September 26th, 2017 — Uncategorized
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire accomplished is a tree of life and sweet to the soul” – Prov. 13:12,19
On September 22, I ordered online via Amazon a copy of a book I’ve authored, titled Divine Disciplines: God’s Training Ground For Spiritual Growth And Maturity. On the back cover of the book and in the Preface I stated that “there is no development of Christ-likeness in a person’s life apart from some degree of suffering and brokenness. Difficulties are necessary occurrences in the growth and development of our Christian lives. . . . God not only allows adversity, but He even brings it upon us . . . not because we lack faith or because of our spiritual disobedience, but the Lord uses adversity to increase our faith. It is God’s training ground for spiritual growth and maturity.”
Divine Disciplines examines the how and why of God’s discipline. The divine disciplines covered in the book are darkness, delay, differences, difficulty, disappointment, disturbance, and drudgery. The book by no means exhausts the various ways by which God disciplines us, but it will be an encouragement and an enlightenment to you as you see some of the experiences of your life through the various divine disciplines.
This book differs from the best-selling book, Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster and other similar books, which dealt with the practice and development of personal spiritual disciplines such as Bible reading, worship, prayer, fasting, solitude, just to name a few. Divine Disciplines gives a name to some of the disciplines God uses to help us develop the personal spiritual disciplines that should be manifested in Christians.
I became interested in this subject when I heard a sermon on it in February 1986. I studied it and eventually taught a Discipleship Training Course on it when I was on the ministerial staff at Ridgeway Baptist Church in 1990. I preached through it at my first two pastorates. I initially wrote it out as a manuscript in 1991, then learned to type in 1992 at my first pastorate when I was given a laptop computer and typed it into my computer. I rewrote it each time I preached through it and did a major revision in 2009 when I left the pastorate to begin Back To The Basics Ministries. Anyway, I will give you more info in the days ahead how it came to be published by Innovo Publishing Company. But, I had hoped when I first put it into manuscript/book form to have it published someday. That desire, which had been deferred for many years, has now been accomplished. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.
The book will not be released until November, but pre-release orders are now being accepted through Amazon (please see the link below) and through Barnes & Nobles web site. Eventually it will be available for purchase as an E-book. You may order it at the following link: https://www.amazon.com/Divine-Disciplines-Training-Spiritual-Maturity/dp/1613144040/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506120500&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=divine+disciplines+-+dr.+bobby+mullins
July 17th, 2017 — Uncategorized
WHAT STRESSES ME THE MOST SOMETIME EVERY YEAR
The picture above recently was posted by several pastors, ranging from mega-church pastors to small church pastors. Only a pastor can truly understand! I want to share with you what stresses me about this time every year. Since I founded Back To The Basics Ministries in July 2009 and we started airing A Fresh Start TV Program the first week of November 2009, to keep the program on air, we needed at least $187.50 per week to keep it on air on WVLR Knoxville. When the program began airing on WTWV Memphis in February 2012, that’s another $200.00 per week, so it costs $387.50 a week to air A Fresh Start each week. That amounts to $20,150.00 per year. If I had the money to air the program without help from others I would do it. But, I don’t have an additional $20,150.00 a year to do so nor the additional $1000.00 needed for taping, editing, and producing 4 new programs of A Fresh Start. Our goal is to produce at least 24 new programs per year but we have been receiving enough funds to do 12-16 per year. That is why we repeat every program at least two times or more in a year’s time.
This time of the year, the summer months, are the lowest point of the year for non-profit organizations as far as donations. But, expenses do not lessen during the summer but are what they are the rest of the year. That is what stresses me the most every year around this time. Since the ministry formation in July 2009, we have never been late on paying a bill, and we have been able to have enough funds in hand at all times to know that we can pay for the next month’s expenses. But, sometimes we make it “by the hair of our chinny, chin, chin!”
