ABC’s For Becoming A

Christian

A – Admit

to God you are a sinner. Repent and turn away from your

sin. (Romans 3:23 &

6:23, I John 1:9;

Acts 3:19)

B – Believe

that Jesus is God’s Son and that God sent Jesus to save

people from their sin. (Romans 5:8;

Acts 4:12; Acts 16:31; John 3:16;

I Peter 3:18; John 14:16)

C – Commit

your life to Jesus. Trust Him to be your

Savior and Lord. (Romans 10:13; Matthew 16:24;

Luke 9:23)

MISSION CENTER HOURS

Monday-Thursday...8:30 AM - 4:30 PM Friday...9:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Lunch Hour...12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

www.laurensisland.org www.laurensbaptistassoc.org

Associational Staff

Associational Missionary

Reiny Koschel

Missions Mobilization Director Kay W. Leagans

Ministry Assistant/Office Manager

Deborah W. Adams

Financial Secretary

Lory S. Satterfield

Disciple’s Trail Caretaker Phil Bryson

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Equipping Churches To Reach

“LAURENS ISLAND”

Laurens Baptist Association

Churches Working Together For HIS Kingdom, By HIS Power, For HIS Glory

LBA NEWS www.laurensbaptistassoc.org www.laurensisland.org

Family of God is in need of a part-time pianist. Contact Kathy Harvey for more information at (864) 981-1846. They are also in need of a sound system. If you can help them out, please contact Pastor Fred Beckett at (864) 876-1570 or (864) 684-0574.

Lanford has recently called Richard Cain as pastor. Rev. Cain began his duties on February 3, 2013.

Lucas Avenue congratulates Ministry Assistant Crystal Goforth on the birth of son Paul, born January 15, 2013.

Mount Pleasant will have an Annie Armstrong impersonator on Saturday, March 9th at 10:30 AM. Offering will be taken to go towards Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. Refreshments will be served after service. Call Lori Weston at (864) 677-2625 for more information.

Poplar Springs is in need of a pianist/organist. Send resume to Poplar Springs Baptist Church, Post Office Box 124, Ware Shoals, SC 29692 or call the church office at (864) 861-2196.

Rabun Creek will be having a one day community revival on Saturday, March 30th at 6:00 PM. The guest speaker will be Jack Easterby, from Columbia, SC. Easterby has functioned as the campus director for the University of South Carolina’s Fellowship of Chrisitian Athletes and is also the chaplain for the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. Everyone is invited to attend.

SONshine Church will meet at Chestnut Ridge Baptist Church at 6:00 PM on Sunday, March 17, 2013.

Volume 44 Issue 3

March 2013

Men’s Spring Hogfest Postponed

Due to concerns about the completion of the public water project to the Disciple’s Trail, the Men’s Spring

Hogfest will be postponed until a future date.

2013 Block Party Trailer Training

Monday, March 18, 2013 6:30 PM

LBA Mission Center

All churches must have at least two trained volunteers prior to reserving the Block Party Trailer.

Questions? Contact Kay Leagans @ 984-0123

Save The Date

Would you like to spend a week of your summer vacation doing mission work?

If so, make plans to join us the week of June 16, 2013 for our third

Atlanta Mission Trip.

More information coming soon.

Questions? Call Reiny Koschel or Kay Leagans

U

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O

M

I

N

G

E

V

E

N

T

S

Save The Date

Pastors’ Wives Banquet

Tuesday, April 16 @ 7:00 PM LBA Mission Center

LBA Mission Trip Meeting

Thursday, April 18 @ 6:30 PM LBA Mission Center

Semi-Annual Meeting

Tuesday, April 23 @ 6:45 PM Davidson Baptist Church

400 Davidson Street Clinton, SC

WMU Spring Meeting to be held at Laurens First Baptist Church on Monday, March 25, 2013 @ 6:00 PM.

A light meal will be served.

Questions?: Call Barbara Hunter @ 681-3700 or 918-4494 Email: zimbots@prtcnet.com

Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013

The LBA Office will be closed on

Good Friday, March 29, 2013.

Minister’s Conference

Thursday, March 14, 2013 10:30 AM

LBA Mission Center

Speakers: Mark Hendrick, SCBC Director of Office of Public Policy

&

Bobby Jackson, SCBC Evangelism Group

“My Hope” Training

All pastors are encouraged to attend. Plan to join us for lunch following the meeting.

