FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CoBAMM Holds 2nd Annual "Man on Fire" Conference

November 10-12, 2005

Nov 14, 2005 -- The Honorable J.C. Watts, Jr. was the opening speaker at the second annual "Man on Fire" conference coordinated by the Coalition of Bowie Area Men's Ministries.

More then 160 men, from various Bowie area churches came to enjoy the dinner provided by Mt. Oak Methodist Church and to hear Mr. Watts talk about the importance of community involvement by Christian men. He shared many of his experiences making a difference as a youth pastor in his community of Del City, Oklahoma and as a U.S. Congressmen from Oklahoma.

Even though Mr. Watts is often viewed as a political figure he said ... "My desire to lift people out of poverty, to feed the hungry and help people in need, to support the family unit and marriage as one man and one woman is not based on my politics, it is based on my relationship with Jesus Christ."

Rev. Dick Foth was the second guest speaker at the conference. He is a former pastor, former college president, and now works under the auspices of the U.S. Congress for the National Prayer Breakfast. Dick spoke at the Friday night session hosted by Cresthill Baptist Church and on Saturday morning hosted by Belcroft Bible Church. He encouraged the men to continue to meet together as God sees the church not as one group of people in one church building but the collection of believers cutting across denomination, race, polity party, and all other boundaries. His messages and stories on the importance of building relationships with the people in the community by getting to know their history were inspirational.

He urged the men to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the community as the Apostle Paul wrote about in 2 Corinthians.

Community Impact (feedback) Cards were distributed at the first two evening sessions. The card said “The theme of this conference is 'Men Impacting Our Community' with a sub-theme of 'Together We Make A Difference.' What area some of the ideas and suggestions you have for how men, who are followers of Jesus Christ, could make more of a difference in this community"? Approximately 70 ideas and suggestion were submitted by the conference participants. COBAMM plans to develop an Action Plan from these suggestions and ask each of the men's ministries to participate in carrying out the Actions Plan ... together making a difference in the community.

Six area churches and their pastors directly participated in the conference.

Belcroft Bible - Pastor James Schuppe
Cornerstone Assembly of God - Pastor Mark Lehmann
Cresthill Baptist - Pastor Jimmy Painter
Mount Oak Methodist - Pastor David Wentz
New Vision - Pastor Ron Crawford
World Impact Christian Center - Pastor Marc Buntin

A seventh church, Trinity Lutheran is participating but presently is in the process of calling a new pastor. The COBAMM Team that provided leadership for developing and conducting the conference are comprised of leaders of the various men's ministries at the seven churches.

For More Information Contact:

Turn On the Light-Bowie
12427 Sadler Lane, Bowie, MD 20715
Tel: 301-262-9116
FAX: 301-262-4178
Internet: mail@turnonthelight-bowie.org