THE MONTGOMERY BAPTIST

Serving Christ Through Montgomery Area Churches KEN MAY, DIRECTOR OF MISSIONS THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2012

A Personal Word
Most of us are familiar with the story of the Titanic. It was one of the greatest tragedies of the 20th Century. The largest passenger ship built to that date was thought to be unsinkable. The Titanic set sail on her maiden voyage from South Hampton, England to New York on April 12, 1912, only to strike an iceberg in the North Atlantic and sink with Ken May the loss of 1,517 lives. Though it met requirements at the time, the ship had lifeboats for only 1178 despite a load of 2223 passengers. While there are many lessons to be learned from this tragedy, two come readily to mind. First, always be as prepared as possible for any eventuality, and second, never succumb to the notion that you are invincible. Why do I mention these two? Well, I sense that many of us are like many of the passengers on that ship; we dont think anything bad can happen to us or our organizations. There are no persons alive in any of our churches who were here when the Southern Baptist Convention was founded, or when the Foreign Mission Board (IMB) or the Board of Domestic Missions (Home Mission Board) were established. Very few of our members were alive when we launched the Cooperative Program. We inherited these entities and they became ours. Most of us have assumed they will always be with us. However, we are not unsinkable. I recently heard a researcher from the International Mission Board say that we have only eight to twelve years to make substantial impact on the lostness of our country or the SBC as we know it will be gone. Whatever statistically was going to happen has certainly been sped up by the Great Recession and its impact on giving and missions support. Why did this researcher say this? It was based on data from research. Two components of this data are worth noting. Between 1970 and 2005 we added 35,000,000 legal immigrants to our population. This is the same amount of immigrants that came 1780-1924 and that forged this nation into a new and unique people group known as Anglo-Americans. The earlier immigrants melded together in the melting pot of the frontier to make America what America was by 1970. The new immigrants are not melding. The meltingpot is broken, the researcher said. We must reach these people in their heart language with the gospel. Secondly, the average age of Southern Baptists is 54. Only in the 50+ age groups, do we match or exceed the percentage of the population in that age group. In the younger age group, 18-29, we have only half the percentage of the general population in our churches (11% of our churches, 22% of the general population). These startling statistics remind us that our task is to make disciples wherever we go and if we are not making disciples, we are losing ground. The church must be about her primary mission of making disciples.
Date Monday 23-Jan

Instructional League Basketball Schedule

Time 6:00 PM 7:00 PM Court 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 Home Team Opening Prayer EHBC 1 Thorington Road Taylor Road EHBC 2 Vaughn Forest 1 Taylor Road Vaughn Forest 2 Thorington Road EHBC 1 Vaughn Forest 2 Vaughn Forest 1 Taylor Road Eastmont 1 Vaughn Forest 1 Eastmont 2 Vaughn Forest 2 EHBC 1 Eastmont 2 Eastmont 1 Vaughn Forest 1 Away Team Closing Prayer Vaughn Forest Eastmont 2 Vaughn Forest 1 Eastmont 1 EHBC 1 Eastmont 1 Eastmont 2 EHBC 2 Eastmont 2 EHBC 2 Eastmont 1 Thorington Road EHBC 1 Thorington Road EHBC 2 Taylor Road EHBC 2 Taylor Road Thorington Road Vaughn Forest 2

Monday 30-Jan

6:00 PM 7:00 PM

Monday 6-Feb

6:00 PM 7:00 PM

Monday 13-Feb

6:00 PM 7:00 PM

Monday 20-Feb

6:00 PM 7:00 PM

Ministers Conference January 16 11:30 a.m. MBA Office We will go out to lunch following the meeting. No reservations needed just show up.

Pastors Wives Luncheon February 4 at 12:00 p.m. First Baptist RSVP by January 31 Call Tammy Rolling at 201-2488.

RA Basketball Schedule
Day Saturday Date Time 1/21 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 1/28 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 2/4 8:00 a.m. 9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. Home Vaughn Forest EHBC 1 Thorington Road Taylor Road Vaughn Forest Taylor Road Eastmont 2 Eastmont 1 Thorington Road Eastdale Taylor Road Vaughn Forest Visitor - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs - vs EHBC Eastmont 2 Eastmont 1 Eastdale Thorington Road EHBC Eastmont 1 Eastdale Eastmont 2 Taylor Road Eastmont 1 EHBC Will Play 2 Games EHBC

Alabama WMU office is looking for a Ministry Assistant with bookkeeping experience and a part-time Ministry Assistant to work a minimum of 20 hours per week. Please email a resume to Cindy Wilson at cwilson@alsbom.org.

Saturday

Eastmont 1

Forest Park Ministry is looking for a few good volunteers to come and join the team helping the community! A specific need is for an afternoon receptionist volunteer on Mondays from 12-3 p.m. Contact Donna McCullough for more information at forestparkminsitry@yahoo.com or call her at 269-5726.

Saturday

Taylor Road

The Montgomery Baptist Association 20 Interstate Park Montgomery, Alabama 36109 334-271-6227 www.mgmbaptist.org This publication is made possible by your churches contributions to Associational Missions.