our lives anymore. We are not under the dominion
of the devil. The bondage of evil has been broken.
Scripture uses very positive and triumphant
language to describe Christ's victory over sin and
the Christian's participation in that victory.
And yet, it is the universal experience of
every individual believer, that we do still
struggle with sin. We are still frustrated by it.
We still feel its power in our lives.
We are engaged in perpetual warfare
against sin. It is a difficult battle to wage.
And it often feels as if we are losing the fight.
There's no instant cure. There is no magic bullet.
It's a process that requires diligence, strength, per-
sistence, and above all, the power of the Holy
Spirit.
"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
The old has passed away; behold, the new has
come" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
"We know that our old self was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved
to sin. For one who has died has been set free from
sin." (Romans 6:6-7)
"No one born of God makes a practice of
sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he can-
not keep on sinning because he has been born of
God" (1 John 3:9)
"We know that everyone who has been born
of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was
born of God protects him, and the evil one does
not touch him." (John 5:18)
Those verses teach that for a true Christian,
sin is a defeated enemy. Sin has no more rightful
dominion over us. We are no longer enslaved to it.
The principle of sin is not the driving principle of
Epilogue From: Phil Johnson, MBA State Men’s Main Speaker
State Men’s Wrap-Up By: Greg Linscott, Pastor, First Baptist Marshall, Men’s Fellowship President
The 2013 Men’s
Fellowship was held at
Fourth Baptist Church
in Plymouth, on Sep-
tember 13-14. The fea-
tured speaker was Phil
Johnson, Executive
Director of Grace to
You. The theme for the
weekend, “Guard Your
Heart,” taken from
Proverbs 4:23, chal-
lenged the men to be
actively engaged in
pursuing holiness in our behav-
ior and thought life. Pastor Joel
Albright of First Baptist, St.
Francis, led the musical worship.
Workshops were presented by
Pastor Kraig Keck of Chisago
Lakes Baptist Church, and Mis-
sionary David Flinck.
With input from pastors
across the Association, several
adjustments were made to im-
prove the quality of the event.
The changes seemed to have
been well-received, as 2013’s
October 3, 2013 Volume 7, Issue 5
North Star Update A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
Inside This Issue:
Fellowship Foundations 2
First Person: State Men’s
Retreat, Eng
2
Family Baptist 2
State Men’s. Stephens 3
Spring Valley, 150th 3
Granite City Baptist
Academy
3
Calendar
October 19: 11:30—2 p.m.,
TC Ladies @ Light-
house Baptist
December 2: 6 p.m., Pastor
& Staff and Wives
Christmas Banquet @
Lighthouse Baptist
April 4,5: Spring Ladies
Retreat
April 21-22: Pastors’ &
Wives’ Retreat @ FBC
Baxter
June 28: MBA Annual
Meeting @ Prior Lake
Baptist
August 21-24: Family
Camp @ Lighthouse
Baptist
September 19-20: State
Men’s Retreat @ First
Calvary, Inver Grove
Heights
This past September 13th and 14th the men of the MBA, and many visitors from other churches in Minnesota and
around the country met together at Fourth Baptist Church
for about 24 hours of fellowship and encouragement. The main speaker for the meeting was Phil Johnson, director of
Grace to You. We asked Phil to send a final challenge. He
kindly sent us his Epilogue. (editor)
Continued page 4
Continued page 4
churches are being able to
have Assistant Pastors who can
supply in their own churches,
and pastors are training quali-
fied laymen who are willing to
develop teaching/preaching
skills. Those local church op-
portunities are spiritually
healthy when they are possi-
ble.
My opportunities since
the last UPDATE have been –
July 21 – I was privileged
to preach at Preston First Bap-
tist, Pastor Geno Pyse
(Michelle). It is always a bless-
ing to Rhoda and I to be with
the folks there.
July 22 thru 30. During
this time, we visited the wid-
ows of my two brothers, one in
Lafayette, Indiana, and the
other in Chattanooga, Tennes-
see.
August 11 – We enjoyed
preaching at First Baptist,
Spring Valley, Pastor Joe
Haynes (Cathy). Over the
years since Pastor Haynes has
been there, we have been privi-
leged to make many friends.
August 29 – I attended
the Planning Committee Meet-
ing, chaired by Dr. Kevin
Bauder. Many important deci-
sions were accomplished, but
everything for the MBA An-
nual Meeting is not completely
in place as yet.
September 1 – We visited
the services of Oakdale First
Baptist, Pastor Richard Jensen.
The church had just completed
a series of evangelistic meet-
ings, with encouraging results.
September 5 – On this
Thursday evening, we attended
Faith Baptist, St. Paul, Pastor
Julian Suarez (Kathy) for their
evangelistic meeting. We en-
joyed the preaching and the
fellowship with all there.
