September Praise, Prayer and Schedule

Dear Friends,
We are enjoying some fall weather and looking forward to a rewarding time of ministry in the next few months. Please use the following to keep us in your prayers.
PRAISE: We had a great time at the annual golf retreat. Even though several had to cancel we still had 9 or 10 each day.
We are thankful that the Lord keeps our schedule full.
One of Cara's Korean students trusted Christ as Savior this week.
PRAYER: We are praying for safety in our travels and that the planes will be on schedule. Pray for the Lord’s blessing in all our ministries.
That Cara will be able to come home for her Christmas break.
SCHEDULE:
SEPTEMBER
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
5 --- Fly to Buffalo, NY
6-7 --- Workshop, Boston Baptist Church, Wilsonville, Ont., Canada
8 --- Boston Baptist Church, Wilsonville, Ont., Canada
9 --- Fly to Atlanta
10 --- Pastors Lunch, Buford, GA
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
NOVEMBER
1-2 --- Drive to Michigan
3-4 --- Workshop, Emmaus Road Bible Church, Allegan, MI
5 --- Emmaus Road Bible Church
7-10 --- IFCA Board Meetings, Grandville, MI
10-11 --- Workshop, Faith Bible Church, White Cloud, MI
12 --- AM, Faith Bible Church, White Cloud, MI
13 --- Drive to Binghamton, NY
14 --- Chapel, Davis College, Bible School Park, NY
15 --- Faith Bible Church, Chestertown, NY
16-18 --- Attend Pastors Conference, Word of Life, Schroon Lake, NY

Jerry and Amy Smith
Biblical Ministries Worldwide
"A leader is a godly servant who knows where he is going and inspires and equips others to follow"

Jerry SmithChurch Relations
1595 Herrington RoadLawrenceville, GA 30043
jsmith@biblicalministries.org
www.biblicalministries.org
tel: fax: mobile:
770-339-3500
770-513-1254
770-617-4609

September Update

Dear Friends,
As you can see this update is a little late. We began the first weekend of August with a mission conference at our home church, Dacula First Baptist. Then on Monday, August 7, we drove to Birmingham, AL where we had lunch with dear friends, IJ and Faye Fontenot. We spent the night with Steve and Michelle Smith and enjoyed our visit with their family. Steve is Jerry’s nephew and is starting a church in Birmingham. On Tuesday we drove to Dallas, TX and stayed until Friday morning with friends, Carl and Phyllis Miller. Thursday Jerry had a meeting with some of the leaders at Evantell. We drove to Baytown, TX on Friday morning and Jerry played golf with Tim Hill, pastor of Baytown Community Church. We had a good evening there with Tim and Debbie and a couple he is mentoring for ministry. On Saturday we visited with Jerry’s brother in Houston and then drove to Camp Pearl in Reeves, LA.
Sunday morning, August 13 Jerry taught SS and preached at Lake Charles Bible Church. It was good to renew friendship with many in Lake Charles, LA. Sunday evening we spoke at Broadlands Bible Church near DeRidder, LA. Monday, Jerry met with 6 pastors in Baton Rouge to draw up a constitution for the new Gulf Coast Regional for the IFCA. That week we visited friends, Jerry played golf with several men, and Amy caught up on some reading. On Friday we drove to Baton Rouge and had lunch with Larry and Marcella Miller, then we drove most of the way home. We arrived home about noon on Saturday, August 19.
Sunday night, August 20, we participated in the commissioning service for Gary and Chela Armstrong. This couple will be working in church planting here in the Southeast. Please check out the information on this at our website: www.biblicalministries.org On Tuesday, August 22, Jerry had a lunch with pastors at a restaurant in the area.
August 27 we celebrated 20 years of ministry for Mark and Patti Chandler at our church, Dacula First Baptist. This was a special time. We have been in this church for 16 1/2 years. We drove to Lawrence, MI on Friday and Saturday, (August 31 and September 1) and attended the 25th year celebration for our friends Glen and Ruth Cowles in their ministry at East Arlington Baptist Church. An added blessing was having our daughter, Susan, drive over from Flint and spent the weekend with us. We drove home on Monday and Tuesday.
Please take a look at our Blogspot. You can find it at: www.jerrysmithbmw.blogspot.com
Jerry and Amy Smith

Biblical Ministries Worldwide
"A leader is a godly servant who knows where he is going and inspires and equips others to follow"

Jerry SmithChurch Relations
1595 Herrington RoadLawrenceville, GA 30043
jsmith@biblicalministries.orgwww.biblicalministries.org
tel: fax: mobile:
770-339-3500, 617-4609

Workshops

WORKSHOPS: One of the major challenges in church planting missions is training leaders when there are no good colleges or seminaries nearby. One approach has been to send men back to the States to study. But that creates many difficulties and is a poor option for multiple reasons. Church planters don't normally want to raise the millions of dollars to buy property, build buildings and fill libraries. And even if a missionary were to do that, it normally means that there will forever be a need to finance and man the institution with foreign resources. Because of these challenges, many church planting missionaries opt for CHURCH BASED NONFORMAL TRAINING of pastors. "Church based" means that the training takes place within the local church for the people in that local church. "Nonformal" means it is structured, deliberate and with high academic standards, but not restricted to institutional norms. "Training" means that it goes beyond the classroom to actually equip people to "do" the ministry… not just learn about the ministry. So this approach to training church leaders is a powerful educational model and is being used effectively all over the world. The problem is that most of us never saw or experienced "nonformal church based training" before going to the mission field. We are asked to go and do something we have never experienced. Therefore, BMW is investing considerable resources in helping churches here in North America to do just this. Our theory is that if future missionaries have been trained in a church based program, they will hit the ground running when they get to the field. Since they have been trained that way they will know how to train others that way. The potential in the pew is huge. But a church must provide the avenue to make this happen. That is where we come in. This weekend, I have been co-facilitating a workshop in a church in North Carolina. Our goal is to help them develop church based training for their church. BMW has a series of workshops that help a local church design a program and launch a vision and strategy to make this happen. These are a series of 8 hour workshops aimed at the leadership team of a church. Part of my ministry is helping sending churches be more effective in training and launching the next generation of missionaries.