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.  

A Letter from the Presidents

   Greetings to all our Dale County Gideon Camp members.  November is here, and there are many exciting service opportunities in our near future.  As always, we had our camp cabinet meeting the Saturday before our regular monthly camp meeting.  On behalf of all our camp members, I would like to thank all the program leaders who attended the meeting and let you know that they are representing our camp well.             This Thursday, November 13, 2014 is our regular monthly camp meeting.  As usual, we will meet in the Fellowship Hall of Ozark Baptist Church at 6:30 PM for our time of prayer, fellowship, and learning.  Our program this month is about investing our talents, and will emphasize that each of us has special talents given to us by God.  This month’s program reminds us that simply having a gift is not sufficient.  We can only become the people that God wants us to be by using and refining these special gifts. 

   Please mark your calendars now to attend the Birthday for Jesus on December 4, 2014.  The Coffee County Camp will host the event this year, and it will be held at St. Luke United Methodist Church, 201 Heath Street, Enterprise, AL.  This event will be our third, formal Faith Fund offering opportunity, and it will serve as our camp meeting for the month of December.  Please contact me immediately if you have not received an invitation and RSVP envelope from the Coffee County camp.  

   Both our Gideons and our Auxiliary have had a busy time with scripture distributions.  Lives continue to be touched and souls eternally saved because of your dedication to this ministry.  I encourage everyone to be sure to pay your dues before December 31.  For the past two years our camp has been very faithful with their dues renewal.  Please contact me directly if you have any questions about how to renew your dues.  II Timothy 2 says “Thou therefore endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ”.  I am proud to serve with you.  Thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  See you Thursday.   Gene and Lynn

Pastor's Appreciation Banquet, 2014

  Our banquet this year went very well.  I stand amazed at God's blessings on our camp. Our Vice President, Art Warren, has been working on this banquet throughout the past year.  His efforts were blessed with perhaps the best banquet we have had to this point.  The music was provided by our treasurer, Gary Walker, and his group.  As part of the singing, our new member, Bill Sullivan, joined the group in a special song.  Our speakers were very inspirational and served to demonstrate to our guests, in the strongest manner possible, how truly fruitful our partnership is with our local churches in the distribution of God's word.  As the eveining came to a close, we had our Faith Fund offering.  Those Gideons present contributed $2357.00 to the camp Faith Fund for the evening's collection.  Our Faith Fund chairman, Jerry Lucas, reminds all camp members that they can still contribute to this Faith Fund offering if they were unable to attend the meeting this evening.  Please send your Faith Fund contributions to:  
                             Dale County Gideons

                             P O Box 291

                             Ozark, AL 36361

This banquet also marks the official conclusion of our Camp Development Plan (CDP) that our camp has been working on over the past year.  Thanks to Gail Barkett, the CDP Auxiliary leader, and the determined commitment of our camp members, we have been able to correct membership files, schedule church services, re-book scripture distributions, and gain 13 new members.  Our collective work now is for each of us to remain committed to keeping our camp moving forward and being active in the service of our Risen Savior.  We will do this by paying our dues, attending Saturday prayer and monthly camp meetings, and being as active as we can in the various parts of our camp.  Our next camp meeting is November 13.  I look forward to seeing all of our Gideon members at our prayer time each Saturday morning at 7 a.m. held at the Faith Factory of the Ozark Bapist Church, and seeing all our members at our next camp meeting.  God bless you for your Christian service, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  

                                                Gene

Training available

This Saturday, 23 August, several Dale County Gideons plan to travel to Chipley, FL for a special training opportunity at The New Life Fellowship located at 695 5th Street in Chipley.  Reports will be given from all State program chairmen concerning all Gideon ministry areas, and current information related to these areas that came out of the recent International Convention in Philadelphia will be provided.  Whether you are currently serving in Faith Fund, Membership, Gideon Card, Distribution, or Church Ministry or simply want to expand your knowledge in these areas, this would be a great meeting to attend.  Registration at Chipley starts at 9:45, the meeting starts at 10, and the program is over around noon.  Several of us plan to leave Ozark on Saturday following our regular prayer time at the Faith Factory of Ozark Baptist Church (7 AM to 7:30 AM).  We can form a car pool as needed and enjoy some special fellowship to and from Chipley.  We will discuss this further following our prayer time on Saturday.  I hope to see you there.  Gene 

Sad News

I was informed a few minutes ago that Brother Raymond Barrs passed away last evening. I don't have all the information now, but I understand the viewing will be Friday evening and the service Saturday. I will try to keep you informed. Our prayers go out to the family. We were blessed for having Raymond with us. Love in Christ, Gene