The Mainstream
News of Ministry and Mission
American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region
October 2008 No.1 Email: grrabc@abc-grr.org web: www.abc-grr.org
GRR Calendar
November 7 - 9 - ABY Gathering, Decatur, IL 2009 Theme - Plant the Harvest January 16 - 19 -SKWIM at Green Lake March 14 - Area V Annual Meeting, FBC Edwardsville IL 15 - Area II Annual Meeting Jacksonville FBC 21 - Area IV Annual Meeting First Baptist Church, Benton IL 22 - Area I Annual Meeting First Baptist Church, Ottawa IL 22 - Area III Annual Meeting North Bridge Baptist Church Normal, IL April 17 - 18 - Clergy Spouse Retreat Lake Springfield Camp 24 - 25 - GRR Missions Conference Cherry Hills Baptist Church, Springfield, IL
Harvest Time
The 2008 GRR Annual Meeting was held October 3-5 in Moline, IL. The theme was “Harvest Time”; the theme scripture taken from John 4: “Open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.”
Mylinda Baits, missionary to Costa Rica, was the keynote speaker. Her preaching at the annual meeting communicated her belief that worship is not limited to Sunday mornings, but is a daily expression of the life transforming and liberating love of Christ. Mylinda also spoke at the American Baptist Women’s breakfast on Breaking the Chains. Mylinda is helping to establish “El Centro de Tranformacion Mariposa”, a church based family ministry working to keep young people out of the sex trade in Costa Rica.
Mylinda and her husband Gary are pastors and professors in Costa Rica. They work with the Costa Rican Baptist Federation in pastoral and lay leadership development and theological education.
GRR Convention Highlights
The Area I Youth Ministry Team led the music for the Friday evening session.
Gary Baits was the keynote speaker at the Mission Banquet on Saturday evening. 
The service Saturday evening was entitled Emerging Voices. The preachers for the evening were Heather Henson,(upper left) Bunyan Cocar, (upper right) and Terrance Clark, (left) all under 35 years of age.
The Karen refugees from Moline (above) sang on Sunday morning and the Karen children (left) participated in a Bible lesson as part of the children’s programming.
Church News
First Baptist Church, Carthage, IL is responding to Christ’s call to “allow the children to come unto me”. In September, the church began the new year of Kids Club. Children, grades K-5th, were invited to come to church on Wednesday afternoons for games, refreshments, music, and active Bible lessons.
The children are drawn into the truth about who Jesus is and how he wants them to live their lives through story telling, drama, and puppets.
The director of Kids Club is Kara Cozart. Janet Carlisle leads the music and teaching. Other members of the team include Neva Eads, Judy Allison, Brenda Putnam, Dick Putram, Judy Knorr and others. Pat Ciupek, interim pastor, is very thankful for this ministry that the lay leadership of the church provides.
The leaders of Kids Club are tuned into the individual needs of each child and work to relate to the parents of the children.
Kids Club at Carthage FBC has grown from around 25 to between 40 and 50 each week. Most of the children do not regularly attend church. Through this ministry, the church is reaching out to the community. A video clip of Rev. Pat Ciupek sharing about this ministry can be found on the Regional Web page. (www.abcgrr.org/ccm/library.htm).
Pastor Charles Klassen of FBC Benton IL presented a preview for the community of the 13 week Financial Peace University program to beat debt, control finances and give like never before.
The church also had a PowerPoint slide program presented to all adult Sunday School classes from the GABBRAI bike ride to solicit funds for church planting. This will be available to other churches to support the program and next year’s ride
Community Baptist Church, Utica, MO began their 34th consecutive year of C.L.I.A. (Christ Love In Action ), an after school program for children, K - 6th grade. Seventh and eighth graders can become Youth Leaders. Lois McCain has been the director for 33 years. Other leaders are Shirley Hess, pastor, Liz Cunningham, Kathryn Ratliff and Rene Harkins.
The motto for C.L.I.A. is “Be ye doers of the Word and not hearers only” from James 1:22. The group meets two times a month during the school year concluding with a dinner and an awards ceremony in May. The picture below is the group from the awards ceremony in May of this year.
GRR American Baptist Youth Gathering
BRINGIN’ JESUS BACK
John 14:19
November 7-9, 2008 First Baptist Church D Decatur, IL
Speakers: Rev Steve Mechem
J. P. Parrish
Concert by: The Virginia Go
Mission Opportunities & Workshops
Cost: $50.00 Youth $40.00 Youth Leaders
Open to: Youth Grades 8-12 & College Freshmen & Sophomores
Mainstream Contact Information
Send your stories of mission and ministry. Please also send the names of new members (fruit of this mission and ministry) to:
Linda Ricks 232 Devron Circle East Peoria, IL 61611 E-Mail: Ricks4Lr@comcast.net
Our Great Rivers Region Baptist Family Is Growing!
First Baptist Church, Macomb, IL Welcomes: Julie Bunch, Derek Helling, and Emily Richardson
Northern Seminary Has New President
The Northern Seminary Board of Trustees has prayerfully and unanimously selected the Reverend Dr. Alistair Brown to lead the school in its next chapter of theological education. Dr. Brown began his leadership responsibilities in mid-September.
For the past 12 years, Dr. Brown served as General Director of the Baptist Missionary Society (BMS) at its World Mission headquarters in Didcot, Oxfordshire, UK. He also served for more than ten years as senior pastor at a large, center-city church in Aberdeen, UK. Dr. Brown earned a Ph.D at the University of
Edinburgh.
Dr. Brown will lead the seminary through several changes, including the relocation of its main campus to Elgin, IL adjacent to Judson University
The GRR was pleased to meet Dr. Brown at the GRR Annual Meeting.
The Mainstream is a twice-monthly publication of the American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region, 3940 Pintail Drive, Springfield IL 62711 Telephone: (217) 726-7366 Fax: (217) 726-7566 Email: grrabc@abc-grr.org Web: www.abc-grr.org