August 2014Vol. 44, No. 4

in this issue

Moving? See page 2 (0401)

Churches in the Pacific impacting the world B A P T I S T

Church unityChurches grow in mission and love for each other when unified by biblical truth, which can be seen in the HPBC.Page 2

HPBC missionsChurches work together with help of Sue Nishikawa Offering to do mission work.Page 3

Border crisisSouthern Baptist pastors and leaders visit the children being held at the border.Page 7

How exciting it is to send a check to a church or HPBC organization for an allocation from the Sue Nishikawa Offering for Hawaii Pacific Missions.

It tells me that this church or organization cares about doing something about missions. They care about reaching their community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

What’s also exciting about that check is that it represents the churches working together to help other churches to do something about reaching the lost. By sending in your offerings for Hawaii Pacific Missions, we are helping each other. By supporting and praying for those that receive allocations from the offering, we are helping each other.

The theme for this year’s emphasis is “Go Forward Together.” Together, we can accomplish much. The Bible verse that goes along with the theme is Romans 15:5-6: “Now may the God who gives endurance and encouragement allow you to live in harmony with one another, according to the command of Christ Jesus, so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with a

united mind and voice” (HCSB).Churches that have started

“Something New” received allocations ranging from equipment for a new church start to helping people in crisis. Some of the allocations given so far are:

l Waikoloa Baptist Church on the Big Island is sponsoring a “Back-To-School” bash l Waikiki Baptist Church starting a “Midnight Street Ministry” l International Baptist Fellowship helping members to “Engage” with the communityl Olive Baptist Church starting a ministry to help people in crisis in the Honolulu areal Hilo Baptist Church a new mission in Punal Happy Valley Baptist Church starting a new ministry in Ua Taunuu in American Samoa

Churches have requested funds for Evangelism Projects such as a reading program at Kaumana Drive Baptist Church on the Big Island, equipment for a movie ministry at Tamuning Baptist Church in Guam, six weeks of Vacation Bible School at Lihue Baptist Church on Kauai, and an

evangelistic block party at Filipino International Baptist Church in Ewa Beach.

Other allocations have been distributed for scholarships, ministries in each of the HPBC associations, and ongoing ministries throughout our Convention.

In this issue (Page 3) is a full list of the allocations that will be available to churches and

organizations in 2015. Sue Nishikawa was the first state WMU

director in Hawaii and in 1981, the offering was named for her tireless efforts to educate Hawaii Baptists about missions.

What she said in 1980 still rings true: “I challenge you to deepen your dedication to God and His mission cause. Missions is what binds our denomination together, and it requires every one of us to do it.”

Mahalo for your support of the Sue Nishikawa Offering for Hawaii Pacific Missions.

Faith McFatridge is the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention Missions Education Director, and she is the Associate Editor for The Hawaii Pacific Baptist.

By Faith McFatridge

Missions gifts show churches working together

Sue Nishikawa

WEEK OF PRAYER Day 1Herb Segawa, Kaumana Drive Baptist Church

member, was concerned when the local schools cut back the Read Aloud Program. So the church began the Banana B’Read program with the families of Keikiland, the church’s weekday preschool. About 40 preschoolers select books three times a week. Once a quarter, the families have supper at the church. Your offerings to the Sue Nishikawa Offering helped purchase Christian-based books.

After learning about the the program, University Avenue Baptist Church preschool in Honolulu received funds from the Sue Nishikawa Offering to start a similar one.

Pray for Kaumana Drive Baptist Church members as they minister to the children and their parents. Pray families will come to the church services and learn more about Christ. and the church.

Day 2Hana Kawasaki a recent graduate of Oklahoma

Baptist University in Shawnee. At OBU Hana met Joy Turner, the former director of International Ministries on Oahu. At graduation, Hana was set to become an elementary teacher. But God had other plans.

Through the Sue Nishikawa Offering allocation for associations, the Oahu Baptist Network is helping support Hana as she begins working with International Ministries.

Pray Hana will find deep friendships with the students. Pray for the volunteers that help each week in tutoring, childcare, providing food for the Thursday lunches and leading in Bible studies.

Day 3The Disaster Relief allocation has provided a

trailer to hold all the equipment for a portable station. Darrell and Teresa McCain serve as volunteer coordinators for Disaster Relief and have trained

See Week of Prayer... Page 5

1

2 3

Pray over these ministries Sept. 7-14 as as churches aim to give $115,000 to the Sue Nishikawa Offering.

2 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

By Diana Davis

Walk just outside your front door, and look slowly in every direction. You’re

viewing a mission field. God chose it for you when you moved in.

It’s easy to wave at neighbors as you drive by or say “hi” when you walk the dog, but will you make a plan to shine for Jesus with your actions and words this summer?

See each neighbor with the eyes of God -- as people He loves, who need to know His love -- even the

neighbor who doesn’t mow his grass. Loving our neighbor is the second part

of what we call the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30-31; Romans 13:9-10).

Try this two-step panoramic summer challenge.

Prayer walkPrayer walk your personal mission

field -- your block, subdivision, apartment building or dorm hallway. If you live in a rural setting, you may need to prayer drive!

Prayer walking simply means you pray silently and specifically as you stroll and observe.

Do it often. Make a list of addresses, and add names as you meet people. Learn pet

names. Discover needs. Involve your entire family. Ask God to give you opportunities to show His love and share about Him.

Panoramic neighborhood grill out Host a neighborhood grill out. Email or

hand deliver an invitation to each home on your list.

Ask them to bring something to grill, a side dish to share, and a lawn chair. Create a relaxed, fun atmosphere with great Christian music and toys for kids. Use nametags and enjoy getting to know each person.

Whether it’s a small or large group, have a great time. In your conversation, invite each individual to your church if they don’t have one.

A panoramic grill-out project could be a great church-wide project, too. Select a weekend and challenge every church member to invite their neighbors over with the intention of getting to know them and inviting them to church.

Our Southern Baptist Convention has about 10,000 awesome vocational missionaries across North America and in countries around the world. But you’re the missionary that God called to your neighborhood.

Now get out the grill!

Diana Davis is the author of “Fresh Ideas” and “Deacon Wives” and wife of North American Mission Board Vice President for the South Region Steve Davis.

HAWAII PACIFIC BAPTIST2042 Vancouver DriveHonolulu, Hawaii 96822(USPS 237-540)

CHRISTOPHER MARTINEditor

FAITH McFATRIDGEAssociate Editor

The Hawaii Pacific Baptist is published bi-monthly by the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention. For general information, call (808) 946-9581. Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii, and additional mailing office.

To subscribe: Send request to the Hawaii Pacific Baptist at the above address. Subscriptions for non-resident members of the HPBC are $12 annually.To register a change of address: Send the mailing label from page 1, along with your new address, to The Hawaii Pacific Baptist at the above address.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to HAWAII Pacific BAPTIST, 2042 Vancouver Dr., Honolulu, HI 96822-2491To give news tips: Call the editor at (808) 946-9581.To submit a letter: Letters on any subject will be considered for publication if sent to the above address, provided they do not make a personal attack on anyone. Letters are limited to 250 words and may be edited for length.Publishing services provided by Western Recorder Inc., Box 43969, Louisville, KY 40253.

Join us on FacebookBe part of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention via Facebook. Already have an account? Simply type “Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention” in the search box.Then click the “Like” box on the right side of the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention header. It’s that easy. Followers of HPBC will receive all the updates and be current with the events and activities as they are posted. Let’s keep connected. For more information, contact Faith McFatridge at faith@hpbaptist.net.

Chris Martin

MAHALO from MARTIN

Unity is a very common theme in Scripture.

Jesus prayed that all believers would be united as one, just as He and the Father are one. Paul taught the Church in Ephesus that there is one body, one Spirit, one calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father of all.

Unity is not only a common theme, but an extremely important theme.

Unity, though, can only occur spiritually if we are all rooted in the truth of Jesus Christ and the power of the Gospel. We might all call ourselves the same, but true unity only exists in truth, and that in the truth of the Bible.

I am very thankful that everywhere I travel throughout our convention or in so many conversations about our churches, I see

and hear true unity. We are uniting to serve Christ with our

lives and investing in each other as the Body of Christ. This unity will continue to unlock the power of God to move through us and in us. And through this unity, a love for each other and our mission is growing.

Churches are unselfishly partnering together to see God transform our neighborhoods and communities. Church members are gathering for Bible studies and mission work to build deeper faith in word and in deed. Christ is being exemplified in our lives and we are becoming stronger in our faith because of unity.

A steady, sharp focus on Christ in all areas of our lives individually is the key to unity in the body.

A.W. Tozer wrote, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another

standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

Simply stated, Tozer reminds us to remain focused on Christ and unity will become us. He concluded the thought by saying, “The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and higher life.”

As you are growing closer to Christ and each other, allow the love of Christ to clear your mind of the obstacles and strive to serve Him together. The rally cry of Together!’ is not an empty shout for appearances, but a genuine reminder that we are in this life of Christ as one united for the Kingdom’s work and the cause of Christ.

We are the convention! Together!

