Jacob Norman is planting a church in Colorado and recently sent this email…

Hello friends and family,

Things have been exciting here in Fountain. After the last update about baptizing 3 people in my backyard we had the privilege of seeing two girls come to know Christ at our VBS SportsCamp. We also were excited to see our best attendance in a while this past week at church with about 10-12 new people showing up at our service. Although it is not all about the numbers it was exciting to see some new faces. We are currently planning for the kick-off event for our student ministry on August 23. We have put a lot of resources into this event and are hoping it will provide a great platform from which to launch our student ministry so that we can reach teens for Christ in our community.

Pray for us as we seek to connect everyone in our church with a LifeGroup (small group Bible study) starting this September. Things have been exciting and we are anticipating what God is going to do this fall.

Jake Norman

I just got an email from Alexander Chepurnoy, who is one of our missionaries serving in Minneapolis. He’s planting a Russian-speaking church there in the twin cities where there’s a large population. He just sent me this note - wanted to share…

Pastor Brandon,

I want to inform you, that on August, 2, 2008 we had the first baptism in the “ New Life” Church. We baptized 3 persons. It was special event in our church. We had baptism on the Weaver Lake. After baptism we had picnic in a park. I send to you some photo.

Thank you for prayers and the financial support of our ministry.

God bless you.

The church-planter

Alexander Chepurnoy, Minneapolis, MN

I know this is a sensitive subject, which is exactly why I’m addressing it. It seems there is, in the minds of many Christians, a correlation between “marketing” and compromise. The thought is that if you market the church or its message in any way similar to the secular world, you’ve somehow stripped the gospel of its dignity. I would contend that marketing is what the Great Commission is all about, especially when you include personal, one-to-one (word-of-mouth) marketing as the most important marketing of all.

I would certainly argue that it can be tempting for leaders to water down the message of the gospel to make it more palatable for the public - and this is certainly not an option. But can biblically grounded leaders utilize marketing tools to “get the word out” about their ministry and message? Just read this interesting article by Chris Forbes:

http://ministrymarketingcoach.com/blog/2008/08/02/what-about-the-critics-of-church-marketing/

It’s an interesting point about how great the anti-marketing message gets marketed. It’s something to think about. In my opinion, there’s a great advantage to having a logo, website, advertising, sending postcards, doing direct mail, and even television commercials. It engages people in the context of their current cultural setting. But yes, I’d agree that the greatest marketing of all is still a believer relating to a non-believer compassionately to share the good news of Jesus.

I’ve just gotten back to my room after the final session of the 59th annual meeting of the BMA of America. I expressed my concerns in my last post, and I do think there are plenty of weaknesses to be addressed. But I really want to focus on the positives. I really am excited to be a part of this association of Baptists. Why? Let me share some of what God is doing around the world through the BMA… Read the rest of this entry »

I’m writing this article in Waco, Texas where I’m attending the annual meeting of the Baptist Missionary Association of America. This is a Baptist association that has taken many stands for the Scriptures and the gospel, and I’m proud to be a part of it. The BMA has invested much into my life and ministry, for which I’m eternally grateful. But I also feel that it’s an association in crisis. Read the rest of this entry »