2021 ABA Meeting

American Baptist Association Meeting - July 2021.

It is an honor to be reelected to serve the churches of the American Baptist Association (ABA) as Business Manager of the Baptist Sunday School Committee and Bogard Press. I am also very thankful for the great time of fellowship and the wonderful unity we enjoyed at the meeting in Charleston, West Virginia. I am excited about what the Lord is going to do through His churches in the coming year.

We are delighted to welcome a new Editor-in-Chief, Bro. Mark Clements, to Bogard Press. Mark has served the churches of the ABA faithfully for years in many roles including pastor, missionary, and writer for Bogard Press. Please pray for him as he transitions into his new role.

We also want to express our gratitude to Kyle Elkins for his service to Bogard Press as Editor-in-Chief for the last seven years and his total of thirty-five years of service to Bogard Press. He has been a tremendous support and encouragement to me. We will sincerely miss him in the ministry and wish him well as he continues to serve the Lord.

Time of Prayer with Missionaries at 2021 ABA Meeting, Charleston, WV.

As many states reduce restrictions, many churches are getting back to a more normal schedule, as demonstrated by an increase in sales of summer Sunday School literature versus spring literature of over 5%. While we are thankful for this increase, literature sales are still over 20% lower than pre-COVID levels, but hopefully the positive trends will continue. Recent VBS sales are better, with May 2021 sales being three times that of May 2020, but those sales were still only one-third of what is historically sold in May, typically the highest sales month. Retail store sales have fully recovered from COVID, up 28% versus 2020 and up 6% versus 2019.

As we move forward, we trust God to bless us to continue to provide high-quality, doctrinaly sound literature to help churches fulfill the Great Commission. On behalf of the Baptist Sunday School Committee, the writers and the employees of Bogard Press, we thank you for the privilege to serve the churches of the American Baptist Association.