By Chris Martin

Churches, be united in truth of the Bible to serve Christ

Diana Davis

FRESH IDEAS

The Communications Committee of the Executive Board approved a recommendation that the “Hawaii Pacific Baptist” go to being primarily an online version. The print paper will only be mailed to those who indicate that they want to receive the hard copy. The plan is to be begin in 2015.

The “Hawaii Pacific Baptist” is currently sent free to active church members of every HPBC-cooperating church. Your Cooperative Program offerings help to sustain the cost of editing and printing the paper.

Churches or individuals can send their lists requesting a copy mailed to their address to hpbcnews@gmail.com.

Your comments are very valuable. Please contact Andrew Large, chair of the Communications Committee, with your comments at pastor@waikikibaptist.com.

Your input is needed

A summer challenge: Host a neighborhood grill out

Tim Belcher is Lanai Baptist Church’s new pastor. The Belchers lived and served in Zambia, Africa, as missionaries. While there he planted a church, taught numerous pastor conferences, church conferences, and youth conferences.

Tim and his family left Zambia and moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where Tim attended Boyce College and received his degree in Apologetics & Christian Worldview and continued his education at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also served at a church in Louisville as a Pastoral Intern.

WELCOME!

3 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

MissionsSue Nishikawa lived for missions. She set the

example for it and taught it wherever she went. The Missionary spirit of working hard to reach the

lost was evidenced by those she helped to come to love the Lord as much as she did.

ItsukoItsuko Saito was born July 2, 1916, to

Japanese immigrant parents. They had a pineapple plantation just outside of Wahiawa on Oahu.

Sue remembers, “Leilehua was several miles beyond Schofield Barracks. There was no electricity in this area. We studied by the light of a kerosene lamp. Rainwater was caught in a large tank on the hill behind our property. We had one bathhouse for all of us in the ‘Saito Camp’ made up of our family and those who worked for my father.”

This is where she learned gumption! The family lost the plantation in 1929 and moved to Wahiawa when Itsuko was 11. She watched both parents work hard to sustain the family, which included three boys and four girls. Sue was the second oldest and started working at age 13 or 14 to support the family.When Charles McDonald, a Canadian businessman, started the long trek to Wahiawa to reach the people in Wahiawa in 1926, Itsuko didn’t know that this man and several others would completely change her life.

Salvation“One day, a girl in the neighborhood came to our

house and invited us to go to Sunday School,” Sue recalled. “We never heard about going to school on Sunday, but decided to go with our new friends, Mayand Sara Oh Young. For the first time we learned about Jesus and sang.”

Sue and her sisters were baptized some later in Wahiawa. She saw the dedication of one layman, Charles McDonald. Then other missionaries came: Rev. and Mrs. L.E. Blackman, Rev. and Mrs. James Belote, Miss Hanah Plowden, Dr. and Mrs. Victor Koon.

They would take a vehicle called a carry-all down

the plantation’s dirt roads and pick up children and take them to Sunday School.

In 1934, the Wayside Baptist Chapel was constituted. It later became the First Baptist Church of Wahiawa and was the first Southern Baptist church in Hawaii.

The Wahiawa missionaries could see the potential in Itsuko. They encouraged her to seek more education on the mainland. So after graduation from high school she

sailed away.

SueSue attended Dodd College then Baylor

University in Texas. She was called “Sue” because Itsuko was hard to pronounce. She stayed on the mainland until her schooling was complete.

She was in demand as a speaker while in Texas. She would put on her kimono and speak at different churches. She would

speak about the mission work in Hawaii and how the missionaries were working to win the lost in the Hawaiian Islands. This helped supplement her almost non-existent income.

Other help came from scholarships and work programs. Sue graduated from Baylor and then went on to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and graduated with a Masters in Religious Education. The first woman from Hawaii to do so.

InvolvementIn 1941, Sue was offered a job as educational director

at Olivet Baptist Church. This began her involvement in Hawaii Baptist work. The church had no funds to pay her so the Texas WMU sent money to pay for her salary.

At Olivet, Sue was involved in many church ministries. A church member said of Sue, “She was my first Sunday School teacher. She led me to Jesus and inspired and motivated me to be a do-er and not a hear-er only type of Christian. She was a mentor and a friend.”

She was also involved in the early beginnings of the Hawaii Baptist Convention serving as secretary and many of the WMU ministries. She and other WMU leaders were instrumental in urging the Convention to purchase Puu Kahea in 1949.

In 1954, Sue became the first women elected as

executive secretary of the Hawaii Baptist Convention’s Woman’s Missionary Union.

Her involvement with missions switched into high gear as she organized leadership workshops, language work, rallies and other activities to keep missions awareness in front of Hawaii Baptists.

OhanaThe Hawaii Baptist Ohana was special to Sue. She

loved to see young women complete the steps in GAs and was often asked to be a special speaker.

Sue’s state level involvement gave her an opportunity to meet international and national missionaries and introduce them to the work of Hawaii Baptists. She worked with Baptist World Alliance and traveled to many countries for its conferences.

NishikawaAt 50 Sue found love and married Nobuo Nishikawa

in 1966. Nobu was a deacon at Waikiki Baptist Church, so she joined and started ministries there. Sue and Nobu spent many wonderful years together until his death in 1991.

After Nobu’s passing, Sue continued to enjoy seeing young girls especially continue in missions education.

SunsetIn 1980 a stroke ended her almost 26 years of state

WMU work. At her retirement party in 1981, over 500 people attended the event.

Retirement didn’t slow Sue down. She became the first Mission Service Corps volunteer as editor of the state paper. She continued to serve on the state WMU Council and Aloha Council at Hawaii Baptist Academy. Sue couldn’t stop ministering to people. She still held prayer meetings in her apartment.

In 1981, the state missions offering was named for Sue, a fitting honor for a woman who had become Hawaii’s symbol of missions and ministry.

In 1995, Sue went back to Olivet and still participated in the prayer meetings, church council andWMU. In 2000 she moved back to Wahiawa to be near her sisters after Alzheimers began to rob her of her memory.

Although she died in 2004, her legacy continues to grow as Hawaii Pacific Baptists fulfill their Great Commission tasks and make disciples throughout the Pacific and around the world.

Who is Sue Nishikawa?

A breakdown and explanation of Sue Nishikawa Offering allocations that funded the ministries below is on Page 5.

Associations Fifteen percent of the offerings

received by the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention from the churches in each association is given back to the associations to use in the ministries that the association provides to the churches. There are 6 associations affiliated with the Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention:

l Big Island Baptist Association: David Whitehead, church planter catalystl Maui County Baptist Association (Maui, Lanai, Molokai): Wes Higuchi, moderatorl Garden Island Baptist Association (Kauai): James Merritt, moderatorl Guam Baptist Association (Guam, Saipan, Okinawa, Seoul, Korea, Japan): Ed Perez, moderatorl South Pacific Baptist Association (American Samoa and the independent state of Samoa): Elise Tafao, director of missionsl Oahu Baptist Network: Emory Gaskins, moderator; Robert Miller, facilitator of missions

Church & Community Ministries Twenty-two percent of the offering

assists ongoing ministries such as the-Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Crisis Pregnancy services, Oahu Baptist

Network International Ministries and Seafarer’s Ministries in American Samoa and on Oahu.

Education Scholarships for StudentsSix percent assists Baptist youth and

adults with tuition at places like the Hawaii Baptist Academy where students with financial need are given priority with tuition assistance and Samoa Baptist Academy where some of the faculty serve as Southern Baptist Mission Service Corps missionaries and Wayland Baptist University’s Hawaii campus.

Church and Mission Emergency Fund Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches and organizations help in emergency situations thanks to this allocation.

Disaster Relief MinistriesFive percent of the offering is allotted

for Disaster Relief to help when disaster strikes. Equipment for the Disaster Relief Ministries is also purchased from this fund like the Disaster Relief trailer to store DR equipment.

Evangelism ProjectsEach year, churches and

organizations can request an allocation for evangelism projects. Revivals or other preaching events, block parties, or parenting seminars are a few examples

of creative outreach ideas.

Start Something NewThis allocation

encourages congregations to inspire them to act on new possibilities. Fresh ideas on starting a new ministry or mission can get churches excited about reaching their community for Christ.

Requests can be made from churches or church-type missions with a sponsoring church.

Puu Kahea Special Projects

Over 60 years ago, Puu Kahea was purchased for use by Hawaii Baptist churches.

Today, the upgraded conference center offers more than a camping experience with conference rooms, a large gathering area for worship and food services.

This allocation enhances the

conference center so more children and adults can enjoy retreats, leadership development opportunities and other

special events.

State-Sponsored Camps and Retreats Scholarships

Airfare scholarships make camp possible for Girls in Action and Royal Ambassadors who live on the neighbor islands. Scholarships also enable youth to attend Centrifuge and women to participate in WMU-sponsored events.

Promotion and Communication

This allocation is used in production

and mailing of materials promoting the offering to HPBC churches and missions.

WMU AdministrationThis fund was created in 2013 to

support and carry out the administration of the WMU and

Missions Education programs.

