Looking Back at 2022
Our association of churches has done well in 2022. I know individual churches have ups and downs, but as a whole we are seeing the Lord move in our midst.
We took three mission trips together this year. The first one was to Golden Meadow, LA with 19 folks from several churches helping families hit hard by Hurricane Ida. The second one was to Bennington, VT with 8 hard workers helping Northeastern Baptist College. Finally, in October 6 of us went back to Vermont to meet pastors and leaders.
Financially we have had our best year of contributions since 2014 and we hope to finish 2022 in the black for the first time since 2013. With a good end to the year we will see our total contributions increase about 11% over 2021.
Our IMPACT conference continued to grow. We had about 150 in attendance which gets us back to where we were prior to COVID. We also trained over 80 in personal evangelism and about 40 deacons received training to help them serve their churches more effectively.
Our Disaster Relief Unit served over 60,000 meals in relief work in Florida after Hurricane Ian hit this fall.
We have seen several churches reach new heights of baptisms and giving even as the economy has slowed. We have worked with 4 different churches in various revitalization efforts in 2022 and are excited to see how God will continue to bring churches back to the main mission.
All of this to say, God is doing a work in our midst and we shouldn’t miss it or take it for granted. We give Him thanks and praise and ask that He continue to bring revival to East Texas, and to the world.