Day 6
Michael and Marla Allen, Illinois: Michael is the senior pastor and Baptist center director at Uptown Baptist church, a multicultural and multi-ethnic church and ministry in Chicago.

Day 7
Luis and Lourdez Rodriguez, Puerto Rico: Luis is a Hispanic church planting missionary and pastor of Baptist Church of Coamo ministering to the community through the church and the Coamo Christian Academy.

Day 5
Bill and Carol Lighty, Colorado: As area missionary for Pikes Peak Baptist Association, Bill assists churches in utilizing a variety of strategies to reach many different types of people with a wide variety of backgrounds.

Day 4
Craig and Suzy Miles, Georgia: As directors of Appalachian Trail Servants, Mission Service Corps missionaries Craig and Suzy hike the Appalachian Trail interacting with and ministering to fellow hikers by sharing the gospel through actions and words.

Day 3
Vivian and James McCaughan, Missouri: Vivian assists with multi-housing church planting and encourages churches to see these communities as mission fields. Through her work with Woman’s Missionary Union, she also challenges women in Missouri Baptist churches to live a missions lifestyle.

This week is the 2010 Week of Prayer for North American Missions among the churches of the SBC. Every day this week a new mission family will be highlighted so that the thousands of SBC churches around the world can be in prayer for their labors. This is a terrific way for your family to have a focused time of prayer together this week. I will update the family ministries website every day with a new missionary family. Take just a couple of minutes and pray with your family for these servants of Christ.

You can pray for:

God to save those whom they are working with.
Health and safety for the missionary family.
Expenses to be covered for the family.
The hearts of the lost to be softened and open to the Gospel.
Additional Christian support for the missionary family.
Encouragement.

Today we highlight two families, one from Sunday and one for today.

Day 1
Jim and Myrtle Ballard, Idaho: Jim serves as director of missions for Eastern Idaho Baptist Association working with Hispanic, Cowboy and other people groups.

Day 2
Michael and Vicki McQuitty, New York: Michael is a collegiate evangelism missionary at Syracuse University working through Baptist Collegiate Ministry to witness to students and help them grow spiritually.

You can now view some pictures from our 2010 Winter Retreat to Timberline Lodge.  Just click the link below!

Click here to view pictures

Don’t forget that all parents are invited to attend a family meal and informational meeting tomorrow, January 20th, beginning at 6:00 pm.  Pastor Philip will be outlining a few new opportunities for the 2010 year in our children’s ministry.  We hope to see you there!

Pastor Drew referenced the Christmas story in Luke and the prophecy of Isaiah to speak on God’s attribute of peace.  David Powlison has recently posted a great meditation on Psalm 131 in such a way that he depicts an “anti-Psalm” vs. the “real Psalm.”  He argues that “Psalm 131 is show-and-tell for how to become peaceful inside.”

What he does is to contrast a God-centered worldview with that of a godless worldview.  Here is the anti-Psalm 131:

Self,

my heart is proud (I’m absorbed in myself),
and my eyes are haughty (I look down on other people),
and I chase after things too great and too difficult for me.
So of course I’m noisy and restless inside, it comes naturally,
like a hungry infant fussing on his mother’s lap,
like a hungry infant, I’m restless with my demands and worries.
I scatter my hopes onto anything and everybody all the time.

Contrast that with the real Psalm 131:

O Lord,

my heart is not lifted up;
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
like a weaned child is my soul within me.