritual awakening in America. Pray for me and for our team. If God leads you, send a financial gift to the National Day of Prayer or to the National Day of Prayer Task Force, P.O. Box 64225, Colorado Springs, CO, 80962, (800) 444-8828. You can help us mobilize unified public prayer for America. You can make a difference. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. Ronnie Floyd serves as president of the National Day of Prayer Task Force and senior pastor of Cross Church in Springdale, Arkansas. He is the author of 20 books, including The Power of Prayer and Fasting, and served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2014-2016. He and his wife, Jeana, have two sons and daughters-in-law and seven grandchildren. #MAY18

O'FALLON, IL (BP) – It is inevitable, you know. Those precious babies melt your heart, and then one day they break it. Disclaimer: I am an empty-nester, and I was by no means a perfect parent of perfect children in drawing some conclusions from my years of parenting. Knowing that parenting as a team is crucial, my husband took an active role. While many decisions naturally occurred when he was not home, we vowed to have a united front no matter who was leading the way. We have four children. Two boys and two girls, each one very different. Same DNA from their parents, no drastic differences in their adolescent years, yet distinctively different in personality and perspective in our family unit. While birth order and gender differences account for some of the distinctions, they also account for some of the shared similarities (common memories, shared experiences and even family jokes that only we would understand!). Two siblings (one boy and one girl) tend to be analytical and often see the world as black and white. You would think, as is often the case, that they would be the "rule-keepers." While this is true for the most part, it wasn't a standard that either could live up to. They taught me to be realistic and to be careful about setting reasonable goals for all of my children. While the oldest child may be tagged the rule-keeper, the middle child might be labeled as the precocious one. My middle daughter is what I would call "spunky," but truth be told, every child will try to bend and break the rules at some point along the way. It became obvious -- long before they were teenagers -- that each of them would make detrimental decisions -- some that they clearly thought through and others, well, not so much. Learning to be patient and to not overreact when a child makes a bad choice, I saw the benefit of staying calm and loving, yet firm. As a general rule, modeling self-control goes a long way in resolving a conflict. I knew that it was futile to pray that my children would not mess up. It doesn't take long to discover that you don't have to teach a 2-year-old to climb too high, touch something off-limits or even kick the dog. I decided early on that I would not allow this futility to frustrate me, so I prayed -- not that they wouldn't make a mistake -- but that they would get caught when they did! That was one prayer they didn't like so much. But I wasn't just praying for them to get caught so I could punish them. I believe strongly that children need to be disciplined, and that part of our God-given responsibility as parents is to train them to make choices that are good and right. There is no joy in seeing your child mess up -- or in having to decide what type of discipline would be of most benefit in a particular situation. The desire of a parent's heart should be to help them see the consequences of their mistake -- and most of all, to learn from it. Yet the joy does come! It comes when they look you in the eye and say, "I'm sorry, Mommy," or when you see them responding in a way that shows true repentance. Watching them humbly make restitution to a sibling they have wronged will melt your heart. Despite the differences in each of our children, I believe these five principles can apply to any child of any age whenever they make a mistake: 1. Stop and pray While a toddler might need immediate intervention for his/her own safety, what I'm referring to here is when you discover a misstep and realize that you have to correct it. It might only be a prayer quickly breathed before you have to jump into action, or it could be that you need time on your knees to get God's perspective and wisdom. I've done both. The important thing is that you respond -- not react. As we read in James 1:5: "Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. 