Usually around this time every year, I have to consider the possibility of canceling A Fresh Start on one of the two stations on which we air the program. On WTWV we pay for two airings per week, but the station manager airs the program another 3 or 4 times a week for free. That is almost unheard of today! But, the donations from the Memphis area amount to about 70% of what is needed to air the program on WTWV. Donations in the Knoxville area cover the amount needed to pay the air costs plus help to tape 8 or more new programs of A Fresh Star each year. Even with the “unheard of” free airings on WTWV Memphis, that is where I would need to cancel the program for awhile (we had to do it for a few months one other time before) since donations locally are less than needed for air time.
The positive side of this is that the Lord has used friends and supporters of Back To The Basics Ministries like you to get us through. I am amazed how, through you, the needed financial gift at just the right time comes through. THANK YOU, for allowing the Lord to use you to be a blessing to me, BTTBM, and the ones who are reached for Christ through A Fresh Start.
You can send a tax-deductible donation to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930 or donate online by going to
www.drbobbymullins.com, click on the Donate link, and follow the instructions.
Blessings To You,
Bobby Mullins
Executive Director, Back To The Basics Ministries, Knoxville, Tennessee
Pastor, Fellowship Baptist Church, Hernando, Mississippi
“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes, worshiping together, sharing the faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
May 19th, 2017 — Uncategorized
BTTBM MAY 2017 UPDATE
WELCOME ELLA ANN MULLINS
Introducing Ella Ann Mullins, born on May 4, 2017 at 10:36 a.m. at 7 lbs. 5 oz., 19.5 inches. Parents Megan & Brandon Mullins; Big Brother Brantley Mullins; Our 3rd grandchild & 2nd granddaughter
YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT
This past Monday (May 15) Jack Goodman passed away. He took an interest in me when I was in my late 20s and helped me start a non-profit ministry in 1980, right about the time Wanda and I were married. He put Wanda in a nice job as the receptionist at the company he owned. Not long after I met Jack, he actually offered to pay for me to make a Christian record album. I was a member at the church he and his family attended, I sang solos occasionally at church, and was a volunteer worker with the youth. After church on Sundays when I sang, he would mention to me often, when everyone would visit in the hallways after church, that I ought to make a record album. I told him I didn’t have the money to do so, and he would say that he would pay for me to do one. I thought he was kidding, but he later told my dad how much he was willing to pay for me to record an album. If I had known Jack was that serious, I would have done it!
Jack did financially help me to form a non-profit ministry back in 1980 known as Celebration Ministries, which we promoted as an evangelistic music and youth ministry. After a few months I was asked by a church, where I had sung as part of a Celebration Ministries booking, to be their part-time youth minister, and I accepted. A year later Wanda and I made a move to a larger church for me to be their full-time youth minister, so I was not able to travel anymore to different churches and events as a music evangelist. So, the vision I had for Celebration Ministries, which was really out of my league at the time, was put on hold for about 30 years.
What I have been able to do through Back To The Basics Ministries since it was formed in July 2009 is similar to the vision I had for Celebration Ministries back in 1980. I had the privilege within recent years to thank Jack Goodman for the investment of time and money he made in me from 1977-1981 and how it helped to build confidence and self-esteem in me as a minister with a vision way beyond my abilities at the time. His wife, Dianne, was a side by side partner with Jack then and throughout their 53 years of marriage. I have had contact with Dianne and their son, Jeff, through Facebook for several years. When I contacted Jeff last Monday to express my condolences over his dad’s death, Jeff sent this reply to me:
“Dad would watch you on TV while he was bedridden and mom tuned in when he was unconscious during last week. You were a calming voice and ministered to him and you didn’t even know it.”
Praise the Lord! That is what A Fresh Start TV Program is all about. It allows me to minister to people I will never meet or unable to be with to bring salvation spiritually to the lost and to provide spiritual encouragement and uplifting to Christians in the good times and in their times of need.
