Center Street Baptist Church is pleased to welcome Pastor Don Michaelsen as their Senior Pastor. Pastor Michaelsen has served as Interim Pastor at CSBC since late summerof 2017. On June 10 th of this year, following a favorable unanimous vote by the congregation, he accepted the call to begin his ministry as Senior Pastor. He is a graduate of Faith Baptist Bible College, Ankeny, and brings with him many years of
pastoral ministry experience. He and his wife, Jeanie, have been joyfully received by the church family. The Michaelsens are the parents of four adult children, three of whom are married. The Michaelsens have also been blessed with two grandchildren.
On Sunday, July 29 th , 10:30 AM, Center Street Baptist will hold an Installation Service for Pastor Michaelsen. Tim Capon, State Representative for ourIowa Association of Regular Baptist Churches, will be giving a charge to the church. The charge to Pastor Michaelsen will be given by his long-time friend and former Associate Pastor, Jeremy Arends. The public is invited to attend this event and welcome the Michaelsens to Center Street Baptist and the Marshalltown community.
The communities of Bondurant, Marshalltown, and Pella were among those rocked by tornadoes that ripped through the area Thursday afternoon. We have received reports from two church families that we know were in the vicinity of the storm and are thankful that no fatalities have been reported, the church buildings represented sustained no damage, and that the church members are banding together to serve one another and their community in the aftermath. You can read the full reports received from Center Street Baptist Church in Marshalltown and Berean Baptist in Pella as you seek to pray for and support them. If you know of other church families impacted, please email us at admin@iarbc.org.
Clocktower ripped off Marshalltown Courthouse
Center Street Baptist, Marshalltown Thank you for checking on us! We have several families in the church who have major damage to their homes, garages and property. Huge trees are down, and blocking streets and buildings, so the extent of the damage is not known yet. We’ve had disaster relief groups contact the church, offering to come to town to help. But the city is asking that no one from outside try to come yet, because it is too difficult to try to assess what is actually needed. Power is off in most of the area hit by the tornado, which is an extensive area. There are gas leaks, which they are trying to identify and get fixed. Many issues! People are helping people, but it is slow because of the extent of damage, and streets are blocked by trees and debris, making travel through town slow and impossible in some places.
We and the church are on the South end of town, which had no damage at all. So, we are trying to help those not as fortunate. No one from our church was injured, and there were miraculously no fatalities in the city. Praise the Lord. Prayers for strength and encouragement would be appreciated for all, especially those who have suffered damage and/or are without power. It will be a long, difficult recovery process!
Linda Bailey, Administrative Assistant
Sky above Pella before the tornado hit Vermeer
Berean Baptist Church, Pella Thank you to all who have expressed concern following the tornado that touched down yesterday in Pella. The majority of the damage occurred at the Vermeer manufacturing campus about a mile and a half from our church facility. Our pastor acted as one of many chaplains at the local hospital following the devastation and was able to report there were remarkably no deaths and only seven with injuries serious enough to be brought in. All of our church family and their homes are safe. However, many of us, as well as friends, neighbors and family hold positions at Vermeer, closed last night and today for building safety and damage assessment. We are convinced Vermeer will rebuild but no one knows what that process will look like. Please be in prayer with us as our community waits and pulls together in active support of each other as well as Vermeer Corporation looking toward the future. All is in the hands of our omnipotent, loving God. Amen. Joyfully serving the Lord, Pastor Bruce
A few weeks ago, the Annual Conference of the GARBC was held in Fishers, Indiana with the theme, Love That Church. If you were not able to attend the conference, the conference website has a helpful post with links to articles, pictures, sermon recordings, and more that provide a detailed look into how God worked during this year’s meeting.
Pastor David Strope (Ankeny Baptist Church, GARBC Council of 18 Chairman) leads a prayer of dedication for Mike & Christina Hess during the GARBC Conference.
One of the most significant and anticipated events of the conference was the vote to approve Pastor Mike Hess (Calvary Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant) as the new National Representative for the GARBC during the business meeting of the conference. After receiving “110% support” from retiring National Rep. John Greening, the messengers voted 93.5% in favor of approving Pastor Hess for the position! Praise the Lord for His direction and providence in leading Pastor Hess & his wife, Christina, to serve in this way. Also, let’s be in prayer for Calvary Baptist as they seek God’s will for their new pastor.