2. Take action After you decide the appropriate way to handle the situation, be clear, be consistent and be kind. While there may be feelings of anger, be sure to keep them under control and focused on the action -- not the child. Proverbs 15:1: "A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath." 3. Forgive There is no greater demonstration of a parent's love for their child than when they forgive an offense, especially if the child has harmed you personally by insult or assumption. We demonstrate our heavenly Father's agape love most vividly when we take them in our arms and reassure them of our love for them. Colossians 3:12-13: "Therefore, God's chosen ones, holy and loved, put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive." 4. Forget I know you can't remove the memories of the past, but you can LET. THEM. GO. Don't remind them of past mistakes. Don't use idle threats of "If you ever do this again...." Every offense has its own consequence. Don't let the consequence be that you will bring it up time and time again and remind them of their failures constantly. Aren't you glad God isn't like that? Psalm 103:11-13: "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His faithful love toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him." 5. Refocus One of the best ways to get past the pain of an indiscretion is to focus on something positive. It is said that the ratio of positive comments to negative should be 5:1. In other words, let your negative words be few and be sure to reaffirm them with positive alternatives. When you choose to focus on the good and the right, you give them the tools they need to make better decisions in the future. Philippians 4:8: "Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable -- if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise -- dwell on these things." Being a parent is the most difficult and most rewarding responsibility on the planet. While every child is different, and even the circumstances surrounding their choices can influence the decisions they make, we have an obligation to do our part in being prepared for those moments that we know are coming. When your adorable little Timmy or sweet little Tammy suddenly turn rebellious, you had better be on your knees asking God for wisdom and direction. Not every child will respond the way you want, and often you won't see immediate results from your laborious attempt to plant and water and prune seeds of righteousness, but I can assure you that standing on the principles of God's Word you will see fruit in due season. My babies are having babies now and I can honestly tell you that they are great parents. I can only pray that they learned from what I did right -- and what I did wrong. With confidence I can say that I tried. I begged God for wisdom before they were ever born, and trusted Him to guide them, convict them and correct them -- and to show me what my part was in all of it. You cannot be your child's Holy Spirit, but you can be their prayer warrior. Be encouraged today. You are not alone. You are not perfect and neither is your child. That's why we need the Lord. He is the ultimate authority on parenting, and He loves them even more than you do! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Vickie Munton serves alongside her husband Doug, pastor of First Baptist Church in O'Fallon, Ill. #MAY18

NASHVILLE, TN (BP) – When it comes to charity, a personal touch works 10 times better than Facebook -- at least for churchgoers, according to a study released April 17. A new report from LifeWay Research found more than half of Protestant churchgoers say a personal connection inspired them to give money to a charity for the first time. The evangelical research firm conducted the survey this past Aug. 22–30. Social media such as Facebook inspired only 4 percent of similar donations. Three-quarters of churchgoers support at least one charity besides their church. According to the survey, nearly half do volunteer work, while a similar number have made changes to the charities they support. Churchgoers like to give -- and to get involved, said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. "The question is, where will churchgoers give this year? The answer lies in having a personal connection," McConnell said. "It turns out charity really does start close to home." Charitable giving The nationally representative study asked adults who attend a Protestant church at least once a month to look at their charitable giving from 2016. Sixty percent of those churchgoers gave to the same number of charities in 2016 as they did the previous year. Fifteen percent gave to more charities. Eight percent gave to fewer, while 15 percent were not sure. Among those who donated to charities, 49 percent made changes in which charities they supported in 2016. This included about a third (31 percent) who gave to a charity they'd never supported before. "The reality is that funding for charities is anything but stable," McConnell said. "When a donor adds a charity, it can take away from ministries they have supported in the past." When asked what factor most prompted them to give, 21 percent say they knew someone who worked there. Nineteen percent had met someone from the charity, while 18 percent say friends of theirs supported the charity. Fifteen percent had been to a fundraiser, while 15 percent had received a letter from the charity. Eleven percent had volunteered for the charity. Phone calls (5 percent), television ads (5 