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ABW News

Sat. Oct. 5th ABW Fall Rally at Breckenridge Baptist Church.

Registration is at 9:30 a.m. Program starts at 10:00 a.m. and concludes with lunch. The Rally Mission Project is towels, washcloths, pillows, twin bedding and blankets. All items must be new and light colors and will be donated to the Pine Haven Homeless Shelter.

We also are continuing to collect used postage stamps for a project. They can be left in the container on the counter in the church office.

The Lizzie Lewis Circle meets the first Thursday of every month at 1:00 p.m. All ladies are welcome.

A Note from Jim Adkins

We would like to thank our FBC church family for their prayers, encouragement and support. It is truly an honor for us to be a part of this family. I know that I have missed many Sundays as I/we have been on the road ministering. TODAY, (9/23) I am in Kansas City. This past weekend, I was in Salina, Kansas teaching a seminar on relational evangelism, preaching and sharing the vision of the Global Poultry Initiative. It was a very fruitful week. I fly home tomorrow.

As you know, I returned home from Tanzania on September 14th. Our trip to Tanzania was very fruitful! We were able to evaluate and select about 230 breeding stock of chickens that will be used as the foundation breeding stock to launch a breeding program in Tanzania. This trip to Tanzania was a historical, pivotal accomplishment to begin our partnership with the Tanzania Disciple Making Movement, (TDMM) led by Juma Richard who visited Beckley last February. We also spent time with our national service team, praying, planning and strategizing for our next steps. God is on the move in Tanzania! Thank you for praying.

Our next trip is in November. Lord willing, Melissa and I will travel to Cameroon! We’ll be meeting with the President of the Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC) the Dean of Academics at both of the CBC seminaries. One of the primary goals of our partnership is to train the seminary students in sustainable poultry production. The big idea is to equip the young pastors and church planters with the character, knowledge and skills to make disciples and use poultry to reach others, provide food for themselves and start small businesses in the communities where they minister. We will also visit a piece of land where they are considering to build an agriculture multiplication center. This trip to Cameroon is very timely and strategic! Please pray for this as we prepare to leave in several weeks.

We are so thankful for our First Baptist Church family. We appreciate you. We love you. And I especially want to thank you for taking care of Melissa when I’m away. Your love, support and encouragement means so much to us.

Jim and Melissa Adkins
The Chicken Missionaries Who Make Disciples Like Jesus

Mission Board October Update

by Helen Jackson

We are off to a slow start with our World Mission Offering. Total amount as of Sept. 22nd is $898.00. We need to continually pray and ask God to show us how we can reach our goal of $1500. All our missionaries need our prayers and financial support. We will be taking this offering through the month of October. The World Mission Offering supports 125 dedicated missionaries plus partners- located in about 30 countries.

Please remember Juan Aragon and his family in your prayers. You remember them. Jenny Fultz introduced you to them a few Sunday mornings ago in her Mission Moment time.

We just recently learned that Juan is suffering with vertigo and ringing in the ears. This interferes greatly with his ability to drive. His ministry involves driving to 18 different rural, needy communities in the southernmost part of Mexico- over rough, unpaved roads.

Thank you for remembering Juan Aragon- along with all our great people in the mission field.

Also keep this date open – Sunday morning, Oct. 27th Debbie Mulneix will be here at First Baptist sharing her mission experiences during the morning worship service.

Winter can’t be far behind

Helping Hands is continuing to help those less fortunate here in Beckley and in Raleigh County. Now that fall is here, winter can’t be far behind and that’s where our need really grows tremendously. We will be needing blankets, winter coats and winter clothing. We also are in desperate need of men’s clothing and under garments.

Thank you for your continued support of bar soap, toilet paper and non-perishable food items and please keep these donations coming. Donations can be either dropped off at Helping Hands or left in the container outside the church office. We also thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve our community.

Fall Has Officially Arrived

by Debbie Vanaman

Well now that fall has officially arrived, I don’t know about you but this time of year brings thoughts of how blessed I am to have a roof over my head, enough food to eat, a great job and a super family. Yes, God has truly blessed me.

Each one of us needs to count our blessings daily and thank God for each and every one of them. Children all around the world unfortunately don’t have it quite so easy. The children that Operation Christmas Child reaches have never heard the name of Jesus and some of them live in orphanages just waiting for a place to call home.

We had a speaker back in August who was one such young lady. Her testimony truly touched each person who was there to hear her first-hand account of receiving a shoebox and how her life was eventually changed for the better and now she’s a speaker sharing her testimony.

Shoebox collection week will be November 18th through November 25th. That’s when your shoeboxes need to be returned to the church so they can start their journey to eventually reach a child who will see how much someone they don’t know loves them to pack a box just for them. I will be needing help working that week and I will be in contact with you to find out when you can help.

For the month of October, I still need about 50 small hairbrushes and small toys. The dollar stores around town are a great place to shop for these items. Donation boxes are in the Welcome Center and in Fellowship Hall. I will also be needing donations of money to cover the shipping for the 100 boxes that our youth will be putting together next month. These donations can be put in with your regular offering and just mark shoeboxes on the memo line.