Thank you to the financial supporters of Back To The Basics Ministries for partnering with me to make a difference spiritually for many whom we don’t even know we are reaching out to in the name of Jesus.
You may send a tax-deductible donation to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930 or go to www.drbobbymullins.com , click on the Donate link and follow the instructions. The “donations lean” summer months are almost upon us and your financial help will be greatly appreciated.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
May 11th, 2017 — Uncategorized
WHAT A MAN NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT A WOMAN
A few years ago, I remember watching one of the major network nightly news broadcasts, when they reported that a government study, which cost several million dollars, concluded that men and women are different. The amazing thing is that the news anchor announced the findings like it was a discovery that had never been known.
Men have known through the ages that some things about women, and particularly the woman whom they married, take years to figure out how to correctly respond to some of their unexpected, practically unanswerable questions. Men and women are different in various ways, praise the Lord, in some gloriously different and blessed ways. But among those differences that are not so glorious to our wives, at times, is how we think differently. Sometimes, we think we are answering a question the way our wife wants us to, but our left brain thinking often produces an answer that is not what our wife’s right brain caring, sensitive, side is wanting to hear.
I came across a very helpful article in the July, 2005 Good Housekeeping magazine, by Beth Levine, which a female member of the church I pastored at the time had given to me to pass on to my son prior to his marriage. For a man to learn from a woman who has spent years “training” her husband to be more flattering and sensitive, I believe it will greatly benefit a prospective husband to know “the right responses to some of the toughest questions women are likely to ask” that “make guys crazy . . . while the wheels spin in their heads: ‘What can I say that will get me out of here alive’ . . . and not leave skid marks trying to get away.” In this section, the questions and comments on why your wife is asking such a question and the bad answers and wrong answers are from Beth Levine’s article in Good Housekeeping. I have added an appropriate song that will go along with some of the questions as an extra way to answer the questions as well as further suggestions on a few of the questions. Let’s have some fun while we also receive some valuable insights.
How do you respond when your wife asks you, “What are you thinking about?” Her purpose in asking you that question is that she wants you to provide one little scrap of emotional content, which does not have to be earthshaking, just something that will bring her into your inner world. If you don’t have an inner world, quickly make one up. The wrong answer, “Do you think the Cubs will ever win the Series? A good answer is “You know why I get so upset over the Cubs? It reminds me of when I was little and my father used to . . . .” This provides her with a moving memory about your life that shows you have feelings and emotions.
What if your wife asks you, “Do these jeans make me look fat?” She is asking this because women have no idea what image to strive for when Hollywood stars are obnoxiously thin and the average woman is a size 12. A bad answer to this question is “No. Yes. I don’t know. Don’t ask me.” The right answer, “You look really great. Look at the curve they give you.” If your wife really does look a little portly, Mrs. Levine says to blame the clothes by telling her, “You know, those pants aren’t hitting you right.” I say on this one not to respond if the pants aren’t “hitting” her right. The best thing to do is find a way immediately for you to leave the scene.
What should you say if the question is asked, “Do you still love me the way you loved me when you really loved me?” This is a blatant appeal on your wife’s part for reassurance. She is probably feeling taken for granted and wondering if she has become an eternal source of meatloaf and clean clothes. Tell her yes, you love her, then give specifics (P.S.: This works even better when you say it without being asked first). A bad answer to this question is, “Yeah. Do you know where the remote is? Thanks.” The answer she needs to hear, “You know I love you. I don’t know how I’d get through life without you. Sometimes when you walk away from me and I see that little wiggle, I wonder how I ever got so lucky. I still can’t believe it.” An old Roy Clark song comes to mind hear, “I Still Get that Honeymoon Feeling.” Look up the lyrics for it and you will see what I mean. That’s a song to know by heart to use as a backup for similar questions like this one.
