“Those who experience a call from God to serve Him in some special way at Friendship Camp have, for the first time, a defined path with everything in place to take them from that initial call to serving in a ministry or missions leadership position.“

I hope you’ve heard about several new developments that your association has undertaken in the last few years that God is blessing in so many ways.  Let me remind you of some of these important changes and then connect the dots for you.

Synergy through Ephesians 4:12

First, the inauguration of the Ephesians 4:12 Leadership Development Council as a third council in our organizational structure was critical to bringing synergy to all our efforts to produce/reproduce leaders for the churches of Friendship Baptist Association and beyond. This council is responsible for the creation of the new Worship and Music Arts Camp that met for the first time last summer, which they saw as one way to discover youth and young adults that might have an interest in serving Christ through the music ministry in the local church.

Last year, Ephesians 4:12 developed a mentor training program and held the first class to prepare mentors to guide newly called believers to understand and clarify their calling, and to advance in their knowledge, skills and abilities. The Georgia Baptist Bible Institute (GBBI) that offers accredited courses of study in ministry and church leadership continues at the associational office with strong participation. We are told that we are the only site in the state of Georgia that can offer more than one course per semester, and at our upcoming Annual Meeting in September, we will see several students receive Certificates of Ministry Leadership.

The development of ministry internships is being encouraged at the local church level in the areas of pastoral ministry, youth and children ministry, and worship and music ministry, with the association assisting to match candidates who need the experience with the needs of the church. Grants are currently available through the FBA to assist churches who may need some help to cover the cost of an internship.

AIM to AIMM

AIM had to grow beyond Advancing In Missions as a camp-based program to Advancing In Ministry as a church-based program. The beginning of 2026 brings yet another expansion of this program into AIMM—Advancing in Missions and Ministry.

The AIM program that had been growing and maturing for several years as a summer missions program tied to Friendship Camp was targeted as a God-given tool to be expanded into a leadership developing program that would operate year-round and vitally connect the purpose of our camp, the mission of each church, and God’s vision for the association. AIM had to grow beyond Advancing In Missions as a camp-based program to Advancing In Ministry as a church-based program. The beginning of 2026 brings yet another expansion of this program where we move from AIM to the new AIMM—Advancing in Missions and Ministry with levels of leader development from AIMM 1 to AIMM 4 and encompasses both the camp base ministries and church-based ministries.

Funding/Budget

This is another important aspect of synergy: line up your money, budget and staff for accomplishing the work that God has called you to do.

Several years ago, the association through its Executive Committee—made up of pastors and church representatives–-established the FBA AIM Fund and with a unanimous vote and moved $50,000 into the fund to initiate and support the work of the Ephesians 4:12 Leadership Development Council.

This Fund will soon become known as the FBA AIMM Fund to keep pace with our current mission and to tie together the cooperative efforts of the association’s Acts 1:8 Mission Council to the ongoing efforts of the Leadership Council. Acs 1:8 oversees the summer mission portion of our ministry at Friendship Camp, known as AIM 1. The leadership council oversees AIM 2-AIM 4, which is based in, through, and for our churches. What we have witnessed down through the years is a strong correlation between serving at Friendship Camp as a summer missionary (AIM 1), winning their first person to Christ, and experiencing a call to missions or ministry.

Now, please follow as I connect the dots of leadership development. Those who experience a call from God to serve Him in some special way at Friendship Camp have, for the first time, a defined path with everything in place to take them from that initial call to serving in a ministry or missions leadership position.

To be honest, this thrills my heart more than you can imagine! But hold on. I missed a dot that we need to connect in this process. Where do you think most of our AIM 1 Camp Missionaries come from?

If you happened to say to yourself, “From those who attended one of our camps,” you would be totally correct. And although we do have some college/young adults that come and serve with us, the truth is, most heard about Friendship Camp from someone who was already involved with our camp.

The Last Line

The need for leaders is great! But God is doing a great work through our association. I am receiving calls from churches outside of our association and from other associations who have heard about what God is doing in our midst and they want to know how they can get in on it. The bottom line is, for the first time, everything is in place and already producing fruits of leadership to the point where this statement is true of our reality—“Send a Child to Friendship Camp—You May Get a Ministry Leader for the Church!”

Charles Stoops