August Praise, Prayer and Schedule

Dear Prayer Partners,
Amy and I are in Reeves, Louisiana staying this week at Camp Pearl. We are having many opportunities for ministry and fellowship with friends. We get back home on Saturday and will be home the rest of August. Please use the following to keep us in your prayers.
PRAISE: We are thankful for the Lord’s protection and safety as we have been traveling. We have enjoyed the ministry in churches and appreciate their encouragement. Amy got a good preliminary report from her endoscopy. Cara is safely in Korea and enjoying teaching at the school. Good visit with Jerry’s brother Bo, when we were in Houston last week.
PRAYER: Please remember the four meetings that we are involved in planning this fall. (The Golf Retreat, September 11-15; The Pastors Summit, September 25-28; The Pastors Meeting at Camp Pearl, October 16-18; The Workshop Faculty Training, October 24-27). Pray for our strength both spiritually and physically as we travel and minister.
SCHEDULE
AUGUST
13 --- AM, Lake Charles Bible Church, Lake Charles, LA
13 --- PM, Broadlands Bible Church, DeRidder, LA
14 --- Meeting with pastors in Baton Rouge, LA
15 --- Mentoring class with Pastoral trainee from Lake Charles Bible Church.
16 --- Faith Bible Church, Lake Charles, LA
17 --- Evangelism Training at Lake Charles Bible Church.
18-19 --- Drive to Atlanta
20 --- PM, Comissioning Service, Dacula First Baptist, Dacula, GA
22 --- Pastors lunch, Buford, GA
27 --- Dacula First Baptist
30 --- Dacula First Baptist
SEPTEMBER
8 --- Drive to Greenville, SC
9 --- Workshop, Summit View, Baptist Church
10 --- Am, Summit View Baptist Church
11-15 --- Golf Retreat, BMW
16 --- Fall Festival, Dacula First Baptist.
18-20 --- Fellowship of Missions meeting, BMW
20 --- Fly to Los Angeles
21 --- Am, The Masters Seminary, Sun Valley, CA
21 --- PM, Los Angeles Bible Training School
22-24 --- Workshop and Mission Conference, Los Angeles Community Bible Church.
25 --- Fly to Atlanta
25-28 --- Pastors Summit, BMW
OCTOBER
12-13 --- IFCA Dixie Regional, Grace Bible Church, Valdosta, GA
13-14 --- Drive to Louisiana
15 --- AM, Kinder Bible Church, Kinder, LA
15 --- PM, Dry Creek Bible Church, Dry Creek, LA
16-18 --- Pastors Summit, Camp Pearl, Reeves, La
18 --- Drive to Atlanta
20 --- Fly to Milwaukee
20-22 --- Workshop and Mission Conference, Waukesha Bible Church, Waukesha, WI
23 --- Fly to Atlanta
24-27 --- Workshop Faculty Training, BMW
27 --- Southeast USA Church Planters Networking

Jerry and Amy Smith

Golf Rules for Seniors

These are the new rules that help me play golf better.

Rule #1. A ball sliced or hooked into the rough shall be lifted and placed on the fairway at a point equal to the distance it carried or rolled into the rough with no penalty. Senior players should not be penalized for uncontrollable Mechanical phenomena.

Rule # 2. A ball hitting a tree shall be deemed not to have hit the tree. This is simply bad luck and luck has no place in a scientific game. The player must estimate the distance the ball would have traveled had it not hit the tree and can play the ball from there.

Rule # 3. There shall be no such thing as a lost ball. The missing ball is on or near the course and will eventually be found and pocketed by someone else, making it a stolen ball. The player is not to compound the felony by charging him or herself with a penalty stroke.

Rule # 4. If a putt passes over a hole without dropping in, it is 'deemed to have dropped.' The law of gravity supercedes the law of golf.

Rule # 5. Advertisements proclaim that golf scores can be improved by purchasing new clubs, balls, shoes, etc. Since this is financially impossible for the average senior golfer, a stroke per hole may be subtracted for using old equipment.

Rule # 6. There is no penalty for so called 'out of bounds.' If penny-pinching golf club owners bought sufficient land, this would not occur. The golfer deserves an apology, not a penalty.

Rule # 7. There is no penalty for a ball in a water hazard as golf balls should float. That they do not float is a technical problem that manufacturers have yet to overcome. Golfers should not be punished for manufacturers's shortcomings.

Rule # 8. Putts that stop close enough to the cup so that they can be blown in, may be blown in. This does not apply to balls more than three inches from the hole. No one wants to make a travesty of the game.

