Prayers needed

Dennis Jinks is in ICU at Brookwood Medical Center in B'ham. Granddaughter Sarah made following post few minutes ago: Sarah posted 4 minutes ago: We need prayers immediately. Not only for Grandad and our family but for all of the physicians and nurses working so hard to heal him. He is in septic shock and is now on the ventilator. Kidneys are struggling and blood is poisoned. Our prayer needs right now are that they get him stable enough to preform gallbladder surgery ASAP as that is where a huge part of the infection is. We know our God is in control. Thank you all so much, we love you all.

Happy Birthday Jesus

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to read about this year's "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. We are hosting it so please come and support this great evening of celebration.

A note concering Dennis Jinks

    So far as I know all diagnostic testing on Denny has been completed,  and the culprit discovered.  It's amniodorone pulmonary toxicity, an extremely rare condition resulting from the use of the drug amniodorone to treat atrial fibrillation.   He has been on the drug for 8 months.  Treatment will involve fairly high doses of steroids and could take some time.  His oxygen levels will need to be monitored in the home and he will need to have it available.  We are meeting with his primary physician in the morning.  Denny will spend a couple of more days in the hospital here in Birmingham, as his steroid dose is regulated.  Thankful for neighbors looking after the home front.  Denny enjoys phone calls, so feel free to call on his cell.  Thanks again, Hope

PAB 2015

The slideshow on the right is from our most recent PAB at First United Methodist Church in Ozark. What a great night to be a part of this ministry. We had a great turnout and a great program. It was great to see so many be inspired by such a great program.

PAB update

   This is to update all those interested in the status of planning for the 2015 Dale Co. Pastor's Appreciation Banquet. The location for this year's banquet will be the Ozark First United Methodist Church Family Life Center, and will be held on 8 October 2015. The program will begin at 6:30 PM. The keynote speaker will be AL NW-FL Faith Fund Coordinator, Mike Householder from Navarre, FL. along with  Mike's wife Ursula, AL NW-FL Auxiliary Gideon Card Coordinator will bring the Auxiliary report. Deborah Murkerson from Blakely, GA will be the Testimony speaker. Deborah and her husband Jerry will bring the special music. 

    "Save the date" notifications have been mailed to all the Dale Co. area pastors this week. This will be followed up by a letter with more details and encouragement in a couple of weeks. A notification will also be sent shortly to the Dale Co. camp members. 

    Please make the PAB planning, next week's AES&L, as well as the Program Training a matter of prayer. I'll be in Auburn tomorrow (22 Aug) for the 2016 State Convention Steering Committee meeting. Serving Him with you, Don McCall  

Sad loss of Mr. Ed Nelson

Arrangements for Mr Nelson, father of Gene Nelson, are visitation, Sunday afternoon 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM . Funeral services will be held Monday at 2:00 PM. All sevices will be held at Fuqua Bankston funeral home. Internment will be held at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens on 231.

Sad news

Since this was written, Jack has died and gone on to be with the Lord. There will be a memorial service at the First United Methodist Church in Ozark on Thursday, August 6. 1:00 p.m., visitation will begin and at 2:00 p.m. the memorial service will begin. A private family burial will be at a later time.






Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Jack Swinehart. His loss will affect us greatly. As our new Vice President he was always willing to give. He just did not have the time to do that work on this earth for the Dale County Camp.

Stream Live from Gideons International

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 to read more about streaming live with Gideons International

Faith Fund Rally

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 to read more about the upcoming Faith Fund Rally for our area!

From our Camp President

   Our next camp meeting will be this Thursday, May 14, 2015, at 6:30 PM in the Fellowship Hall of Ozark Baptist Church. This month we will host our own Brother Don McCall and our Sister Margie McCall, who will be in charge of the elections and installation of officers for our camp for the coming year. As our Gideon year draws to a close, we can rejoice in the powerful outreach of our camp within the Gideon ministry and begin immediately to make plans for our new Gideon year beginning on June 1. Our year begins with the International Day of Prayer, phoning prospects for our upcoming membership dinner, and Faith Fund Rally in July. All of this will be in addition to our regular Saturday prayer time and our regular monthly camp meetings. As always, the harvest is great and the workers
are few, and we must again gird ourselves to the great Bible distribution task that
our Lord has called us to do. 
   As we go about the business of setting our goals for the coming year, I pray that we will repeatedly take time to recommit ourselves to our work as Gideons and Auxiliary. Let that commitment begin with regular attendance at the Saturday prayer time.  Hopefully our monthly camp meetings will blossom throughout the year through our involvement in scripture distributions, being a prayer partner at church services and serving as a mentor to our new members as they join us following our membership dinner in July. 
  We can continue to be strong in our Gideon service through the end of this month (and this Gideon year) by submitting just one more Faith Fund donation. Our Faith Fund Chairman, Jerry Lucas, reminds us that we can always make donations to the Faith Fund at our Saturday prayer time, our monthly camp meetings, or by sending a check to our treasurer at: Dale County Gideons, P. O. Box 291, Ozark, AL, 36361. Include your name and GIdeon/Auxiliary membership number, and make the check payable to Gideons International. 
  Thank you for all you have done this past year, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary. 
Gene

