Several years ago our State Convention put together a brochure on “Why Should our Church Support our Association”. It is a great brochure that identifies nine reasons for the importance of the association. The first reason listed simply states, “Our Association is our Association”. Over 300 years ago, the first association was formed in Philadelphia, PA because a group of churches realized that they can do more together than they could by themselves. Associations started forming and were organized by representatives from churches in a defined area to enhance fellowship, resolve doctrinal and policy issues and assist churches in accomplishing their mission. The relevancy and importance of associations are becoming increasingly more important than when they first were established. We have more lost people today in our world, so the mission seems to be more urgent than ever before. My desire is for our association of churches to become stronger and healthier in the sense that we unify to encourage and support each other in the great task of reaching the lost. I know that there are many of our churches that have members that have been involved in the work of the association and they understand the importance of churches cooperating together to carry out what God has called us to do. Many of these dear Saints have been called home to Heaven and I believe they would want others to continue to support the local efforts of what we do as churches that make up the South Central Baptist Network. There is no doubt that COVID has changed a lot of things and it also seemed to help us to really focus on keeping the main thing the main thing. With that in mind, we are going to have several listening sessions for each Pastor and at least two of their key leaders to attend these meetings to help us to have a better sense of what we can do to help strengthen the association and to help members of our churches to understand the relevancy of being a part of a group of churches that work together to advance the Kingdom. I really believe that if we can get great input from these listening sessions, we can advance the mission and work of our association. The times and dates are listed in this newsletter.

I mentioned in my last article of our newsletter that summer camps will be happening in a few short months. The dates are listed in this newsletter. We will be in great need of many adults and teens to help us this year at all three of our summer camps. If you are interested in being a camp missionary, please let me know as soon as possible. My goal is to know by the first of May who will be serving this summer so we can know how many campers we will be able to accommodate for each camp. We will also be having a Golf Tournament fundraiser on April 15^th at the golf course of the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park. We will be looking for teams to play as well as churches, businesses, and individuals to help sponsor holes. We have a flier about this in this newsletter. Please begin to help us advertise this event. In the past tournaments, we were able to raise $4,000 dollars to go toward our association camp. Please help us again this year as we come together for a fun Golf Tournament that will help us continue to have the funds to have a great campground.

I love and appreciate each Pastor and congregation. I pray for you regularly and if I can help your church, please let me know. It is a joy to serve you!

Bro. Gary

Our SCBN Mission Team - Shawn McNulty and Greg Sims

They spent a week in Cucuta, Colombia conducting eyeglass clinics and sharing the Gospel. They gave out approx. 575 pair of eyeglasses. Many prayed to receive Christ!

Compass Leaders Training "Building Your Financing God's Way"

Date: Saturday, March 25th

Time: 9:00 am to 1:00 pm

Where: Crown Ministry Retreat

Slade Road, Cordele, GA (Hal Slades)

Lunch included!

For more information, call Lonnie McKinney 229-947-2878 or Sandra 229-947-8335

Please call 229-273-4127 if you would like to pre-register to play in the tournament. Also, please send a check if you are participating or sponsoring a hole to: PO Box 1274, Cordele, GA 31010.

Crisp County has a Christian Learning Center! This center represents a form of instruction known as "release time education". Upon completion of each course, the student will receive appropriate course credit according to school requirements. It is the desire of the Christian learning center that each student be given the education in character studies, historical context, and moral reasoning using the Bible and Christian doctrine as the foundation to ensure that each student is educated in a way that their uniqueness is embraced, and their success is promoted with the understanding that they are valued as a Creation of God. We currently have 43 students in the 7th and 8th grades that are enrolled in classes this semester. We have had over 100 students in the past four years to take classes. The Center classroom is located at Pinecrest Baptist Church. The current administrator and teacher is Jean Johnson. We are asking for churches and individuals to be committed to financially supporting this center. Would you consider making a monthly contribution? If so, please send checks to SCBN, PO Box 1274 Cordele, GA 31010. Your support would be greatly appreciated as many lives are being impacted by our C4 Christian Learning Center!