| September 16, 2026 | |
 | From the Desk of your DOM Let’s Celebrate Timothy Project Senior Adult Lunch Upcoming Opportunities: September See You at the Pole Youth Rally- Sept. 23 Youth and Children’s Volunteer Training- Sept. 26 Pray for our CRBA Pastors of the Week More CRBA Calendar Events Resource of the Week Church & Ministry Partner News |
 | We have listened to your feedback! After listening to your feedback, we have heard you clearly say this is a VERY busy time in your church calendars. For that reason, we are moving the “Seats to the Streets” Church Strenthening event to Spring 2027. We will update you on a date at a later time. The Seats to the Streets Event will NOT happen on Sept. 22 at Burkemont Baptist Church. We are grateful for our Church Strengthening Team and Evangelism Team working together to plan this event. |
 Great Commission Revival/Conference Enon Baptist Church Pastors and leaders from across our association rallied together to be a blessing to Enon Baptist. Michael Hodge, Paul Mason, Chip Stallings, Shane Ramsey, and Keith Rose spoke on the Great Commission from Sunday AM/PM to Wed PM. If your church is interested in a Great Commission Revival/Conference, please reach out to our office.  Michael Speaking at the Mission Conference Grace Baptist Church Pastor Marty Bess was kind to include our CRBA in their Mission Week. I had an opportunity to celebrate the collaborative work of our churches in engaging the lost of Burke County. The message on Tuesday evening was shared by a missionary/church planter from the Phillipines. _____________ Annual Meeting is Soon!! We are excited to join together on October 18 at Mount Home for our Annual Meeting. Now is the time to elect your messengers who will represent your church at the Annual Meeting. Be sure to include that in your upcoming business meetings. | From the Desk of your DOM Wednesday, September 16 Praise God for all that He is doing in and through our churches! What an incredible week it has been serving alongside so many of our CRBA churches. From the Great Commission Conference and Revival at Enon, to the Senior Adult Gathering at Bridge 42, the Missions Conference at Grace Baptist Church, the September Jubilee at Mulls Grove, and so many other gatherings across our association, we are seeing God at work and lives being changed. We are continually watching where God is moving and working and striving to join Him in that work! I love the fact that you are doing so many Gospel-centered events that there is no way we can attend them all! What a blessing! The fact that you’re receiving this newsletter a little later in the day is a good reflection of just how much is happening across our association! Our morning included a great meeting with the Finance Team as we began discussing the 2027 budget. We are incredibly grateful for the faithful individuals who serve on our teams and help make the ministry of the association possible. I’ve also been working today with our Church Strengthening Team as we prepare for an upcoming event. We wanted to make sure those details were current and ready to share before sending everything out to you. Video Update Posted to Facebook For the second week in a row, I uploaded a video update to Facebook – offering a Scripture challenge, prayer list of the churches and pastors, leadership tip, and overview of upcoming activities. You can see this week’s video on our Monday post. For those who do not use Facebook, here’s the YouTube link:Click HERE to watch the YouTube video. Michael R. Hodge Director of Missions What are we working on at the CRBA?Ministry TeamsOur CRBA offers ministry teams to collectively accomplish the work of supporting and serving our churches. Our Nominating Team is diligently working to fill all those slots on our ministry teams and will have the full list of willing volunteers available at our Annual Meeting of the Association. Budget DiscussionOur Finance Team met today to discuss the budget needs for 2027. As you meet to discuss your church’s 2027 budget, would you consider the impact of our collective work and invest in this association? If you give a set amount, is there a way to increase that for next year? If you give a percentage of budget, what would it look like to increase that percentage? We believe God is blessing the collective work of our churches as we equip, encourage pastors and churches as together we seek to engage the lost of Burke County and beyond.  |
 Our ministries at Catawba River Baptist Association are guided by this summary statement capturing our three categories: We exist to Equip and Encourage pastors and churches to Engage communities with the Gospel. | |
 | PASTORS — Tomorrow (09.17) is Thursday and THIS WEEK we’re getting together for breakfast. Your breakfast is COVERED. We are planning for 5 MORE than have signed up – – so if you missed the deadline, come on! What’s the goal? Encouragement and prayer. Who’s speaking? Michael (and you as you share). I have heard many pastors say lunchtime is challenging. So, this is an attempt to find a time slot that meets your schedule. Let’s give this a try and we can discuss future opportunities. |
