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On November 16, hundreds of Southeastern students gathered at Bay Leaf Baptist Church to do some early Christmas shopping.  Each year, Bay Leaf hosts an event called the Toy Chest that blesses SEBTS families by allowing parents to shop for VERY low cost gifts for their children. Some students arrived as early as midnight or 2 am to participate in this incredible event!  

This year, the church raised $39,162 to purchase gifts that were made available to students for a fraction of the actual cost.  There were so many toys!  Parents could purchase bicycles for $10, enter raffles, enjoy snacks, and browse the hundreds of toys available for about 10% their original cost.  Any money raised at the Toy Chest is donated to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, which in turn supports many SEBTS families who are now serving on the field.  Over 315 children from 131 families will receive gifts purchased at this year's Toy Chest.  
Check out the pictures below to see the excitement of the morning.

 

Thank you, Bay Leaf, for supporting our students! Your gifts have truly blessed us!

Connecting Point events at SEBTS are designed to bring women together and to impact our communities.  At our Connecting Point event on October 21, 2013 (Engaging Our Own), we prayed over missionaries in the U.S. and around the world who have been sent out from Southeastern.  

We also wrote them notes of encouragement and sent the wives of the North American church planters each a special gift. 

Dear Ladies of Connecting Point,

After a long, emotional week in the life of church planting, being a mom, and being a wife, a glimpse of hope came in the mail!  Your words of encouragement and talk of prayer could not have come at a better time.

To not feel alone in this mission for one moment was like fueling up my empty tank of passion for this calling.

I recall, during my short stay at SEBTS as a student wife preparing for the field, feeling so full of passion and energy for those that do not love our Lord. Being surrounded by Christians 24/7, neighbors, work, church, classes … I fed off that energy and spoke to missionaries every chance I got.  I wanted to know everything, ups and downs, challenges and struggles.  They all warned of the loneliness.  I doubted that would be the case for me. I make friends easy.

But at the end of our two years here in a very lost corner of the USA, I found myself lonely.  As I am finding joy in my love for God and love for the people God has called us to, I am also finding joy in little things I might not have found so joyful two years ago.  And now I am praising our Lord for working through the Connecting Point ministries to reach out and hold me and warm me up through a hot cup of joe!

Thank you ladies for being such the encouragement I needed on that very moment I opened the letter!

Thank you,

Darlene Dryer

I love, love, love (you get the idea!) teaching women the Scriptures.  It is one of my passions and brings me great joy.  To see women understand Scripture and have it change their lives is an indescribable thing.  Since the moment I received Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I’ve wanted to be a part of something that would change people, especially women, to the core of who they are.  Back home in Florida, I was blessed to have small group leaders who recognized that God has gifted me in this area, and they gave me opportunities to teach on multiple occasions. 

Since moving to N.C. last summer, starting school, trying to meet new people, and attend a new church haven’t left me much time to put this gift into practice.  This semester, though, God has given me two different opportunities to exercise the gift of teaching.  I have the privilege of being a D-group leader to three beautiful Southeastern college women, and I am a member of the LEAD{women} team. Since you can read about D-Groups here, I am going to tell you about LEAD{women}!

Ladies Engaging and Discipling women is a ministry of Southeastern that serves the women in North Carolina’s local churches while providing valuable, practical ministry experience for Southeastern’s female students.  As churches call the Women’s Life Office with requests for women to lead upcoming women’s events, the Women’s Life office contacts the LEAD team and works with the team to select the appropriate person(s) to fulfill each church’s request.  The churches benefit from the passionate, well-trained women who staff the event, and the LEAD team benefits from the experience of hands-on ministry involvement.

My first opportunity to serve through LEAD{women} was at a WMU meeting for the women of Norlina Baptist Church in Norlina, NC.  I was asked to share about a recent mission trip and how the Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong offerings impact missions.  This past summer, I participated in a trip to Indonesia that Southeastern offered, so I was able to share about my experiences, lessons learned, and the challenges I faced on that trip. 

Leslie Hildreth, the Women’s Ministry Coordinator at SEBTS, went with me for support and to provide feedback on my talk.  We had the opportunity to eat with the women before I spoke and to get to know the pastor and his wife.  All of the women made me feel very special; they even had corsages for Leslie and me to wear! 

The event at Norlina Baptist Church was a learning experience for me.  Since I did not grow up in a Baptist church, my understanding of Lottie Moon and Annie Armstrong were limited to what I had learned through the Cooperative Program class Southeastern requires.  It was so much fun to research and learn a little more about these women and to share what I learned with the women of Norlina Baptist.  

This teaching opportunity came at just the right time in my life.  Though I was struggling emotionally with some things, our ever gracious and loving Father used the very lessons I had learned in Indonesia to remind me all over again of His grace, strength, and love.  He reminded me that He will never leave me and that carries me through rough patches of fear and doubting in my relationship with Him.  The Lord also challenged me through this talk to stay committed to praying for those serving on the field.  I was reminded to pray about why I should stay, about how I give to missions, and about being intentional to live missionally every day, right where I am.   

I am so blessed to be a part of this team, and I am thankful that Southeastern has provided such an incredible opportunity to grow and develop my skills while preparing for ministry!

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  Romans 10:10-15 (NIV)