This next question is one that there is almost no right way to answer but Mrs. Levine gives some positive direction, “Do you think that woman is attractive?” She’s wanting to get a little stroked by you. The wrong answer to this question would be, “She is so hot. Why don’t you ever wear outfits like that?” Mrs. Levine’s suggested answer is, “On a scale of one to ten with you as the ten, I would say that she comes in at a (pick a number significantly lower than ten). I would say to start singing The Oak Ridge Boys song, “You’re the One in a Million.” My advice is make no scale pick from one to ten for the other woman at all. Sing “You’re the One in a Million” loud, and out of embarrassment your wife will ask you to stop and get the subject on something else, but in the depths of her heart she will be flattered.
What if you are asked, “Can we discuss something important to me?” Mrs. Levine’s insight as to why this question is asked is critical: “Incoming! Incoming! You are about to be yelled at for something you did or didn’t do. Quick! Think, man, think!” The wrong answer, “OK, what did I do now?” The right answer is, “Sure, honey, if it’s important to you, you know it’s important to me.” As a backup for your safety, Mrs. Levine suggests that your goal, however, is to play for time by disarming and diverting, if you feel you are really going to get it. Bring up something immediately that will get her mind on someone else or something else to vent about.
Here’s a question you will certainly be asked at some time in your marriage by your wife, “Do you wish I still looked the way I did when we first met?” She asks because she feels like Mother Time is creeping up on her. Her stomach has lost its tone, her eyelids droop, and her upper arms have turned to Jell-O. A bad answer, “Gee, you were so pretty then. I mean, you’re pretty now, too, but back then you were really something. Wait! I didn’t mean that the way it came out . . . don’t hurt me.” A good answer, “What? You mean you don’t?” A great song to know the lyrics for is “I Love You Just the Way You Are.” You might do a lyric search for a song about one’s wife where she gets better the longer you are together, but avoid any lyric that has the word “older” in it, even if it is saying the older you get the better you get. She will not want to hear any reference to “old” or “older.”
Although this is a totally unfair question for your wife to ask, be ready for it, “Do you ever think about your old girlfriend?” She asks because of curiosity, maybe, and, yes, insecurity. The worst answer you could give is, “Sure. Sometimes I wonder what she’s up to now. She was really fun.” Mrs. Levine’s suggested answer is, “Only on those nights when I wake up screaming. Please don’t remind me.” Be thankful if you are asked this question for Garth Brooks’, “Unanswered Prayers.” It is about this exact subject of he and his wife running into his old high school flame at a hometown football game and thanking God that he did not marry his high school girlfriend, but found his true love when he met and then married his wife.
This is a question to be prepared for with the personal makeover, even cosmetic surgery, television programs, “Wouldn’t I look better if I had a nose job, tummy tuck, eye job, etc?” She is asking because she is spending way too much time staring at herself in the bathroom mirror or looking at some of the TV programs just mentioned and seeing the successful end products. The wrong answer is, “You look fine. Stop asking me.” A good answer is, “You change anything, and I’m changing it back. I want the woman I fell in love with, not some Barbie doll.” Then try distracting her with “Do you think that I need hair implants?” Or, you might say, “Can I borrow that wrinkle cream since you don’t need it.” The song, “I Love You Just the Way You Are” would be appropriate here as with an earlier question about looks. I came across a great poem, author unknown, titled, “I Love All of You.” Some of its lyrics are perfect for this question. “I love all of you, your nose, your lips, your hair, your feet, I will never stop loving you, you are so amazingly sweet.” Then, throw in a few lyrics from Cole Porter’s “All of You,” such as, “I love the looks of you, and the lure of you, the sweet of you, and the pure of you, the eyes, the arms, and the mouth of you, the east, west, north, and the south of you.” Your wife will be so shocked at your knowing such emotionally sensitive lyrics, and then your applying them to her, that you will get the emphasis off anything about her changing at all.
