Wednesday, March 14, 2012

If interested in playing fantasy baseball with some Baptist only for free, there is a league forming

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Very early on in the life of Cozaddale Baptist Temple she had a heart for missions. One of the very first missionaries she supported is still on the field and is still supported by the church, Bro. John Bacon and his wife Elisa have been working with the American Indians for forty-four years.  The Lord has blessed Cozaddale with missionaries out of and through the local Church. Bro. Steven Harris, being the first, was born and raised  in the Central Africa Republic. His parents, Ward and Sarah Harris, were missionaries there. In 1979, Bro. Steven Harris returned to the United States to finish high school and lived with one of the families attending Cozaddale Baptist Temple and thus began his relationship with Cozaddale. Bro. Harris met his wife Peggy at the church and they were married in 1984. Bro. Harris was ordained and sent out of Cozaddale as a missionary March 16, 1986. He  and his family are pictured on the right.  The picture shown is of Bro. Harris and his family shortly after that time (his wife Peggy, daughter Sarah and his son Simon).   Bro. Harris and his family left for the field of New Zealand in May of 1989, where they served until their third child, who was born in New Zealand, was diagnosed as having an inoperable brain tumor. Due to Social Health regulations they were required to return to the United States. In April of 1991, their daughter died and that same day they were informed that their visa to New Zealand had been revoked.  After much prayer they were led to Bullhead City, Arizona to plant a local church. On February 5, 1993, they arrived in Bullhead City and immediately began knocking doors from the Colorado River and the California border and working north. The plan was to hold services in the home but no visitors ever came to their home so they moved to a store front building. On May 2, 1993, the first service at the store front (pictured on the left) was held. After ten years of labor it was time for the mission work to become a church. On the first Sunday, May 4, 2003, Pastor Wayne Burke, Bro. Larry and Ruth Wilson were present for the organization of the church. Bro. Wayne Burke preached  and Bro. Larry Wilson signed the charter as a witness. There were forty people who signed the charter membership of the Mohave Baptist Church and was now an autonomous church. Bro.Harris did not feel led to stay as pastor. On November 23, 2003, the pastorate was passed on to Bro. Johnson. Bro. Harris and his family returned to Cozaddale Baptist Temple November  29th, where they served  out of until going to the field of Mexico on March 3, 2005. They presently serve  in the city of Magdalena in the state of Sonora, Mexico.
On July the 8, 2001, the Lord blessed Cozaddale Baptist with another missionary family.  Bro. Colin Christensen, his wife Sandi, and their daughter, Candice, united with  Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Bro. Christensen and his family have faithfully served on three foreign mission fields. They had served in Mexico (1970 until 1974) , the Philippines (1978 until 1988) and Hungary (1993-2007). They were planting a church in Tata, Hungary when circumstances dictated a need to leave for their own safety. With the counsel of their Pastor, Bro. Travis Burke, they returned to their church and awaited God's direction. An opportunity arose for Bro. Christensen to serve in a ministry he had a great burden for and had been trained for. He began assisting in the translating of the Word of God into languages that had no pure text. (He had received training from and served as an instructor with Baptist Bible Translators Institute  between his ministry in Mexico and the Philippines.)  It was through this ministry he was able to see a dream become a reality.  He had begun a translation into the Cabuano language before he left the Philippines. The last ministry Bro. Colin was in was Bearing Precious Seed Global.  As part of the ministry he and Bro. Steve Zeinner took a trip back to the Philippines. Bro. Colin was received by the local churches with an enthusiastic welcome and was able to see the New Testament he had began translating many years ago completed by the nationals and in the hands of the Filipino but  more importantly to Bro. Collin was to see the blessing of God upon it. Shortly after this visit he was diagnosed with cancer and he passed away on Saturday, September 3, 2011.

On November 10, 1996, Bro. Bob Hottle and his family joined Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Bro. Hottle had a strong desire to serve the Lord and quickly became involved in the ministries of the church. Bro. Hottle continued to grow in the desire to serve through the local church. Pastor Travis Burke has a desire to begin to plant churches not only through our full time missionaries but also through the hands on ministry of the local church. The Lord led to a small town in  Highland County, Ohio called Lynchburg. An old Methodist  church that was no longer being used was located and secured. The Lord worked mightily not only in being able to secure the property but also in the growth of the church. The members from the Cozaddale Baptist Church were able to go sit in the services and to assist in any needed areas. The mission was now ready to become its own church. On January 20, 2008, at 2:30 in the afternoon Cozaddale Baptist met with the mission in an organizational service. Bro. Hottle opened in prayer, the congregation singing was led by Michael Hottle, then Bro. Hottle recognized local pastors and turned the service over to Bro. Travis Burke. Bro Burke recommended to the Cozaddale Baptist Temple  forming Anchor Baptist Church. The vote was  unanimous. 
With six years now past the Anchor Baptist Church has continued to grow not only in number but more importantly in spiritual maturity. Bro. Burke and Cozaddale have now  placed their  eyes upon a new area for another church plant. Here again the members will be involved not only in the praying and monetary support of the work but once again in a hands on experience. The new mission is to be called Hope Baptist mission and is located about forty-five minutes from the church. The street address 5914 Vine Street, Elmwood Place, Ohio. The storefront is pictured to the left side of page. (As you can tell by the picture Elmwood has become a very run down area. The businesses have all moved away. Elmwood is a place desperately in need of the gospel.) The entrance is on the side of a day care building. The first service will be held on April 1, at 2:30 in the afternoon. Bro. Wayne Burke, evangelist out of Cozaddale Baptist will be preaching and the church will be taking a group of members down to participate. The verse that came to Pastor Burke's mind as he and some other men walked through Elmwood seeking God's direction was Romans 15:4 "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture may have hope." 

Cozaddale Baptist Temple was again blessed on October 31, 2010, when Pastor Wayne Burke and his wife, Rhonda, returned to minister to and out of the church.  Bro. Wayne Burke had served as senior pastor of Cozaddale for ten years before moving to Arkansas City, Kansas to help a struggling church. While there the Lord blessed his ministry and the church grew in every area of ministry. Because of health reasons he resigned the church in Kansas and returned to Cozaddale Baptist Temple. Since his return Bro. Wayne Burke has served by teaching the adult Sunday school class, teaching institute, teaching Bible in the Christian school, always being an encouragement to the church, preaching revivals for other churches and filling pulpits as area pastors need to be away. Bro. Burke returned to Cozaddale with many fond memories of pastoring  at Cozaddale, one of them was for 10 years of freedom to preach the whole counsel of God without reprisal and great response. The Lord blessed his years of pastoring here and is once again blessing his years here as staff evangelist.