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| Let’s Celebrate | |
 | Timothy Project Is Back!The Timothy Project kicked off its first gathering after summer break, and our students and mentors were excited to dive back into learning about church ministry!Greg Klapp and Luke Lane led an engaging session on Church Membership & Governance, helping our students better understand how the local church functions and how they can faithfully serve within it.We are so thankful for these young people who aren’t waiting until they are older to get involved—they are plugging in, serving, and making a difference in ministry right now! We’re excited to see how God continues to grow and use each of them. |
| Celebrating a Gospel LegacyWhat a wonderful time of fellowship we had at our CRBA Senior Adult Lunch! We were grateful to welcome Tim, a former IMB missionary, who shared an encouraging and challenging message about leaving a Gospel legacy for our children and future generations.His words reminded us of the incredible opportunity we have to faithfully pass our faith on to those who come after us and to live in a way that points future generations to Christ.A special thank you to Bridge 42 Baptist Church for graciously hosting us and helping make this gathering such a meaningful time of fellowship, encouragement, and inspiration. We are thankful for our CRBA senior adults and the legacy of faith they continue to build! |  |
| Praying for our CRBA Pastors | |
 Churches Without Senior Pastors Bethlehem FBC Connelly Springs FBC Morganton Catawba Valley Silver Creek First Hmong – Pastor Installation Service – Sept. 26. .jpg) | Each week, we feature several of our Pastors who faithfully serve in our CRBA churches. We are providing a contact email for encouragement purposes. Action Step: Pray for these churches and pastors – then send an email of encouragement and support! Featured Pastors for this WeekAbee’s Grove Baptist Church (Pastor Rudy Hayes – rudyhayes77@gmail.com) Amherst Baptist Church (Pastor Thomas Herman – thomas.herman66@yahoo.com) Antioch Baptist Church (Pastor Danny Ward – antioch.baptist2441@outlook.com) Asheville Street Baptist Church (Pastor Doug Goforth- dgoforth341@gmail.com) Bended Knee Cowboy Church (Pastor Doug Goforth- dgoforth341@gmail.com) Bethel Baptist Church (Pastor Kevin Sizemore- kevinsizemore55@yahoo.com) Bridge 42 (Pastor Andrew Whisenant- pastorandreww@gmail.com)CRBA Churches Seeking Staff Please be in prayer for our churches seeking to fill staff positions. When we have a new position posted it will appear in this newsletter for a few weeks, but all our positions are always available to view on our website. Enon Baptist Church is seeking a part-time music director. Please send resume to Enon Baptist Church 2059 Enon Rd. Morganton, NC 28655 C/O Personnel Committee. Enon Baptist Church is seeking a part-time youth director. Please send resume to Enon Baptist Church 2059 Enon Rd. Morganton, NC 28655 C/O Personnel Committee. |
| More CRBA Calendar Events | ||
   | September Baptist Mission Offering Emphasis 17- Pastor’s Breakfast at CRBA @ 8:00am. 19- Golf Tournament 19- Women’s Breakfast 22- From Our Seats to the Streets 23- SYATP Youth Rally 26- Youth and Children’s Volunteer Training 30- Oct. 8- Armenia Mission Trip October Coats for the City Collection 5&6- Toy Store Registration 8- Timothy Project 9- Baking for Babies- Baked Goods Due 10- Pregnancy Care Center Day for Life – Baking For Babies Booth 18- Fall Meeting @ Mt. Home 18- Coats for the City Donations due at Fall Meeting 18- Momentum Youth Rally @ Burkemont 19-20- CRBA Youth Fall Mission Trip- Helene Rebuild 27- Gospel Legacy Training for Sr. Adults @ 10am November 3- Ministry Wives Event 8- Timothy Project 9- Men’s Rally @ Grace 21- NC Baptist Marriage Conference with Gary Chapman @ Burkemont December 1- Pastors and Wives Christmas Dinner 3-6- Coats for City Trip to NYC 7-10- Toy Store | |
| CRBA Resource of the Week | |
 | Your CRBA has a Big E Cube available for you to check out. This is a great large display that opens up and tells the gospel. Checking out any resource is free of charge to all our CRBA churches. If you would like to reserve any CRBA resource, just call (828) 437-0137. |
 On Mission Together: Seated & Sent September 19, 2026Women’s Evangelism and Discipleship ConferenceLawndale Baptist Church, 3505 Lawndale Dr, Greensboro, NC 27408Saturday, September 19th, 2026RegisterCost: $30 |  |
 |  The entire Baptist On Mission budget comes from the North Carolina Mission Offering. |
 | Samaritan’s Purse has some Seasonal Jobs available – help spread the word. |
 | Hopewell Baptist Church |
| Mull’s GroveClick the image to see the full size promo on Mull’s Grove Facebook page. |  |
 | EQUIPPING EVERY PASTOR IN WESTERN N.C. Biltmore Church – Arden Campus, 35 Clayton Rd, Arden, NC 28704 Saturday, October 10th, 2026 Click the image above for registration information (opens on June 17). Note: Michael Hodge is registered and can take several of you with him! Others of you may want to carpool as well. |
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