The first Monday of November each year has been set aside to celebrate the

Baptist Women’s Day of Prayer. This year it will be celebrated on November 1,

2010. Over the past 50 plus years this day has brought together Baptist women

from around the world to pray and to give so that our world will be impacted

for Christ.

This years theme is "In Step with the Spirit" based on Galatians 5:25;

“If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

The state of women in the world makes it essential for Baptist women to be

In Step with the Spirit. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the World gives the

following statistical information.

• Each year, about 200 million women become pregnant; for over half a million of

them, this will kill them.

• Domestic violence is the most ubiquitous constant in women’s lives around

the world. There is virtually no place where it is not a significant problem, and

women of no race, class, or age are exempt from its reach.

• IDP is short for “internally displaced person”. Some 25 million people

worldwide currently live in situations of internal displacement as a result of

conflicts or human rights violations. They were forced to flee their homes

because their lives were at danger, but unlike refugees they did not cross

international borders.

• Women’s bodies are commodities in the global sex trade, a multibillion dollar

industry.

• Over 40 million people in the world are HIV infected. More than half are women.

These statistics are alarming and a call to Baptist women to be In Step with the

Spirit as we stand together, grow in effectiveness, and impact our world for Christ.

Patsy Davis

Executive Director

BWA Women’s Department

Please join us for the 2010 Baptist Women World Day of Prayer.

When: Monday, November 1 10:30 AM

Where: New Harmony Baptist Church

Please bring a potluck item!

Also...

Come and order your WorldCrafts gifts for Christmas!

Friday Fabulous Faith

If you have the time, please read the remarkable story below. You will remember it from a few years back. What an amazing story of faith and strength. When you are in a time of persecution, how do you share Christ? Are you fearful? It would be difficult for most of us, but God has the ability to fill us with God-sized strength and faith! Start daily by exercising your faith and building the spiritual muscles you might need to fight off sinful enemies!

The Gift of a Second Chance | Kyria

My Mission Monday

Shining a Light on Bullying

by Ella Robinson

Practically every student, at some time during his or her school years, will experience bullying either as a target or as a witness. Exposure to this intentionally aggressive behavior negatively influences a child’s social development. The person being bullied often experiences low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. On the other hand, the person doing the bullying is at a high risk for developing violent, delinquent, and criminal behaviors.

There are several ways you can help combat this negative behavior and its consequences. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

Sponsor an Information Forum for parents in your church.

Although they may have experienced it themselves, parents and other adults often give poor advice to children when discussing incidences of bullying. Consider sponsoring a forum where parents and other adults in your church can learn the best ways to help children with the issues of bullying.

Decide on information you will present and guest speakers you could invite, and then talk with your pastor and church staff about your ideas. Be prepared to suggest a date and time for the event, and have a list of materials, supplies, refreshments, and so forth that you would like to provide for participants. If your idea is approved, work closely with professionals in your community, including educators, counselors, physicians, and law enforcement personnel to develop a meaningful forum.

Begin a Shine a Light on Bullies campaign for children in your church.

Bullies thrive in the dark; bring them out into the light and they disappear. Many victims of bullying are embarrassed and scared to tell anyone about what they are experiencing. The more they keep quiet about their encounters with the bully, the stronger the bully becomes. The point of this campaign is to empower students to face bullies with courage and love.

Include in your campaign a series of posters and/or bulletin boards, skits, and round table discussions related to the issue of bullying. Research the topic well, and do not promote risky behavior. However, reassure victims of bullying that they are people of worth, and episodes of bullying are not their fault. And, just as important, help them to understand that even though the bully is behaving badly, that bully is a child of God.

Focus on the bully.

Some children bully without even realizing what they are doing. They may be lashing out at others because of negative situations in their own lives. Work with the principal and teachers at a local school to develop a plan for talking with children who are bullying. Set up a time when you can meet individually with a child who is bullying.

Help the child understand what bullying means, and then develop a plan to increase the student’s self-esteem so that he or she will not feel the need to bully. Invite the child to participate in fun activities at your church and help him or her make friends.

Create anti-bullying resources.

Studies indicate that schools with high incidences of bullying are perceived to be unsafe. Work with a local school to prevent or turn around this perception. Involve your pastor, church staff, and the school’s principal and teachers in your plan for creating anti-bullying resources such as an anti-bullying telephone helpline, an anti-bullying Web site, and a bully box (a secure, locked box where students can place anonymous notes to alert the school staff about bullying episodes).

When these resources are in place, help the school inform students about the available resources and how to use them properly.

Learn more about bullying and find ideas for planning your ministry event at the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) National Bullying Prevention Campaign Web site at stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov.

Ella Robinson lives in Pleasant Grove, Alabama, where she and her two cats participate in the sport of bird watching from the living room window.

My Mission for the Week!

Make sure your children or grandchildren's school has a program in place to prevent bullying in the schools. Teach your children how to turn to God when they feel as thought they have no where else to turn. Remind them that many great men and women of the bible were bullied for their convictions.

My Mission Monday

Loving the Marginalized: A Call to Reach Out

by Lindsey Dugué


From B.C. to A.D., believers are called to reach out to everyone—including those on the outskirts of society.

Since the very beginning, society always had its black sheep. In biblical times, people were outcast because of their race (the Samaritans), their faith (brand new Christians from surrounding cultures), and their socioeconomic and/or health status (the poor and the lepers who sat at the temple gates, the blind men at the pool). A plethora of things could get someone sent from society with no one to speak for them.

Today in 2010, we do the very same things. In “the land of the free,” we still segregate our neighborhoods and schools. We struggle over immigration issues and whether or not a different faith or denomination should show up in the community. We don’t make solutions for many who are marginalized, only patches or band-aids to temporarily fix problems.

Why do we do this? It’s easier for many to think about our problems than those of someone else, especially someone on the other side of the globe, a typical “out of sight, out of mind” scenario. Perhaps we fear that if we involve ourselves in others’ lives in a comforting, helpful, or advocating way, we’ll receive the same maltreatment they get on a regular basis.

Romans 10:12–15 states that all are welcome into the family of God. “The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’” It also [strongly] encourages believers to get out and tell everyone about Him. “And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?” What does this have to do with us?

For believers, it has everything to do with us! The gospel is inclusive in that whoever chooses to believe in Christ and confess Him as Lord can be saved (John 3:16,21), but it is also exclusive: those who do believe are not condemned, but those who choose not to believe are left in darkness (John 3:18,20).

In short, it’s our business to be sure that everyone has an opportunity to choose Christ by sharing the Word with others any chance we get.

Consider some outcasts scattered throughout the Bible. If God can change lives through these two and so many others, imagine what God could do through you!

*Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son, a fact that didn’t go over well with his brothers, and yet God had an amazing plan that would bring reconciliation to his family (Gen. 37,39–47),

*In John 4, the woman that Jesus met at the well was there because she (a) was a Samaritan—Jews and Samaritans did not get along—and (b) had a bad reputation because she had been married five times and the man she was living with wasn’t her husband. Still, Jesus opened a lifeline for her to meet the One who could offer her living water and life in Christ—and she took it. Because of her testimony in the town, many came to believe in Jesus as Savior.

Take some time today to pray about ways you can minister to or serve people that are stuck in the margins of society. Taking a step out of your comfort zone may be the key to someone entering the family of God.

“I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).

Lindsey Dugué struggles with her comfort zone in Chicago, where she lives with her husband. You can keep up with her at thegreycity.blogspot.com.