Fellowship Foundations By: Rev. Robert Fuller, Sr., State Missionary
“As For Me and My House …” By: Susan Hanks Mowen, Family Baptist Church, MPLS.
State Men’s, First Person By: Dennis Eng, Trinity Baptist Fellowship, Pine City
great God and Savior.
The arrangements and
accompaniment of Josh
Bauder were greatly appreci-
ated, whose skill and expres-
sion in music further enhanced
a weekend of joyful worship.
lance, for from it flow the
springs of life.”
Joel Albright led the sing-
ing with passion, using theo-
logically significant hymns
new and old to assist the as-
sembly in expressing heartfelt
gratitude and adoration to our
Page 2 North Star Update
Though summer opportu-
nities to preach were down, I
still had opportunities to visit
churches and encourage and
greet friends. Many of our
Those who understand the
importance of preaching to the
inner man can appreciate the
approach of Phil Johnson. By
his thorough exposition of
Scripture, he addressed the
issues of the heart every man
faces in his leisure time, teach-
ing how God’s Word and
Spirit make real change in the
life. Any non-Christians at-
tending understood that their
first step of obedience was
giving their heart away to
Christ. The rest of us left the
meeting with new determina-
tion to apply Proverbs 4:23,
“Keep your heart with all vigi-
points…depending on your
perspective.
Let us know how we may
help you, David and Susan
Mowen, members and staff,
Family Baptist Church,
om.
Family Baptist Church
also has other resources avail-
able: how to start and provide
tours to the mosque and So-
mali mall…it’s like stepping
into an African bazaar for a
total cross-cultural experience
and the Muslims are pleased
when we take the initiative to
visit them.
We are available for
speaking to small or large
groups to include extensive
outreach training or merely
covering the high or low
a f o o d s h e l f
counseling by the lay person
( J W H i m e @ a o l . c o m ,
how to reach out in your local
j a i l o r p r i s o n
(David.Whiteford@GoodNews
Jail.org).
Your friends at Family
Baptist Church would like to
help you reach out to the Mus-
lims in your area. Minnesota
has 150,000 Muslims living all
over the state. We have the
largest population of Somalis
outside of the country of So-
malia!
We can give you ideas for
entertaining Muslims in your
home and church. We can give
Continued page 4
The annual State Men's
Retreat took place on Friday
and Saturday, September 13th
and 14th
a t F o u r t h B a p t i s t
Church. Mr. Phil Johnson, the
executive director of "Grace
To You", challenged each of
us to guard our hearts because
the heart is where our life,
thoughts, and actions origi-
nate. His Biblical insights and
practical illustrations reminded
us that our time on this earth to
serve our Savior is short and
that we must daily surrender
our hearts to serve Him.
Missionary David Flinck,
(Missionary to Chile) pre-
sented a workshop on
"Intentionally Impacting Men
Within and Without the Local
Church" and Pastor Kraig
Keck (Pastor of Chisago Lakes
Baptist Church) presented a
workshop on "Why You
Should Battle Your Lusts".
A panel discussion on
Friday evening addressing how
we can help each other and our
church families guard their
hearts was challenging to all.
Along with the spiritual
challenges a great time of fel-
lowship was enjoyed during
the refreshment times as new
friendships were made and old
friendships renewed.
I trust that you will start
planning now to attend next
year's retreat which will be
held at First Calvary Baptist
State Men’s Retreat—A Challenge to Guard the Heart By: Gerald Stephens, President of the MBA
Granite City Baptist Academy International Recognition By: Linda Schill, Secretary to the Pastor, Granite City Baptist, St. Cloud
Page 3 Volume 7, Issue 5
Church in Inver Grove
Heights. The keynote speaker
will be Dr. Michael Harding,
Pastor of First Baptist Church
in Troy, Michigan. The theme
will be - "THE SEARCH FOR
MEANING"
May God help us to
GUARD OUR HEARTS!!!
1 Peter 3:15
Bible-based curriculum of
Accelerated Christian Educa-
tion (A.C.E.), the Academy
focuses on Christian character
training and outstanding aca-
demic accomplishments by its
students, and also demon-
strates a continuing commit-
ment to state-of-the-art, com-
The educational challenge
of the 21st century has moti-
vated Granite City Baptist
Academy, a ministry of Gran-
ite City Baptist Church, to
uphold their standard of excel-
lence that has earned them
MODEL status.
Using the individualized
puter-enhanced education.
This past year, the aver-
age student’s grade in all sub-
ject areas was 96.31. Many
students completed well over
one year’s standard academic
expectations.
GCBA believes that their
school’s achievement is attrib-
uted in part to community
commitment to maintain an
atmosphere where a school
such as GCBA can effectively
educate our youth today for
tomorrow’s achievements.
