With less than a year to go before the 2024 Triennial in St. Paul, Minnesota, we cannot contain our excitement any longer. Our time together at Triennials past are always special, and July 11–14, 2024, will be no different.
The final details concerning Triennial are still coming together, but we want to get the word out. This is where you and your church can help. Would you share the promotional video from NAB Executive Director Harry Kelm, sharing the theme of the upcoming Triennial? Show it during the announcement block of your Sunday gathering, share the link on social media, or email it to friends in the NAB. We want everyone in the NAB to know they are invited and welcome.
You can also check out www.nabtriennial.com to read more about the theme of this year’s Triennial, as well as find videos of a few of the most recent Triennials.
As some of you may already know, Paul and Melissa Ewing have decided to not return to Japan as NAB missionaries after their home assignment this year. I want to begin by thanking you for your prayer and financial support for them!
Paul and Melissa have been NAB missionaries for over two decades in Japan, raising their family there as they ministered with and to the people of Japan. Their faithfulness to God, his mission, and especially his ministry in Japan have inspired me from my very first years as an NAB pastor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the church I had the privilege of pastoring supported the Ewings. Their impact was not only felt on the field in Japan but in the churches that supported them, as well as by all of NAB international missions as Paul served on the NAB Mission Advisory Team for the conference.
Like their impact, their absence will be felt not only by the Japan field but the entire NAB family. Please pray for them and for God’s leading as they explore what he has in store for them next, and please pray for the NAB and the Japan field as we too explore God’s leading and direction in this season.
For those of you who supported the Ewings financially, again, Thank You! As mentioned above, they will remain on NAB support through the end of their home assignment, December 31, 2023, so your support continues to be needed. Early in the fall, we will send out some suggestions for where you can transfer your support if you are willing and able to do so; either way, thank you for your faithful support of the Ewings, NAB missions, and the Kingdom!
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Caryn Young or to me, either at kbender@nabconf.org or at (916) 783-1526. Thank you for your consideration and your support of NAB missions and the breaking in of the Kingdom of God around the world!
Kerry Bender
NAB VP of International Missions
For David Curtis, pastor of Salt Creek Baptist Church in Dallas, Oregon, going through Blue Ocean changed his life for the better. “God did some real significant work for me in that, and that spurred me to start working with a Christian counselor,” David said. “It’s added a lot of depth and been a real life-giving process, to me personally and for my family, just because of the way I’ve grown out of that.” David understands God still has some work to do in him, which is why he looks forward to the annual Bonfire gathering, what he describes as “an opportunity to get around the table with other people that are on the journey of leading and understanding how to lead from a place of health and how to navigate the challenges that we face in ministry.”
Bonfire and Planter Summit – the gathering of those planting or revitalizing church communities – are quickly becoming key components in the spiritual lives of leaders across the NAB. These annual reunions are designed to help shape us, communally and individually, into people who look more and more like Christ, because who we are becoming matters.
If you haven’t already, in the next few weeks you will likely receive a brochure in the mail sharing David’s story, and the story of other pastors and church multipliers, and the impact Bonfire, Planter Summit, and other NAB gatherings have had on their lives and ministries. Would you consider giving to the Ministry Resource Fund to help support the formation of NAB leaders through events like Bonfire and Planter Summit? Your generosity will, in part, assist pastors, leaders, and missionaries across the NAB through training, resources, and assistance created specifically to help them become the people God made them to be so they might impact their communities for the Kingdom.