Last Year at a Glance
DOM REPORT
We have seen God do some really wonderful things in our midst during the past year. I hope you will read the reports of the Dental Van ministry, the Crossroads Center Medical Clinic, the Counseling Ministry and the World Changers. All of these are cooperative ministries of which your church has been a part through the Association.
During the week of June 24-29 of 2007 we had one of the busiest weeks of ministry of which I have ever been a part. Some of our churches had ministry projects that week with youth from the SuperWow conference sponsored by the Georgia Baptist Convention. They bring youth to our area each summer for three weeks of youth camp and community ministry.
This past June was the pilot project with them. We have scheduled a meeting with SuperWow personnel and our youth directors. We are going to plan to expand the community ministry projects next summer. Pray for God to give us wisdom how to use these young people in our communities in a way that will help our churches and help these youth grow in the Lord.
That same week last June we hosted the Mobile Dental Van. Early in the week we had to deal with several major problems in that ministry, but our volunteer staff kept their heads and worked diligently. With God’s help we were able to keep going even if the dentist did have to work by flashlight for a while. The week was very successful because of the quality of volunteers our churches provided.
Also that week we had the largest World Changers project we have ever hosted. We had 386 youth and their sponsors come to town. Our churches provided more than 2200 meals at 31 different sites without a major problem. All groups were fed every day. It is exciting to be a part of such a great mission project.
With little fanfare our Counseling Ministry began this year. With all the other things we were doing I did not have big expectations for this ministry this year. God has a way of exceeding my expectations. Oh me of little faith! Lives are being changed, relationships are being restored and God is being glorified. Your gifts to Associational Missions help make it possible for people of limited means to get the help they need with our sliding fee schedules.
Above and beyond all else we have attempted, God has poured out his blessings upon the Crossroads Center Medical Center. I told several people that we had a “million dollar operation.” When we made our report to the State of Florida at the end of June, we had received money, volunteer services, equipment, medical testing and other valuables worth $989,000.00. We invested $32,000.00 of your mission money into the venture and God turned it into a million dollars! What a great God we have!
We are now serving the public five days a week at Crossroads. We will be bringing great long-term benefits to individuals and the community. Many of the working poor have not been able to control chronic medical conditions such as diabetes and high blood pressure. With free treatment and low-cost or free medications through our clinic they are now able to enjoy a healthier and more productive life.
Sometime next year we look forward to moving into our new facilities in the old hospital. The County Commission is providing the space in partnership with Crossroads as a service to the community. We are grateful to them, Fort Walton Beach Medical Center and our many other community partners for all they do to help us have a more healthy and productive community.
Last July our Associational mission trip to Webster Springs, WV was blessed by God to experience some of the spiritual harvest which God had prepared. We did some repair work at the Mountain Marketplace Mission and held an evening VBS. Though the VBS was small in number and we had to call off our evangelism night due to a bad storm in the area, God gave us a harvest experience. On Friday night all but one of the children in the children’s departments accepted Christ or indicated they had already done so. Fully half of the children made first-time commitments to Christ.
Through our Volunteer Mission Fund we have been able to provide a $100.00 scholarship to each person from the Association going on the Montana mission trip organized by Shalimar Baptist Church. We also gave a scholarship to a layperson going on mission to India and a pastor going to Haiti. This fund is not a part of our budget process, but something I try to raise on the side. You may contribute to it if God so leads you to do so.
God has been good to us in the past. As we celebrate his work among us in the past we must also look forward. Forty-nine years ago when the CBA was formed the local association was considered to be a part of the larger denominational structure. The Home Mission Board and the State Conventions partnered in providing much of the salary for the Associational Missionary. In returned he reported his work to them and was held accountable by them.
In those days most of the work of the association was to promote denominational programs and serve as a training arm of those program organizations. The churches sought to achieve denominational standards in all its program areas. It was a day of uniformity for Southern Baptist Churches. Like ice cream, you could have any flavor you wanted as long as it was vanilla or chocolate.
On October 28, 1958 Choctaw Baptist Association had its organizational meeting. The constitution adopted that evening says, “The purpose of this Association shall be the promotion of the faith, fellowship, and co-operative work of Baptist as defined in the New Testament; and the great causes claming our support shall be those fostered by the Florida Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.” The organizational structure of the Association reflected its purpose of fostering the causes of the state and national convention.
Now we must restructure around the purpose of fostering the causes of the local church. Today the Association is supported by its member churches and is accountable to them. The Association no longer serves the denomination but serves the churches. Each of those churches are different and have different needs.
The time has come for us as an Association of churches to revisit why we associate with each other and what that association should look like. The Association should exist to help the local church do whatever it decides God has called it to do in its setting. That means the Association needs to be church focused and flexible enough to help each church in its unique needs.
Therefore I have asked the pastors to bring a motion to our annual meeting to restructure our Association. After meeting with the senior pastors on two occasions for discussion on the need to restructure, they now will bring a motion to the Association to enter into a process to restructure the Association. We should be able to complete the process so the recommendation to restructure can come to the Association next year on the occasion of our fiftieth anniversary.
I believe that the future of CBA can be even more fruitful than the past. I believe that God has much for us to do as a family of churches. Above all I believe God would have us to encourage and help one another fulfill the Great Commission. I look forward to working with you as we enter the next fifty years of service together.
Hershel Adams, DOM