percent), social network sites such as Facebook (4 percent), online ads (3 percent) and email appeals (2 percent) were less influential. Most donors support a few charities LifeWay Research also asked churchgoers how many charities they gave to last year, aside from their local congregation. Those charities could be religious or non-religious. The donations could not be property or volunteer time. Seventy-three percent of churchgoers gave to at least one charity beyond their church. This includes 15 percent who gave to one additional charity and 58 percent who gave to multiple charities. About a third (34 percent) gave to two or three additional charities. Nineteen percent gave to between four and seven charities. About 6 percent gave to eight or more additional charities. About a quarter (27 percent) gave to no additional charities. Churchgoers from Assemblies of God and other Pentecostal backgrounds are most likely to give only to their church (38 percent). Nondenominational Christians (30 percent) and Baptists (29 percent) were more likely to give only to their church than Lutherans (14 percent). Lutherans (29 percent) are more likely to give to five or more charities than Baptist (13 percent), nondenominational (12 percent) or Assemblies of God/Pentecostal churchgoers (10 percent). About half (48 percent) of churchgoers say they volunteer at a charity -- including their church. Forty-four percent don't volunteer. Eight percent aren't sure. Those who go to church at least once a week (51 percent) are more likely to say they volunteer than those who attend once or twice a month (30 percent). More than half of Methodist (63 percent), Lutheran (55 percent) and nondenominational churchgoers (53 percent) volunteer. Baptists (38 percent) are less likely. "Donors come and go frequently," McConnell said. "It helps to know why they give in the first place -- typically a personal connection to the ministry or charity." Methodology LifeWay Research conducted the study Aug. 22–30, 2017. The survey was conducted using the web-enabled KnowledgePanel, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. population. Initially, participants are chosen scientifically by a random selection of telephone numbers and residential addresses. Persons in selected households are then invited by telephone or by mail to participate in the web-enabled KnowledgePanel. For those who agree to participate, but do not already have internet access, GfK provides at no cost a laptop and ISP connection. For this survey, a nationally representative sample of U.S. Protestant and nondenominational adults (18 and older) who attend religious services once a month or more often was selected from the KnowledgePanel. Sample stratification and base weights were used for gender, age, race/ethnicity, region, metro/non-metro, home ownership, education and income to reflect the most recent U.S. Census data. Study-specific weights included for gender by age, race/ethnicity, region and education to reflect GSS 2016 data. The completed sample is 1,010 surveys. The sample provides 95 percent confidence that the sampling error does not exceed plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. Margins of error are higher in subgroups. LifeWay Research is a Nashville-based evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect churches. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Bob Smietana is senior writer for Facts & Trends magazine. #MAY18

KANSAS CITY, MO (BP) – Matt Millsap admits he made up the word "theoludology" for his doctoral dissertation in systematic theology. Google theoludology (pronounced theo-lude-ology) and literally every result includes Millsap's name. Broken up into its roots, his dissertation topic becomes clearer, even if doesn't become easier to pronounce. "Theo-" and "-ology" are clear enough. "Ludo" is the Latin root for "game" or "play." Mashed together, Millsap created a new discipline: thinking about video games from a theological point of view. Millsap is assistant director of library services at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo., and teaches courses such as Christianity and the Arts at the seminary's Spurgeon College. And he's a bit of a video game nerd. Literally every surface of his office is piled high with systematic theology textbooks and academic journals, but his home entertainment center is piled high with a PlayStation 4, Xbox One and a Nintendo Switch. While some may dismiss gaming as a time-wasting holdover from boyhood or a trivial escape from the rigors of academia, Millsap would ask them to press pause. Theologians regularly interact with media and the arts, he notes. Film and television are common topic for theological dialogue, and religious thinkers have been pondering painting, literature, sculpture and music for thousands of years. Why isn't the same true, he asks, for an art form that's emerged in the past 40 years? Beyond Pac-Man & Super Mario One reason Millsap feels the time has come to consider video games with God in mind is