Hephzibah Baptist Association
Associational Missionary Tim Batchelor
GBDR is currently on deployment in Crestview, FL following Hurricane Isaias.
Unit 4R has 4 team members serving October 18-25 and 1 team member serving November 1-8.
Unit 2F will have 1 team member serving October 18-25 and 1 team member serving November 1-8.
Please keep these and all volunteers in your prayers.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
Please click here to see ministry descriptions on the DR page. There is a job for everyone. It isn't all cutting trees, cooking, or hard manual labor tasks.
Calendar of
Upcoming Events
Nov 8-10 Georgia Baptist Convention, Second BC of Warner Robins, GA
Georgia Baptist DR
Training Dates 2027
January 15 & 16 FBC Waycross
February 19-20 Sherwood BC
Albany
March 19-20 Tabernacle BC
Cartersville
September 10-11 Abilene BC
Martinez
October 1-2 FBC Atlanta
Hephzibah Baptist Association
September 2026
Missionary Moment
by Tim Batchelor
Almost six years ago, I decided to take on the task of learning Spanish. Having studied several languages in high school and college I knew that I was taking on a huge task, not being a good language learner by nature. I found different apps that I could listen to and practice with while I was on the road and with great difficulty began the journey. It took two years before I could begin to follow the simplest spoken Spanish and two years before I could generate even the most basic sentences. Not a day goes by that I do not study Spanish and I have become quite proficient at understanding most spoken Spanish. That ability is very helpful when I am in Ecuador, but I have long way to go in being able to speak Spanish fluently.
Sometimes I will read out loud in Spanish to improve pronunciation and reading comprehension and quite often I will ask Susan if she understands what I am reading. Susan is fluent in Spanish and speaks like a native Ecuadorian. When I ask her if she understands what I am reading it is not to ascertain whether she understands the content but whether I am speaking clear enough Spanish to be understood. Sometimes when I am using my Spanish skills (or lack of) in Ecuador I ask “Me entiendes?” In that context I am trying to ascertain if my sentence made sense in addition to whether I was speaking clearly. In cross cultural settings the goal is to speak in a way that you can be understood.
BIBLE DRILL
it is time to plan for the upcoming year of Bible Drill. Children's Bible Drill is an awesome way to help students grades 3-6 grow in their relationship with jesus through God's words. Betsy Milburn at Wrens Baptist Church would be thrilled to help any church establish a Bible Drill program. For more information you may contact her at betsymilburn@att.net or Time Batchelor and he will put you in touch with her.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief has two chainsaw units working in Merrillville, IN after wind damage last Friday. The first two teams started north yesterday, 8/18/2026 and will arrive later today. One of the units traveling is Unit 35R from the Washington Baptist Association which has some of the nearby towns in it. For example, Sandersville and Sparta are part of the Washington Baptist Association.
This is the first “God Story” from their trip. This story was shared by multiple volunteers traveling with 35R.
Please pray for the two teams working this week and the two teams which will replace them in a few days. This is an 11 day trip for each group due to distance from Georgia.
“It’s been an interesting and yet exciting day as we left Milledgeville. We picked up our trailer and another team member. We barely got down the road when we blew a tire on the trailer. As John pulled over off the highway into a dairy farm property in the middle of nowhere. We had to assess the situation. I was  praying and reached out to two others by text to pray while they worked on the tire. We knew no one could thwart God’s plan.
We then were approached by the guy who is pastor/dairy farmer of one of our Washington Baptist Associational churches. You’ve got to love God’s sense of humor. The pastor helped us out/prayed over us and we got on the road to Madison with our full team of four. Then we had to get the trailer worked on to replace the tire.
This auto center worked in an amazing fashion, took us right in and evaluated our situation telling us we basically needed all four tires replaced, which was not exactly what we were hoping for. They finished efficiently and quickly, and I ask if the bill had been paid when the lady told us we were ready to go.
She said, “don’t worry, ma’am, it’s been covered.” We could not even begin to believe it. Billy, the manager said a gentleman had come in and observed our unit trailer and told Billy to give us what we need and he’d cover the cost. We figure that had to be about $1000 expense.
How amazing and good is our God, the great provider ????
God protected us and provided exactly who and what we needed in a powerful way today. We arrived safely in Bowling Green for the night and look forward with great expectations to arriving in Merrillville, Indiana tomorrow.
We have also met up with our other unit and enjoyed having dinner and fellowship with them this evening. The Lord also blessed us with another team member deciding to meet up with us and help work for the week. We have two brand new GBDR volunteers working this week.
Thanks to the Lord as people are seeing our yellow shirts and asking us where we’re going and thanking us.
The details of this event were shared by Joy Gilmore, Unit 35R and Wayne Swann, Unit 4R.
Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief
Please click here to see class descriptions on the DR page. There is a job for everyone. It isn't all cutting trees, cooking, or hard manual labor tasks.
KBA/HBA Media
Center Update
KBA Library is growing!
Please see the list of new items available for checkout. There are many other resources available as well. Stop by the KBA office to see if you find something that meets a need for you, your small group, or church.
You can see the new resources by clicking here!