In addition to the selection of a new national representative, the messengers approved several resolutions and voted for new Council of 18 members. The conference also included a time of expressing gratitude to John & Daria Greening for their years of service to the GARBC. The 2019 Annual Conference will be held in Des Moines on June 25-28 at the Airport Holiday Inn Conference Center with the theme, “Essence of Worship.”
State Rep Tim Capon receives a check for $10,000 from Terry Townsend of American Church Group as a benefit of the Brotherhood Mutual Ministry Partner Program.
Early in 2018, IARBC State Rep. Tim Capon was contacted by Terry Townsend of American Church Group Insurance about an exciting opportunity to enter into a ministry partnership program with Brotherhood Mutual Insurance, the company through which the IARBC office and many of our churches are insured. As a result of this partnership, the IARBC was presented a check for $10,000 at the end of June! We are incredibly grateful for God’s provision of this gift and wish to express our thanks to Terry and his team for their service to our fellowship!
This partnership opportunity was originally presented at the IARBC Annual Conference this past spring with the following announcement in the program booklet:
The IARBC is now a Ministry Partner with Brotherhood Mutual. As a part of their Ministry Partner Program we can earn benefits in the form of funds to be used for the ministries of the IARBC. There are two ways we can earn benefits: 1) Safe Ministry Rewards can be earned based on the number of ministries in the IARBC that use Brotherhood Mutual and the average loss ratio of those ministries; and 2) Ministry Partner Payments as a guaranteed annual amount if the number of ministries in our fellowship exceeds a certain number. Our responsibility is to encourage our churches to consider Brotherhood Mutual as their insurance provider. Currently about 70% of our IARBC churches insure with Brotherhood Mutual. There is no requirement that a certain number of churches insure with Brotherhood Mutual, just that we encourage our churches to consider using them for their church insurance. Brotherhood Mutual, as insurance professionals, can also offer suggestions to help keep our churches and our people safe. It has been a delight to work with Terry Townsend (a former IARBC pastor) through this process.
Praise the LORD for His provision through this program! You can learn more about Brotherhood Mutual and the services they have available for churches by clicking the banner below.
Immanuel Baptist Church in Newton, IA, would like to extend a Special Invitation to share in a service of commitment for the John Groeneveld family as they send them out to missionary service. Following the pattern set in Acts 13, having recognized the hand of God upon this family for Medical Missions in Togo, Africa. Immanuel has commissioned them to Missionary Service and now want to fulfill the remainder of that Acts 13:2-3 example by acknowledging their commitment to them and to God’s work in a special sendoff service.
Please consider joining them for this special time.
When: Sunday, July 22 at 2:30 PM Where: Immanuel Baptist Church, Newton, Iowa, 1300 N. 4th Ave. E. (641-792-4470)
A free-will love offering will be taken in their behalf.
Refreshments and fellowship to follow.
You can download an invitation to the service (pictured below) here.
It was the delight of the church family of North Court Baptist Church, Ottumwa, to host a “Retired Pastors Appreciation’ Sunday” recently. They sent us this report of the event:
We are privileged, at North Court, to have four retired pastors & their wives as members of our church family. These faithful men represent over 133 years of pastoring, preaching, ministry. We are grateful for the ministries of encouragement & prayer which each of them continue for our church family. We are thankful to our Father for giving us the fellowship of:
Pastor Ron & Beverly Abbas Pastor Stephen & Laurie Bartle Pastor Melvin & Fern Mattox Pastor Peter & Marian Watt
The focal point of the Morning Service was the joy and necessity of service to our Lord & one another. The message centered on the qualifications for & responsibilities of pastors. The church family shared a wonderful dinner together; the afternoon service was a delight with each man sharing a specific highlight of their ministries. Gifts were presented to each couple.
We are rich in the blessings of our Lord.
Pastor Roger Hemmings North Court Baptist Church
The retired pastors and their wives who were honored at a special service by North Court Baptist Church.