Important Saturday meeting

This is just a  reminder that this Saturday, May 9, is our cabinet meeting.  This will be the last cabinet meeting for this Gideon year.  We will have several important issues to discuss as we go into the new Gideon year, head toward the prayer breakfast in June, and the AMD and Faith Fund activities in July.  Please set aside time to be at the meeting.  We will start the meeting at 7:45.  I am looking forward to seeing you all there.  Gene

April Camp Letter

DALE COUNTY GIDEONS

MONTHLY CAMP LETTER

April 2015 Camp Letter

This meeting marks the last of our educational and informational programs for this Gideon year (1 June-31 May each year) and serves to point us in the direction of the realization of the goals of "Vision 2020".  This month's program will reinforce the key messages shared over the past four video-based educational sessions.  This concluding video focuses on the need to Live By Faith, Invest Our Talents, Be A Servant, and Give Our Best...All To Reach The Lost For Christ.  In this final educational program for the 2014-15 GIdeon year, we are reminded of our four goals to be fulfilled as we quickly move toward the challenge of Vision 2020:

            1.  Distributing 120 million scriptures annually (Living By Faith)

            2.  Involving 100% of our members in the ministry (Investing Our Talents)

            3.  Developing intentional relationships with all churches (Being A Servant)

            4.  Fostering a "culture of excellence" in all we do (Giving my best)

Ultimately, we try to accomplish a single goal:  Reaching The Lost for Christ.

How we go about accomplishing these important goals is what our Camp needs to be about.  We need to  continue to be faithful in our membership, give generously to the Faith Fund, actively support the Gideon Bible Card program, seek out and participate in scripture and Bible distributions, be determined in securing Gideon church services, and maintaining a strong, active Auxiliary.  We are blessed with caring and Christ-centered members in our camp.  This year our camp did not lose one member due to non-renewal of dues, we have gained 13 new members in our camp, and we have completed a Camp Development Plan that has helped to keep us collectively focused on our singular mission of scripture distribution to the lost for Christ.

Please be reminded that our camp meeting this month will be this Thursday, April 9, at 6:30 PM, in the Fellowship Hall of Ozark Baptist Church.  If you have been unable to attend in the past, this would be a great meeting to get started back.  If you need transportation to and from the meeting, please call me or a Gideon or Auxiliary friend for a ride.  As a camp member you make an eternal difference in getting God's Word to the lost.  God bless you in your mission of outreach, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  Gene and Lynn

March Camp Meeting

Our monthly camp meeting will be this Thursday, March 12, 6:30 PM 

at Ozark Baptist Church Fellowship Hall

    Greetings to all of our camp members of the Dale County Gideon Camp.  In Joshua Chapter 1 we are told to “be strong and very courageous”.  That was the theme of this year’s Gideon convention in Birmingham, and I pray that it will be our theme as we finish out this Gideon year and move into Gideon year 2016.  We have been blessed this year with church services and contributions from those services, great Faith Fund donations, an expanded Gideon Bible Card outreach, several spirited distributions, a strong Auxiliary ministry, and the blessing of thirteen new members.  Our members have renewed their faithfulness to our ministry in prayer, their participation, in our several programs, and in their financial support which allows scriptures to be purchased for world-wide distribution. 

  We still have much work to do in securing Gideon services in several of our churches and in closing out this year in such a way that we will be able to seamlessly transition to the challenges of the new Gideon year beginning on June 1.  Our program at this monthly meeting will be done by our own Don and Margie McCall.  Margie was re-elected as our State Auxiliary President and Don was elected as our South Regional Vice President.  We are blessed to have both of them in our camp as we begin this next year.  Both Margie and Don will be sharing the many high points of the convention and will challenge each of us to be “very strong and courageous” as we go about God’s work in this ministry. 

  There are literally millions of hands throughout the world that are reaching out to receive a copy of God’s word; unfortunately, there are currently not enough scriptures available to fill each outstretched hand.  We need to remain determined in all of our camp areas as we speed toward Vision 2020 and spread His Word through the distribution of Bibles and Scriptures to every man, woman, boy and girl, because someone prayed, someone gave, someone went, and someone placed a copy of God’s Word right where He wants it to be.  God bless you for your outreach.  Thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary. 