Sue Nishikawa Offering allocations allow HPBC churches to minister in many waysBy Faith McFatridge

l Associations 15%l Church & Community Ministries 22%l Education Scholarship for Students 6%l Church/Mission Emergency Fund 2%l Disaster Relief Ministries 5%l Evangelism Projects 10%l Start Something New 15%l Puu Kahea Special Projects 3%l State-Sponsored Camps and Retreats 10%l Promotion and Communication 2%l WMU Administration 10%

Offering Allocations

4 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

Mission gifts from Hawaii Pacific Baptist churches and missionsJan. 1, 2014 to June 30, 2014

Church/Mission CP IMB NAMB HPBC WH

Big IslandCornerstone Christian Fell ................ 1,590.00 .........................480.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Engage ............................................... 1,143.87 ...........................10.00 .................. 102.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Faith Baptist Mission ............................ 331.25 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Hamakua ............................................... 320.00 .............................0.00 .................. 280.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Hilo Baptist ........................................ 8,379.00 ......................1,900.00 ............... 2,197.00 ...............1,524.00 ......................0.00Hilo Korean Christian ........................... 300.00 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Iglesia Bautisa Ebeen-ezer .................... 909.68 ...........................40.00 .................. 432.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00In-Christ Alone House Ch ................. 1,059.50 .............................0.00 .................. 205.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Kaumana Drive .................................. 1,762.95 ...........................25.00 ...................... 0.00 ..................175.00 ......................0.00Kinoole .............................................. 5,461.06 .........................166.00 ............... 2,275.12 ......................0.00 ....................50.00Kohala................................................ 5,704.00 .........................771.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Kona .................................................. 6,000.00 .........................147.02 ............... 2,465.32 ...............2,425.22 ......................0.00Naalehu Bible Mission* ........................... 0.00 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Ocean View ........................................ 2,790.53 .........................975.00 .................. 500.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Ohana Church of Hilo* ......................... 450.00 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Pahala ................................................ 2,227.79 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Paradise Park..................................... 1,747.42 .............................0.00 .................. 375.00 ......................0.00 ....................10.00Puna .................................................. 1,731.88 ......................1,091.76 ...................... 0.00 ..................753.00 ......................0.00Puuanahulu .............................................. 0.00 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Sonshine Baptist Mission* ....................... 0.00 .............................0.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Waiakea Uka Bible ............................. 8,293.35 ......................2,430.00 ............... 2,431.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Waikoloa ............................................ 9,582.00 .........................716.05 .................. 350.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00Waimea, FBC ........................................ 943.87 .........................300.00 ...................... 0.00 ......................0.00 ......................0.00

Garden IsleEleele ................................................ 5,206.82 ..........................25.00 .............. 2,165.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Lihue ................................................. 4,146.14 ........................ 140.00 .............. 1,131.66 ................. 125.00 .....................0.00Waimea ................................................ 600.00 ........................ 200.00 ..................... 0.00 .................235.00 .....................0.00

Guam/Asia Pacific Calvary.............................................. 2,899.11 ........................669.00 ................. 830.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Chuukese Christian Fell ........................ 55.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Koza .................................................. 9,000.00 .................. 74,894.39 ............ 14,777.49 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Lighthouse* ......................................... 550.00 .......................... 78.00 ................. 158.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Marianas .............................................. 600.00 .....................1,000.00 .............. 1,000.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Saipan Good Baptist Ch .......................... 0.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Seoul International .................................. 0.00 .....................7,000.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Tamuning ............................................ 760.64 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Yigo Mission* ......................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Yokohama International ........................... 0.00 .................. 27,848.23 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00

Maui CountyKaanapali Beach Ministry ........................ 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Kahului ............................................. 7,335.24 ............................0.00 .............. 1,500.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Kaunakakai ....................................... 6,337.00 .....................1,208.03 ..................... 0.00 ...................10.00 ................. 281.58Kihei ................................................. 1,000.00 ............................ 0.00 ................. 627.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Lahaina ............................................. 8,164.80 .....................1,162.00 ...................... 0.00 ................. 480.70 .....................0.00Lanai ................................................. 2,120.09 ............................ 0.00 ...................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Maui 1st Korean .................................. 300.00 ............................ 0.00 ...................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ......................0.00Maui Philippine ................................ 1,236.56 ...........................75.00 .................. 392.00 ................... 50.00 ..................... 0.00Pukalani .......................................... 14,020.00 ........................ 650.00 .............. 1,441.00 ................. 389.00 .................306.00Valley Isle Fellowship ..................... 18,009.71 ..................... 2,652.00 .............. 1,892.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00

Oahu NetworkAbundant Life Fellowship .................... 300.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Agape Japanese ................................... 250.00 ............................ 0.00 ................... 76.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Agape Mission .................................... 600.00 ..................... 1,500.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Aina Haina ........................................ 1,854.00 ........................ 525.00 ................. 698.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00All Nations Fellowship ...................... 2,838.30 ........................ 160.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00All People Mission .................................. 0.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Aloha Community ............................. 1,796.88 ..................... 1,429.00 ................. 100.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Anapouo Chuukese ................................. 0.00 ..........................16.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Antioch ............................................. 2,250.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ................. 300.00 ..................... 0.00Bethel Korean ........................................ 90.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Central .............................................. 5,484.99 ..................... 1,217.31 .............. 1,012.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Chinese* .............................................. 250.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Cornerstone Fellowship ................. 21,115.97 ..................... 3,397.00 .............. 5,492.97 ................... 60.00 ..................... 0.00Cornerstone Korean................................. 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Dong Tam Baptist* .............................. 372.85 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Emmanuel Korean ............................ 1,800.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Enchanted Lake ....................................... 0.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Ewa Beach ........................................... 286.58 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Faith Baptist Church .............................. 54.00 ............................ 0.00 ................. 200.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Fananua Fellowship ................................. 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Fellowship ........................................... 300.00 ........................ 355.00 ................. 295.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Fellowship Waipahu* .............................. 0.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00

Church/Mission CP IMB NAMB HPBC WH

Filipino-International ............................... 0.00 ........................187.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Global Revival Korean ......................... 250.00 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Halawa Heights .................................... 241.61 ........................416.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Haleiwa Filipino Mission* ..................... 99.60 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Haleiwa, FBC .................................... 1,092.51 ............................ 0.00 ................. 147.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Hawaii Bhansok * ............................. 2,100.00 ............................ 0.00 ................. 200.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Hawaii Chinese ................................. 7,863.05 ..................... 1,026.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..................... 0.00Hawaii Chinese-English ................... 1,045.22 ............................ 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00Hawaii Christian Baptist Ch .............. 2,400.00 .......................... 90.00 ................... 90.00 ................... 90.00 .................... 0..00Hawaii Hope Mission BC .................... 300.00 ........................ 100.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00 ..................... 0.00Hawaii Kai ....................................... 31,676.98 .....................5,000.00 .............. 4,000.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00International Fellowship ................... 4,862.73 ........................870.00 ................. 640.88 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Kailua ................................................ 3,950.00 .....................1,015.00 ................. 500.00 .....................0.00 .................450.00Kalihi ................................................ 3,245.35 ............................0.00 .............. 1,659.86 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Korean Waikiki ................................. 1,200.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Makaha Valley Chapel ......................... 715.40 ........................125.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Makakilo ........................................... 1,200.00 ............................0.00 ................. 424.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Mililani ........................................... 51,963.38 .....................8,602.88 ................. 500.00 .................200.00 .................325.00Mililani Fil-Am .................................... 600.00 ............................ 0.00 ................... 30.00 .................161.50 .....................0.00Mililani Korean ........................................ 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Mountain View .................................... 600.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Mt. Kaala ................................................. 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Nanakuli, FBC ......................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ................. 255.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00New Community Korean .................. 1,750.00 ............................ 0.00 ................. 500.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00New Covenant ..................................... 500.00 ........................500.00 ................. 500.00 .................500.00 .....................0.00New Life Christian (Filipino) ................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00North Windward .................................. 400.00 ............................0.00 ................. 532.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Nuuanu ........................................... 26,695.99 .....................7,645.00 ................... 50.00 .....................0.00 ..............1,678.00Nuuanu Chuukese ............................... 458.13 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Ohana Korean .......................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00OlaNui! ..................................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Olive Baptist Church .............................. 25.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ...................11.00Olivet .............................................. 55,030.82 .................. 15,195.00 .............. 8,181.00 .....................0.00 .................225.00Olivet-Japanese* .............................. 6,976.98 .....................1,544.00 .............. 1,470.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Pali View ......................................... 12,181.88 .....................4,155.00 .............. 2,771.36 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Pali View Japanese .............................. 409.00 ............................0.00 ................... 30.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Palisades ........................................ 12,621.76 .....................2,433.00 .............. 2,004.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Pawa’a Community ........................... 4,603.03 ............................0.00 ................. 375.00 .....................0.00 ...................20.00Pearl City, FBC ............................... 44,684.47 .....................8,867.00 .............. 2,602.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Pearl Harbor Korean ............................ 750.00 .....................1,720.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 ..............1,594.00Pearl Harbor, FSBC .......................... 3,130.54 ........................960.00 ................. 620.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Sa’Puk Chuukese Church .................... 318.99 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00The Gathering ................................... 1,676.00 .....................2,515.00 .............. 2,515.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00University Ave. ................................ 20,684.58 .....................8,812.06 .............. 7,600.86 ..............3,891.86 ..............4,658.88Village Park ......................................... 400.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Wahiawa, FBC ................................ 16,499.06 ............................6.00 .............. 4,077.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Waialae ........................................... 15,227.80 .....................3,338.25 .............. 2,981.00 .....................0.00 .................100.00Waianae ............................................ 2,994.31 ............................0.00 ................... 60.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Waianae Chuukese* ................................ 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Waikiki ............................................ 10,006.06 ........................180.29 .............. 1,458.54 .................165.42 .....................0.00Waimanalo, FBC ............................... 1,817.27 .....................1,201.00 ..................... 0.00 .................720.00 .................120.00Waipahu Community ........................ 1,097.00 ........................110.00 ................. 110.00 .................110.00 .................110.00Waipio Community .......................... 4,113.17 ..........................20.00 ................. 320.00 ...................20.00 ...................20.00West Oahu Community ....................... 825.50 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00

South PacificChinese FBC ........................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ................. 200.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Emmanuel ............................................ 342.00 ........................310.00 ................. 342.00 .....................0.00 .................170.00Fagalii, W. Samoa ................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Falemauga ............................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Faleniu Baptist Mission ........................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Go International ....................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ................. 156.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Happy Valley ..................................... 1,654.00 ........................300.00 ................. 300.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Pago Pago, First Baptist* .................... 900.00 ............................0.00 ................. 296.64 .....................0.00 .................123.57Samoa Korean ..................................... 600.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Tafuna ...................................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Ua Taunuu ........................................... 150.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00

OtherGuam, FBC .............................................. 0.00 ............................0.00 ................. 214.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Hawaii Baptist Foundation ....................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Hawaii Sinai Korean ................................ 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Honolulu Russian .................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ..................... 0.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00Kapaa ................................................... 417.61 ............................0.00 .............. 1,065.00 .....................0.00 .................200.00Miscellaneous ......................................... 0.00 ............................0.00 ................. 270.00 .....................0.00 .....................0.00

TOTAL .........................................548,402.81 .............. 212,596.27 ...........95,448.70 ..........12,385.70 ...........10,453.03

KEY: CP—Cooperative Program IMB—International Mission Board NAMB—North American Mission Board HPBC—Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention WH—World Hunger

5 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

volunteers on Oahu, Maui, Big Island, Kauai and Guam this year.

Pray when disaster strikes, Hawaii Pacific Baptist volunteers will be ready to provide help wherever and whenever needed. Pray more volunteers will be trained in mass-feeding, mud-outs, chainsaw and childcare.

Day 4Tamuning Baptist Church in Guam has an

outreach movie ministry project each month. The church received funds for movie equipment and publicity to distribute to homes in the neighborhood.

Pastor Ed Perez says, “We showed ‘God’s Not Dead’ at the church and had about 150 people attend! I also have been able to use the equipment in different locations even at the youth prison.”

Pray more volunteers would help Tamuning Baptist Church’s movie ministry. Pray for the people who have learned about Christ through this ministry.

Day 5The Sue Nishikawa Offering provides

scholarships through the allocation for state-sponsored camps and retreats. The Children’s Creative Arts Camp celebrated its 11th year with a musical called “Under God’s Sea in 3-D.” This year, a Youth Creative Arts Camp was held on Oahu with an emphasis on teaching youth to creatively participate in church worship.

Scholarships were also provided for the WMU Annual meeting, Children’s Mission Adventure Camp, The Gathering, Centrifuge, and Missions Leadership Conference

Pray for churches willing to conduct camps for children and youth. Many decisions to follow Christ come out of attending these camps. Pray local churches will disciple and mentor those who choose to follow Christ.

Day 6The Sue Nishikawa Offering’s camp

scholarship allocation helped 18 Hilo students attend The Gathering at Puu Kahea Conference Center in February. There college-age students immerse themselves in God’s Word for three days.

Volunteer BCM Hilo director Anita Bice said some students decided on their own to have scheduled prayer times and to try and initiate conversations about Christ on Hilo campus.

Pray for Hilo’s BCM and its students. Pray for Anita Bice as she serves as Hilo BCM’s volunteer director. Pray for churches that support the ministry and for volunteers trying to reach University of Hawaii Hilo students.

Day 7Waikiki Baptist Church has many “outside-

the-box” ministries. Each Thursday from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. Pastor Andrew Large and those willing to brave the Waikiki nightlife, set up a table with a sign that reads, “Need Prayer?” They have ministered to people of all walks of life from drunks to homeless to late night workers, and they have prayed with many of them.

Pray for the Waikiki street outreach ministry. Pray for Pastor Andrew and volunteers as they minister. Pray more churches will consider “outside-the-box” ministries.

Day 8The Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention has a

Block Party Trailer with everything churches need to have a Block Party.

This year the Filipino International Baptist Church received funds from the Sue Nishikawa Offering to hold an evangelistic event at the church in Ewa Beach. Several churches brought volunteers to help with the Block Party. The trailer was used at several churches on Oahu too.

Pray churches will use the trailer for evangelistic outreach. Pray churches will find ways to invite their neighbors to church not just on Sundays but also for other events.

Week of PrayerContinued from page 1

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6

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6 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

By Bob Smietana

Nashville, Tenn.—Charles Spurgeon, the 19th-century legendary London pastor, was a publishing and preaching juggernaut.

He preached to more than 10 million people and baptized more than 14,000 believers. More than 50 million copies of his sermons were sold. Spurgeon’s fans nicknamed him “the Prince of Preachers.”

More than 3,500 Spurgeon sermons were eventually published, but none date from his early ministry, a leading Spurgeon scholar, Christian George, noted.

That will change next year.

B&H Publishing will release “The Lost Sermons of Charles Spurgeon,” a multi-volume edition of early Spurgeon sermons and sermon outlines.

“I have been involved in Christian publishing for over 20 years,” said Jim Baird, publisher of B&H Academic. “A project like this comes to you once in your lifetime, if you are fortunate.”

The collection of 400-plus sermons and outlines dates from Spurgeon’s days as a young pastor outside of Cambridge. The son of a minister, Spurgeon came to faith in 1850 during a service at a Primitive Methodist church. That encounter with God set him on a path to become one of Christendom’s most prolific and most quoted preachers.

“It is sometimes overlooked that Charles Spurgeon published more words in the English language than any other Christian in history,” said George, curator of the Spurgeon library at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Mo.

Spurgeon began preaching not long after his conversion. At 17, he became

FoundSpurgeon

Famous preacher’s lost sermons slated for releasepastor of a Baptist church in Waterbeach, not far from Cambridge. He kept his sermon outlines, which he called “skeletons,” along with some full-text sermons in a series of handwritten journals.

Journals reveal strugglesThe first of the 13 newly discovered

journals is dated October 1849, a few months before Spurgeon’s conversion. The last is dated from 1854, just before he became pastor of London’s New Park Street Chapel. The journals reveal how Spurgeon developed his theology, as well as his skill in preaching.

“They give us a rare and remarkable glimpse into Spurgeon’s pre-London life and ministry,” George said.

Some of the journals show Spurgeon’s spiritual struggles. Many of the sermons end with simple and sometimes blunt prayers.

“Lord, revive my stupid soul,” Spurgeon wrote after finishing one sermon. Another ended with, “Oh my God. Do help. For Jesus’ sake.”

After becoming a pastor in London, Spurgeon had planned to publish those early sermons. But that never came to pass. They were stored in the archives of Spurgeon’s College in London and forgotten.

George discovered the journals three years ago while doing research at the college. A librarian there brought him a stack of Spurgeon’s journals to look through.

“Only when I began flipping through their pages did I realize the significance,” George said. “These were the lost sermons Spurgeon tried so long ago to publish.”

The multi-volume set from B&H

Academic will include sermons from those journals along with critical commentary from George in what will be the first critical edition of Spurgeon’s work ever published.

Most other works about Spurgeon either reprint his sermons without analysis, or only focus on his “celebrity-like reputation, uncanny oratorical abilities and worldwide influence,” George said. That leaves many people with a one-dimensional view of the great preacher.

“But there is a growing interest in Spurgeon scholarship in recovering his humanity—his inconsistencies, his weaknesses, his doubts, struggles and sufferings,” George said. “In this way, we discover a Spurgeon who does not arrive on the theological landscape of 19th-century Britain in perfect, polished form but, instead, a preacher in progress whose exegesis, rhetorical tendencies and homiletic method evolve over the first five years of his preaching ministry.”

Midwestern Seminary President Jason

Allen said he is “proud to support Dr. George and to partner with B&H and LifeWay Christian Resources in this historic undertaking. The Christian tradition as a whole will prove the true beneficiary of this monumental work.”

LifeWay President Thom Rainer said he is excited to make the sermons available to pastors and scholars alike.

“This project is the most recent example of the tremendous impact B&H is having on evangelical publishing,” Rainer said. “As we constantly endeavor to faithfully serve the church, we believe the Lord will bless our efforts.”

