By Tim Lubinus, BCI Executive Director/Treasurer
You may recall that last spring we restructured our Executive Board schedule in order to conduct an annual review of our key BCI ministries. Each board member volunteered to be in one of three groups to review either 1) our church planting strategy and structure, 2) our church and pastor support structure, or 3) our community transformation structure. We intend on getting broad feedback from across the state before each meeting and update and upgrade what we are doing for each. The dates for the meetings are as follows:
- February 11: Church Planting Strategy and Structure
- March 5: Community Transformation (supporting churches to help the hurting in their communities, e.g. Friendship Baptist Center ministry and Disaster Relief Ministry).
- May 14: Church Development (encouraging and supporting existing churches and pastors)
Please be in contact with the board member from your area or our BCI staff if you have suggestions for improvement.
Also this year we’re trying something new: combining our Pastor and Wife’s retreat with our women’s conference. For the Pastor’s and Wife’s Retreat on April 1-2, we are pleased to announce that Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian Theology and Director of the Center for Theological and Cultural Engagement at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary will be our main speaker. For more information and registration go here.
The speaker for the Women’s Conference is Nancy Guthrie, author of Holding On to Hope: A Pathway of Suffering to the Heart of God. The retreat is scheduled for April 1-3, 2016 in Urbandale, IA. For more information on the Women’s Conference go here.
Also check out the “He Is No Fool” 2016 Men’s Conference on January 29-30 in Chariton and the Ignite Youth Conference on March 11-12 in Des Moines.
We’re looking forward to working together with BCI churches and partners to reach the people of Iowa, impact our communities, and strengthen churches. Please let us know if you have input.