The audio files from the BTC 2010 conference are now available for free download! To listen to Pastors Don Donell and Raymond Perron preach on the subject of “The Church & Missions,” follow the links below.

Session 1: Conference Introduction by Don Donell & Raymond Perron

Session 2: “The Mission Is God’s” (Don Donell)

Session 3: “Let’s Get Out of Our Hideout” (Raymond Perron)

Session 4: “Becoming a Radicalized Disciple”  (Don Donell)

Session 5: “Proclaiming the Gospel in a Secular Culture” (Raymond Perron)

Session 6: Questions & Answers with Don Donell, John Giarrizzo, & Raymond Perron

(By David Giarrizzo)


After months of preparation, BTC 2010 is upon us. This weekend, August 6-9, 110 people from 25 different churches in 14 different states will descend upon Prescott, Arizona, for what should be a blessed weekend of time in God’s Word and fellowship with God’s people.

Please keep the following requests in your prayers:

• That God would be glorified in every part of our weekend together.
• That those who are travelling long distances to and from the conference will travel safely and without difficulties.
• That God would give Pastors Don Donell and Raymond Perron power from on high as they preach the Word.
• That God would encourage the young adults who attend the conference through the messages and fellowship.
• That God would encourage the brethren in the churches back home through the Christians who return to continue in their service to the Lord.
• That God might raise up the next pastor, missionary, or church planter through this year’s conference.  

We are continually amazed at what God has and is doing through this annual conference. Please pray for BTC 2010.

For more information, visit www.buildingtomorrowschurch.com.

(By David Giarrizzo)

Growing up in a church where the Gospel was preached every week from the pulpit and in a home where biblical evangelism was just a part of life, I have understood from an early age the importance of gospel missions as it relates to the local body of believers. Tales of missions and missionaries were commonplace stories at bedtime or at the breakfast table in the Giarrizzo home. I remember fellowshipping with David Straub in our home on various occasions, listening to his stories of the spread of the Gospel to faraway lands, and being amazed by this man who would eat an entire apple—everything but the stem. (Rumor has it that ARBCA’s current coordinator also eats whole apples, core and all!) I remember attending RBMS missions banquets at Cornerstone Bible Church, even singing a duet with my brother at one of these conferences. As children, my brother and I knew who our missionaries were because we were taught to pray for them often.

I think I was in fifth grade when I went as a missionary for Career Day; I basically dressed like my dad on Sunday mornings and carried my Bible around all day. But there was a time in my life when I seriously wondered if God would someday call me to be a missionary to a foreign land, be it Australia or Hollywood. Since then, however, God has taught me more than I deserve to know about His Word, the Gospel of His Son, and His means of saving His elect throughout the world.

Ironically enough, even though I have never lived more than 13 miles from the house I grew up in, God has shown me still that I really am called to be a missionary.

In about two weeks from now, at this year’s Building Tomorrow’s Church conference for Reformed Baptist young adults, the emphasis will be on missions and how it relates to the local church, ultimately to each one of us individually. Although I grew up understanding the definition and importance of mission work, I had trouble really grasping my part in the work of missions. And I have a feeling I’m not the only one to experience this. At BTC’10, attendees will here from two men qualified to teach others about the biblical reasons for missions and the practical application the subject has on the lives of everyday church members. Pastors Raymond Perron and Don Donell will be bringing two messages each to help conference attendees synthesize the biblical doctrine of evangelism with personal practice. (To view the session titles, click here: BTC 2010 Messages)

Please pray that the Lord of the harvest might be pleased to instill in the lives of those who attend BTC 2010 a sincere and lasting desire to see Christ’s kingdom grow; a yearning so strong that maybe even one person from this conference will be used of God to bring a sinner to repentance and faith.

May the words of this song ever be a prayer in our hearts, our homes, and our churches:

Let Your Kingdom Come

Your glorious cause, O God, engages our hearts
May Jesus Christ be known wherever we are
We ask not for ourselves, but for Your renown
The cross has saved us so we pray
Your kingdom come

Let Your kingdom come
Let Your will be done
So that everyone might know Your Name
Let Your song be heard everywhere on earth
Till Your sovereign work on earth is done
Let Your kingdom come

Give us Your strength, O God, and courage to speak
Perform Your wondrous deeds through those who are weak
Lord use us as You want, whatever the test
By grace we’ll preach Your gospel
Till our dying breath

-Bob Kauflin

© 2006 Sovereign Grace Praise (BMI)

(By David Giarrizzo…and Isaac Watts)

How sweet and awful is the place
With Christ within the doors,
While everlasting love displays
The choicest of her stores!