George said he hopes the new edition of early Spurgeon sermons will lead to more scholarly interest in the great preacher. Pastors, he said, also will benefit.

“He models for us an unwavering commitment to Christ-centered preaching, fervent prayer and discipleship, local and world evangelism, and incarnational urban ministries,” George said. (BP)

Journals of Charles Spurgeon’s early sermons will be featured in a multi-volume series by scholar Christian George (left), published by B&H Academic, which is led by Jim Baird (right).

“Only when I began flipping through their pages did I realize the significance. These were the lost sermons Spurgeon tried so long ago to publish.”

Christian George, curator of the

Spurgeon library at Midwestern Baptist

Theological Seminary

7 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

]By Tom Strode

San Antonio—Southern Baptist leaders recognized something when they toured federal government facilities for children who have fled to the United States without their parents: hope.

Southern Baptist Convention President Ronnie Floyd and Russell Moore, the SBC’s lead ethicist, joined others in tours July 22 of two centers established to address the crisis of unaccompanied minors crossing the country’s southern border.

The centers in McAllen and San Antonio, Texas, are part of the response to a wave that includes more than 57,000 underage children who have been apprehended at the border with Mexico in the last nine months. Most of the children—sometimes accompanied by a young parent or parents—have fled Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, which are plagued not only by poverty but by violence among gangs involved in drug trafficking.

“I was struck as we were walking through the facility with two things: a sense of fear and a sense of hope,” said Moore, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, “a sense of fear when I asked the kids why they made the trek up to the United States; and a sense of hope. I saw many crosses and Bibles. Many people are desperately hoping for an end to the violence where they come from.”

“These are real people who are looking for hope, Floyd said, “and we have the greatest hope that anyone can give them. ... We need to provide them that hope—hope that we love them, hope

Southern Baptist leaders witness hope, ‘put human face’ on U.S. border crisis

that we care for them, hope, most of all, in the gospel of Jesus Christ that will change their life and give them hope forever, whether they remain in the United States or they go back to their homeland.

“People will go a long way and tackle obstacles when they feel that hope is possible. They are hoping for a better life,” Floyd said.

Floyd and Moore were among a contingent of pastors and other religious leaders who walked through a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention center in McAllen and a Department of Health and Human Services shelter in San Antonio.

Among those participating in the tours hosted by the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention were Jim Richards, SBTC’s executive director, and Daniel Flores, the Roman Catholic bishop of Brownsville, Texas.

About 65 children are in the detention center in McAllen, a major border crossing point near Texas’ southern tip. But that number is expected to swell. The center, opened only a few days earlier to alleviate overcrowding in other McAllen centers, can house 1,000 children.

The Lackland Air Force Base shelter in San Antonio has more than 1,100 children. The McAllen center had children from age 5 to 17, while the San Antonio shelter is for 12- to 17-year-olds.

Floyd and Moore had expressed concern for the children before going to Texas but they said touring the facilities personalized the issue for them.

“It makes it really real to me,” Floyd told Baptist Press. “It’s no longer about something … that I hear on the news or

stories that I read. But now I’ve seen real people who have real moms and dads, who have real grandparents, who have taken long treks across the country ... all looking for a better life, all looking for hope, all looking for safety.”

Moore said the visit “put a human face on a moral crisis for me. These children are not issues to be resolved but persons bearing dignity and needing care. The issues involved in this crisis are complex, but our first response should be one of compassion and justice, not fear or disgust.”

After touring the San Antonio shelter, Richards said, “We as a state convention are compassionate to these children. It is our obligation under the gospel to minister to them and help them, regardless of the circumstances in which they came or their future. Our main concern is to care for the children.”

Baptists in Texas with both the SBTC and the Baptist General Convention of Texas have been ministering as they are able, but the federal government has strictly limited access to unaccompanied children. HHS is responsible for custody

of such children once they are moved from detention centers. It permits only federal authorities and contractors to be in contact with the minors, according to the North American Mission Board.

For now, Baptist churches are primarily working to help children and adults crossing the border together by serving them at a processing center; providing food, clothing and showers; and doing laundry. A Hispanic pastor affiliated with the BGCT is conducting worship services for unaccompanied children in one shelter.

Moore said he is “deeply encouraged by the response of Christians to this crisis. We need to be praying for a just resolution, and quickly.”

Floyd expressed gratitude “for the churches that have helped along the way, and I want to encourage all of our Southern Baptist churches to see what’s happening and think about what you can do to help as a church.

“Do what Jesus would do: He would care for the children and show them compassion while we have them in our nation.” (BP)

By Myriah Snyder

McAllen, Texas—While many Americans watch the border crisis on the nightly news, leaders at Calvary Baptist Church in McAllen, Texas, recognize it as a mission field in their own backyard.

Chad Mason, Calvary’s pastor for mobilization and global impact, recalled a meeting where church leaders agreed, “We have to do something. We have to be involved in this. These people are here, and it’s incumbent on us to be the hands and feet of Christ with our actions.

“I just love this church’s heart,” Mason said of Calvary’s response to the crisis. “Even the people who had practical concerns, their heart was totally right. There was not one time that someone said we shouldn’t do it based on political agenda. I was very proud to be a part of this church where their faith is influencing their stance.”

In facing what he described as a “massive humanitarian need right here in our community,” Mason said church leaders have had conversations with White House staff members and Border Patrol at many levels trying to get access to unaccompanied minors.

“As of the moment, we have no access to them,” he said. “That’s probably the

Church near heart of U.S. border crisis ‘stretched’ to help child refugees

Calvary Baptist Church coordinates with Catholic Charities at a child refugee relief center in McAllen, Texas, to provide food, showers and laundry service. (Photo courtesy of Calvary Baptist Church)

biggest piece of information that is misunderstood nationwide. We keep being told that any day that might change, and we have hope that we will have access to the minors.”

Thus, Calvary Baptist is focusing on other relief work and ministry amid the chaos at the border, despite limited access to the unaccompanied refugees.

The church has also discussed responding to the needs of Border Patrol personnel, Mason noted. In August, he

said the church hopes to host between 200 and 300 Border Patrol agents in an event partnering several organizations to say “thank you” and to show the church’s concern for the agents’ work.

Through cooperation with various organizations, Calvary leaders have had opportunities to communicate to government officials what workers and refugees are experiencing at the border.

“We had three senators and seven congressmen who were in town, and

they wanted to hear from the volunteer faith community,” he recalled. “I was blessed to go and sit in this meeting and speak and share as an equal voice. ... We got to ask for their help.”

With the influx of refugees, the need for showers, laundry services and other basic needs was so high that Catholic Charities was asked by the government to open a relief center. Days later, Calvary began assisting, along with the Salvation Army and other organizations. Calvary’s volunteers focus on laundry service by using mobile laundry units provided by Texas Baptist Men.

Calvary also has launched a website, SouthTexasRefugees.org, to facilitate interested in helping.

“We feel that we are being stretched, to become more like Christ,” Mason said. “God is using this opportunity tremendously.

“All of the facilities that are hosting these unaccompanied minors nationwide are looking for foster homes to place children whose families aren’t in the United States,” Mason noted.

If not placed in a foster home, the refugee children face being housed in a government facility, for years in many cases, while awaiting their hearings.

Foster care, Mason said, is “where transformation can happen. ... I think that’s a massive opportunity that needs to be embraced nationwide.” (BP)

8 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

By Joe Conway

Alpharetta, Ga.—As he developed his children’s sermon, Mark Standridge planned to hold back one card from his young audience. The pastor of Placer Heights Baptist Church in Placerville, Calif., opened his brief message with a question for the children.

“Have any of you ever collected baseball cards?” Standridge asked. “When I was a boy, I had a lot of baseball cards. Those players were my heroes. But today I want to share some cards with you that have real heroes on them.”

Standridge then handed North American Mission Board Military Chaplaincy Prayer Cards to the group. He gave one chaplain prayer card to every child except 7-year-old Timothy Collins. The young boy was disappointed to be overlooked. Then Standridge played his last card.

“Does anybody recognize this chaplain?” Standridge asked as he held up the card. Timothy screamed, “That’s my dad!” Standridge said, “Timothy, this card is for you.”

The card, of course, was that of Chaplain Major James Collins, serving with the Army National Guard in Kuwait. Timothy was able to recall the story to his dad via Skype that evening.

“Timothy was in tears at church, and so was I when he told me this story,” Collins said. “Our church has ordered more cards. Everyone is praying for their chaplain, especially the children.”

The chaplain prayer cards are one of the resources produced by the NAMB to help churches support their chaplains. It sent a 50-card set to every Southern Baptist church back in May.

“There has been an absolutely positive response from both chaplains who have received support and from Southern Baptists who have expressed gratitude for gaining a greater appreciation for their chaplains and the roles they fulfill, especially their evangelistic ministries,” said Doug Carver, NAMB’s executive director for chaplaincy and a retired U.S. Army major general. “The prayer cards

certainly met the intent of our goal to create a vehicle for communication between chaplains and churches and to keep chaplains connected with churches.”

Carver and his team receive continual confirmation of that communication and support from chaplains.

