First Baptist
Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170, Eagle Butte, SD 57625
(605) 964-3617 (Office) / (502) 891-1704 (Pastor’s Cell)
May 24, 2017
Dear Friends,
Once more, the sun is valiantly
fighting its way through the cold, and the long winter appears to be behind
us. The cows are giving birth to their
young, the flowers are in full bloom, and a general sense of optimism is
rapidly taking hold. Summer is near.
Meanwhile, at First Baptist church,
a great many new things have been done, and a good many old traditions have
continued. God continues to bless us
through the new and the old, and telling you how He has done so is my
privilege.
Prayer is What We Need
Upon reflection this winter, I
realized that our church has no regular time to meet together in concerted,
corporate prayer. In an effort to change
this, we began using our Wednesday night meetings as a time for prayer among
the adults in the church. Since that
time, we have devoted time and energy to this endeavor, and have seen great
results. More than once I have felt the
presence of the Holy Spirit upon our gathering.
Sick people have become well, and some of our number with heavy hearts
have been encouraged. But more benefits
were to be had than these. We have also
grown closer together as a congregation, and our connection to one another as
the Body of Christ has been strengthened.
This change brings great gladness to my heart.
A New Youth Ministry on Wednesday Nights
But the prayer meetings are not the
only new things we are doing on Wednesday evenings. We have also started two new youth
ministries-one for the younger kids, and one for the older. Each Wednesday evening, they have met for a
time of special Bible study, song, and fun activities. The ministry for the young men and women is
called “Impact”, and the one for the younger kids is called “Growing in Grace”. When we recently had a youth Sunday, I was amazed to see a crowd of young people
who were developing into mature, Christian adults. I’m so proud!
I am also proud to say this: This
ministry is not mine-not my idea, and not my execution. It was the brainchild of Clint and Amy
Holley, and of Adam and Rachel Cowan-loyal servants of the Kingdom who I am
lucky to have in this church. They have
made their dream into a reality, with the assistance of other faithful
helpers-Rebecca Yu, Josh Post and probably someone else who I have clumsily
forgotten to mention. These ministries
are living evidence of the great value of the interdependent Body of Christ in
action. No church can function properly
through the effort of its pastor alone. Only
by working together, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, can we effectively
discharge the Great Commission of our Lord.
I’m just so happy to be a part of it!
Giveaway for the Needy
People call me from all across the
country, telling me that they want to
donate such-and-such a thing, and wanting to know if I can use it. I always tell them the same thing: “If you
can get it here, I can get it into the hands of someone who needs it.” In order to make this distribution, our
church hosted a giveaway this March.
Hundreds of clothes, baby items, crafts, and other items found their way
into the hands of people who needed them throughout the community. And since it is always wise to accomplish
more than one thing with a single action, we used this giveaway to promote our…
Revival!
Each year, our church collaborates
with Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary to host a revival at our
church. The school sends a speaker here
to preach a series of five sermons over the course of four days. This year, our guest speaker was Anatoliy
Orgunov, an immigrant from the Republic of Ukraine. He brought the Gospel to us consistently for
the entire course of the Revival, and the Spirit moved powerfully among the
believers. The services were punctuated
with song, prayer, and personal testimony.
May God be praised for using His Spirit to reach out into people’s
lives!
Off-the-Wall is Off the Hook!
Years ago, we established the
Off-the-Wall ministry, for the purpose of giving teenagers a safe place to
enjoy themselves in a Christian context.
We made it our goal to make Friday evenings a time of outreach and
general merriment.
Today, Off-the-Wall remains one of
our most successful ministries. Young
people often call it “Friday Night”, because it’s almost the only thing
happening on Friday evenings around here!
The children play games, eat dinner, and make memories, all while
learning that church is a good place to be.
It makes for an excellent platform to invite the young people to some of
our other meetings.
Our Women Study the Scriptures Together
My dear wife, Tiffany, has made it
her mission to maintain a women’s ministry in the church. So during the Fall, Winter and Spring, she holds Women’s Bible studies in our
house. She holds an identical study on
Thursday evenings, for the ladies who cannot come on Sunday afternoons. I cannot give firsthand accounts of how any
of these meetings have progressed, of course, since I am the wrong gender. However, those who attend seem to be very pleased. Only a few weeks ago, they finished a study
entitled “All Things New”, by Kelly Minter.
I am grateful that God has provided me with a wife who will join me in
ministry in this way!
We Say Goodbye to a Dear Friend
This last month, our church was
full of grief for the passing of our good friend, Connie Jackson. She had been a faithful member of our church
for some years, and had devoted much of her time and energy to the building up
of the body of Christ. While her health
had been failing her for some time, she always strove to make it to church,
where she spent some of her happiest time.
She was a great aid to many of our summer mission teams, and assisted
them in ministering to people in every part of this reservation. She even had a ministry of her own, in which
she partnered with another woman to write hand-written thank-you notes to
hundreds of police officers, firefighters, hospital staff and teachers. She was as sweet and humble a woman as I have
ever known, and we will all miss her dearly.
Goodbye, Connie. I’m already
looking forward to seeing you again.
Teaching the Next Generation
Here at First Baptist Church, we
place a high priority on raising the next generation. For this reason, we send vans around the
community every Sunday, picking up children and taking them to church. We feed them breakfast, then give them a
Sunday School lesson. These special
young people have grown and developed as the years went by, and learned many
truths about God. I am very proud of our
Sunday School teachers and nursery workers.
Amy Holley and Richelle Hall work with the kids in the nursery. My wife, Tiffany, teams up with Beth McLeod
to teach the younger children. The older
kids are taught by William Hall and Rachel Cowan. And Clint Holley and Adam Cowan teach the
adults. Together, through a concentrated
team effort, we turn Sunday mornings into a learning experience for everyone,
even before worship begins. God has
blessed this church with many willing volunteers, and for that I am exceedingly
grateful.
So
perhaps you are wondering how you can become a partner with us in our ministry
here in Eagle Butte? If so, then we are
happy to tell you, since we welcome assistance from the body of Christ. Here is
what we need the most:
Prayer.
It may be true
that our church is getting along very well at the moment, and that God is doing
great things here. But it is precisely
when a church is being used by God that Satan does all in his power to destroy
it. So please pray, my brothers and
sisters. Pray that our leadership will
keep their hearts pure and humble, and that we will live at peace with each
other. Pray that we will be protected
from the power of the enemy, and that God’s Holy Spirit will shine through in
our lives. Pray that the Lakotas in the
community will come to know the Lord, and that the commitment they make will
not be a superficial group of words, but a real change in their Spirits that
will alter the course of their lives for eternity.
E-mail addresses.
For those of you who have e-mail addresses, please send them to me. That way, these monthly newsletters can be
forwarded to everyone in your church who wants one-and you can get it in
color! Just send your name and e-mail
address to me at benfarrar777@hotmail.com, and I’ll make sure you receive this
newsletter as often as it comes out.
Financial Assistance.
Our church is fortunate to have members who are generous in their
giving. But some of our most generous members are, nevertheless, very
poor. We have long been blessed with assistance
from outside churches and individuals, and we try to use those gifts wisely and
well. If any one of you wishes to bless
the church with a financial gift, you may send it to:
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
P.O. Box 170
Eagle Butte, SD 57625
May
God bless you all, and draw you closer to Himself each and every day.
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Ben Farrar
Pastor
First Baptist Church of Eagle Butte
