Praise and Prayer
3.8.2023
Itineraries:
Jon Jenks – March 14-16 Director and Council meetings at BCP service center
March 24-25 Leadership Journey retreat hosted by Camden Baptist Church at Skyview Ranch
March 26 – Pittsfield Community Church in Wellington, OH
March 31-April 1 – Leadership Journey retreat hosted by Faith Baptist Church in Dundee, NY, at Camp Lamoka
April 2 – Faith Baptist in Dundee, NY
April 16 Grace Baptist Church in Scottsdale, AZ
April 20-22 – Men’s Conference at Grand View Camp in Eagar, AZ
April 23 – Faith Baptist Church in Glendale, AZ
April 30 – Unity Baptist Church in Wayland, MI
Chip Wood – March 14-16 – Director and Council meetings at BCP service center
March 17-18 – Lincoln Lake Baptist Camp in Gowen, MI – TJT Embark
Chip: 3 TJT sessions with Temple in Lincoln, NE
Scott Owen – March 12, 19 – First Baptist, Monroe, IA (speaking)
March 13-16 – Director and Council meetings at BCP service center
March 22-29 – Denver, Colorado for state meetings (speaking)
April 21-22 – IRBC Camp Counselor Training in Venture, IA (teaching workshops)
LJ studies: Austin, MN; St. Ansgar, IA; Charles City, IA; Chisago Lakes; Des Moines, IA; Leading LJ for Prairie Flower
Tim Weeks – March 14-16 – Director and Council meetings at BCP and visit builders in OH
March 19 – visit to Pinecrest Baptist, Millbury, MA – Roy & Karen Kinney
March 26 – visit to family on Long Island
April 2 – visit with Jim and Sharon Solomon, Galilean Baptist Church, Fairmont, WV
Jim and Janice Mitchell – Church Planters serving Grace Fellowship Church in Preston, ID
Thank you for your specific prayers for the Wild Game Dinner on Saturday night. It went very well with about 1/3 of the folks not regular church people. The speaker did a great job, and we had some families come back on Sunday. We did have a snowstorm that started about an hour before the event and a lot of other conflicts that kept quite a few people from coming that we expected. We are confident that God brought those that He wanted there and look forward to ongoing results as we continue to look long term in our ministry. The testimony of our speaker stimulated a powerful testimony from one of the ladies in SS on Sunday. She had a very tough year with suicidal thoughts and testified how God had brought her to the end of herself and then rescued her from herself. Overall a great weekend, thank you for praying with us!
Tim and Marsha Weeks – Church Facilitation Director with a Missionary Care emphasis
Prayer Requests
- Please pray for wisdom for Tim as he prepares to report at upcoming Council meeting on the missionaries he cares for and their ministries.
- Please continue to pray for the Japanese ladies we have invited to our home for gospel conversations. We have entertained them a couple of times while we were home.
- Pray for the Mitchell’s serving in Preston, ID. Their church family is growing, and this weekend they hosted a Wild Game Dinner. Pray for good contacts to be made with unsaved friends who attended.
- Continued prayer for our family, as our daughters make gardening plans for this next growing season.
- Also pray that Tim and Marsha will be a blessing wherever they are in their travels East, this trip. We are grateful for prayers for our safety also.
Steve and Kristen Wynn – Associate Church Revitalizers serving Constantia Center Baptist Church in Bernhard’s Bay, NY
Praises
- Praise the Lord for safety in traveling to Illinois for Fosterburg Baptist Church’s Missions Conference. What a blessing the church family at FBC was to us!
- Praise the Lord for Sunday School beginning at Constantia Center Baptist Church on February 26!
- Join us in praising God for our 39 partnering families!
- Praise God for our five partnering churches – Constantia Center Baptist Church, Faith Baptist Tabernacle, Faith Bible Church, Smyrna Baptist Church, and West Smyrna Baptist Church.
- Praise God for five churches considering partnering with us – Cornerstone Baptist Church in Ames, NY, Grace Baptist Church in Binghamton, NY, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Ithaca, NY, Glen Baptist Church in Watkins Glen, NY, and Fosterburg Baptist Church in Bethalto, IL.
Prayer Requests
- Wynn Family
- Pray for Kristen as she transitions away from the Earlville Free Library, begins to help Steve more with ministry, and prepares for homeschooling in the fall.
- Pray for us to have wisdom and strength as we seek the Lord’s leading in ministry at Constantia Center Baptist Church, Faith Baptist Tabernacle, and more.
- Pray for new families to join our ministry team in partnership.
- Pray for London and Calvin as they continue to adjust to our new life as missionaries and prepare for homeschooling this fall.
- Pray for our conversations with potential new partnering churches and families.
- Constantia Center Baptist Church
- Pray for the church’s new pastor and for wisdom and the Lord’s leading in the search process. We are receiving potential candidate names – which is exciting!
- Pray for the members to be bold in proclaiming Christ and for their faith in Christ to produce good works.
- Pray for Steve as he preaches on the “One Another” commands in Scripture.