Let’s consider one more of those questions wives ask their husbands that have baffled men in the past about how to answer properly. This one is sure to come up someday, “Do you remember when we went to (emotionally charged event you claim you didn’t attend)?” She is asking because she’s nostalgic for the good old days and wishing she felt that close to you again. Don’t answer with, “You sure that wasn’t with your old boyfriend? I don’t think I was there.” The right answer, “All I remember is how gorgeous you were. Everything else is a blur.” I don’t know how to top that one!
Thank you Beth Levine for helping husbands down the right path to knowing how to answer some of life’s greatest questions our wives will probably ask us someday. As she stated in her closing statements to her article, “OK, guys, got it now? If you’re feeling confident and you want to improvise your own answers, fine. Just remember: We women want the truth, but the truth filtered through love.” Men, for those times when you find yourself at a loss about the right way to answer your wife’s question, remember that the Lord knows what we have need of before we ask Him (Matt. 6:8). Pray and ask Him to provide the miracle you need at that moment. And, remember, that simple words like “I’m sorry,” “I was wrong,” “Will you forgive me,” “I love you,”can go a long way.
April 13th, 2017 — Uncategorized
JUST AS HE SAID
Years ago I wrote a song about the Resurrection of Jesus with lyrics that pretty much came straight from the Bible. It is titled “JUST AS HE SAID” and based on Mark 9:30-31; Matt. 28:6-7. The lyrics are below:
WHILE THEY ABODE IN GALILEE, JESUS SAID TO HIS DISCIPLES, “THE SON OF MAN SHALL BE BETRAYED INTO THE HANDS OF SINFUL MEN; AND HE’LL BE CRUCIFIED, BUT ON THE THIRD DAY RISE AGAIN,” YET THEY DID NOT COMPREHEND WHAT HE HAD SPOKEN TO THEM.
NOW IT WAS EARLY SUNDAY MORNING, A FEW WEEKS HAD PASSED BY; AND JUST THREE DAYS BEFORE THE LORD HAD BEEN CRUCIFIED; WHEN AN ANGEL SAID TO MARY, WHILE AT THE LORD’S TOMB SHE CRIED, “WHY SEEK AMONG THE DEAD ONE WHO IS ALIVE?”
HE IS NOT HERE, FOR HE IS RISEN, JUST AS HE SAID, JUST AS HE SAID; COME NOW AND SEE, HIS TOMB WHICH IS EMPTY, THEN GO QUICKLY AND TELL HIS DISCIPLES THAT HE IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD; GO NOW AND TELL, THE WHOLE WORLD IT IS WELL, HE’S RISEN FROM THE DEAD
© 2008 Bobby Mullins
The Cross in the picture above was made from horseshoes for Wanda and me by a man in our church. We told him we were going to display it at Fellowship for Easter, so he said he would make one for the church, and he did. The Cross, the symbol of Christianity, is found in many sizes and forms today. Some churches and ministries no longer display or identify themselves with the Cross because it is an affront or offensive to many in our society. But, It will always be the symbol I use to symbolize the ministry I am involved with because I am forever grateful how I have forgiveness of my sins and eternal life by what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.
A GOD SIZE VISION
Perhaps, you have heard the term “A God size vision.” It is when someone or some organization has a vision for what they want to accomplish for the Kingdom of God that is beyond their abilities and resources to do. I have always encouraged the Finance Committees of the churches I have pastored to have a God size vision by budgeting 10% for the church’s yearly budget above what is felt can covered through the tithes and offerings of church members. It’s a God size budget because we trust Him to provide for us beyond what we feel we are capable of.
I have a God size vision for what I would like to accomplish through Back To The Basics Ministries. I have been amazed that through the ministry’s main outreach, A Fresh Start TV Program, that it has aired over 1300 times since November 2009 on WVLR Knoxville, WTWV Memphis, and for three months on WHTN Nashville. The current costs to air the program are $187.50 a week on WVLR and $200.00 a week on WTWV. It cost $1000.00 for three hours studio time and eight hours editing time to produce four new programs of A Fresh Start. That’s about $20,000 for air time each year and another $6000 per year to produce the goal of 24 new programs per year. I don’t have the money to do all that, but God has used those who have donated to the ministry to help part of my God size vision for BTTBM to be reached. I am grateful to you! But, there is more I have a desire to see accomplished in the way of television expansion, book and music publishing, and more. God knows what I need and if He has put it in my heart, then I know He will provide what it takes to do it. Praise You, God, from Whom all blessings flow.