150th Anniversary at First Baptist Spring Valley
First Baptist Church of
Spring Valley is celebrating
their 150th anniversary this
year. The theme for the cele-
bration, “150 Years of God’s
Faithfulness Moving Us For-
ward”, was highlighted in
several events. The festivities
began with the church having a
float in the local parade. Ap-
proximately 1500 postcards
were distributed inviting the
community to an open house
and giving them the plan of
salvation.
On Saturday, September
7th, an open house/luncheon
was held where several former
members were in attendance.
A slide show highlighting the
last 150 years was presented in
the afternoon along with a
reading from the first book of
records on the church (1863).
It was noted that the first
church service was on Septem-
ber 6, 1863.
A long-time member,
Erma Werth, was given a
plaque in recognition of her 53
years of service in teaching
Sunday School. Several of her
former students were present
to be a part of the recognition
and be in a picture with Erma.
At least 20 individuals coming
from First Baptist Church have
gone into full-time service.
One is Lillian Payne. She and
her daughter, Susan, were able
to attend the 2-day event.
The celebration continued
on Sunday with a Worship
Service during which the
church heard greetings from
former pastor, Chuck Amel,
and MBA State Missionary
Pastor Robert Fuller, Sr. Sev-
eral memories - but at the con-
clusion there was praise that
God’s Word was
held as the stan-
dard for 150
years. Pastor
Tobe Bolles, who
grew up in First
Baptist Church,
preached the
morning service
from Psalm 103
recall ing the
benefits of God.
A delicious
fellowship lunch-
eon concluded the
events with many
enjoying the open
"mic" time of
recalling memo-
ries of their days
at First Baptist
Church and prais-
ing God for the
impact the church
had on their lives.
cided, even though evil has
already suffered a decisive,
irreversible defeat. Our own
corrupt flesh—the principle of
sin that remains in us—wages
war against us like a guerilla,
from a position of stealth and
harassment. It can do signifi-
cant damage, but if you are a
genuine believer, sin will never
That's because sin is like a
terrorist. It has lost the war
already. It is a defeated foe. It
has been stripped of its right to
rule. But it's not dead yet. And
it hasn't given up the fight. So it
attacks us secretly, and subtly,
by ambushing us when we don't
expect it. It wants to pretend the
outcome of the war is unde-
gain ultimate mastery over you.
Meanwhile, it is our job as
Christians to wage battle
against indwelling sin ruth-
lessly. We cannot pacify the
fleshly principle. We are not
merely supposed to placate it or
negotiate with it or compromise
with it. It is a deadly enemy that
must be met with deadly force,
Epilogue, from page 1
A PUBLICATION OF THE MINNESOTA BAPTIST ASSOCIATION
PO Box 527 Willmar, MN 56201-0527
We’re on the web! http:www.mbaoc.org
MBA Contacts
Minnesota Baptist Association
Rev. Gerald Stephens, President
Community Baptist Church
PO Box 212
New Prague, MN 56071
(952) 758-3287
State Missionary
Rev. Robert Fuller, Sr.
1549 118th Lane NW
Coon Rapids, MN 55448
(763) 568-4078
MBA Office
Minnesota Baptist Association
PO Box 527
Willmar, MN 56201-0527
Send Contributions to:
Mr. Brian Veth, MBA Treasurer
c/o Coon Rapids Baptist Church
11164 Hanson Blvd.
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
Send Update Articles and Pictures to:
North Star Update Editor
315 S. Payne St.
New Ulm, MN 56073
(507) 354-3323
September 8 – At the Invitation of Pastor Haynes of
First Baptist, Spring Valley, we
attended and participated in the
Observance of the 150th Anni-
versary of that local church. It
was a great blessing and chal-
lenging to experience the re-
view of 150 years. Another
report can be found elsewhere
in the UPDATE.
If I can be of help or ser-
vice to your church, please
contact me.
Foundations, from page 2
State Men’s, from page 1
attendance was 176, over 100
more men than we had the pre-
vious year. One attendee
shared: “This was the most
worthwhile Men's Retreat that I
have ever attended. Men of all
ages (I'm 67) could relate to
Phil Johnson's messages, and
grow from his consistent scrip-
ture-based teaching.”
The sessions were re-
corded, and one can hear or
download the Session and
Workshop audio by visiting
http://www.mbaoc.net/men/
audio-sessions. Next year’s
event is scheduled for Septem-
ber 19-20, 2014, and will be
hosted by First Calvary Baptist
Church in Inver Grove Heights.
Dr. Michael Harding of First
Baptist Church, Troy, MI, will
draw from the book of Ecclesi-
astes as he addresses “The
Search for Meaning.” We hope
you will join us!