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Mission Madness and a New Family Missions Weekend by Megan Doud
Mission Madness took place March 15-17 in Athens, Georgia. It was a wonderful weekend of serving the community of Athens with around 200 middle and high school students and their adult chaperones from across our state. Our theme for the weekend was “being the salt and light” of the world. WE are the light of the world; WE are the salt of the earth. Along with serving at fourteen mission sites in Athens, we packed 20,000 Rise Against Hunger meals. Serving and missions is a huge part of the mission for CBF of Georgia.
“Giving Back” as CBFGA Moderator for 2024 by Emily Harbin Glass, Minister to Students and Young Adults, First Baptist Church, Athens
MY LATE GRANDFATHER dreamed of being a Baptist preacher, but he would not give up smoking, and he feared the responsibility of saving people’s souls. He pitched a fit when my parents crossed the state line to bring me into the world in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I am the only person in my extended family born outside of Georgia. After that initial hiccup in my origin story, my grandfather would be pleased to know that I’ve been a Georgia resident and Baptist for 30 of my 32 years. I imagine he would have cheered along at my pandemic ordination with a cigarette in hand and a smile as he realized I’ve never felt responsible for saving people — that’s Jesus’ job.
Sing Together by Jody Long
As long as I can remember, music has been a part of what being a Baptist means to me. The small church I grew up in was a “singing” church. We did not have classically trained musicians or even a professional minister of music. We did not have a pipe organ or a grand piano. We did not even have choir robes. What we did have, though, was a deep love of Jesus and a song in our hearts to sing about his love.
CBFGA Institutional Partners – PASSPORT, INC
For more than three decades, our motivated summer teams have invited students to have fresh encounters with God, embrace community around them, and extend God’s grace to the world. Our non-profit student ministry works for integrated, ecumenical, and inspirational weeks of summer camp that model important lessons like service in the name of Christ, creation care, and respect for our neighbors. We would love for your students to join thousands of other students from across the southeast next summer!
CBFGA Institutional Partners – Youth Ministry Network (CBFYMN)
As an aspiring youth minister, I was invited during my time in Divinity School to attend a retreat called OASIS, the flagship event of the CBF Youth Ministry Network. When I entered the Assembly Inn in Montreat, North Carolina, I couldn’t have known how important the CBFYMN would be to my ability to fulfill a calling to youth ministry. Simply put, in my eight years as a youth minister serving in the state of Georgia, I’ve found no better resource to empower and impact my ministry than the CBF Youth Ministry Network.
CBF Insitutional Partners-Children’s Ministry Network (CMN)
The Children’s Ministry Network is a collection of ministers serving children and their families who see the need for collaboration, safe space, and continued education by way of sharing with one another.
CBFGA Institutional Partners- CBF Foundation
Making God’s Compassion Visible- CBF Foundation CBF Foundation is the CBF community’s trusted partner in ministry. Our mission is to work alongside individuals, churches, and organizations to cultivate, receive, invest, and steward long-term...
CBFGA Institutional Partners-Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM)
For the past 40 years, Baptist Women in Ministry (BWIM) has provided support for women in ministry and has been a voice of advocacy among Baptists, so that women might have equal opportunity in leadership among Baptists.
CBFGA Institutional Partners – Church Benefits Board (CBB)
The Church Benefits Board, Inc. (CBB), is a ministry of CBF, created in 1998 by the General Assembly to provide retirement benefits for ministers and staff members of churches that are affiliated with CBF, along with CBF field personnel serving worldwide.
The Power of Fellowship by Steven Norris
Sometimes it is nice to just be a monk for the weekend. As I visited Mepkin Abbey (near Charleston, SC) this fall, I was reminded of my first visit to a monastery 20 years ago.
Participate in a Ministerial Network! by Megan Turner Doud
Over ten years ago, I joined my first network, CBF Youth Ministry Network, as a first-year minister. Now, I am still heavily involved in this network and have served on the board for 10 years. I didn’t know then how important those ministers would be in my life. From the network, I met fellow ministers who became my peer learning group.
Being Called Together by Jody Long
“The togetherness of the Christian community grows from a deep sense of being called together to make God’s compassion visible in the concreteness of everyday living.”—Henri J.N. Nouwen The second creation account in Genesis contains one of the most profound comments...
From Tina Bailey, Relocated to Graz, Austria
My new field personnel assignment is Minister to the Arts Community, Refugees/Immigrants, based in Graz, Austria. My new work has three primary emphases, which draw on my training and background in the arts and in trauma-informed therapy. First, I will train others,...
2023 Mission Madness was AMAZING!
This past April, our youth group participated in CBFGA’s Mission Madness in Columbus. This was my first trip as a new youth director, and I could not have asked for a better experience. The weekend was a well-organized, entertaining, purposeful reflection on our role in the redemptive work of God.
Update from Missy Ward-Angalla, Field Personnel to Uganda
March 2023 marked ten years since I moved to Uganda to begin trauma healing and empowerment programs for the most vulnerable refugees in Kampala. I am deeply grateful for the ways that CBFGA and CBF churches in Georgia have come alongside our family and ministry team...
From Karen _____, North Africa
Karen continues to serve on the pastoral team of the national Protestant church in the country where she serves as field personnel. Her work involved outreach that brings hope, humanitarian relief, and development opportunities to the sub-Saharan migrant and refugee population in her area. She spent this spring and early summer in the States, visiting with family and friends and raising program support funds for her work back overseas.
Being Salt and Light in the Year Ahead by Megan Turner Doud
HAVE YOU EVER sat down to a nice breakfast, taken a big bite of grits, and realized that salt had been left out of the grits? Not pleasant, right? Grits without salt are bland and boring. Just so, our lives as followers of Christ, without the light and seasoning of the gospel — the “good news” — are lackluster, not reflecting God’s love in the world.
From Carson and Laura Foushee, Field Personnel in Japan
Since summer 2022, the Foushees have been back in Kanazawa, Japan, where their Japanese ministry began, serving in partnership with the Japan Baptist Convention there.
Since their commissioning in 2013, Carson and Laura have served alongside a pastoral presence among congregations in the Hokuriku and Kanto areas of Japan, cultivating beloved community among Japanese and internationals.
From Anna Anderson, in Conetoe, NC
The Andersons have been busy in 2023! We began to catch a vision in Ahoskie, North Carolina, where we work with an encourager church, First Baptist Ahoskie, to reimagine the space that had once been the First Presbyterian Church. The church could no longer sustain...
Making Music for the Glory of God by Steven Norris
THE TRIP WAS A YEAR in the making. As our family wrapped up our time in Uganda in the summer of 2022, Francis Angalla and I started scheming. Music is an integral part of the healing work that Francis and Missy Ward-Angalla (CBF Field Personnel), are doing with refugees in Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, for the past year, we have been laying the foundation to co-lead a music camp, bringing together musicians from the Unites States and across East Africa for a transformative week.