NMMINISTRY.NET
NMMN LEADERSHIP
Micheal Dickenson NETWORK PASTOR
Marcus McClain ASSISTANT NETWORK PASTOR
EXECUTIVE PRESBYTERS Austin Poper STUDENT MINISTRIES DIRECTOR
Ted Schmidt ROYAL RANGERS DIRECTOR
Kent Barnard Dereck Owen
HONORARY PRESBYTER David Vistine
PRESBYTERS Brad Coates Ruben Guajardo Jr David Iglesias Dereck Owen MEN’S DIRECTOR
Rudy Martinez
NETWORK PASTOR: MICHEAL DICKENSON
Where did the summer of 2021 go? I don’t know about you, but I woke up a few days ago with the stark reminder of just how quickly this summer has gone by. Kids are back in school and, before you know it, we’ll be talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas!
General Council was amazing! I am so grateful to God for our incredible national team led by General Superintendent Doug Clay and all of the amazing people who serve our fellowship. (See Pastor Marcus’ article for his highlights of GC.)
Earlier in the summer, we had our Youth and Kid’s Camps at Cook Canyon Camp. It was so good to see hundreds of students from our churches at camp experiencing God’s presence and power firsthand, and to see the life transforming encounters with God around the altars. I’m telling you, God is up to something BIG with this next generation and I’m forever grateful that we get to be a part of it all!
By the time you’re reading this, it will be just a few days away from our 10th Annual Bike for the Light (BFTL) ride across New Mexico to raise money for missions partners like Convoy of Hope, World Serve International, Rural Compassion, and all of our New Mexico missionaries. If you haven’t already, would you consider going to bikeforthelight.org and sponsoring a rider? We’re asking our churches to receive a special offering to help us reach our $250,000 goal…together we can do it! Can we count on you?
I’ll be sending out a letter soon to our churches about Pastor Appreciation Month coming up in October. I am so grateful for every pastor in New Mexico as you lead and serve the churches of our Network. Whether you serve in a senior pastor role or on staff, you are vitally important to what God is doing in our state. We love each and every one of you and are so proud we’re on the same team!
Registration is open for Called Camp, November 12-14 at Cook Canyon Camp. I have personally never been more aware that God is calling tomorrow’s pastors, leaders, missionaries, evangelists, etc. and He is raising them up to be an army of world changers in the future. Pastors, let’s not miss this opportunity to challenge these students to spend this weekend together exploring God’s plans and calling for their lives. We’re expecting a record response, so be sure to challenge your students to register now and plan to attend Called Camp.
Many of you were at Network Conference in April where we introduced Backyard Orphans, a powerful ministry to the children in our world in need and without families. There are over 400,000 orphans in our nation needing families, and our foster care system simply can’t do enough to serve these needs. But what if the churches of America stepped up to be the answer to this crisis? The good news is, that as we partner with ministries like Backyard Orphans, we can make a difference! We’re delighted to announce that Jenn Kandel has been appointed as our New Mexico Director! Jenn serves on staff at Tucumcari First Assembly and has already put together a team of leaders who are being trained and positioned to serve our churches. Be sure to see Jenn’s information in this issue of LINK, and reach out to her with any and all questions relative to this vital ministry. Together, we can make a difference!
Thanks to each of you for being amazing friends and ministry partners. In the midst of a crazy world that often looks impossible to impact, God is still God and we have the incredible opportunity to be His Church!
Blessings!