that they have seriously evolved as technology has improved. "We are naturally a storytelling people; that's how God made us to communicate," Millsap said. "You think back to arcade games of the late 1970s and the graphics were very crude. There wasn't a whole lot technologically we could do to convey a story." So there basically wasn't one. Games were simple and straightforward. Players dropped Tetris blocks into place, urged a hapless Frogger across a busy road, or frantically pressed UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT to cheat an early shoot 'em up. Forty years later, gone are the primitive pixels of Pong or Pac-Man and the simple sprites of Super Mario or Space Invaders. "Now, in 2018, game designers have millions of dollars and all sorts of technology at their disposal," Millsap said. "They can tell a story much in the same way that a film can. Not all games do this, but people want to play stories." Indeed, it's now common for the most popular and awarded games to feature 10-, 20- or even 50-hour storylines complete with motion-capture acting and top-tier voice talent. Many high-profile games are essentially interactive movies, and a compelling single-player story can overcome technological weaknesses or the occasional gameplay flaw. Theological framework And just like the opening level of an unfamiliar game, Millsap has come up with a tutorial for tackling these story-focused games and figuring out and critiquing what they might communicate about God. "Games are their own thing," he said. "You have to respect the medium in terms of what it does and how it communicates, then bring theology into the conversation and meld them together." So he came up with a game studies -- or ludological -- method, drawing from the Wesleyan Quadrilateral, a traditional Methodist way of approaching Christian theology that begins with Scripture, then folds in tradition, reason and experience. Being a good Baptist, Millsap keeps Scripture primary -- an "extraludic norm," he calls it. With that in mind, Millsap cautions that Christians should be discerning about which games they play to ensure that no content will cause them to sin, just as they should do with movies or literature, and they should limit games to their appropriate audiences. "Anything we discover as we dialogue with a video game has to be held up against the standard of Scripture," Millsap said. "If it doesn't, then we have to reject whatever they might be saying about God as false." With the overarching umbrella of scriptural primacy in view, game studies had its own versions of tradition, reason and experience. Gaming's traditions, or doctrines, become a sort of gaming literacy. Once a player "gets" how a certain genre of game works and is structured, they know what to expect and how to approach the next one. One doctrine informs the next. "It's much like how you can't talk about Christology; the doctrine of Jesus without having that bleed into your soteriology; the doctrine of salvation," Millsap said. Video gaming's milieu Next, reason equates to game mechanics and structure: the press of a button or the nudge of a joystick will trigger this. Just as there is order and structure to the universe as God created it and He has given mankind reason to ponder it, video games follow the rules of their own creator. For experience, its ludological twin is what Millsap calls player identification and agency. "We have to be careful not to elevate an individual experience to a level it should not be in theology," he said, "but the way it interacts with a video game is different. You're transporting yourself into the role of that character. "When your character performs an action, it's different than an actor on a movie screen performing that action. You are the one controlling it. If that character believes something, do you believe it too? Are you acting in your own beliefs or that character's?" Millsap's go-to illustration of this type of theological thinking is the game "Journey." A title originally released for the PlayStation 3 in 2012, it is also available for the PlayStation 4. Players take control of a mysterious, unnamed, hooded character to go on a journey. You wake up, see a light on top of a mountain, and start your story. That's it. The Game of the Year according to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, it racked up plenty of praise: various gaming publications called it "a hallmark of excellence," "a glorious, thoughtful, moving masterpiece" and "mysterious and beautiful." Not bad for a game with no dialogue, no instructions and no text. Players inherently know the game's designers have something planned out to experience. "They wanted to make something you could interpret, and that's where I apply that theoludology framework," Millsap said. "What might this say about a Christian's journey through life in terms of what God has called us to? It all leads up to the final culmination which is this great eschatological having to do with the end times; scene where you think