Westwood Baptist Church Faith Promise Missions Conference (February 16 - 20, 2005).

The annual missions conference at the Westwood Baptist Chruch of Odessa, Texas was well attended by the membership. Dr. Bill Johnson of International Christian Publishers was the special speaker each evening and on Sunday morning. The conference was held on Wednesday evening through Sunday morning. Each evening time was given to various missionaries, who told of their call to the field, their goals for the work and their special needs.

Among the missionaries was David Humber, who is missionary to Abiline, Texas. He has successfully planted a church in that city. Missionary Dan Holt told how the Lord has blessed his work in New Mexico. The church there is almost ready to "go it alone" with the need of any outside support! Rusty and Susan Teer, missionaries to Southeast Aisa, told of their excitment in getting started on deputation in preparation to going to northern Thailand. Pastor Wayne Stringer of West Side Baptist Chruch, New Boston, Texas, told about the plans to help build worship centers for churches in the Philippine Islands. Brother Johnson gave the church a report on the work of International Christian Publishers in providing literture for chruches in Romania, the Philippines and Thailand.

A special "international dinner" was enjoyed by the membership on Saturday evening. Following the dinner, Missionary Rita Johnson showed her collection of cultural items from Southeast Asia, the Philippines, Costa Rica and Romania.

Pastor Weeks DuBose was very excited about the resulting committments of the members. After eight years of being involved in Faith Promise Missions, the membership made record committments of over forty-seven thousand dollars! In addition to serving as the sending chruch for Missionary Everett Ledbetter who is planting a church in Lawrence, Kansas, the Westwood church supports missionaries world-wide through Faith Promise Missions Giving.

Dr. DuBose had this to say about the conference: "God blessed us with a great conference. We had 6 missionaries visit with us and give reports. This excited our people even more. Bro. Bill Johnson did an outstanding job as our featured speaker. His messages on missions along with his way of connecting his subjects to Faith Promise Mission giving were among the best I have heard. I highly recommend him as a Missions Conference speaker.
"Once again . . . God blessed and our people responded with a record (for us) in Faith Promise Commitments---$47,072. Several of our regular attendees were absent because of illness. It is quiet possible that we could reach $50,000 in commitments before our new year begins."

Churches across the United States are being blessed through Faith Promise Missions Giving. For more information contact Pastor DuBose or email Missionary Bill Johnson.