While all our hearts and all our songs
Join to admire the feast,
Each of us cry, with thankful tongues,
“Lord, why was I a guest?

“Why was I made to hear Thy voice,
And enter while there’s room,
When thousands make a wretched choice,
And rather starve than come?”

’Twas the same love that spread the feast
That sweetly forced us in;
Else we had still refused to taste,
And perished in our sin.

Why was I made to hear? Why was I made to come? Why was I made to sit? Why was I made to eat? Thousands upon thousands, born in sinful rebellion just like me, remain in the dark outside of the banquet-hall of God. And yet, for whatever reason that pleased Him, the loving Father has accepted this prodigal wretch and has given me a place at His heavenly table. Nothing I could do would ever repay this debt I owe. The King has made this enemy His child. By this I begin to understand grace.

Pity the nations, O our God!
Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad,
And bring the strangers home.

The love of God, as expressed through the sending and dying and resurrecting of His only Son, Jesus Christ, has been lavished upon those from every tribe, tongue, and nation whom God had chosen according to His perfect will from before the foundation of the world. That love which has drawn us, broken us, and compelled us to turn our eyes to Jesus for life everlasting—that same everlasting love that displayed salvation to me should thus compel me to pity the nations as He has.

Do I pity the nations as Christ does? Do I long to see true churches filled? If I do, then why am I not doing more to share the love of Christ? What gratitude do I show Him who redeemed my life from the grave when I do not open my mouth and tell of His wonders? What part am I playing in sending the victorious Word abroad? If God wills, might that even one stranger be sought and found and brought into the house of the Lord by way of a lowly messenger like me.

We long to see Thy churches full,
That all the chosen race
May with one voice, and heart and soul,
Sing Thy redeeming grace.

God’s redeeming grace will be the unified song of all God’s children for all eternity. The harmony of heaven will sound forever to the only One Who is worthy to receive all power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.

God give me the strength to sing this song as long as you give me days. Amen.

(By David Giarrizzo)

In April of 2007, after a round-table discussion about the possibility of a nation-wide conference for young Reformed Baptists, Don Donell, serving at that time as a missionary in Argentina, expressed the following thoughts in an email to me:

I believe there exists a great opportunity to mobilize young people in godly living and purposeful preparation of their lives for gospel labors through such planned events. …That by His grace and blessing upon it we might see many lives transformed and kingdom priorities established in the lives of many young people that will impact whole nations for the gospel in their lifetimes.

Now in its 3^rd year of existence, the Building Tomorrow’s Church conference is aimed at impacting Reformed Baptist young adults, ages 18 years and older, with a deepening love for Jesus Christ and a renewed appreciation for His the church. Both singles and married couples from across America will be meeting together in Prescott, Arizona, August 6^th-9^th, for a weekend full of biblical teaching and sweet fellowship with like-minded believers. Indeed, we long to see “many lives transformed and kingdom priorities established” for the glory of God and the growth of the Kingdom.

We are privileged to have as this year’s speakers Pastor Don Donell from Crosspoint Church in Fletcher, NC, and Pastor Raymond Perron from Église Baptiste Réformée de la Capitale in Quebec, Canada. This year’s theme, “The Church and Missions,” deals specifically with the wonderful responsibility that Christ left with His disciples to take God’s Word to the ends of the world. At this summer’s conference Pastors Donell and Perron will address the parts that all of the church’s members should play in reaching the lost with the gospel. Through this conference we want to communicate that same evangelistic sentiment that C.H. Spurgeon expressed in his 1856 sermon on Gospel Missions:

We feel persuaded that all of you are of one mind in this matter, that it is the absolute duty as well as the eminent privilege of the Church to proclaim the gospel to the world. We do not conceive that God will do his own work without instruments, but that, as he has always employed means in the work of the regeneration of this world, he will still continue to do the same, and that it becomes the Church to do its utmost to spread the truth wherever it can reach the ear of man.

Thus, the activity of missions is an important part of the ministry of the local church, and therefore deserves our attention as individual Christians and faithful church members.

We have yet to find out how many future missionaries, church planters, elders, deacons, or Sunday school teachers may be raised up through one of these conferences, but we look forward to what the Lord might do. “Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” (Psalm 90:17).  May God alone receive all the glory.

“Pity the nations, O our God, Constrain the earth to come;
Send Thy victorious Word abroad, And bring the strangers home.

We long to see Thy churches full, That all the chosen race
May, with one voice and heart and soul, Sing Thy redeeming grace.”

For more information about this summer’s BTC conference in Arizona, visit www.buildingtomorrowschurch.com or email us at buildingtomorrowschurch[at]gmail[dot]com.

To take advantage of the early registration discount, register online before May 31^st!

