Mark Puckett is one of two missionaries BHBC helps to support financially;  

we have also and will continue to send teams to aid in the work in Canada.  

Be looking for details about a possible upcoming mission trip in the next few months.  

 

Greetings to our good friends and co-laborers at Belmont Heights! May you know the fullness and richness of our Lord's grace and mercy.

 

Words cannot express our deep gratitude for your continued support of our ministry here in Canada.  Without the support of partners like you, our work here would not be possible.  I want to give you an update on what the Lord is doing in Atlantic Canada.  

 

Our original calling to Canada was to pastor the new church plant in Montague: King's Way Christian Fellowship.  Since 2004 we have seen many lives touched through this ministry.  Just this month we are baptizing eight young people, ages 8-16.  We work in the poorest community on Prince Edward Island.  Most of thos we see come from very dysfunctional situations, with little or no church background.  There is tremendous need, yet because of the nature of our ministry, the church can only give us modest financial support.  

 

After our arrival in Canada, the Lord began to give me "missionary hats" to wear.  The first of these was leadership in starting the first Southern Baptist work in Newfoundland.  We now have two full-time church planters on this island the size of Oklahoma.  While the work is slow and hard, they are starting to see some exciting fruit from this ministry.

 

I also serve our national convention as the Partnership/Volunteer Coordinator for Eastern Canada.  In this role, I work through formal partnerships with the state conventions in North Carolina, South Carolina, and New England, as well as individual churches from across the U.S., connecting folks with our churches to strengthen and grow the work here in Canada.  

 

When I arrived in Atlantic Canada in 2004, we had 5 churches.  Now we have 26 points of work.  God has amazed us all! This has led to the formation of the East Coast Baptist Association.  I serve the ECBA as the leader of the Start Team, giving leadership to the continuing process of starting new work across this region.

 

I've also been blessed with opportunities to undertake special projects such as this summer when I led a team of students from Southern Seminary in Louisville on an exploration mission trip to the arctic territory of Nunavut.  This region is the geographic size of Western Europe and has virtually no evangelical presence of any kind. Our mission was to lay groundwork for the future starting of new churches.  This group was the first known Southern Baptists to go to Nunavut with Kingdom intent.

 

I share all this wealth with you (even in brief summary) to rejoice in what God is doing in this very spiritually dark place.  His light is shining!

 

I also want you to know that your support of our ministry is not just to help a small church on Prince Edward Island, but through the "misisonary hats" I wear, you are supporting work all across the eastern half of Canada.  

 

Thank you!  What a blessing you are!  May the Lord return to you many fold as you give yourselvesl away for the sake of His Kingdom.  

 

Mark Puckett

Pastor, King's Way Christian Fellowship: Montague, Prince Edward Island

Partnership/Volunteer Coordinator for Eastern Canada, Canadian National Baptist Convention

Church Starting Coordinator for Newfoundland, Canadian National Baptist Convention

START Team Leader, East Coast Baptist Association