Monthly Update, August 1

Dear Friends,
We have now completed the three weeks of Candidate orientation (July 10-27), and we praise the Lord for the twenty new candidates accepted this year. The first week of July we enjoyed being involved in an Administrator’s retreat here at BMW. During this retreat we learned much from a seminar on Situational Leadership, which gave us many ideas to apply in our ministry and will enable us to serve people better.
We were involved in many ways with the candidates. I taught three classes and did a doctrinal interview with each candidate. Amy helped Vince and Jill in the kitchen, and had a Ladies Tea in our home for the candidate women. The second week we hosted the Representatives Retreat. We enjoyed a great week with these wonderful people that represent BMW so effectively. The last week I hosted the pastors of candidates who came to be with and encourage their new missionaries.
On Friday, July 28, we had a meeting with the church planters for the Southeastern USA. I serve as Field Leader for this ministry and we are launching plans to see a church planting movement across the Southeast USA. Our networking meeting really went well that day. We have three couples with BMW who will be involved and are working with 7 others. We will continue to keep you updated on this ministry and you can get some info by checking my new blogspot. Yes! I do have a new blog spot and trust you will enjoy keeping up with us there. http://www.jerrysmithbmw.blogspot.com/ Check it out.
Our grandchildren are growing up and “leaving the nest”. We were blessed to spend some time with several of them this summer. Cara was home from Korea for a couple of months and we loved hearing about her ministry first-hand. She is now back in Korea and will be teaching at the Word of Life School of Youth Ministry for the next ten months. Eric worked at a wilderness camp this summer and has just been home for a week between camps. He will be returning to Calvary Bible College soon for his junior year. Kyle (from Michigan) stayed with us this summer and worked with a roofing crew. He just returned to Michigan to get registered for his second year of college. Amy finished up all the medical tests her doctor had advised and though we are waiting for the report on her last one, everything seems to be good.
Thanks for your participation in our ministry through your prayer, support and encouragement. We think of you often and thank God for each of you.
Jerry and Amy

America's Return

We are putting together the new ministry with which I am involved and wanted you to see the direction we are going.

AMERICA’S RETURN
A BMW Church Planting Initiative in the United States

The Program
BMW is partnering with IFCA International and other independent churches to spearhead a movement to see local churches planted and strengthened. To do this we have three main goals:
1. Help Local Churches Plant Churches
2. Train Church Planters
3. Plant Churches in areas where there is no sound, biblical influence.

To accomplish these goals we are utilizing our ministry resources and expertise which we have gained from many years of church planting around the globe, and applying it right in our own back yard.
Presently we are focusing this work in the Southeast US with resources available in other areas. We have 3 BMW couples involved in present works along with 6 other church planters. Our current needs and opportunities are mainly in the following areas:
v Georgia
v Louisiana
v South Carolina

Our vision for this ministry is to see at least 2 churches planted or 2 churches training to plant a church in each of the 10 states* in the Southeast by the year 2015.

The Problem
America – A Mission Field?
With what appears to be a church on every corner, and a Judeo Christian heritage, some might ask how this country can be considered a mission field? Consider the following:
Ø We have a biblical mandate to reach our Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8); we have a mandate to make disciples of every nation (including our own); we are to preach the Gospel to every creature (including the people around us); and we have a biblical example of the fulfillment of these mandates (Acts, the epistles). We cannot be biblical without fulfilling the Great Commission at all three levels of context: local, national, global. This by default argues for missions in the US.
Ø Population growth statistics demonstrate the need for more churches in the US. In 1999 it was projected that the US would grow by the rate of approximately 7,000 people daily between the years 2000-2050 (Forbes Magazine, January 1999). To date, the growth rate has met and exceeded this pace.
Ø The increasingly weakening condition of the existing American church justifies the intensified efforts of missions in America. We have churches closing at rates that heighten the need for them to be replaced, especially in light of the growth statistics.
Ø The present philosophical attitude of relativism that prevails over our culture must be challenged by an increasing presence of Christian witness to the objective truth of God’s revelation as recorded in Scripture, followed with a witness that calls the culture to a moral responsibility to that body of revelation.
Ø One third or seventy six million American adults do not attend any type of church service or activity.
This along with many other telling truths allow one to easily see that the US is clearly as much of a mission field as any country on the planet.

The Prognosis
As we begin to implement this program and fulfill our vision by working with and through local churches throughout the southeast USA, we believe we will see God do a mighty work to reverse the negative tide mentioned above and we will see America Return to be truly “One Nation Under God.” It’s not impossible or even improbable, but we need your help!
If you would be interested in joining this new, exciting and growing facet of BMW’s ministry as a church planter and/or church planting trainer, we would love to talk to you about becoming a part of our team.
Maybe you are interested in learning how to be a church planter. We’d love to talk to you about joining the team and the possibility of joining a current work.
Lastly, if your church has a vision for seeing other Bible based, disciple making, God centered churches planted in your area, contact us about the people, workshops and other resources we have available to help you make that vision a reality.
For more information please contact the field director for this work, Jerry Smith.


* The 10 states included in the Southeast are:
Georgia
Louisiana
South Carolina
North Carolina
Alabama
Put map hereMississippi
Tennessee
Kentucky
West Virginia
Virginia