As always please keep shoeboxes in your prayers as they are daily finding their way into the hands of children around the world. REMEMBER – one shoebox can change a child’s life. Thanks and God bless you.

Backpack Ministry – October

by Helen Greene

Backpacking is going full speed ahead! Every Wednesday morning we are packing food for our “Backpack Kids” at Beckley Elementary School.

Thanks to each one of you who brings food, gives money or prays for our kids and this ministry.

For the month of October please bring small cans of chicken noodle soup for our kids.

Master Creator

by Pastor Doc Adkins

Here we are and it’s fall again in West Virginia. Also, in a while it will be just beginning to cool off from the summer heat. Some of the trees are just beginning to lose a few leaves but eventually the fall weather will be here and the leaves will turn to their beauty and fall completely from the trees.

Fall is one of the most glorious times of the year. It’s filled with the chill of the air in sharp contradiction to the warmth of the colors of the leaves, making it just breathtaking. It leaves us just in awe of how wonderful God is and how so perfect each of His creations are.

As I look at the fall leaves and enjoy being out in a tree stand hunting or taking a drive with Sarah, I think about how beautiful a creation of God those are and I wonder how and what kind of a change God has for me. Think about how leaves change color can be such a lesson to us.

Did you know that the yellow to orange pigments are there inside the leaf the whole time but we only see them in the fall because they are masked by so much green pigment? During the summer the growth of the tree is making food inside cells in the leaves, which contain chlorophyll, which gives the leaf its green color.

In the fall the chlorophyll breaks down because of certain elements, which cause the other pigments to break out, and we see what becomes our beautiful fall leaves. There are three basic elements that affect that chlorophyll breaking down. Those are temperature, light, and water. During the fall the temperature drops having an effect. The days are shorter so there is less sunlight, and there is less water because of the rain level.

Considering all this set me to thinking how that is how we are as Christians. When we are sailing along without any problems we stay green and in the comfortable zone, but if it weren’t for the little less sunlight of a few bumps in the road in the way of trials, a few cold days of heartaches, and a little less water when we feel we can’t handle the burdens, then all of a sudden we become beautiful as a Christian.

God uses all those bumps, heartaches, and burdens to bring out our color and brilliance so that we can be a reflection for Him. He is the Master Creator. He knows what He is doing.

But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

When we get back to realizing that God is the Master Creator and begin taking in how awesome and powerful He is, just like we take in the beauty of the fall, it will cause us to be a little more vibrant in our color. Perhaps a little more vibrant in witnessing, reading our Bibles, our prayer life.

God knows us in such a personal way. He knows each situation, each thing that becomes important for us, and each thing that we have weighing on our heart. He knows every one of our joys, burdens, and sorrows. We forget sometimes that He gives us our color in only ways that He can. We sometimes in a sense forget that He is God.

Be still, and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10

It’s back to school!

Well it is back to school for our Backpack Kids. We have already started packing food for them to take home every weekend. As you may know, we pack two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, a loaf of bread and a bag of snacks for every child.

Please be in prayer for these children and for our Backpack Ministry. Thanks to everyone who prays for this ministry. Also, thanks to everyone who donates food or money. May God bless you!

For the month of September please bring small cans of tomato or chicken noodle soup.

Over 20 years and growing!

by Debbie Vanaman

As a drop-off center here in Beckley for over 20 years, I’ve seen this program here at First Baptist grow from 700 shoeboxes received back in the late 90’s to over 3,000 for the past two years and for this I give thanks to God for giving me the opportunity to watch this mission grow and expand beyond my wildest dreams. Countless numbers of children and their families have been given the opportunity to learn about Jesus and his love not to mention the joy that each child feels as they open a box prepared just for them with what we would think as everyday items such as a toothbrush or a brush and comb or that special toy. Seeing pictures of those faces is what keeps me going year after year just warms my heart. We had an awesome speaker here at First Baptist in August who shared with us first-hand how she received a shoebox as a child and she has come full circle now as a speaker for Operation Christmas child – what a blessing.

Collection week will be November 18th through November 25th and I will be needing lots of volunteers to staff our collection center. So keep that week open and I’ll be in contact soon to set up the schedule.

For the month of September, your donations of colored pencils, small coloring books and small toys is what we will be collecting. These donations can be left in the boxes located in Fellowship Hall or in the Welcome Center.

Please keep this program in your prayers as all year long shoeboxes are delivered to children around the world and the name of Jesus is shared all through something as simple as a shoebox. God bless you all.

Winter is Coming

Helping Hands is continuing to help those less fortunate here in Beckley and in Raleigh County. Now that fall is here, winter can’t be far behind and that’s where our need really grows tremendously. We will be needing blankets, winter coats and winter clothing. We also are in desperate need of men’s clothing and under garments.

Thank you for your continued support of bar soap, toilet paper and non-perishable food items and please keep these donations coming. Donations can be either dropped off at Helping Hands or left in the container outside the church office. We also thank you for your prayers as we continue to serve our community.