|
|
|
|
From Your
Director
|
|
 Dr. Bert Downs
Regional
Executive Director
"And let us not neglect our meeting
together as some people do . . . " Hebrews 10:25a
In a letter all
about believers making ongoing growth and maturity a priority, its author
calls us to a key in our maturing process . . . assembling together. In doing so, he identifies at least three
things that seem to happen most effectively in our assembling: drawing near
to God with a full assurance of our faith, holding tightly the hope that we
have because God can be trusted, and encouraging one another to outbursts
of love and good deeds. Those
maturity-building actions happen best in a fully functioning, transparently
sharing assembly of Christians.
Of course,
we often think of that assembly as the local church and rightly so. The underlying emphasis of the passage is
that we're strengthened by being together, but in danger when we get
singled out. Perhaps what's true for
individual believers is also true for congregations; that is we're stronger
when we mix with other effective congregations than we are strictly on our
own.
And that's the point
of our Annual Celebration: to
remind us that we're connected, not primarily by being in an Association,
but by being co-members of the Body of Christ. It benefits us - all of us - to be
occasionally together. To allow
ourselves, by virtue of the assembly, to be drawn together into God's
presence, to have our hope affirmed and to stir each other to love and good
works. We're working hard so that
the Annual Celebration will be all of that for you . . . for our
congregations. See you May 17.
|
|
|
Celebration Theme
Carried in Keynote Addresses
|
Connected by Grace,
United in Mission. Those two points of focus . .
. grace and mission . . . form the heart of our Annual
Celebration keynote sessions.
 Dr. Jay Pankratz, the senior pastor of Sunrise Church in
Rialto, California will do the opening keynote focusing on
realizing the mission in our own backyards.
At
the same time Rev. Arturo Lucero, also from Rialto, will deliver a similar
keynote to our Latino attendees.
Sunrise Church in Rialto functions in one of the most racially
diverse communities in Southern California and reflects that community in
its own make up. Pankratz and Lucero
will also offer seminars during the day.
Our
concluding keynote session features Dr. Gary Thomas, and will underscore
our own need to grow in grace as individuals and congregations. Gary heads the Center for Evangelical
Spirituality and is a widely published author whose works include the Gold
Medallion award winner, Authentic
Faith. The final keynote will be
a combined session for all attendees.
Dr. Thomas will also offer two seminars on spiritual growth topics
as well.
|
|
Sizzling Seminars
|
|
 Three seminar tracks will fill the AC schedule with options
- and tough choices - galore. Interested in Israel
and prophecy? How about in
leadership development? Prayer
ministry in your life and church?
The latest in youth ministry?
Maybe addressing key needs in women's ministry? Or seeing the issues of Creationism and
evolution clearly? You could explore
the meaning of faith, a key theological issue facing churches today or the
latest in developments at CBAmerica.
Not enough choices yet? How
about key seminars related to Latino ministries? The political scene in the Southwest and
how that relates to church ministry?
Or developing a strong mission outreach from your church? Maybe you need some help in worship
ministries? THE POINT? The AC includes seminar options designed
to make your life and ministry truly sizzle.
|
|
Latino Flavor - More Than Just a Taste
|
|
The 2008 Annual
Celebration will feature elements of the Latino culture all  around us:décor, dress, music, and food.
The
main meal of the day will be a fiesta with all your Latino favorites
accented by music and entertainment.
However, the Latino elements go much deeper than that. There will be a key note address
specifically for our Latino brothers and sisters. There will also be several seminars
offered in Spanish and aimed at helping Latino congregations and
believers. Yes, this is a new
element of the celebration and way overdue.
|
|
Compact Schedule Makes for Accessibility, Dynamic Day
|
|
 Some of last year's attendees described the day as a
marathon and some as a sprint. No matter the view, the point is that the
day is fast-moving, high impact and fun.
Starting with registration at 10:00 A.M., the day will be one of
constant motion until the 5:00 P.M. finish.
Three seminar tracks, at noon, 1:00 P.M. and 3 P.M. will fill the
day with growth opportunities that will be accented by the Keynote sessions
at 10:45 A.M. and 4:00 P.M.