From our President

Greetings to everyone.  This year seems to be moving fast.  We have zoomed through January and February, and now it is March.  We have much to do before we finish out this Gideon year on May 31 and begin Gideon year 2016.  This week marks the end of our annual 100 day countdown to the State Convention.  We started this countdown back on November 28 with a commitment to set aside a certain amount of money each day to be turned in now as our contribution to the Faith Fund and HEART Fund ministries  at the annual State Gideon Convention.  Many have already turned in their donations.  If you have not yet turned in your donation to these funds (Faith Fund for Gideons and HEART Fund for Auxiliary), I encourage you to do so right away.  Your donations can still be turned in by mailing a check made out to Gideons International to P.O. Box 291, Ozark AL 36361 (that needs to be mailed no later than tomorrow, March 3, 2015 in order to be counted with the 100 day countdown).  You can also turn it in by contacting me directly and arranging for it to be picked up at your house.  Please put your Gideon or Auxiliary number on  the check so it may be properly credited.  Faith Fund and HEART Fund donations are a major source of funding for the purchase and distribution of scriptures around the world.  We can be assured that these funds will change lives.  Souls are saved every second through the Gideon Ministry, because someone prayed, someone gave, someone went, and someone placed a copy of God's Word right where He intended it to be placed.  

Membership is going very well, however a few of our members still need to renew their membership.  The grace period for membership renewal ends on March 31, 2015.  Please contact me at 334-379-5250, if you need assistance.  

Our Annual Membership Dinner is currently scheduled for our regular meeting night in July, 2015 at 6:30 PM.  Please work on identifying prospects to become members of the Gideons.  As we develop our list of prospects, we will begin the work of contacting their pastors and also contacting them as the date for the dinner approaches.  We don't have to wait for the dinner to bring in a new member.  If you know a man who meets the qualifications on the membership form and who you know  would be a good Gideon, please encourage him to complete the application now and join the Gideon ministry.

Please check with Steve Price to assist in securing Gideon report presentations at churches in our camp area.  We are doing well now, however there are still many churches that we need to get into before the end of May if we are to fulfill our goal of serving all of our churches.

Thank you again for your steadfast membership and work in our camp, in the Gideon ministry, and in your church.  God bless the work of the Gideon ministry, and God bless each of you.  On behalf of all those lives that are touched every day through the introduction of God's word into their lives, thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  Gene

Note from the President

  Just another short email to say Hi to everyone and to send out a few reminders.  Tomorrow at 7 AM is our Gideon prayer time.  We have been running a little short since the holidays, and I'm hoping it will begin to pick up tomorrow.  We can all make that happen by being at the Family Life Center of Ozark Baptist Church tomorrow and every Saturday at 7 AM for our prayer time.  We are always finished by 7:30, and it's a spiritually powerful way to start the weekend.  I hope to see you there.  

  The 100 day countdown to the convention continues.  Please continue to set aside your contributions to be presented at this year's convention.  I will be picking up the check for the Faith Fund contribution on March 5, before Carolyn and I leave for the conference.  

  Our next cabinet meeting is at 7:45 AM, February 7th, and our next regular camp meeting is Thursday, February 12th.  Please set these dates aside and plan to attend.  Jan and James Lisenby made some DVD's for the program in February, so I won't have to carry an entire video system with me to the meeting.  I really appreciate them doing that, and I know it will be a blessing to all those who attend.  Our meals at the meetings have been great.  We have had Salisbury Steak, meatloaf, chicken (both fried and wonderfully baked), green beans, mac and cheese, potatoes, and always a great dessert.  All this at a great price to our camp that allows us to add money to our camp fund.  

  All our ministry areas are currently slightly ahead of where we would expect to be at this time in the Gideon year.  Thanks to all of our members and to our camp leadership in these important areas.  Your prayers and faithful membership is what allows us to move forward in outreach to a spiritually lost and hungry world.

  Almost 100 percent of our members have paid their dues at this time.  If you have not paid your dues and have not been contacted by anyone in the camp about your dues, please contact me directly, and working together we will get those dues taken care of.  

  Remember the State Gideon Convention is in Birmingham this year March 6-8.  Please register and attend this enriching experience.  Thank you for all you do and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  

Sent from my iPad

Every Saturday Morning

Every Saturday morning Gideons around the world gather to collectively read scripture and pray for the Gideon ministry.  Our prayers continue to be answered as we welcome Saint Martin in the Caribbean as country 200. Please come and join us regularly for Saturday morning prayer from 7 to 7:30 AM at Ozark Baptist Church Family Life Center.