Iowa Baptist Conference
Email Newsletter |
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Dear Friends,
This eNews letter comes to you from the
district office of the Iowa Baptist
Conference... keeping pastors and
leaders informed of activities across
the state and opportunities and
resources available through the IBC &
the BGC.
If you are NOT viewing this in HTML
format... you are missing a LOT!
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125th IBC
ANNUAL MEETING |
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Just Around the Corner...
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DATES:
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LEAD Team - May 1-2
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Annual
Meeting -
May
2-3
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LOCATION:
Edgewood Family Fellowship, 621
Edgewood Rd NW, Cedar Rapids
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REGISTRATION INFORMATION:
Check with your local church office or
go on line at:
www.iowabgc.org
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REGISTRATION DEADLINE:
April
28 (for meals
and/or childcare)
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WE ARE NOT ALONE! |
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Al Magnuson Meeting by
Skip Hansen
In my last update, I told you I would be
meeting with the former District
Executive Minister, Al Magnuson, in
Omaha. Al presided during the creation
of our neighboring "Heartland District"
(formed by a union of the Great Plains &
Dakotas Districts.)
I TOOK
NOTES! The following are some
beneficial thoughts:
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PRESERVE:
As many people involved as possible!
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District folks:
Regionalized meetings required no one to
drive more than two hours! Listen.
Listen. Listen!
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District board:
Narrowed original ideas down to the 4
top option... which were sent in outline
form to the churches.
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The staff: Guided the
process. Created and submitted various
drafts, even multiple
drafts! Communicated often!
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PRESERVE:
Two district votes.
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1st Vote:
Choose: Explore Alliances...
or... Retain Autonomy
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2nd Vote:
Affirm/Reject a specific proposal
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PRESERVE:
Select what is truly best!
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Final Proposal - a thorough (8 page)
document.
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Anything that is not chosen, not
included or not incorporated into the
final outcome should be clearly
addressed and reasoned why not.
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Choose the right partner! They
used a temporary "yoke" period to
provide opportunity for all parties to
confirm a right fit.
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AVOID:
Choosing sides!
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DEM must demonstrate neutrality.
Respond to all "sides" with compassion
and mutual respect and responsibility.
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AVOID:
Making it personal!
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The selection of a final outcome cannot
become a "personal matter" for the
DEM.
My extended conversation with Al convinced me
that IBC is currently proceeding along an
appropriate previously-trod pathway. Much of
what we are planning mirrors what they did!
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We are involving many people... and
listening to what is said! Our early
brainstorming process is engaging more folks
earlier than Heartland!
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We are planning two votes: One to choose
whether to investigate alliances... and
another one to finalize any new selection.
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We want what will be best for the
churches... who want to Magnify God!
While I admit to opinions and perspectives
gained as a DEM... I pledge this will not
be personal. I have not, and will not attempt
to determine the final outcome, which rightly
should be discovered only through our
aNEWthing! investigation process!
I hope to see you all at the annual gathering
May 2-3.
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TOWN HALL MEETINGS |
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a
NEW thing! Presentations & Discussions ...
by Skip
So far... we've held 3 town hall meetings... in
Davenport, Kiron, and Waterloo! While the
turnout has been very good, the fellowship and
Spirit have been great! Good questions have
been asked. Clarifying answers have been
provided.
Praise the Lord... people are leaving
satisfied... providing a great testimony of the
way God desires to see his Christian family work
together!
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CORRECTION |
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Transition
Date... by Skip
I misspoke (not like Hillary misspoke!)
Thinking about our fiscal year, rather than our
annual meeting date... I mistakenly published
the conclusion of my role as DEM, (to take the
responsibility as Transition Director,) as March
31.
The correct date of that anticipated
shift is May 3.
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NEW BGC
MISSIONAL NAME! |
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Long ago, someone originated the saying, "Sticks
and stones may break my bones... but names
will never hurt me!" It was intended to teach
that bad names cannot cause real injury.
Right? Or can they?
Recently, I received a fax from a notorious
"Baptist" church in another state announcing that
the recent slaughter of an entire family in Iowa
City was, "In punishment for Iowa's sins, and in
retaliatory vengeance for Iowa having persecuted
[their church's BAPTIST name]." Who knows how
many thousands of people across our country (and
world) received this horrible "Baptist,"
"Christian," hate message!
Could it be... through no fault of our own... that
what was once a meaningful and powerful name
describing Christians of high moral character and
evangelical fervor... is today becoming a "bad name"
across our country... and around the world? It is
sad, but it appears so.
BGC spent the last year seeking a new trademarkable
missional name. After a lengthy pursuit, we have
finally found one that is not trademarked by someone
else!
