P������� A��

March 5-12 Week of Prayer for North America Missions

March 11

Vacation Bible School Clinic First Baptist Church, Moultrie

7:30 AM—12:30 PM

March 12 Daylight Savings Time Begins

March 20

Spring Begins

March 21 Mell Ministers Meeting

First Baptist Tifton Noon

March 23

Mell Administrative Team 4:30 PM

Mell Office

April 16 Easter

April 20

Mell Administrative Team 4:30 PM

Mell Office

April 25 Senior Adult Luncheon Salem Baptist Church

Noon—Until $8 Per Person

May 4

National Day of Prayer

The Mell Baptist Association exists to Encourage Churches, Strengthen Churches, and Partner with Churches to Reach People with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Established 1886.

www.mellbapt.com March 2017

HER NAME LIVES ON. HER LEGACY STANDS MILLIONS STRONG.

Every year, we honor the life and missions impact of Annie Walker Armstrong (1850-1938) when we give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American missions. As a tireless servant of God and a contagious advocate of missions eff orts throughout the world, Annie Armstrong united women in missions endeavors, ultimately leading to the formation of Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). Annie believed and followed Christ with all her heart, but it was her hands that expressed her belief in tangible ways. A prolific writer, she spent many hours using her hands to type and handwrite letters in support of missions. Many of these letters were quite lengthy, and all were motivated by her desire for others to, as she put it, “grow in grace and in the Knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Annie also used her hands to reach out to others in need, wheth-er by hugging a child or distributing food, clothing and the Word of God to those in need. Her hands cradled her Bible as she studied how best to share God’s love with others. Most importantly, as a woman of prayer, Annie regularly folded her hands in prayer to intercede for the missionaries and those with whom they shared Christ. Annie once wrote, “If I get hold of an idea which seems to me to be a good one, I somehow do not feel comfortable until I see it carried out.” As a result of her persistence, Annie rallied churches to give more, pray more and do more to reach people for Christ. As modern-day missions advocates unite to continue that work today, we can be encouraged and empowered by following her legacy.

AM THOUGHTS Praise God for all of our churches commitment to serve the Lord and share the

Gospel around the world! Congratulations to these churches!

Associational Giving

1. FB Tifton $20,600

2. Northside $17,000

3. Mt. Zion $9,201

4. FB Ty Ty $8,150

5. Eastside $6,402

Percentage to Mell (of undesignated gifts)

1. Calvary 3.9%

2. Liberty 3.4%

3. Brushy Creek 3.0%

4. Omega 2.9%

5. Mt. Zion 2.4%

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

1. FB Tifton $116,918

2. Northside $95,691

3. Eastside $19,414

4. Mt. Zion $13,710

5. FB Ty Ty $13,395

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering

1. FB Tifton $29,988

2. Eastside $11,210

3. Mt. Zion $9,417

4. Northside $7,523

5. FB Ty Ty $7,013

God is at work in the association! I think we are heading in the right direction! The association is all about serving the churches! Our purpose says, “The Mell Baptist Association exists to encourage churches, strengthen churches, and partner with churches to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Our priorities are “To encourage churches toward health and unity; to strengthen churches to make disciples; and to partner with churches to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.” Notice how many times church is mentioned! Let us know how the association can serve your church. Tom

Churches wishing to inform the public of upcoming events, please forward the information about the event to our office via email or snail-mail so that it will arrive by the 20th of each month for inclusion in the newsletter.

mellbapt@friendlycity.net.

Our mailing address is: Mell Baptist Association

P.O. Box 1547 Tifton, GA 31793

Or call (229) 386-0865

Useful Links:

Southern Baptist Convention http://www.sbc.net/

North American Mission Board http://www.namb.net/

International Mission Board http://www.imb.org/

Georgia Baptist Mission Board https://gabaptist.org/

Mell Baptist Association http://mellbapt.com/

Christian Index http://christianindex.org

Prayer Suggestions

♦ Pray for the churches without pastors: Alapaha, Brighton Road, Eldorado, Lakeview, New River, and Omega.

♦ Pray for the victims of the recent tornados and those assisting them.

♦ Pray for the President and all government officials.

♦ Pray for the Association Missionary and the Administrative Team that they will have God’s wisdom.

