New Testament Baptist Fellowship–Day One
“The New Testament Baptist Fellowship is not an organization, it is an event.” said Dr. John Vaughn, outgoing president of the Foundations Baptist Fellowship. Together with the New Testament Association of Independent Baptist Churches, the FBFI is holding a joint Annual Meeting at Maranatha Baptist University in Watertown, WI. It is an event, and an eventful day indeed.
For the FBFI, the day included our board meeting where the board appointed Dr. Kevin Schaal, pastor of Northwest Valley Baptist Church, Glendale, AZ as our new president. Kevin has been Chairman of our board for a number of years. Dr. David Shumate, director of MGM International in Phoenix, AZ, who has been Secretary, will replace Dr. Schaal as Chairman.
Dr. Vaughn’s ministry is taking a new focus after many years as the face of the FBFI. He will continue to serve on the board. We are very grateful for the leadership he has provided.
The Fellowship meeting is also about fellowship, meeting with many friends and making new ones from all over the continent. We got a taste of that through Maranatha’s wonderful hospitality at supper tonight and through the events of the day.
The main event of the day was the service this evening. You can watch the service replayed at Calvary Baptist’s Livestream site, found here. We hope to have the audio of the sermon available on P&D soon.
The speaker this evening was Mark Poorman of Woodcrest Baptist Church, Minneapolis, MN. His subject was “The Challenge of Personal Evangelism,” an excellent exhortation that ought to stir believers to the Christian task of this age, making disciples of all nations. Dr. Poorman reminded us of the Exhortations of Evangelism (Hear what God has to say, Go and tell others what he has said), discussed common categories of Excuses for failure in Evangelism, and offered closing Encouragement to persist in Evangelism. His message was a blessing, and a challenge. I don’t think any Bible-believing Christian could disagree with our brother’s topic, may God help us to be more faithful in pursuing our Lord’s agenda in this earth!
Tomorrow promises to be a full day, more meetings and fellowship – fuel for ongoing Christian service.
Submitted by Don Johnson
Don Johnson is the pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada.