Happy New Year Arkansas Baptists! Your faith in action led to Kingdom wins in 2017—specifically, to changed lives across our state, nation, and world.

 

To begin, Arkansas Baptist churches’ giving to missions through the Cooperative Program (CP) giving totaled $20.7 million. In addition to Arkansas missions work, CP sends church planters to the major metropolitan areas around the United States to plant churches. CP also sends missionaries internationally to reach the lost across the planet. As a result of your giving, Arkansas Baptists sent out more money from our state than ever before! 

 

Part of our missions impact involved our cooperation together with our Arkansas Agencies & Institutions. We are grateful for the partnership of: the Arkansas Baptist Foundation, Arkansas Baptist Children’s Homes, Arkansas Baptist News, Camp Siloam, and Ouachita Baptist and Williams Baptist universities, in impacting lostness.  

 

But taking the Gospel to every nation does not mean we forget about our Arkansas neighbors; almost half of the people in Arkansas do not claim any religious affiliation. For this reason, we are grateful for your additional investment in Arkansas missions through the Dixie Jackson State Mission’s Offering. In 2017, you gave $1.645 million to reach Arkansans—$45,000 over our state goal. This funds missions efforts like church planting, community missions, Disaster Relief, and the exploding evangelistic work in the Delta region.

 

Thank you for your heart for Disaster Relief. Last year (2017) was a big year, with volunteers responding to fires in Texas and Oklahoma, flooding in Northeast Arkansas, and three major hurricanes. In 2017, the ministry of Disaster Relief saw over 60 people saved. We believe this is because God blessed what you gave…

• Your Dixie Jackson State Missions Offering dollars made sure Disaster Relief teams were ready to deploy.
• Your donations to Disaster Relief also supported the ongoing costs of deployment.
• Your willingness to volunteer resulted in 1,500 newly trained Disaster Relief volunteers who took the message of “Help, Healing, and Hope” to those affected by disaster.

For churches in the Arkansas Delta, 2017 was also a big year; Delta churches saw a record number of baptisms and salvations. This was a direct result of Arkansas Baptist churches across the state coming together to empower Delta pastors, and to support church planting and community missions…

• Block parties reaped an incredible harvest: 218 people who attended block parties in the Delta accepted Christ.
• Medical and dental clinics we are also a key evangelistic outreach tool in the Delta. In dental clinics specifically, Arkansas Baptist volunteer teams worked with 273 patients and witnessed over 40 salvations.

Thank you, Arkansas Baptists, for who you are and what you do. If you want to know more about your impact in these areas, you can find more stories and resources on absc.org, social media (@arkansasbaptists), and through our monthly email newsletter.

 

 

VIEW OUR “2017 KINGDOM WINS” ALBUM