that -- " Millsap won't give away the ending for those concerned with spoilers, but the scene "makes a lot more sense from a Christian interpretation than any other religion." So what's the point? Millsap is not saying that mashing buttons is a path to a deeper understanding of God or defeating the next game's challenge is a discipleship tool. The idea is just that it's worth considering the stories and scenarios that gamers encounter from a theological perspective. "I play video games anyway as a form of recreation," Millsap said. "It's something I enjoy in my spare time much in the same way I enjoy reading a book or listening to music, which are gifts from God that He made us able to enjoy as recreation. It's like watching someone play football or playing it yourself; we play and watch sports and games for the sheer joy of playing, even without that explicit theological component to the narrative. "But because so many video games now go in a narrative direction and tell a story, it makes sense that we would want to consider them from that perspective. I need to ask myself important questions, and think about whether I believe what it's saying is true. If a video game is intending to tell a serious narrative and I don't approach it seriously, thoughtfully and from a Christian perspective, then I'm not doing it justice." Game Over ABOUT THE AUTHOR Brian Koonce is assistant editor of The Pathway (mbcpathway.com), newsjournal of the Missouri Baptist Convention. #MAY18

GARDEN CITY, MI – Merriman Road Baptist Church F.A.I.T.H. Riders will host their Annual Biker Blessing on Saturday May 19th 2018. This year is the 10th annual Biker Blessing. What's a Biker Blessing you may ask? In short, it's an opportunity to share the Gospel message with motorcyclists. 46 years ago a Catholic Church in Baldwin, Mi started a "Blessing of the Bikes", where they have a priest sprinkle holy water on your motorcycle, and say a prayer of blessing and safety over your bike. This has since evolved into a giant 3 day party. It's a great fundraiser for there food pantry, but not very evangelistic. When the Garden City F.A.I.T.H. Riders chapter was commissioned in 2009 they wanted to offer an alternative. They wanted to be the free, family-friendly, Biblical alternative. Their goal was simply to invite bikers to the church parking lot for some free food, music, a bike wash, and a bike show. Then, they would tell them and show them they are loved by the church, and most importantly, Jesus Christ. There’s a short message and a prayer and blessing over the "Biker" not the bike. The chapter explains that the bike is just an inanimate object, and that God wants to bless them and have a relationship with them. They are then invited to accept that relationship. Since 2009 hundreds of bikers have come to hear the Gospel message. In 2010, Darrel Manuel, chapter director, was diagnosed with throat cancer, two chapter members lost their brothers to lung cancer, and a young man in the church lost his battle with a brain tumor. From those experiences was born the Matthew Brotherton Memorial Cancer Ride. After the blessing and for a small fee of $20 ($25 with passenger) supporters go on a guided ride through beautiful S.E. Michigan. All the money raised goes to benefit the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation Ride for Kids. About 4 years ago a new feature was added, the 3 Minute Story. The 3 Minute Story is an opportunity to share the Gospel with someone in a one-on-one situation by giving an opportunity to enter them into a "raffle." The cost of the ticket? 3 minutes of your time in which we share the Good News of Jesus Christ. We do give out a prize, too. This year’s grand prize will be a $250 gift card. The F.A.I.T.H. Riders chapter is inviting everyone to attend Saturday May 19th from 10a-2p at Merriman Road Baptist Church,2055 Merriman Road Garden City and to bring an unchurched friend. All are welcome no matter what they ride, or even if they ride. F.A.I.T.H. Riders is an International Motorcycle Ministry with more than 300 chapters in North America and two in Cuba for more information about F.A.I.T.H. Riders go to: www.faithriders.com ABOUT THE AUTHOR Darrel Manuel is the Chaplain / Director of the Merriman Road Baptist Church Chapter of F.A.I.T.H. Riders he is an endorsed Chaplain through the North American Mission Board, a Millwright by vocation, a father and husband. #MAY18