KEEP US IN MIND
For those who receive a tax refund, with some extra funds on hand please keep Back To The Basics Ministries in mind for a Thanks Offering you may feel led to give back to the Lord’s Work..
You may send a tax-deductible donation to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930 or go to www.drbobbymullins.com and click on the Donate link to give online.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
Bobby Mullins
“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes, worshiping together, sharing your faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
(Please feel free to forward this Update to anyone whom you feel would be
December 19th, 2016 — Uncategorized
CHRISTMAS Blessings To Our Supporters And Friends Of Back To The Basics Ministries You are a blessing to us, Bobby & Wanda Mullins
ALL ABOUT THE CROSS: THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS
A song that is getting a lot of exposure this Christmas Season is “It’s All About The Cross.’ If you have not seen a post about it below is a link to The Ball Brothers singing the song. Here are some of the lyrics:
It’s not just about the manger where the baby lay; It’s not all about the angels who sang for him that day;
It’s not just about the shepherds or the bright and shining star; It’s not all about the Wise Men who traveled from afar.
It’s about the Cross; It’s about my sin; It’s about how Jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again; It’s about the stone that was rolled away, so that you and I could have real life someday.
It’s about the Cross It’s about the Cross The beginning of the story is wonderful and great; But it’s the ending that can save you and that’s why we celebrate.
Why Jesus came to the world and what He came to do for us is the true meaning of Christmas. Thank you for partnering with me through your donations in helping me to share that life changing, life saving message through A Fresh Start TV Program and other outreaches of Back To The Basics Ministries. Since the first week of November 2009 A Fresh Start TV Program has aired over 1300 times in Knoxville and most of East Tennessee, Memphis, and Nashville (for three months this past year). To God be the glory!
PLEASE KEEP BTTBM IN MIND WITH YOUR END OF THE YEAR DONATIONS
Only a few days left to get any more tax-deductible donations to your church or a non-profit ministry like Back To The Basics Ministries. The End of the Year financial gifts are what help us to know what we can do in the next year regarding taping new programs of A Fresh Start, producing new soundtracks and sheet music of songs I’ve composed, and hopefully, in 2017, the publishing of one of the books I have written. Praise the Lord that the regular monthly and occasional giving of donors throughout the year helps to cover the cost of the weekly airings of A Fresh Start on WVLR Knoxville and WTWV Memphis. By the way, with most of the products we produce, such as soundtracks and sheet music, we do not sell them, we give them away.
You may send your donations to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930
Christmas blessings to you again,
Bobby Mullins
Bobby Mullins
November 15th, 2016 — Uncategorized
It Doen’t get any better than this!
Mia Praying for Raelyn (I love this picture)
GRANDPARENTS AGAIN: WELCOME RAELYN JOLENE MCNABB
Raelyn Jolene McNabb was born on Tuesday November 1 at 7:17 p.m. EST. She weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. Proud parents are Mallory and Rocky McNabb. Mallory had wanted Wanda to be with her in the delivery room along with Rocky, but only knowing that Mallory would be induced to deliver on November 9 if Raelyn was not born by November 7, we knew if Mallory went into labor ahead of that date, we probably would not make it to Knoxville before the baby was born. We got the word in Hernando about 10 a.m. on Tuesday November 1 when Mallory went into labor. We knew she was about to deliver when we made a rest stop in Lebanon, Tennessee, then got the word she birthed Raelyn. We got to Knoxville about two hours after she was born and stayed in Lenoir City, where the McNabbs live, until this past Sunday. Raelyn is a beautiful baby. By the way, we get to go through this again around the first week of May. Brantley is going to be a big brother because Megan is pregnant. Congratulations to Brandon and Megan. The day Brantley, who will be 6 in January, found out about a future brother or sister he said, “This is the best day of my life!”
