October 31, 2020
Greetings from the State Office and the Executive Board!
I hope everyone is doing well and you’ve had a nice taste of fall weather with more to come. We want to share with you a few things for your information and participation.
As portions of our state and nation reopen, it’s once again time for us to consider planning for our future events within the association. The next major event on the statewide calendar is the
2021 All Boards Meeting. This meeting is traditionally where the state boards do a lot of their planning for the calendar year and beyond, in addition to sharing ideas and fellowship. The 2021 meeting has been tentatively scheduled for Thursday-Saturday, January 28-30 at Fellowship
Church in Bryan. We say “tentatively” because, after all, we’re reminded that plans can always change. That said, we expect to meet in person at this meeting, and the Executive Board will
consider plans for the 2021 State Meeting, among other items as we develop the meeting agenda.
Speaking of the State Meeting, we also anticipate that the 2021 meeting will take place on June 7-8 at Lakehills Church in Cedar Park. Thanks to the gracious offer of Pastor Wes and the folks there, we expect that we will largely just move our 2020 plans forward one year and just have the
activities and program in 2021 that we had originally intended for this year. We will, of course, provide updates as the details are confirmed. While we’re on the subject of meetings and activities, we are interested to know how your district and church are making adjustments to the new realities of meeting together. If you are
meeting in person again for worship services, what does that look like compared to February?
What other activities is your church doing to not only engage your congregation but to provide
outreach to your community? We would appreciate it if you would share ideas on how you are meeting and making accommodations, so that we can share that across the state to not only provide ideas to others but to encourage you in what you’re doing.
At the district level, we also want to know how your meeting schedule has been (or is being) affected. While such meetings were either not allowed or not feasible earlier, they may be so
now. The caution for both district activities and church services is that it is easy, once we have developed the habit of not meeting together, to let that become the new norm, but it is important for us to stay in contact with one another, even if it’s virtually. This is not just to “conduct business”, but to encourage one another. For our district moderators and clerks, please let me
know when and how you are meeting within your district, and if there are any resources I can provide to help with this, please feel free to ask.
Also, related to meeting together and encouraging one another, we have a number of International Missionaries who are on stateside assignment to promote IM and raise funds for
their accounts (many of which have balances that have dropped over the last six months), as well as Home Missionaries who are also
looking to raise support for the
same reasons. A number of our
churches have hosted one or more
of these missionaries in your
services, and I thank you for that. If
you have not yet done so, or if you
are interested in perhaps hosting
another missionary, and want to get
more information, please contact
me, or you can visit the IM website
or the NAM website to see lists of
available missionaries or contact
their offices.
November is also the month for Mission North America offering, to take place November 22, the
Sunday before Thanksgiving. For more information, visit https://www.fwbnam.com/2020-
mission-north-america-offering/ .
Looking ahead to Christmas, Randall House has produced a D6 Advent Kit for use in your homes. A digital sample of the Advent Kit is available for download here. You can find more information, including how to
order your own complete kit, at
http://www.D6Family.com.
As October comes to a close, we have been sharing a number of memes on our Facebook page, along with other ideas and prayer needs, related to Pastor Appreciation month,
which is traditionally observed in October among Free Will Baptists. While the month is concluding, that doesn’t mean that appreciating our pastors should end. We appreciate all those who serve the Lord and
their congregations in this vital ministry, and we encourage all of our congregations to regularly pray for their pastors and show them the
support they deserve.
Finally, these thoughts and items are written just before election day. While many of you have likely already voted early by the time you receive this (and hopefully you have been informed on
candidates and issues, prayerfully considered how to vote based on the principles in God’s Word, and then followed through on that), we need to remind ourselves of the foundation of our faith.
As the Christian Law Association describes it in the September issue of their Legal Alert newsletter, “our faith is not in government, nor is it in the Constitution, but it is in the God Who
created and providentially rules over it all. Our faith is not in the frailty of man but in the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. … If tomorrow, American canceled church altogether, would you have the fortitude to stand? The Bible reminds us in II Thessalonians to not be shaken or be troubled, but rather to stand fast and hold. Our duty is to the Lord. Our faith should be founded and rooted in Christ, Who already knows the end. Our job is to remain faithful and preserve the truths that have been given to us. Please pray for our churches to stand strong and remember their ultimate allegiance.”
Finally, we remind you to please visit the directory on the State Association website and review your district’s and church’s information in the directory. If you see any information that needs to
be changed, please send updates and corrections to me at the State Office. Also, we send these quarterly updates to everyone on the State Office e-mail list, but there are surely some who
would be interested in receiving the information that we do not have on our list. Pastors, please share these dates, events, and details with your congregation so that everyone can be informed and involved. If someone has forwarded this information to you and you would like to be on the mailing list in the future, please contact us at the e-mail address below.
We appreciate all that you do for Texas Free Will Baptists and for the work of God. As always, you can contact us with any questions at stateoffice@texasfwb.org.
texaschallenge.net 