SMOKY MOUNTAIN RESORT MINISTRIES
RACE FOR THE FUTURE
The
wheels have come off my race car! I
still have my Royal Ambassador race car from 1964. I can remember racing it until the axles wore
out and the wheels came off. I look at
it and know a system of missions education and missions support that shaped my
early life. I look at it and know that I
became a Southern Baptist missionary to fulfill the call of God upon my life
that began so early.
Denominational
missions has been the vehicle that God gave me to fulfill my call as a resort
missionary. Like that race car, I have
ridden denominational missions with great energy and excitement. Now, the wheels have come off that vehicle!
I
have been a Southern Baptist missionary since 1981. Now, the North American Mission Board and the
Tennessee Baptist Convention have withdrawn their support of Smoky Mountain
Resort Ministries and of me. The
official announcement states: “The
Administration of the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention has
made the difficult decision to cease funding for Smoky Mountain Resort
Ministries effective September 30, 2014.
This decision has not been reached lightly and is in response in a
decrease in funding available from the North American Mission Board and from
the Tennessee Baptist Convention Cooperative Program.”
God
has not changed my calling nor changed the missions need of Gatlinburg, Pigeon
Forge, and Sevier County, Tennessee. God
has not released me from Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries. The Sevier County Association of Baptist
responded to the announcement of the Tennessee Baptist Convention with a vote
to maintain Smoky Mountain Resort Ministries (SMRM) and to affirm Bill Black as
its Director. These local Baptist
churches will continue to support SMRM with their limited financial resources
and their powerful love.
The
missional model of SMRM remains healthy, active, and God-blessed. People around our ministry are responding
daily to our loving and creative works of evangelism, ministry, and church
growth. God’s blessing remains on SMRM.
The
business model of SMRM is now open to new possibilities. SMRM must raise its own funding to
continue. SMRM must find $168,000 per
year to continue on its current active level.
That means we need $14,000 per month to continue as God has us working
now.
Would
you become the wheels for this ministry?
Would you commit to funding one month of SMRM? Would you commit to raising a month’s
support?
Gifts
can be sent to SMRM, P.O. Box 114, Gatlinburg, TN 37738. Please mark your gifts for “future”. Gifts are tax deductible. Contact Bill at bill@smrm.org or 865-607-4076 to get
involved in helping this plan into the future.
Your
commitment to support on any level will put the wheels on a new vehicle.
We
can do this. God will do this.