END OF THE YEAR GIVING: PLEASE KEEP BTTBM IN MIND
Please keep Back To The Basics Ministries in mind with End of the Year tax deductible donations. BTTBM is an IRS approved 501(C)(3) non-profit organization, so your financial gifts to the ministry are tax-deductible. We are grateful for a our regular monthly givers. Their donations help to cover the monthly airing costs of A Fresh Start TV Program. Weekly TV airing costs are $387.50 per week for two prime time airings a week on WTWV Memphis and three airings, two in prime time, on WVLR Knoxville. That comes to approximately $20,000 a year. Our goal for 2017 is to produce 26 new programs of A Fresh Start, which will cost about $6000. The End of the Year giving helps to go toward new TV programs, as well as publishing sheet music of songs I have written and the recording of soundtracks of songs I have composed, as well as other ministry related projects and needs. So, those End of the Year donations help me to know how to plan out for the year regarding those goals of hopeful accomplishments for BTTBM.
It is all for the purpose of helping the unsaved to make the most important fresh start everyone needs to make in life of placing their faith, belief, and trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. An equally important goal of the ministry is to help Christians make the fresh starts in life from a biblical perspective that we all need to make at some time. Since November 2009, our donors have made it possible to air 122 original programs of A Fresh Start over 1300 times. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!
You may send your tax-deductible donation to Back To The Basics Ministries, P.O. Box 32486, Knoxville, TN 37930 or go to the web site
www.drobobbymullins.com, click on the Donate link and follow the directions.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
Bobby Mullins
“Keep in the word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes. worshiping together, sharing the faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
October 5th, 2016 — Uncategorized
LET’S FINISH THE YEAR STRONG
Well, we have begun the last quarter of 2016. Normally, it is a down time in giving to non-profit ministries/organizations, but I ask you to help me finish the year strong. I feel the compelling to get into the studio and tape some new programs and proclaim some timely messages that the Lord has laid upon my heart. This is such a critical time in our country, but also throughout the world. The coming of the Lord is closer than it’s ever been. As I sing in the song, Closer Than It’s Ever Been, “each passing day, it’s closer than it’s ever been.”
Jesus said that except one be born again, he cannot have eternal life in heaven. More people than ever before are lost spiritually, having never been forgiven of their sins and trusting Jesus as their Lord and Savior. And, more than ever before Christians are caviling in spiritually and giving in to the cultural changes that defy the Word of God. Many people talk about the Rapture of the Church, and the signs that have been fulfilled and are being fulfilled right before our eyes, but then they live so much like the world and in contradiction to what pleases God, that they don’t act like they are expecting the Lord’s return and the judgment to come.
I am not a nationally known or even regionally known preacher nor do I aspire to be I have been absorbed in the past with trying to climb the ladder of what impresses people, even other ministers, to reach what they consider success in the ministry. I used to make the comment that “I have reached the top of the middle” as far as what others would think of as success in the ministry. But, all that really matters is how God feels. Success, in the eyes of God, is what you are in comparison to what you should be at this point in your life in the will of God.
My main goal in life, as far as success, is to be a success in God’s eyes by being a man after God’s own heart who will do all His will. God has led me to and provided for me a platform on television via which to share with others how to make a fresh start, which we all need to do at some time in life, first, through being born again spiritually, then in helping us to overcome the mistakes, whether intentional or not, that we all make in life. Some of the most generous givers to Back To The Basics Ministries and A Fresh Start TV Program are those who are thankful for the fresh starts the Lord has allowed them to make in life. Each of you who financially supports BTTBM is my partner in ministry and you are just as much a part of changing lives for the better by your giving and making it possible for me to help change lives in a positive way through A Fresh Start TV Program.