- Pray for the men who are taking BCP’s Leadership Journey with Steve. This six month discipleship journey will end in early April. We will then transition to an accountability meeting to ensure we’re walking consistently in our faith.
- Pray for our small groups to grow spiritually and numerically.
- Pray for our Sunday School teachers and students.
- Pray for the church as missionaries Chip & Karen Wood visit on March 5.
- Pray for wisdom as we continue to implement the revitalization plan.
- Pray for Kristen as she serves in junior church, nursery, and Sunday School.
- Faith Baptist Tabernacle
- Pray for the small groups, discipleship groups, and children’s ministries and that more families will participate in them! Currently 63% of our adults (members & regular attenders) are participating in these opportunities!
- Pray for J. and Steve as they partner together to minister at FBT.
- Pray for Steve and our church secretary, Louise, as they work on church logistics each week.
- Pray for the leadership and members of the church as they seek to boldly proclaim Christ and live out the one anothers.
- Teacher Journey Training
- Pray for us as we will be leading an Embark teacher training workshop in Dundee, NY on March 4.
You can listen to Steve’s “One Another” series on Constantia Center Baptist’s Facebook page: facebook.com/ConstantiaCenterBaptist. Check out the Wynn’s website for more information.
Scott and Marti Owen – Church Facilitation Director with a Conciliation and ITM emphasis
Thanks for praying for us this winter! Currently, the sun is shining and the snow is sparse here in Southeast Iowa. We have had an enjoyable and for the most part an uneventful season. We have appreciated that because our schedule of travel increases next week as we head to Ohio to give report to the Council members at Baptist Church Planters.
Since we have been able to stay close to home, most of our ministry has been by internet. Marti has been co-leading a weekly Grove study by video. This is the ladies’ equivalent of the Leadership Journey that Scott has been leading with the men. Scott continues his weekly video studies with churches. He is up to five currently. He provides coaching for an additional 15 churches that are leading their own Leadership Journeys and working on their intentional disciple-making plans. These weekly meetings are crucial to create the church collaborations needed to plant new churches in the future.
The needs of churches without pastors has not diminished. Scott spends much time on the phone or video calls talking with pulpit committees. He is currently providing counsel for seven churches at varying stages of looking for a pastor.
We are encouraged for the work that is being done onsite. The church where the Basingers were serving as ITM interim recently called their next pastor. We look forward to seeing God use Marty and Susan in another church soon. Dean and Faith Taylor continue their ministry in Des Moines.
We attended Faith Baptist Bible College’s annual Refresh Retreat for pastors and wives. This is a great time for us as a couple and provides many helpful connects. Scott is able to see pastors he already works with as well as several that show interest in the work at BCP.
We are traveling Sundays to provide a modified interim for First Baptist of Monroe, Iowa. It’s been four months since we have worshiped at our home church on a Sunday. But our schedule keeps us in town through the week, so Marti is a regular in the nursery and Scott leads a small discipleship group for men on Wednesdays. Our church hosted a marriage conference that we were able to attend. The speakers were good friends of ours. Also, our youth pastor asked us to help counsel for a winter retreat weekend called The Winter Meltdown. Many people have volunteered to help us over the years, so we were glad to help out our pastor and invest in these teens.
The camp is only 90 minutes from our friends in Rochester, MN, so we attended Calvary’s AM service, thanking them for their recent decision to partner with us. We also enjoyed soup with them for their Souper Bowl Sunday.
Rob and Beth Worthington – on sabbatical for rest and restoration
The old song goes, “The Lord has been so good to us, wherein we are glad.” I praise the Lord that Beth and I both have been healthy most of our lives. God has truly been good to us! He is no less good to us when sickness and disease come upon us either.
I am writing to you today to request prayer for my health, as an issue has been discovered. More recently, as I have done physical work, I have become extremely gassed and my heart would begin to race. After several doctor visits and blood workups, they discovered that my kidneys were not functioning as they should; in fact, they demonstrated kidney failure. After more testing through an ultrasound and CT scan, it was revealed that I have a significant mass in the ureter, which is the tube between my right kidney and bladder. It has distended the ureter greatly, preventing my right kidney from functioning properly. This will need to be removed. I will be going in for a biopsy shortly to determine the best approach to care and surgery. There is an added concern with the specialist as my left kidney seems to look good on the scan, however, the numbers are significantly lower than they should be even with what they have discovered thus far. Please pray for God to give the doctors wisdom and for provision toward our medical expenses.
Thank you all for your many years of prayers and support for us and our ministry!
Jim and Sharon Solomon – church planters serving Galilean Baptist Church in Fairmont, WV
- Pray for Jim and Sharon as they continue to minister to the people of Galilean Baptist Church.
- Please pray for good pathology results from recent testing for Sharon.
- Jim broke his kneecap and partially tore his tendon when he stumbled last week. He is seeking to see an orthopedic doctor; pray for minimal pain while he waits.
- Pray also for Jim and Sharon as they make decisions regarding visiting Sharon’s dad in Arizona who recently entered hospice care. There are restrictions that Sharon has for travel that make getting there a real challenge. Pray that God will make a way!