BUTLER, AL (BP) – It was late one Saturday night when Terry Long plunged into his darkest hour. He stood alone in a small church in south Alabama, plunging his paintbrush over and over into a can of paint, hoping to change the color of his surroundings. In the metaphorical sense, it wasn't working. Things still looked bad. After being forced to take a stand at the church where he served as pastor, Long had been asked to leave. In order to keep food on the table, he had taken a painting job hours away in Alabama while his wife and four children stayed behind to try to sell the house. "It was my lowest point," Long said. "I felt completely lost." And as he kept the brush moving, the phone in the church kitchen next to him began to ring over and over. "It finally dawned on me that someone might be trying to get in touch with me," he said. So he picked up the phone. And on the other end, a familiar voice said, "Hey, Terry, it's Cliff." Cliff was a chicken farmer Long had become friends with back when he was serving as a pastor in Arkansas more than a decade before. "We met at 5 a.m. once a week to study the Bible before he went to work," Long said. "I had poured into him as best I could." And around the same time Long moved, the farmer moved too, up to Tennessee. The two lost touch. "I've been trying to find you for two weeks," the farmer said. "God spoke to me and said, 'You need to call Terry Long and tell him what's happened since he discipled you.'" What had happened was that the farmer had immediately begun to do with someone else what Long had done with him -- he led a man to Christ, then stuck with him for six months to show him how to walk out his faith. Then that man did the same with another, and that man did the same with yet another. "There are three generations of men in Tennessee who are godly men, active in church and solid in their families because you took the time to invest in my life," he told Long. And it didn't stop there. The farmer had then moved from Tennessee to Kentucky and did the same thing again. Then he moved to Missouri and did the same thing again. "He said, 'I don't know what you're doing now, but there are men in three states who are faithful to God and faithful to their families because of what you invested in my life,'" Long said. "I can't put a price tag on what that meant to me." Long, now director of missions for Choctaw Baptist Association in Butler, said that moment of clarity snapped him back to a reality he knew deep in his heart -- that pastoral ministry is important, but discipleship is the core of what all Christians are called to do. "What I've learned is that as I've invested in men on the back burner apart from my public ministry, God brings long-lasting fruit," Long said. He noted he was in his 20s before he heard the concept of one-on-one discipleship explained. "I had been a Christian for eight years before I ever heard anyone talk about discipleship. I didn't have a clue what that meant," he said. But in 1984 at a conference in Atlanta, a missionary to Brazil shared a message that changed Long's life and changed his whole approach to ministry. In Brazil the missionary had worked out a way to come alongside new believers for six months and help them learn to walk out their new faith. That thought got buried in Long's mind and he carried it back with him to his church in Picayune, Miss. "I had been witnessing to a young man in the church who was about my age, in his mid to late 20s," he said. "His name was Danny and his wife attended our church but he wouldn't come." After that conference, Long went to visit him with new motivation tucked in his heart. "After pleading with him for about an hour, his excuse was that he believed all of it but that he didn't think he could live it. He thought he would fail," Long said. "I said, 'Danny, if you knew someone who would meet with you and pray with you and help you along the way, would that change anything?' And he said if that were the case, he would be saved right then." So Long told Danny he would be that guy. "I told him I would walk with him for six months and help him get grounded in his faith," Long said. "And what was to be six months turned into a year because we became very close friends." It wasn't so much that Long was the teacher and Danny the student as it was that they were friends who invested in each other's lives. They fished together, read the Bible together and got their families together on a regular basis. "This was all off the radar," Long said. "It wasn't a public program -- that's the beauty of discipleship." But people began to notice Danny and how fast he was growing in his faith. "He was changing. His whole life was different," Long said. "So I began to see that there really was something to this discipleship thing. And I was benefiting from it as well." In the last decade or so, the two had lost contact, but a few months ago Long got a call at his office from Danny's wife. "She said, 'If this is the Terry Long who was a pastor in Picayune, please call me,'" Long said. "So I called her back, and she told me Danny was extremely ill with heart problems and other physical issues and knows his time is limited." When Long gave him a call they reunited and reconnected. "He thanked me for the time I invested in his life in 1985," Long said. "He's asked me to preach his funeral when the time comes. But for the last 33 years, he's been living a faithful life." All that from just a promise to walk beside him as a friend who pointed to Jesus, Long said. "It's not flashy. It's on the backburner. It's quiet," he said. "There comes a time that every pastor