(By: John Miller)

Thursday night, April 22nd, the 2010 ARBCA General Assembly ended with a wonderful crescendo as David Vaughn, an ARBCA church planting missionary in France, spoke to us about seven elements that are necessary for a church to be consumed with God’s Great Commission. At the beginning of the General Assembly we were not even sure if David Vaughn would be able to be with us, due to the grounding of air travel in Europe. But the Lord answered our prayers in bringing him safely to Greenville, South Carolina by Wednesday so that he could exhort us on Thursday night. The following is a summary of his exhortations: Our churches must have…

1. Clear Vision

We must have a clear vision of the message and call of God in the Scriptures, and through our study of the Old Testament and the New Testament, we find that there is a “double-center.” In Luke 24:45-47, we read how Jesus taught his disciples from the Old Testament Scriptures, saying, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” We see that not only is message of the Old Testament that Jesus is the Messiah, but also that Jesus is sending his disciples into all the world to proclaim his glorious gospel of grace. As David Vaughn said, “The Old Testament is not only Messianic, it is missional.” Missions is not just one of the activities of the church. All activities of the church are attached to mission, because we are a sent people. In redemptive history, the church is in the day of proclaiming the glory of God in Jesus Christ to the nations!

2. Real Dependence

In Mark 1:17, we read of Jesus calling his disciples, saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” How will we become fruitful in evangelism and zealous for the souls of men? It will only happen by the supernatural power of God on high! We must struggle with God, coming before God and evaluating ourselves concerning our evangelism. How often do we pray for the Lord to give us boldness in witness by the Spirit’s power? We need to repent of our sinful silence and ask God to open our mouths!

3. Vital Spirituality

In 1 Thessalonians 1:7-9, we read that the church in Thessalonica was a model of a missionary working church, with their faith in Christ sounding forth from them to all the world around them. What was their missionary zeal rooted in? It was rooted in a vital spirituality, as evidenced by Paul’s commendation in 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3. Paul thanked the Lord for the Thessalonians, specifically their “work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” All missionary work flows out of faith, hope, and love.

4. Ongoing Evangelistic Preaching by the Pastors

In Acts 20:20, we read that Paul preached to gospel both “in public and from house to house.” Paul had a zeal to preach the gospel in both formal and informal situations, and we should follow his example. David Vaughn encouraged pastors not to forget our spiritual forefathers who made it a practice to preach specially focused evangelistic messages. Concerning informal situations, Dr. Cornelius Van Til was known to frequently conduct open air preaching. When it comes to formal situations, it was the practice of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones to have one purely evangelistic service every week. Not only did he usually have an evangelistic message on Sunday evenings, but he would preach evangelistic sermons two to three times during the week as well. To paraphrase what Lloyd-Jones’ wife said about him, she said: “If you want to understand my husband, you must understand that first of all, he was a man of prayer. And secondly, he was an evangelist!” Let us, as pastors, have such an evangelistic heart and practice.

5. Congregational Contact with the World

The whole congregation is to be involved in living as a witness for Jesus Christ. And the is to be done in all of life. One of the most effective means that God uses to draw people to the truth and to the church is through informal social contact. Our people must be in the world! After all, Jesus was the friend of sinners. How often do you have non-Christians friends around your dinner table?

6. Worldwide Outlook and Orientation

Jesus authoritatively sends out his church to ALL NATIONS! Therefore, our local churches must have a vision for the nations. What does having a worldwide outlook mean? Well, one thing it means is that visitors to your church will be struck by that fact that the church is talking about different peoples, groups, and nations – concerned to pray for them and reach them with the gospel. Do you have a prayer meeting regularly for missions? Pastors, do you pray for the unreached peoples in the world in your pastoral prayers? Do you have a missions conference in your church? Do you teach your children the importance of learning a foreign language, that they may take the gospel to other lands? Or is your vision and outlook to small? May God grant to us and our churches a worldwide outlook!

7. Self-Denial

Missionary work advances through self-denial. As Paul said to the Ephesian elders, “And now behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:22-24). Paul was willing to suffer for the sake of the gospel, so that he wrote the Corinthians, saying, “So death is at work in us, but life in you” (2 Corinthians 4:12). We need to cultivate a strong culture of self-denial in our churches. C. T. Studd, one of the St. Andrews Seven who was a missionary to China, India, and Africa, had a body that was racked with pain and disease. As he was heading to Africa, he responded to someone who was discouraging him from going by saying, “If I die, may my tombstone be a stepping stone to other younger men to go farther!” He was a man who was not afraid to deny himself, for he was confident in his Savior who had died for him. As Studd states, “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” May we be faithful, true, and bold soldiers of the cross!