The Son & the Sand
http://www.barefootbelievers.com – March 2004
Spring Break on Alabama’s Beautiful Gulf Coast
Spring Break 2004 is right around the corner. We anticipate heavy traffic, busy restaurants, and a hectic outlet mall. We hope for bright sunshine, warm ocean water, and safe travel for our spring visitors. We pray for exciting opportunities, our faithful volunteers, and for sensitivity to the needs of our 2004 Spring Breakers. Please pray with us as Baldwin County youth ministries combine to share the message of God’s love on the coast during their Spring Break. Also pray for BCM (baptist campus ministries) teams from Wallace Community College and the University of Alabama Huntsville as they partner with us in ministry.
For our volunteers / barefoot believers, Spring Break means backyard Bible clubs, volleyball games, water bottles with Jesus’ words of life printed on them (John 4:13-14), frisbees with a gospel message, sand sculptures, face paint, hair wraps, music on the beach, and various other creative ministries. Pray for us as we partner with the abovementioned teams and others in the Spring of 2004 to reach out with the love of Christ.
Looking Back / February Happenings
- Pre-project visits with various ministry partners in preparation for Spring and Summer Ministries
- Ongoing snowbird worship services and outreach ministries
- Encouraging and Productive Resort Ministry Committee Meeting
- Continual development of snowbird ministry partnership – Met with David Payne at Camp Baldwin
- Missions Event / Annie Armstrong Emphasis – I shared a missions message at the First Baptist Church of Hokes Bluff (near my hometown of Gadsden)
- Fun in February Fellowship at Gulf State Park on February 27th, this was a great event, special thanks to Ronnie McCarson for his wonderful testimony through music
- Ongoing Campus Ministry Outreach Ministries at FSCC
Looking Ahead / March Prayer Points
- This month the summer missions’ staff (consisting of students from Alabama, Kentucky, and Louisiana) will be finalized, and they will continue preparing for their amazing summer experience in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Please pray for our 2004 summer missions staff. The team will consist of 7 college students. Currently I only have three names: Lisa Langly (AL), Tiffany Durr (KY), and Heather Hall (KY). I’ll send you the rest of the team’s names next month.
- Spring Break mission teams from Baldwin County (Fish River Bapt., FBC Silverhill & others T.B.A.), Wallace Community College, and the University of Alabama Huntsville, will be working with us in March to provide backyard Bible Clubs and other evangelistic outreach events on the beaches and campgrounds of Gulf Shores
- Shrimp Festival Committee Meeting at the Chamber of Commerce on March 11th
- Ongoing student worship and devotionals at FSCC, this month we’ll be delivering goodies to the dorms in an effort to minister to the students and invite them to our ongoing worship services (Mondays at 8pm) and Friday devotionals (1pm) at the Fort Cruse Building on campus
- Ongoing campground worship services
- We will be wrapping up our snowbird choir practices and Bible studies
- North American Mission Board Week of Prayer / Annie Armstrong Easter Offering — this means lots of great opportunities to multiply the missions message (I’ll be speaking at FBC Foley on the 7th, FBC Silverhill on the 14th, & Miflin on the 28th)
- More pre-project visits in March as we prepare for our 2004 summer
- March 17th Mission Project with FBC Foley’s youth group (in preparation for Spring Break with various volunteer teams)
A Barefoot Believers’ Challenge
For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile–the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, [13] for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
[14] How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? [15] And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:12-15
Peace in Christ,
Jeff Ford
