The Gathering of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina
Bringing Baptists of North Carolina Together for Christ-Centered Ministry Volume 12, Issue 10
December 2007
Goal $6.15 million GIVE to the Offering for Global Missions 100% of the gifts to the Offering support global ministries. It is the primary funding mechanism for CBF Global Missions, providing for field personnel salaries and benefits and ministry and operating expenses.
SERVE through mission immersion Extend the ministries of your church from local communities to global communities by becoming a CBF partner church - from prayer and emotional support to hands-on missions immersion.
PRAY for ministries and personnel A yearly prayer resource is available free through the CBF Store at (888) 801-4223. CBF also distributes a monthly list of prayer requests - sign up for the Prayer Associates at www.thefellowship.info.
LEARN about CBF ministries CBF missions education resources provide many diverse opportunities for preschoolers (Form), children (Spark), youth (Ignite) and adults (Affect) to learn about missions. To order, go to www.missionseducation.org.
For more information on any of these areas, call (800) 352-8741 or go to www.thefellowship.info.
CBF Affiliates Help Slavic Immigrants Start New Life in the United States
CBF Field Personnel Reach Out to Ukrainian Street Children, New Christians
By Laurie Entrekin, CBF Communications Five years ago, Fran Graham became aware of the large community of more than 8,000 Slavic people from Ukraine, Russia and Moldova living in her city of Asheville, NC. A new group of immigrants arrive each fall to escape the oppression and poverty of their countries, most speaking very little English and having been persecuted for their faith in Christ, but all needing life’s basic necessities – housing, furniture, food, clothing and the love of a neighbor. Fran and her husband, Mike, formed a task force at their church, FBC, Asheville, to aid new families as they arrived to the US. Continued on page 6.
By Carla Wynn Davis, CBF Communications When Mina Podgaisky first arrived in the Ukraine in winter 2002, she couldn’t see them. She couldn’t recognize the more than 17,000 street children that live in Kiev because they sleep in underground tunnels and basements of high-rise apartment buildings where it’s warm, only coming up to find food. Now she knows they wear shoes with holes and too-big jackets that hide the glue they often sniff “to not feel cold, to not feel the hunger, to not feel the loneliness,” Mina said. “It’s what everybody [here] does on the streets.” Continued on page 6.