“I am humbled by the tremendous and overwhelming response I have received via emails from people all over the country in response to the chaplain cards,” Lt. Col. Oliver Bergeron reported. “It has truly been a treasure to know that I have people who don’t know me praying for me.”

Bergeron serves as a chaplain with the Kansas Air National Guard at McConnell Air Force Base. He said the prayer support has encouraged him.

“I am grateful and blessed because of Southern Baptists’ prayers, and I feel their prayers,” Bergeron said. “Through those prayers, God is using me in wonderful ways to reach people and to minister to their needs. Two Sundays ago, (my pastor) approached me and said, ‘Guess what I got from NAMB and guess whose picture was on top?’ He was about as excited as I was embarrassed. But the response and personalized emails from all over have meant a lot and have made me stronger through the Spirit in ministering to the troops.”

Collins shares Bergeron’s excitement. But he has a prayer team he knows well.

“When I talk to my kids on Skype, they tell me about praying for their chaplain,” said Collins, who is scheduled to return home in December. “My children are trading the cards with other kids from the church to pray for more chaplains.

“The most difficult thing about being deployed is being away from my wife and my children,” Collins said. “But it is such a blessing to know that they are praying for me and other chaplains because of the prayer cards.”

Get additional prayer cards by calling (866) 407-6262 or visiting www.NAMBStore.com. Digital versions of the cards are available at www.NAMB.net/Honoring-Military-Chaplains. (NAMB)

PRAYER CARDSConnecting churches &

chaplains

Ira Greenstein, a cantor at Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore, gives a pharmaceutical manual from 1764 to Jim Wideman, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England. Greenstein found the manual at a used bookstore and returned it to Greenville Baptist Church in Rochdale, Mass., which was founded by the book’s original owner, Thomas Green. (Photo by Morris Abernathy)

By Erin Roach

Baltimore—At a celebration marking its 275th anniversary, Greenville Baptist Church in Rochdale, Mass.,

received a rare gift: a book from 1764 containing a handwritten note from the church’s founding pastor.

The book, a pharmaceutical manual, was uncovered in 1968 when Ira Greenstein was serving as a summer camp counselor and, in his free time, visited a used bookstore in Springfield, Mass.

He picked up the manual from a box of old books and bought it.

Greenstein, now a cantor at Beth Am Synagogue in Baltimore, said he knew someone must have a connection to the book’s original owner.

Written in the front of the book was a note from Thomas Green, presumably a physician, to Thomas Wallis, possibly his apprentice.

Greenstein searched years for someone connected to Green or Wallis, but was unsuccessful until this year when a medical archivist at Johns Hopkins University discovered Green also was a minister who founded Greenville Baptist Society.

“It was founded as the Greenville Baptist Society,” said Jim Wideman, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England.

It was clear from the inscription, Greenstein said, that Green “had a very strong attachment to some church and was passing that on as a responsibility to his apprentice, that God would hold him to account for the work he did in medicine, which seemed consistent with colonial America.”

Green was a pioneer in central Massachusetts serving as a legislator, physician and a pastor, said Jim Wideman, executive director of the Baptist Convention of New England.

Once Johns Hopkins uncovered the connection, Greenstein contacted Wideman to ask if the congregation would like the book. It would be the first original document from the founder.

Greenstein and Wideman met to exchange the book June 10 in Baltimore where Greenstein lives and Wideman was attending the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

The timing, the two agreed, was providential because Greenville Baptist Church, the congregation that began as the society founded by Green, had its 275th anniversary in June.

The chuch was affiliated with American Baptist Churches USA for much of its history but joined the Southern Baptist Convention in 2011.

“The church has always stood strong on the word of God and has always been biblically conservative,” Wideman said. “In the late ‘80s and ‘90s especially, as the convention that they were a part of began to change, they felt more and more isolated.”

Greenville Baptist also had been for decades an integral part of a local ministerial association, but about 10 years ago, the church “took a stand against the installation of a homosexual clergy person in one of the local churches and felt like they had to leave the ecumenical clergy association, which isolated them even more,” Wideman said.

“As they continued to stay strong on Scripture, it just distanced them further and further from ABC.”

When the church’s pastor retired a few years ago, Greenville Baptist considered five different Baptist groups and chose to affiliate with the SBC “mainly for our biblical, conservative stand and the importance that we placed on Scripture,” Wideman said.

Having led the church through an intentional interim pastorate for more than two years, Wideman stepped aside June 22 as the church installed a new pastor, Stephen Derrick, at it 275th anniversary celebration.

Green’s pharmaceutical book was presented to the church during a dinner following the celebration, and former pastors and longtime members shared memories of God’s faithfulness through the years. (BP)

At 275th anniversary, Baptist church receives founder’s book

9 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

Americans expressed warmer views toward evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews than toward Muslims and atheists in a Pew study released in July.

The Pew Research Center gauged Americans’ views of various religious groups and belief sets by surveying 3,217 adults May 30–June 30 in the study “How Americans Feel About Religious Groups.”

Among Jewish respondents, Pew found a relatively negative view of evangelicals in particular. On average, Jewish people rated their warmth toward evangelical Christians at 34 on a “feeling thermometer” of 0 to 100.

Conversely, white evangelicals rated their warmth toward Jews positively, averaging 69, as did black Protestants at

59 on average.Generally, those surveyed rated

evangelical Christians, Jews and Catholics warmly, with ratings averaging about 60; but rated atheists and Muslims more coldly, averaging around 40.

Among all surveyed, these are each group’s average ratings: evangelical Christians, 61; Jews, 63; Catholics, 62; Buddhists, 53; Hindus, 50; Mormons, 48; Atheists, 41, and Muslims, 40.

Evangelicals alone indicated an average rating of 63 toward Catholics, 39 toward Buddhists, 38 toward Hindus, 30 toward Muslims and 25 toward Atheists.

“Religious groups are rated more positively by their own members than by people from other religious backgrounds,” Pew reported. “Evangelical Christians receive an

average rating of 79 from people who describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, compared with an average rating of 52 from non-evangelicals,” Pew reported.

“The fact that Catholics and evangelical Christians are large groups and view their fellow adherents warmly helps explain why the two groups are among the most favorably viewed groups in the population,” according to the Pew report. “The other groups included in the survey constitute much smaller shares of the overall population. As a result, their ratings are very similar whether they are based on the entire population or only on people who do not belong to the group.”

Close to half of those surveyed, 44 percent, indicated a feelings

thermometer rating higher than 67 toward evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews, Pew noted.

Americans 65 and older reported higher thermometer rankings for evangelical Christians, Catholics and Jews, Pew found, while non-Christian groups received their most favorable ratings from Americans under age 30. Still, 18- to 29-year-olds recorded a score of 58 toward evangelicals, compared to a score of 67 for evangelicals among those age 65 and over.

“These patterns may partly reflect that there are more Christians among older Americans than among younger people,” Pew reported. “In Pew Research surveys conducted this year, fully 85 percent of Americans ages 65 and older describe themselves as Christians, compared with just 59 percent among adults under 30 (32 percent of whom identify as religious ‘nones’).” (BP)

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from Washington, June Rezentes (left) of New Hope Baptist Church in Cresswell talks with fellow volunteers Cliff and Sherry Larson of Eastmont Baptist Church in East Wenatchee as they clean up from dinner preparation for survivors of the largest wildfire in Washington state history. (Photo by Tobin Perry/NAMB)

SBC DR imparts hope in WashingtonBy Tobin Perry

Chelan, Wash.—An older gentleman labored on two crutches into an American Red Cross feeding station servicing fire survivors at a senior center in Washington state. He was partially paralyzed, but wasn’t looking for food for himself. He wanted to take meals prepared by Southern Baptist disaster relief volunteers to others in the community after wildfires in eastern Washington destroyed more than 150 homes and caused the evacuation of another 1,200 residents.

“He came in on crutches, but he was there to help others,” said Gerry Roe, a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Springfield, Ore., who was serving on the team that prepared the meals.

Roe and 20-plus Northwest Baptist Convention volunteers have been providing meals in Twisp, Wash.—about 1,200 a day—since July 18.

More than 1,500 firefighters and support staff are now battling the blaze, called the Carlton Complex Fire, which started July 14 as four separate fires. Now the largest fire in Washington history, it has burned more than 400 square miles, according to news reports.

“Some of the people may not have had their homes destroyed, but they had their power and water go out,” Roe pointed out.

Southern Baptist volunteers also prepared meals at a high school in Chelan, Wash. SBDR chaplains provided a listening ear for survivors and shared the hope of the gospel when given the opportunity.

“They’re scared,” said James Vines, an SBDR chaplain from Richland (Wash.) Baptist Church. “They’re uncertain about what’s going to happen and anxious to get to their homes because not only have their homes been destroyed, but all the power and everything in the area is gone. ... But they just want someone to talk to, so we just listen to them.”

Gary Floyd, Northwest Baptist Convention’s disaster relief director, expects increased ministry opportunities in the days ahead as Southern Baptists help with clean-up work in the impacted area. At that point, he said, opportunities for help from other state conventions may arise.

