The Columbus Baptist Association is off to a busy start this spring, and their summer season will include a host of goodness to span from Columbus County to Nicaragua. A mission trip, teens volunteering, a backpacking party, and an appreciation luncheon are on the horizon for the organization. Sign-ups for one of those events will close this week.
Senior Luncheon
The CBA Senior Adult Luncheon will be held on Tuesday, May 13, at 11 a.m. at Pleasant Plains Church. There will be fellowship, food, singing, and guest speaker Melanie Beeson from the North Carolina Baptist on Aging Ministry will be in attendance. The purpose of the gathering is to honor and recognize CBA seniors. Those who plan on attending must call the association office at 910.642.2155 by this Wednesday, May 7, to sign-up. The luncheon is free, but the CBA needs a head count to know how much food to prepare for their guests. The address for the church is 31 Pleasant Plains Church Road in Whiteville.
Backpack Buddies
Backpack Buddies is a food ministry funded by the CBA each year to allow needy children to bring home meals for the weekend who may not have another chance to eat until they get back to school on Monday morning. The last packing party of this school year will be held on Monday, May 19, at 6:30 p.m. The association needs as many volunteers as possible for this distribution as they have so much to do. This event will be held at the CBA office located at 208 South Thompson Street in Whiteville.
Nicaraguan Mission Trip
The Nicaraguan Mission Team will be collecting items to take to the country during their annual mission trip in June. The supplies can be dropped off Monday-Weds, from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at the CBA office, or if you have an abundance of supplies for them, you can call the association office to arrange for a pick-up. The team will be collecting until June 10.
Items needed include the following:
Hard candy
Coloring books
Water-based tattoos
Children’s blunt scissors
Jump ropes
Glucometers and test strips
Kitchen Knives
Kitchen cutting mats
Long wooden stirring paddles
Inflatable beach balls
Frisbees
Fingernail polish
Beads for bracelets
Elastic stretch cord for bracelets
Extra-large old suitcases
Sports equipment (soccer balls, baseballs, ball bats, gloves)
Mission Serve Returns to Columbus
Mission Serve will be coming back to Columbus County from June 21-28. The CBA will be hosting almost 300 teenagers and their youth leaders from all over the U.S. who have paid to come and volunteer their time and energy to folks and organizations all over the area. Churches and civic groups are needed to adopt and feed lunch to 19-20 small groups of the youngsters during their work week. An outline of the schedule has also been posted to give folks a general idea of what is involved when helping out.
On Sunday morning, June 22, a team of about 12-14 people will worship with you at your church. After the services, you will provide them with lunch. On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday of that coming week, you will bring lunch to your team at their worksite. Lunch will need to be served between 11:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. each day. You can serve burgers and hotdogs, pizza, chicken, subs, or anything large enough that can feed 12-14 hungry teenagers. Paper goods, plastic utensils, and drinks should also be included at each meal.
To adopt a team, you will need to commit to the entire week and not just a few days. If your church is small, you can also partner with a neighboring church and adopt them together.
Please call Teresa Powell at the CBA office as soon as possible to sign up to feed these hard-working Mission Serve kids.
