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

June Camp Meeting

CLICK HERE to open the June Camp Letter

CDP moves forward with YOUR help

On June 18 and 19 our CDP (Camp Development Program) that we have been working on for the past 6 months will need some specific involvement and commitment from our members. On those two days we make our phone calls to our churches, make personal visits to our churches, and call prospects. I expect we will be calling from the Microtel in Ozark from 8 Am to as late as 9 PM on both days. We need to have at least three callers working during those times until all contacts are made to pastors and prospects. Additionally, we will need 4 Gideon's to drive and visit (in 2 person teams) to several churches. Please check your schedules now and make arrangements to assist. Contact me by text, email, or phone so I can schedule you. If you can't assist during the day, we need you to assist in the evening. If you can't assist both days, any part of either day would be great. We must continue to press forward to the end of the race. I look forward to hearing from you. Gene

New Member Recruitment

Dear Members, Our CDP (Camp Development Program) continues to push forward.  The membership dinner is set for 6:30 PM July 8 at Campground Baptist Church.  Letters have been sent to all of our churches and members requesting member prospects to be contacted to attend the dinner and hopefully be led to become a member of the Gideons.  A special team of callers and visitors will be with us on June 18 and 19 to call and visit our pastors and our churches.  Our camp needs your help in two specific areas right now.   First.  I need you to contact me by email (gtnelson@troycable.net), phone (379-5250),  or letter (948 Campground Road, Ozark, AL 36360) with the NAME, OCCUPATION, PHONE NUMBER, and CHURCH of anyone you believe would be a good Gideon.  You do not have to contact the person.  When you provide me with the above information, the prospect will be approved by their pastor, contacted by phone and letter, and encouraged to attend the membership dinner on July 8 at Campground Baptist Church.  I need you to send me that information by next week.  When you go to church this Sunday, take a look around and jot down some names or look in your church directory and send me the contact information on members of your church that you feel we should contact.  We currently have 31 prospects; we need at least 31 more.  This is not the time to depend on someone else to provide prospects.  Each of us must do our part to make our membership dinner a success. Second.  Please consider being a mentor to our new members.  Each new member will be provided a camp member to be their mentor for the next year.  You will be provided with very specific information about the responsibilities of a mentor.  I believe that those stepping forward to be mentors will be personally blessed by developing a  close, personal relationship with a new friend and also learning more about the Gideon ministry. We continue to meet for prayer at the Family Life Center of Ozark Baptist Church on Saturday at 7 AM.  If you are not already attending the Saturday prayer time, I pray that you will begin this Saturday to make it a regular part of your start to your weekend.  Thank you for your commitment to our Risen Savior, and thank you for being a Gideon/Auxiliary.  Gene

Election Night

Thursday night, May 8th was election night for the Dale County Gideon Camp.
New Camp officers are as follows:
President  - Gene Nelson
Vice President - Art Warren
Secretary  - James King
Treasurer - Gary Walker
Chaplin - Sonny Raley

Auxiliary officers:
President - Lynn Price
Vice President - Martha Phillips
Secretary/Treasurer - Gail Barkett
Chaplin - Margie McCall

Besides the elections being our primary goal for the evening, news from the state Faith Fund Coordinator, Tim Thomas was on our list. I have copied parts of his letter to all Gideons below. Please make this a part of your daily prayers and upcoming budget.

Players, Coaches, and fans all know the importance of the 4^th Quarter.  Many a game has been both won AND lost based on how that team plays in the 4^th Quarter.  Teams who were ahead, and were over confident (and eased up their effort), have fallen behind and eventually lost the game while teams that were behind (and who doubled their efforts) have caught up to, and surpassed superior opponents (winning the game at the last second).  

Right now we are deep into the 4^th Quarter with the Faith Fund.  By the time this article gets to your house (or computer), we will only have one month left to contribute, and then we will know whether we have won or lost with respect to our yearly goal.  Just so you understand the correlation, the faithful Gideons who distribute God’s Word (mostly in countries where there’s not a church on every corner and where the Name of Jesus isn’t well known) are the players in our example. The Head Coach is God, and the Assistant Coaches are the Gideon Leadership in this (as well as many other) State Associations, and WE (Gideons and Auxiliary) are the fans.  I can assure you our Head Coach has well prepared our players, and the players are willing to continue on and excel in the face of adversity, fatigue, and pain, and our Assistant Coaches have managed our team in such a way as to maximize our chances of success.  The question is whether or not WE are willing to continue to give our support to the Faith Fund at the end of this game (the Gideon Year) even though we have already supported the team during the entire game up to this point.  You see, fans are WILLING to pay the price of admission.

Currently (at the end of March), we have already surpassed the Yearly Goal given to us LAST YEAR by Nashville in donating over $1,170,000 (Praise God). Sadly, we are not donating money for Bibles for last year and the critical 4^th Quarter is upon us. As of the end of March we are still over $147,000 short of our yearly goal and need to double our efforts to reach as many as possible with the Truth of Jesus Christ (and win this game). This means that in order to meet or exceed the Faith Fund Goal for this year, we must donate roughly $74,000 in April and May.  This is a goal that our Association is very capable of attaining, but one we must be willing to ‘pay the price’ to reach. 

May Camp Letter

Click Here to read the Dale County Camp May letter.

Prayer List

Please check the Prayer List page

 each day and add these individuals 

to your prayers each day.

March Camp Letter