Keep in mind we are not changing our
organizational name--Baptist General Conference
(BGC). But to further advance our work, both
domestically and internationally, we believe a new
missional name will help us defuse initial
resistance... and give us better opportunity to
expand the Kingdom of God.
This new name will not reflect any change in
our theological position. But it will describe more
accurately what we do... rather than
describing who we are.
The core-word in the new name is:
CONVERGE... opening the opportunity
for many variations such as
Converge-Worldwide, or
Converge-USA, or in our case for
example, "Converge-Iowa?"
Now we have to answer... what will "converge" mean
for us in Iowa? Will we use it? I've wondered,
could "converge" describe our decision to come
together... so that we can go out together? Or
what?
BGC has chosen some associated core "tag words":
CONNECT, IGNITE and TRANSFORM. "Connecting
churches and leaders to ignite movements of
transformational churches."
Looking forward, as the Spirit leads, you may expect
to see us begin to adopt and adapt some of these
words and phrases to describe our mission use right
here in Iowa! From my point of view... it seems
like it might be a good name... one that truly
cannot hurt us.
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IBC PRAYER SUMMIT |
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The Power of Prayer...
by Roger Sutton, Camp Director
"Pray without ceasing." I Th. 5:17
(KJV) "Pray continuously." (NIV)
We know the verse. We've seen prayer work.
Yet, this seemingly simple command can be
one of the hardest ones for us to live out.
At least it's true for me. When it comes to
"continuously," it seems to be easier to "be
busy continuously, work continuously, have
meetings continuously..."
There's an opportunity for us to be reminded
what prayer can do and how to put it into
practice. Pastor Russ Grill will be
introducing a group to some of the things
that Jim Cymbala teaches in his series
When God's People Pray
here at Pine Lake on April 12th.
As part of the process, we will be
practicing prayer for the ministries of the
IBC. Join us if you can, Saturday, April
12. 9am - 2pm. Lunch provided (Freewill
offering). RSVP - Pine Lake - 641-858-3284
or
rogers@pinelakechristiancamp.org.
These are important days. We need to be in
prayer now more than ever for the combined
ministries of the IBC and the churches that
we are a part of. The first verses in I Th.
5 remind us that we do not know when the
Lord will return. The Thessalonians were
warned to not be found sleeping.
In the mean time here are a few prayer
requests:
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Pray
for the hiring of the summer staff.
The challenge to find college age
"guys" is always at the top of the
list.
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Pray for the stamina of the IBC
staff as we pull together the Annual
Meeting plans and complete the "a
New thing"
meetings.
If you would like to be a part of the prayer
team that prays specifically for Pine Lake
and be included in more specific prayer
updates, please let me know.
rogers@pinelakechristiancamp.org
Roger
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WEBSITE COMMUNICATION |
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A
YELLOW BUTTON
is located prominently on
IBC's website homepage!
The button points you to a site dedicated to
everything you might want to know about the proposed
Transition Year... a NEW
thing!
You will be able to see the entire plan
At-A-Glance, a Detailed Progress Chart,
Frequently Asked Questions, Survey Responses,
eNewsletters, and other supporting documents.
For all the most up to date information
regarding "a NEW
 thing!"... please
check the
IBC website
and hit...
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COMMUNITY SERVICE PROJECTS
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Outreach Ideas from The
River Community, Iowa City...
- Members recently arranged to
fix and serve lunch for the Iowa City street
maintenance crew... as an expression of
appreciation to the snow plow drivers... in
light of the tough winter season!
- The church maintains a food
bank and now also partners with a local
elementary school to serve the community.
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MEN'S MINISTRY IDEAS |
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Outreach Ideas
for Men...
Valley View Baptist, Cedar
Rapids, is planning "Survivorman"
father/son retreat... planning to survive for a
weekend without tents, fire, food, amenities, etc.!
We'll be looking forward to the follow-up on this
event!
The River's Edge, Iowa Falls,
joined the city Dodgeball League. Here's pastor
Carlton's story:
We had enough of our "regulars" to field
a team, but every time we met up with a
college-age kid, we told them we needed players
on our dodgeball team, and the college students
started coming out of the woodwork!
They'd invite their friends, or just show up at
game time! Each night we brought a tub of our
River's Edge T-shirts (which we were using as
our team uniform), and we'd give each student
who wanted to play a shirt, and they were "in"!
Granted, some of the students came and
played, and we haven't seen them again. But
several have started to attend our Sunday
morning worship services, several others have
begun attending our Sunday evening college-age
Bible study, but all of them experienced a
friendly touch from a church family!
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS |
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 Looking
Ahead...
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 IOWA
BAPTIST CONFERENCE
Magnifying God by Mobilizing &
Multiplying a Growing Family of Healthy Churches! |
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Iowa Baptist Conference | 32203 - 230th Street | Eldora | IA |
50627
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