Fellowship finds its place in the day during the registration time
and especially during the Fiesta that begins at 1:50 P.M. Many vendors representing missions,
programs, and various products will have displays and will be available to
visit with you throughout the day.
The annual SWCBA business meeting will be held at 3:00 p.m. for
those who wish to attend. So, is it
a marathon or a sprint? Regardless
of how you see it, one thing is sure: it will be a high impact day you
won't want to miss.
|
|
Annual SWCBA Business Meeting
|
 A business meeting . . . yawn. Well,
this one won't be a yawner. Exciting reports from our four major
ministry components will highlight a time that will also include
opportunity for interaction over the vision and mission of SWCBA. Church delegates will also review and
vote on budgets for SWCBA and Prescott Pines, approve new Board members and
officers for the coming year and voice their support for a modest
constitutional change that will increase the members of the Board from 12
to 16. The business meeting is
scheduled as one of the options in the third seminar track beginning at
3:00 P.M.
The
proposed constitutional change:
"The
Board of Managers of SWCBA proposes that the constituency of said
Association approve changes in the Constitution of the Arizona Baptist
Convention as follows:
Article
VII: Board of Managers, Section 1 would be changed to read: The Board of Managers of the Association,
which is the administrative body of the organization, shall consist of the
President, Vice-President and Secretary of the Association and thirteen (13) members to be elected at the
Annual Meetings. The Executive Director and Treasurer shall be
non-voting, ex-officio members of the Board. The elected members
shall be divided into three classes, and at least five (5) members shall be elected annually
to serve three years. No Board members shall be elected to serve more
than two consecutive terms without being out of office one year.
Article
VII, Section 3 would be changed to read:
The Board of Managers shall hold at least three (3) meetings
annually. Special meetings may be called by the President or
Executive Director when deemed necessary. Ten (10) members shall
constitute a quorum of
the Board of Managers and four (4) members a quorum of the Executive
Committee.
|
|
Location, Registration Information
|
|
 Once again Southwestern College located at 2625 E. Cactus Road
in Phoenix has graciously and generously made its facilities available to
us. In anticipation of as many as 400 attendees this year, we'll
be fully utilizing the space available including rooms in the SWCBA
headquarters. We hope you'll take time to thank the SWC
folks for their special ministry on our behalf.
 Registration is as easy as can be: you may go on line at southwestcba.com to
register, send in a registration form from the celebration brochure or
simply call Alice or Barb at 602-788-8090.
The registration fee is $25.00 per person, a real value given the
content of day. PLEASE . . . register as
soon as possible so we can make effective arrangements for you and all of
our guests. Thank you!
southwestcba.com
|
|
Promo Materials Available for Your Church
|
|
By this time, your church should have received our
promotional materials through the mail and email. We have created
posters, brochures, a powerpoint slide and even a short video promo for
your use in announcing our "Celebration".
Please let us know if you would like to receive our
materials and if we can assist you in any way with them.
|
|
Send Us Your Newsletter or E-Letter
|
|
 We
would love to hear from you so
we can better pray for your church and include some of your stories and prayer requests in
our E-letters.
Just
add us to your church newsletter mailing list.
|
|
|
We will be using this format instead of sending Field
Notes by regular mail. If you know of individuals who would like to
receive Field Notes and do not have access to a computer, please
feel free to print this out for them or contact our office and we will be
happy to send them a copy by mail.
The keys to a good newsletter are good information and good
reporting. We need your help in order to assure both. If you have
information about your church, an event, a personnel change or some other
item that would have association-wide appeal, please get that data to us. And,
if you'd enjoy doing some writing, we'd love to hear from you in that
regard. As we grow, we'll have stories that will require follow-up by some
good reporters. perhaps that's you. Let us hear from you! You can
submit potential stories or register your availability as a writer to me, beymann@southwestcba.com.
Finally, pass this
on . . . you likely know others who would enjoy hearing about what
is happening in our SWCBA. Passing it on to them will give them the
opportunity to subscribe.
Thanks!
|
|
Barbara Eymann
Southwest CBA
|
|