WELCOME

Please welcome Rev. Brian Allen as pastor

for First Baptist Church of Chula and Rev.

John Duncan as inter im music director

for First Baptist Church of Tifton.

The Big Invite is a bluepr int for your church to have more guests than ever for

Easter 2017!

There are 7.1 million lost and unchurched in Georgia. 83% of unchurched people say

they are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited.

The goal of The Big Invite is to unite Georgia Baptists in one effort to invite 1,000,000

households to our Georgia Baptist churches for Easter 2017. If just the regular

attenders of our Georgia Baptist churches invites one family, we would far exceed that

goal.

Imagine more moms, dads, kids, singles all ready to hear the Gospel delivered on Res-

urrection Sunday.

What a Kingdom opportunity

Let’s unite our efforts as Georgia Baptists and make Easter 2017 the biggest Easter

attendance we’ve ever had.

A TGH�� CIJK L��JL�M ENI�MM��� EO�H AI�ILH 25-26

F�JLH B�MH�LH CIJK, T�QHG�

-Leadership Training

-Breakout Sessions

-National Speakers

CELEBRATIONS

March

Birthdays

Anniversaries 14 Rev. & Mrs. Andy Ring

Pastor/Staff Anniversaries 2 Steve Tucker Liberty 4 Bill Hughes First Baptist, Tifton

April

Birthdays 10 Fred Evers Northside

Anniversaries 3 Rev. & Mrs. Larry Layfield

Pastor/Staff Anniversaries 1 Kevin Kilgore Northside 23 Glenn Ford Calvary 28 Jim Donovan First Baptist, Tifton

Food Pantry 2017

March Oak Grove April May June Salem July August Eastside September Brookfield October New River November December

The Food Pantry served 24 households in January.

Senior Adult Luncheon

Noon

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Salem Baptist Church

Cost: $8 Per Person Call Salem for Reservations:

229-528-4512

Sunday March 12, 2017

Sons of Jubal

First Baptist Church, Tifton

May 11, 2017

7:00—8:30 PM

Mell Baptist Association 400-A North Central Avenue P.O. Box 1547 Tifton, GA 31793 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED PH: 229-386-0865 mellbapt@friendlycity.net www..mellbapt.com

Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Chula, GA 31733

Permit No. 5

Vacation Bible School Clinic

March 11 First Baptist Church

Moultrie 7:30 AM—12:30 PM

Baptist Collegiate Ministries Club Advisor

Penny Chesnut ABAC 595

2802 Moore Highway Tifton, GA 31793-2601

(229) 382-8708

Monthly Financials

(January 2017)

Budget Needs: $8950.87

Funds Received $9794.10

Expenses: $6666.88

BCM NEWS

More than 30 years ago, Penny Chestnut was a career counselor at ABAC when it was a junior college. In her spare time, Chestnut worked as ABAC’s BCM director. There was no BCM building, and every year was like a startup because student leaders were gone after two years. The woman whom many BCM students call mom has often been a mentor to students. “She will tell you what you need to hear,” one of them said of Chestnut. “She practices what she preaches. She’s always there, always encouraging.” Being always there makes for long days. The BCM meets two nights a week, and she often doesn’t get home until after 10 p.m. “What would you do if you got home at five o’clock?” Chestnut asks. With more than 100 students attending BCM, Chestnut has plenty to do. Tifton doesn’t offer many entertainment options for college students outside of class, so the BCM is proactive to sponsor weekend ministry events for students. “We’re not going to spend a bunch of money on [events] unless you’re going to have God in there somewhere,” Chestnut said. BCM’s on-campus ministry at ABAC includes volunteering at events like the recent Red Neck Olympics, sponsoring faculty breakfasts, and distributing bottled water to students on Monday mornings following a 7 a.m. prayer breakfast. Meanwhile, Chestnut reminds students to open their eyes to ministry opportunities. “Your class is your mission field,” she tells students.

(This is an excerpt of an article written by photojournalist Jim Burton and printed in the November 6, 2015 edition of the Christian Index.)

Winter Suppers

March 6 Enigma

March 13 Spring Break

March 20 FBC Tifton

March 27 Zion Hope

April 3 Northside

April 10 New River

April 17 CrossView

April 28 BCM