by Keith Bassham
On the northwest side of metro Atlanta, Shiloh Hills Baptist Church of Kennesaw, GA, and Pastor Vic Bledsoe will be our hosts when the Baptist Bible Fellowship makes the annual trek south for a midwinter Fellowship meeting. The meeting promises inspiration, fellowship, and a time of spiritual recharging in one of the most gracious areas of the country one could choose to spend some time in February.
Two Fellowship ministry areas receive the focus in February: church planting (represented by the BBFI National Church Planting Office — NCPO), and the Baptist Bible Tribune. While at Shiloh Hills, we will promote these ministries, and I will announce the results of our February Tribune Offering. See page 22 for more information about the Tribune offering.
You can get more details about the meeting in Kennesaw in the pages of this magazine, or contact the church for more information, directions, etc. If you are arriving by air, you will take the highways north toward I75 from ATL, and take I575 after you pass Marietta.
Speaking of the NCPO, by the time this issue is in the mail, I will be in the midst of or just finishing a week with the Texas BBF and the NCPO Church Planters’ Candidate School in San Antonio. I generally attend the January Texas BBF meeting, but this year the candidate school was planned in conjunction with the meeting, so I go with even more enthusiasm. My own contribution is in the area of leadership principles and BBF history and philosophy, but the candidates get more on leadership, church planting, administration, prayer, and more than enough information to explode a head or two over the course of the week.
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The past year was challenging for the Tribune financially, just as it has been for many ministries that have been on a perennial fiscal cliff for some time. Some churches have had to make difficult choices and eliminate the Tribune from their budgets. Though we manage with careful stewardship, this year we are operating on a deficit budget. Even so, our friends and supporters have come through in some very unexpected ways, and we have no reason to complain.
I wish to thank all our contributors, subscribers, and advertisers who make the Tribune financially possible, and I want to remind our supporters that it is time for the February Tribune Offering, an annual offering we receive from the churches. About 27,000 copies of the Tribune go out each month to churches, pastors, missionaries, students, and laypeople in the Baptist Bible Fellowship, and to many churches outside our Fellowship. This unique magazine ministers around the world at such a low cost, providing information, inspiration, and motivation for Baptists everywhere. I believe the Tribune offers great value for our Fellowship. Thousands are connected for ministry by the Tribune, many at no cost to themselves, and the annual February Tribune Offering helps make that happen.