“Chicken Little”

Now by the title of my rant (oops, article) you may be thinking that I have given in and have finally weighed in on that ever important issue facing our nation today… whether or not growth hormones should be given to chickens. Bet you didn’t even know that this is one of the most pressing issues in our nation today?? Now if you must know my thoughts on this important pressing issue, chicken big is always better than chicken little. Case in point, have you ever purchased the boneless skinless chicken breasts from Sam’s Club? Those things are gynormous! (Not exactly sure that is a word, but if not, it should be). They must be feeding those things something powerful because they are about the size of an ostrich breast. Now, I must confess that I really don’t know much about an ostrich, but I am assuming that a bird that size must yield a sizable cut of meat. Those chicken breasts are so big that you can quarter them and still have enough food for four people (or one Associational Missionary). Did I really write all that to tell you what I wasn’t talking about??

The Chicken Little that I was referring to is the fable that many of us grew up hearing about the little chick who had an acorn (or something else from above) hit it on the head and who begins to think that the “Sky is falling.” That little chick went around trying to convince the other animals that they too should be afraid that the sky was falling. Well, I don’t exactly remember how the fable ends, but I do remember that the sky never actually fell and that Chicken Little got all worked up over something that never materialized.

Now there are many times that we can get worked up over things that are not really that impor-tant (who wins the Super Bowl) and then refuse to get worked up over those things that are really important (Jesus’ commission to make disciples). But, there are times when we must face the serious reality of a given situation. Well, we as an Association are at that kind of a crossroads. For the past six years, the giving from our churches has declined by a total of nearly $20,000. During those years, we have cut back and hoped and prayed that contributions would once again begin to rebound. Well, whether it is due to the overall economic conditions, a decline in giving to our individual churches, or other mitigating factors, the stark reality is that giving has slowed in recent years. As a result, we began the New Year with a significant financial shortfall.

Let me be sure to say early on that we are grateful for the resources that each church has en-trusted to us for Associational missions. But, we did want to make our churches and their people aware of the financial challenges facing us. Now I recognize that many of our churches have had a difficult time in recent years and that their decrease in contributions is a direct reflection of that individual church’s own financial challenges. It may be that some of our churches would consider becoming a percentage giver, as opposed to simply giving a set amount, or may even consider increasing their giving.

Let me give you a small example of what your contributions go toward. Several weeks back, our youth team sponsored “Winter Slam” at Laurens Middle School. We were unsure how many would attend to hear a Christian band, watch the Liberty University SOAR dunk team, and hear a challenge from God’s Word. Well, we were thrilled to see the gym packed out with more than 700 people. Many young people heard the gospel and were challenged to set aside their sinful lives and follow Christ. Scores of young people came down to talk to someone about their rela-tionship with Christ. I personally had the privilege of speaking to four different youth, none of whom attended one of our churches. These types of ministry events are made possible by your generous contributions through our Association.

Well with the shortfall that we are facing, our administrative team began looking into ways that we could cover the budget shortfall. Most fixed type costs had already been whittled down and the only other option would be to begin cutting back significantly from our personnel. After much dis-cussion, the committee recommended that we make some changes at the Disciple’s Trail Retreat Center which would significantly help us to bridge the short fall. Since the camp facility has cost the Association an average of more than $23,000/year over the past five years, they decided that we would no longer rent out the facility to outside groups and would only leave the large building operational to be used exclusively by our LBA churches who were willing to cut the grass and prepare the building since it would also be necessary to eliminate the camp caretaker position.

It was agreed that the administrative committee would meet with the LBA Retreat team and the LBA trustees to discuss this proposal. During that meeting, after hearing about the declining contributions and the costs associated in continuing to run the camp facility, the three groups decided to recommend to the Association that we begin developing a one year plan to market the property for sale. This was a difficult decision to come to, but it is one that was unanimously agreed would be the best thing for our Association. Along with that recommendation, it was also decided that a strategic plan would need to be developed that would allow the receipts from any potential sale to continue the vision that was begun at the camp to impact Laurens County with the Gospel. Obviously, our churches will have the final say but this recommendation will be presented during our semi-annual meeting in April.

Now, the reason why I started this article with “Chicken Little” was to assure you that the sky is not falling. Our Association will continue to allow our churches to work together toward Kingdom advancement, and I believe that we will be stronger as a result as we continue to seek the Lord’s guid-ance together. Well, a financial “chunk” has hit us squarely on the head, but the sky is still firmly in place and the King over all things is still firmly on His throne! I am praying that God would show us how our next step of obedience will have an even greater impact on “Laurens Island” for the Kingdom of God.