in ministry has to make a decision -- go for the applause of men or decide I'm going to invest my life in men and people in a way that results in long-lasting fruit." The second is what Jesus wanted when He gave His disciples the Great Commission, Long said. "Every pastor can do this. Every Christian can do this because you don't have to be a speaker. You don't have to be on the platform," Long said. "It's not a church program. It's a relationship. When you try to make a program out of it, you lose something." That's what he remembered again that night as he hung up the phone in that little church kitchen and got back to painting -- that the brightest spots of his ministry weren't the times his church drew the crowds. "It's the time invested in those men's lives and how I've seen it affect their children and their grandchildren," Long said. He's done this over and over across the years. He's got several men he's pouring into now, right where he is in Choctaw County. "I pour my life into them. I try to be transparent with them," he said. "The guys I've invested in personally, I tell them, 'This is who I am and this is what it's about, and you're going to fail, but I'm going to walk with you no matter what.'" And that, he said, is how it was always meant to be. "It's not about a program," he said. "It's about just having a heart for people." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Grace Thornton is a correspondent for The Alabama Baptist (thealabamabaptist.org), newsjournal of the Alabama Baptist Convention. #MAY18

FENTON, MI – Three years ago, as the Baptist State Convention of Michigan (BSCM) began a new stage of leadership, one of the primary goals was for the staff to do a more effective job of communicating with churches across the state. One of the most immediate results of that goal was for newly elected Executive Director, Tim Patterson, as well as, State Director of Missions, Dr. Tony Lynn and State Evangelism Director, Mike Durbin, to hit the road. The three men set out for face-to-face visits with as many churches and pastors as possible. In a matter of a few months, the trio logged hundreds of hours and thousands of miles all over Michigan. The second step in the communication goal was to do a better job of maintaining that dialogue on a day-to-day basis. So the decision was made to migrate the state newspaper, the Baptist Beacon, from a month-to month printed edition to a more organic and responsive online newsjournal. That decision led to a relationship with oneMISSION.tv, a media production company with more than 10 years of experience working with ministries and non-profit organizations, and specifically experience in assisting Southern Baptist state conventions and other SBC agencies such as the North American Mission Board, the International Mission Board, and the SBC Executive Committee. Their motto is “helping ministries tell their story”. President and managing partner of oneMISSION.tv, Doug Keesey says, “The partnership between us and the BSCM has given us great joy, and not a day goes by that we don’t consider new ways to tell the story of Michigan Southern Baptists. oneMISSION.tv not only led the transition of the Baptist Beacon to an online publication, but also helped the BSCM with a total rebranding of its logo and website. Over the more than two-year partnership, oneMISSION.tv has served as the managing editor for the Beacon, as well as, handling the graphic design for all of BSCM’s promotion and flyers. In addition, they have produced videos the last three years to unveil BSCM’s yearly themes and emphases. The most recent example is the video for this year’s theme, "The Power of One". BSCM leadership believe that they need to continually look for better ways to communicate with the churches they serve, so this year they commissioned oneMISSION.tv to produce a 28 page magazine laying out “The Power of One” theme. It included columns and stories about the many ways that Michigan Southern Baptist churches are fulfilling the Great Commission and punching holes in the darkness through Starting, Strengthening, and Sending churches. BSCM Communication Coordinator, Jamie Lynn says, “oneMISSION.tv gives the BSCM a quality pathway of communication to stay connected. They understand Michigan Baptists, and enthusiastically help us reach our churches.” Later this year, oneMISSION.tv will once again assist in the promotion of the Frances E. Brown State Mission Offering. They will produce numerous resources to assist churches in promoting the mission offering including; flyers, bulletin inserts, and videos that tell the stories of Michigan’s different ministries that are assisted by the offering. As the BSCM enters into the third year of it’s new goal to better communicate with the churches that make up the Michigan convention, they strive to find new and better ways to build the partnership between the staff and the churches they serve. oneMISSION.tv is blessed to be a partner in achieving these efforts for them and with them. #MAY18