Dear Editor,

To my fellow Alabama Baptists: thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me the joy of serving as President of the Alabama Baptist State Convention. My goal is to glorify God, lead with integrity, and do everything in my power to encourage my dear brothers and sisters in Christ in all the Alabama Baptist churches. My prayer is that we will continue to reach out to those in Alabama who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and then be careful to disciple those who come to know Christ.

I want to enlist our state missionaries, convention officers, the staff members of our associations, pastors and staff members of our churches, and all of our lay members to help make 2011 a banner year for Alabama Baptists. Jesus commanded us to “Love one another,” and my prayer is that we will seek to fulfill that mandate in the coming months.

December is the time to pray for our missionaries on international fields, and give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for Foreign Missions. The Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries depend upon offerings from churches to enable them to minister effectively throughout the year.

The Cooperative Program is the lifeline of mission support for Southern Baptists, not just in December, but for every day of the year.

As we recently to celebrated the birth of our blessed redeemer, we remember those brave men and women in our armed forces who provide us with the freedom we enjoy. We pray for them and their families in their absence.

May the “Peace on Earth” announced by the angels to the shepherds on the first Christmas reign in your hearts, homes, churches and communities as we celebrate our Savior’s birth.

I love you, I love you, I love you. God bless you and God bless America.

Mike Shaw

Pastor, First Baptist Church of Pelham