Reiny Koschel, Associational Missionary

2013 YTD - -

1,249.87 50.00

125.00 605.71

- 678.09 643.05 508.33

- 50.00

450.00 736.43

- 300.00 421.42

- 151.75

- - -

211.83 -

547.95 420.66 90.57

400.00 125.00

- 2,662.13

- 1,000.00

- 238.39 300.00 166.66 432.69 54.00

319.67 40.00

- 113.40 400.00 238.73 437.10 516.67

- 1,272.04

751.41 30.00

267.69 175.28

17,181.52

Jan 2013 - -

1,249.87 50.00

125.00 605.71

- 678.09 643.05 508.33

- 50.00

450.00 736.43

- 300.00 421.42

- 151.75

- - -

211.83 -

547.95 420.66 90.57

400.00 125.00

- 2,662.13

- 1,000.00

- 238.39 300.00 166.66 432.69 54.00

319.67 40.00

- 113.40 400.00 238.73 437.10 516.67

- 1,272.04

751.41 30.00

267.69 175.28

17,181.52

General Church Contributions:

Bar None Cowboy Beaverdam Bellview Bethabara Bethel Beulah Calvary Cedarwood Chestnut Ridge Clinton First Community Cornerstone Cross Hill Davidson Street Durbin Creek Eastside Family Of God Friendship Gateway *Grace Church Gray Court First Harmony Henderson Highland Home Hillcrest Holly Grove Hurricane Joanna First Lanford Langston Laurens First Laurens Second Lucas Avenue Lydia Mountville Mt. Gallagher Mt. Olive Mt. Pleasant New Beginning New Prospect Northside Pine Grove Pleasant Grove Poplar Springs Princeton Rabun Creek Rosemont *Transformation Union Warrior Creek Waterloo Wayside Welcome TOTAL

*LBA Sanctioned Church Start

Thank you for supporting Associational Missions by giving at least 3% of your undesignated

offerings.

2012 YTD - - -

50.00 125.00 712.68

- 515.15 400.03 508.33

- 50.00

- -

749.14 300.00 181.25

- 760.78

- - -

229.86 -

298.57 -

146.60 500.00 125.00

- 2,136.00

333.00 - -

281.79 600.00 166.66

- 42.00

319.67 40.00

- 117.43 200.00 195.24 372.31 505.16

- 1,347.22

- 30.00

192.84 71.79

12,603.50

CRISIS CENTER NEEDS:

JUICE, DRIED BEANS, RICE

HomeLife, Mature Living, and Devotional Magazines are always needed.

MARCH SCHEDULE

Tuesday, March 05 - Laurens First

Thursday, March 07 - Family of God

Tuesday, March 12 - Hurricane

Thursday, March 14 - Chestnut Ridge

Tuesday, March 19 - Northside

Thursday, March 21 - Welcome

Tuesday, March 26 - Bellview

Thursday, March 28 - Highland Home

Hours of Operation

Tuesday & Thursday 9:00 am - 12:00 noon

WINTER WEATHER POLICY

If District 55 schools are delayed or closed due to

inclement weather, the Crisis Center will be closed as well.

SENIOR ADULT TRIP

To Orlando, Florida

April 8 - 10, 2013

COST: $250.00 Per Person

Includes: Deluxe Motor Coach, Admission To The Holy Land Experience, two hot breakfast buffets, two light supper buffets, and

two nights lodging.

$150.00 Deposit Due By March 8, 2013

Deposit Is Non-Refundable.

Balance Due By

April 1, 2013.

Make checks payable to: Laurens Baptist Association Memo Line: Senior Adult Trip

Send to: Laurens Baptist Association

Post Office Box 745 Laurens, SC 29360

Attn: Kay Leagans

30 LBA Churches along with Grace Covenant Presbyterian

and the Church Of The Epiphany contributed food and monetary donations for the Crisis Center.

Thanks to everyone for making the Crisis Center the real winner.

2013 SOUPER

BOWL REPORT

Thanks to all who donated 2013 calendars for Camp Long.

Crisis Center

Workday Monday, April 1, 2013

9 - 11:30 AM

Spring Cleaning Time It’s that time of year to put away

winter clothing. We need volunteers to help restock our

clothes closet with Spring

clothing.

Volunteer by calling Kay at 984-0123 or email:

kay@laurensbaptistassoc.org

Ministry Health Kit

Should include:

1 toothbrush

1 toothpaste

1 soap (4.5 oz. bath size)

1 washcloth

1 bath towel

1 comb

Place items in a 2 gallon Zip Lock bag and deliver to the

LBA Mission Center on

or before April 24, 2013.

A BIG THANK YOU to Olin Johnson & Ernest Smith of New

Beginning, the Youth of Chestnut Ridge, Lori Weston & Nancy

Hornsby for all their hard work in organizing the Crisis Center

Clothes Room.