PASTORAL INSTALLATIONS
David & Stephanie Duffy
First Assembly
Deming
Stephen “Stew” & Jessica Harper
Assembly of God
Eunice
Daniel & Stephanie Gammill
New Life Christian Assembly God
Pinedale
Tim & Tarah Heyer
Cross Point Church
Silver City
CREDENTIAL UPDATES NEWLY CREDENTIALED:
Jerran Duty ( C ) Deming First
Ilda Vistine ( C ) Las Cruces First
TRANSFERRED IN: David Duffy (L) Deming First
Stephanie Duffy (L) Deming First
Pamela Patrick (L) Farmington Oasis
TRANSFERRED OUT: Andre Hernandez ( C ) Pen-Florida
REINSTATED: William Androulidakis (L) Abq. Azusa
Joshua Kincaid ( C ) Farmington Oasis
ASSISTANT NETWORK PASTOR: MARCUS MCCLAIN GENERAL COUNCIL 2021 OVERVIEW If you were able or not to attend the 59th General Council, I want to share with you one of the highlights and information from our General Presbytery. First of all, I recommend that if you have not listened to General Superintendent Doug Clay’s message on Wednesday night, August 10, you should. For access to the video, click HERE or go to: www.ag.org, on the dashboard hit the Resources tab, then hit the Events Archives which will give you access to the 59th General Council archives, scroll down to the 59th General Council and hit the 2021 General Council Service Doug Clay video. Brother Clay’s message begins 34 minutes into the video. I truly believe our Lord gave him a word for our Fellowship!
Next, I want to draw your attention to the stats from Dr. Mike Clarensau, Research Coordinator of the Acts 2 Journey Team. These stats are derived from the All Church Ministry Report (ACMR) from years 2015-2020. I believe you will find this information fascinating.
1. 2. 3. 4.
43.1% of AG churches are in communities with a population of less that 10,000.
Approximately 1 in 8 churches are in communities with populations of less than 1,000.
More AG churches are in cities with a populations of 10,000-49,999 than any other environment.
Approximately 375,000 Sunday morning attenders (21.4%) attend AG churches in communities with a population of less than 10,000.
5. Suburban and Neighborhood churches have the largest average church size among the AG church environments.
6. Neighborhoods of cities with a population of 50,000+ are home to more than half (55.76%) of our mega churches (2,000+).
7. Country churches (located in open countryside, not immediately adjacent to a village, town or city) show the highest rate of plateau and declining churches.
8. Downtown churches (located in central business districts of 50,000+) show the highest percentage of growing churches (25.1%).
9. It takes just over three Sunday attenders to produce a convert in Neighborhood churches while it requires nine Sunday attenders to produce a convert in Village churches (9.1%) and more than 8 in Town churches.
10. Country, Village and Town churches baptize around half of their reported conversions, while Neighborhood and Suburban churches baptize less than a fourth of their reported conversions.
11. As has been found in other studies, smaller churches guide a higher percentage of their converts to Spirit Baptism.
12. This study reveals that Country, Village, Town and Small City churches will see 1 in 4 of their reported conversions someday be Spirit-baptized, Neighborhood churches will see 1 in 6 and Suburban churches will see 1 in 7.
13. Small City churches are the only group that is producing converts and reproducing Spirit-baptized converts at levels near the established healthy rate meaning each of the other groups may have long-term difficulty with sufficient Spirit-baptized leaders within their local church or to invest in the worldwide harvest field. Of greatest concern would be the Suburban and Downtown churches where the ratio of attenders to Spirit-baptized is more than 34 to 1 and Village, Town, and Country churches where the ratio is more than 30 to 1. The recommended ration is between 15 and 20 to 1.
I know that these are “just stats” but they do tell us that there is a harvest that Jesus cares about and that our Father is looking for laborers to work the fields!
INTRODUCING:
NEWLY APPOINTED
NMMN ORPHAN CARE DIRECTOR,
JENN KANDEL JUSTICE FOR THE VULNERABLE
There are 2300 children in the New Mexico Foster Care system and we believe the church is God’s answer to caring for orphans. We can't do everything but we can all do something! New Mexico Ministry Network (NMMN) is committed to a path of increased effort to serving the needs of orphan care. As we take our initial steps, there is no better place to start than prayer. Use the link below to access Foster Care Prayer Guide and begin to let God develop his vision for the needy within you.
Reach out to Jenn for more information about this ministry:
Mobile (575) 914-5426 Email jkandel@backyardorphans.org
Homepage Backyard Orphans Zechariah 7:9-10 Amos 5:21-24
FOSTER CARE PRAYER GUIDE
LINK is a publication of the New Mexico Ministry Network
NEW MEXICO MINISTRY NETWORK 6640 Caminito Coors NW Albuquerque NM 87120 Tel: (505) 899-5399 Fax: (505) 899-5859 www.nmministry.net