Prayer and resources neededFloyd said the most important

things Southern Baptists can do currently is pray and contribute resources to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

“I hope people will see that there is a God who loves them and cares about them,” Floyd said. “I hope they can see that God’s love can reach them even in the midst of crisis.” (BP)

By Ben Skaug

Mill Valley, Calif.—Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary has finalized the sale of its property near Mill Valley, Calif., setting aside funds both to purchase a new campus in Southern California and add $50 million to its endowment.

The sale agreement for Golden Gate’s Mill Valley property included a base price of $85 million, along with other terms financially advantageous to the seminary, including a favorable lease-back rate; the ability for the seminary to remain fully operational in the Mill Valley location for two years; and the retention of revenue earned through rentals and other uses of the property during the lease-back period.

President Jeff Iorg praised the seminary’s trustees for their fiscal discipline in reserving significant proceeds from the sale for the seminary’s endowment.

“We are delighted this first phase of our relocation is complete,” Iorg said. “It took us 70 years to gather an endowment of $21 million. Increasing our endowment by another $50 million in such a short time is amazing.”

The board also approved an allocation of resources for new facilities in southern California, Iorg reported.

“We are pleased with how circumstances are coming together

related to our future campus,” he said. “Now that the sale has been finalized, we can conclude our agreements for the new campus and announce those in a few weeks. God is bringing this entire process together in ways we could have never imagined.”

The seminary is finalizing plans for its new primary campus in southern California and a new regional campus in the San Francisco Bay area.

Discussing the sale agreement, Iorg said, “There’s been much conjecture about the value of the Mill Valley property over the years. In reality, because of the development restrictions on the property, its value is less than some have speculated. We have tried for years to remove these entitlement restrictions, to no avail. We have watched with increased urgency as value has continued to erode because of these restrictions. This helps explain the necessity of our decision to sell the property.”

Iorg said the seminary had received “multiple offers for the property over the past two years. All of them were for less than the offer we ultimately accepted.

“We had to build the relocation process around the needs of students,” he said. “We could not sell the land and close the campus abruptly. We had to have a sale and relocation process that preserved our institutional commitment to current students.” (BP)

Golden Gate Seminary finalizes sale of Mill Valley campus, seeks to relocate

Golden Gate Seminary President Jeff Iorg signs documents for the $85 million sale of the San Francisco-area campus. The seminary will soon begin the process of relocating its main campus to southern California. (GGBTS photo)

Survey finds Christians, Catholics, Jews perceived warmly in AmericaBy Diana Chandler

10 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

By Alan Brant

Rio de Janeiro—There were no flashbulbs or television cameras, only teammates—mostly children half his size and barefoot—who celebrated and mobbed Dane Van Ryckeghem after he assisted in a goal during the game.

The frenzy of World Cup soccer had nothing on the jubilant Brazilian neighborhood kids playing with visitors from the United States on a soggy field on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Van Ryckeghem, a student at the University of Alabama, traveled to Brazil with a team of 12 other student volunteers with the mission of sharing the love of Christ against the backdrop of the largest sporting event in the world, the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

“I really wanted to spend my summer doing more than just working at a job and then going back to school,” Van Ryckeghem said. “I wanted to do something that made a difference, and I wanted to see the world.”

After hearing about a World Cup-focused trip—endorsed by the IMB—for students during a missions conference, he knew immediately he was going to Brazil.

“I absolutely love soccer and love the idea of spending part of my summer in

Gospelis theGoal

Students share Christ’s love in Brazil amid World Cup frenzy

this setting,” he said. “This is a dream come true to be here.”

James Dubuisson, a junior at the University of North Alabama, took the first airplane ride of his life to travel to Brazil with the group. As a youth minister at First Baptist Church of Lawrenceburg, Tenn., he said a big part of his decision to come to Brazil was to serve as an example and encouragement to his youth group.

“I’ve been talking to my youth about being different and showing people (that believers) are different,” he said. “So often we go to church, but don’t act differently. I feel like this (trip) is me living that out—showing the kids, ‘This is how to live out the difference of what Christ has done in your life.’”

After Dubuisson and the rest of the team arrived in Rio de Janeiro, they spent their first days ministering in an impoverished community. They served alongside members of a Brazilian Baptist church by playing with children, helping with a medical clinic and walking through the neighborhoods sharing the gospel with the help of translators.

“We’re here for the World Cup, but more importantly we’re here to share the love of Jesus with anyone and everyone

we can,” said Lee Dymond, campus minister at Auburn University at Montgomery and leader of the volunteer team.

Jordan O’Donnell, a Virginia Tech University student volunteer, admitted he felt apprehensive at first about sharing the gospel. But that nervousness quickly diminished, he said.

“It’s challenging to share through an interpreter, but it got smoother as we went along,” O’Donnell said. “I enjoyed the whole experience. It’s interesting because sharing about Jesus in America usually gets a negative reaction. But here, walking through the community, everyone responded that they wanted to hear about Jesus—even a couple who had never even heard about Jesus before.

“I’m pumped,” O’Donnell said. “I’m ready to get out there and do it again.”

The team of students will continue to share the gospel during their stay in Rio. During some of their outreach, they are partnering with the Brazilian Baptist Home Mission Board in a soccer-themed evangelism strategy to share with fans arriving at Brazil’s national stadium for World Cup matches.

“The World Cup is where the nations come to one place,” Dymond said. “It’s

our opportunity to share the gospel and hopefully impact not just Brazil but all the nations that are coming to Brazil for the World Cup.”

For his team, Dymond said he hopes as the students share the gospel and see people accept Christ, they will be emboldened with the knowledge that “if they can do it here during the World Cup, it will encourage them to when they go back home.” (BP)

Above: Thousands of fans in the Tijuca district of Rio de Janeiro watch Brazil’s opening World Cup match against Croatia on a big screen at a massive block party. Brazilian Baptists, U.S. student volunteers and International Mission Board missionaries are seeking to make gospel connections in similar neighborhoods around the city during the tournament. (Photo by Wilson Hunter) Below left: Nick Smirniotopoulos (left), a recent graduate of Virginia Tech University, shares the gospel with soccer fans outside Rio de Janeiro’s Maracanã stadium. (Photo by Lina White) Below right: Dane Van Ryckeghem (center), a student at the University of Alabama, and some of his teammates share the gospel with Brazilians in a community on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. (Photo by Wilson Hunter/IMB)

11 HAWAII PACIFIC AUGUST 2014

By Dana Williamson

Broken Arrow, Okla.—When George Aguilar broke into and vandalized a Baptist church, the last thing he expected to find was love and forgiveness. But that November 2004 night changed the 20-year-old man’s life forever.

That year, Aguilar, a native of El Salvador who at age 10 came to live with his father in the U.S. as a legal resident, found himself without a place to live. He moved in with some young men in Tulsa who were involved in stealing items and converting them to cash.

An impressionable young man who lost his job and needed to send money to help support his mother and younger brother back in El Salvador, Aguilar said he thought the only thing he could do under his circumstances was to steal.

Aguilar and two other men robbed and vandalized 11 churches in the Broken Arrow/Tulsa, Okla., area in four months. They took cameras, computer modems, guitars, amps and other electronic equipment. They damaged approximately $250,000 worth of church property. At First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, the men caused about $25,000 in damages to the building and trashed what they didn’t take.

The church had just completed a debt-free multi-purpose building that included the worship center.

“All of us were angry that anyone would do that to a church,” Pastor Nick Garland said. “It was especially painful for us because we had worked so long to see the completed structure so soon damaged senselessly. I wanted the person(s) caught who did that and wanted them punished.”

After the thieves were apprehended, Aguilar wrote a letter of apology to each of the churches he had vandalized.

“His letter broke my heart,” Garland said. “He conveyed a genuine repentant spirit and requested that he be forgiven. I felt ashamed that I had been quick to want to condemn him without knowing anything about him. When I read his letter, God moved my heart to show me how poorly I had responded to George’s actions.”

Through the help of a police officer who was a member of the church, Aguilar was brought to Garland’s office to meet with him.

“When I walked in, he was seated at a conference table with his head in his hands,” Garland said. “He impressed me with his demeanor and decorum.”

Garland said Aguilar stated in his letter that he did not think the pastor could forgive him, that the church could forgive him or that God could forgive him for what he had done.

Garland began the conversation by asking Aguilar to look at him. Then the pastor asked the young man to forgive him for the harsh feelings he had against Aguilar without even knowing him.

“George, I forgave you when I read your letter,” Garland told him. He added, “And I know God can forgive you for He has forgiven me, not only for what I felt toward you, but a long time ago. He forgave me for what I was and gave me a new life in Christ.”

Garland shared about redemption in

Former thief finds forgiveness, new life as ordained pastor

Above: George Aguilar takes the gospel to the streets, sharing Jesus with homeless people and others in need.

Left: Nick Garland (left), pastor at First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Okla., took part in an ordination service in El Salvador for George Aguilar in May.

(Oklahoma Baptist Messenger photos)

Jesus, and Aguilar prayed and confessed his need of being forgiven. That day, Aguilar asked the Lord to come into his life and transform him.

Garland told Aguilar the only thing remaining on his list was to ask the church for forgiveness. The pastor said he could not speak for the church, but he arranged for a day release for Aguilar to attend a worship service.

“On that morning, I told the congregation that the young man who had broken into our church had been apprehended and had written a letter asking for forgiveness,” Garland said. “I read his letter, told them George and I had met, that I had forgiven him and that George had asked God to forgive him, but I did not know if the church would.”

Garland asked Aguilar to come to the platform and stand with him. Then he told the church they would have to let him know if they forgave him.

“Suddenly, it looked like a stampede of folks coming to hug his neck, weep tears of joy with him, express their love for him and to truly embrace him,” Garland said. “He got offers for lunch, money given to him to help his mother, three job offers and a host of other clear affirmations.”

Back to El SalvadorAlthough Aguilar had the forgiveness

of God, Garland and the Broken Arrow congregation, he still faced charges for his actions. Per his attorney’s counsel, Aguilar pleaded guilty to two felony second-degree burglary charges and received a deferred sentence. This meant

if he stayed out of trouble for five years and paid the court-ordered fines and restitution, the charges would be expunged. He met all the conditions, and his criminal record was cleared. He was

adopted by a family in the church, given a room in their home, a job, help to buy a car and begin a new life.

Garland said Aguilar “became the best of what we love to tell when we boast of the greatness of America.

“He became responsible, earned a living, did not look for handouts, never again was involved in any misconduct, became active in church, worked with students, went on mission trips, taught English to internationals

and gave his testimony many times.”However, despite having a clean state

record, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement does not recognize deferred sentences and expungements. Aguilar’s guilty plea meant he could have his legal residency stripped and be deported from the U.S. ICE sent a notice to Aguilar in 2009 for him to appear in immigration court for possible deportation. A prosecutor in an administrative court based in Dallas exercised discretion and terminated the case without prejudice in March, 2010. However, a new prosecutor reversed that decision a month later. On Feb. 14, 2011, an immigration judge ordered Aguilar be removed from the U.S., and he was held in custody until his deportation Dec. 9.

Although Aguilar said he was happy to be out of prison, when he arrived in El Salvador, he felt defeated.

“Being in El Salvador was hard, because everything was taken away from me, and I had to start over in a country where I did not grow up,” he said. “Even though it was my native country, I did not know how to fit into the culture.”

Things began to turn around for Aguilar when he received an unexpected email from a ministry that works in Central and South America, which had heard about Aguilar’s story and his deportation. He was invited to go on a mission with them in Honduras, and while there, he received additional training in evangelism. And he had the opportunity to tell his story on television and radio, and then he was invited to do the same type of ministry in Colombia.

“When I got back to El Salvador, I knew I wanted to be an independent missionary, a pastor, sent by my church to minister here,” Aguilar said.

His mother operated a small bar in the back of her home to make a living. When Aguilar moved in to live with her, she realized his preaching would conflict with an open bar in her home. A few months after Aguilar prayed for God to close the bar, his mother agreed to shut it down and allowed Aguilar’s church to meet in there. The church attracts 60-70 people each week for worship and helps provide food for the poor.

Although Aguilar said he has hopes of returning to the United States one day with a testimony of God’s goodness in his life, it would be hard for him to leave. “I am falling in love with the people that I am ministering to, and I have adjusted again to a new lifestyle,” he said. “One long-term goal I have is to graduate from seminary and be an ordained pastor.”

Part of that dream came true May 21 when pastor Garland and Kevin Cottrell, First Baptist of Broken Arrow’s mission pastor, traveled to a chapel in San Marcos to lead in the ordination of George Aguilar to the gospel ministry.

“What a night that was,” Garland said. “To ordain a young man who broke into our church and found Jesus 10 years ago and today is a missionary of the gospel that changed his life forever.” (BP)

“He conveyed a genuine repentant

spirit and requested that he be forgiven. I

felt ashamed that I had been quick to want to condemn him without

knowing anything about him. When I read his letter, God moved my heart to show me how poorly I had responded to George’s actions.”Nick Garland, pastor of First Baptist Church of Broken Arrow, Okla.

12 HAWAII PACIFIC JUNE 2014AROUND THESE ISLANDS

prayer calendar

August1 Cheryl Henderson - Reitred, Oahu6 Hiroko Merritt - Waimea, Kauai8 Teresa McCain - MSC, Oahu8 Stephen Ventura - Waikiki, Oahu10 Beth Camacho - Filipino Intl, Oahu10 Sun Yun Kim - Maui 1st Korean, Maui12 Clyde Kakiuchi - HPBC, Oahu12 Ellen Moss - Retired, Oahu12 Alice Newman - Retired, Oahu12 Mercy Mariano - Mililani, Oahu13 Dawn Akutagawa - HPBC, Oahu15 Ed Perez - Tamuning, Guam16 Moon Su Kang - Antioch, Oahu17 Shirley Brooks - Retired, Oahu18 Karen Tomita - Kinoole, Big Island20 Wilma Marshall - Hilo, Big Island20 Duane Richey - Waikoloa, Big Island21 Ed Poppe - Marianas, Guam21 Kathy Uchino - Agape Japanese, Oahu

15 Romeo Eder - Hilo Ilocano, Big Island15 Keiko Ishiwata - Pearl City Japanese,

Oahu18 Glen Basuel - Village Park, Oahu19 Aaron Davis - Aloha Comm., Oahu19 Sandee Falkenberg - Kihei, Maui20 Julia Lee - New Covenant, Oahu20 Brent Schlittenhart - Wayland, Oahu20 Raymond Young - Retired, Kauai21 Betsy Murray - Kaanapali, Maui22 Erin Schlittenhart - Pali View, Oahu25 Dean Stanley - Kona, Big Island24 John Vaughn - Retired, Oahu26 David Hockney - W. Oahu, Oahu26 Rhonda Stanley - Kona, Big Island27 Ae Kyun Lee - Samoa Korean, Am.

Samoa27 Dana Nakasone - Fellowship, Oahu27 Charley Westbrook - Cornerstone,

Oahu

22 Kyu Ho Chang - Emmanuel, Oahu22 Carrie Onellion - Chaplaincy, Oahu23 Linda Schwab - North Windward,

Oahu25 Trong Bui - Dong Tam, Oahu25 Annette Hockney - W. Oahu, Oahu26 Diane Hom - Nuuanu, Oahu31 Lilian Hiratani - Retired, Oahu31 Patty Martin - Hawaii Kai, Oahu

September4 Marino Ramones - Pahala, Big Island5 Doreen Kelley - Halawa Heights, Oahu5 Grant Okamura - Olivet, Oahu6 Tuisuga Simi - Fagalii, Samoa7 Sarahn DeLoach - Palisades, Oahu8 Norma Garza - Retired, Big Island8 Josie Ramones - Pahala, Big Island9 Clara Tate - Abundant Life, Oahu14 Monica Kang - HPBC, Oahu

This year FBC-Wahiawa celebrates its 80th year with some very special events.

Sunday, July 27Church Picnic at Wahiawa District Park from 3:00pmThere will be games, prizes and a potluck dinner, including awhole kalua pig.

Saturday, August 23:80th Anniversary Luncheon 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.Dot’s Restaurant

Sunday. August 24:80th Anniversary Celebration SundayGuest Speaker, Evangelist, Phil Waldrep

For More Information/Reservations, contact FBC Wahiawa Church office at 808-622-4321. Former members, please contact the church office for more information.

AUGUST1 Social Issues Sunday: Christian

Persecution1-2 Youth Creative Arts Camp,

Mililani BC9 Pinewood Derby, University

Avenue BC10 Southern Baptist Convention’s

Student Evangelism Day15 Statehood Day17-23 Southern Baptist Convention’s

Worship Music Week

SEPTEMBER1 Labor Day7-14 Sue Nishikawa Week of

Prayer5-6 Prayer/Worship Conference-

Pearl Harbor7 Single Adult Sunday13 Executive Board14 Lee Strobel Conference, King

Kam Golf Club, Maui15 Discipleship Rally19 Lee Strobel Conference, UH

Manoa

20 Lee Strobel Conference, Olivet BC

21 Anti-Gambling Sunday22-23 Mission Leadership

Conference, Puu Kahea26-27 HBEEA September Conference

OCTOBER1-31 Cooperative Program Emphasis

Month5 Soul-Winning Commitment Day12 World Hunger Sunday14 Engage 24

hpbc calendarHPBC-sponsored events in bold

Centrifuge at Puu Kahea Centrifuge Camp was held

July 14-18 at Puu Kahea Conference Center. Campers included a group from Yokohama Baptist Church, Japan. Led by a team from LifeWay, the campers learned about what it cost to follow Christ. This annual camp is sponsored by LifeWay and coordinated by Sean Lathrop, Next Gen director.

Above: Hawaii Baptist Academy celebrated its 61st commencement May 31 at the Neal Blaisdell Center Concert Hall. This year, the school had four valedictorians Bri’el Kashiwamura, Daniel Kimoto, Elise Uyehara, and Jensen Vinca, and 2 salutatorians, Kevin Cho and Alex Mai. Below: The class sings its song, “The Best Day of My Life.” Photos by Clyde Kakiuchi and Faith McFatridge