It costs $800 for three hours studio time and eight hours editing, which produces four new programs of A Fresh Start. With your financial help, I hope to be able to tape eight new programs before December. Thank you to those who can help us financially at this time, thank you to our regular givers whether it be monthly or that one time end of the year gift, and thank you for those of you who pray for us.
You may send your check to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930 or go to the web site www.drbobbymullins.com, click on the Donate link, and follow the directions.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
Bro. Bobby Mullins
“Keep in the word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes, worshiping together, sharing the faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
September 2nd, 2016 — Uncategorized
BTTBM JULY/AUGUST
2016 UPDATE
“Hey Wanda Mia, You got something for me?
Rowdy really took to Wanda (Literally) on our recent visit to Mallory and Rocky’s in Lenoir City (He took a small piece of Wanda’s jeans bottom from gnawing on them without her knowing it when she was seated or standing.)
WHERE DID SUMMER GO?
I can’t believe summer will soon be over. I know we still have three more weeks before summer ends, but it seems now that students get out of school and with not much of a break they are back in school. Of course, schools now have Fall Break and Spring Break, which we did not have in my grade school days. But, “back in the day” it was nice to get out of school around Memorial Day and not return for the new school year until after Labor Day.
Wanda and I were able to make a quick trip to Lenoir City/Knoxville July 21-23. We drove up that Thursday, spent time with Mallory, Rocky, and Melody on Friday, then drove back to Hernando on Saturday. We had not seen Mallory since she became pregnant. Wanda spent the day on Friday with her, shopping, and Melody had lunch with them, then we all had dinner together that evening. I was able to drive over to Pigeon Forge and tape four new TV programs, which will begin airing on WVLR Knoxville this week, Thursday, September 1.
We wish we could get to visit with many of our Knoxville area friends, but with Wanda’s work schedule what it is, working about 50 hours a week at two part-time jobs at Baptist Desoto Hospital, then working about five hours a week at the church, and no paid time off, she is trying to work as much as possible so we can spend a few days in Lenoir City/Knoxville when Mallory delivers “Baby McNabb” (how we refer to her now). Perhaps, we can see some of you when we are there during that time.
We will be coming to Knoxville for Baby Showers, one on Friday Night September 23 and two on Saturday September 24, and we hope to see some of you then. That is the UT-Florida Football game weekend in Knoxville, but it was a weekend that datewise worked for all of us. Mallory, Wanda, Megan, and Melody will be focused on the three Baby Showers and Brandon, Brantley, Rocky, and I will be wherever we are needed.
DIVINE DISCIPLINE: GOD’S TRAINING GROUND FOR SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND MATURITY
I will soon be contacting a couple of on demand book publishers regarding the cost of publishing a book I wrote several years ago, titled Divine Discipline: God’s Training Ground For Spiritual Growth and Maturity. Like Channel of Blessing, my book on spiritual gifts, Divine Discipline is a book that is never outdated. The divine disciplines covered in the book are always around.
In the Preface to the book I state: “There is no development of Christ-likeness in a person’s life apart from suffering. Christians are not exempt from experiencing trials, problems , and suffering. Difficulties are necessary occurrences in the growth and development of our Christian lives. As a matter of fact, God not only allows adversity, but He even brings it upon us, at times. He does not do so because we lack faith or because of our spiritual disobedience, but He also uses adversity to increase our faith. Trials, testings, and tribulation help us to grow and mature into the people of faith whom God wants us to be.”
In the next BTTBM Update, I will define for you the Divine Disciplines of Divine Darkness, Divine Delay, Divine Differences, Divine Difficulty, Divine Disappointment, Divine Disturbance, and Divine Drudgery. I hope the ministry will be able to publish the book soon after the first of next year if our end of the year giving is comparable to this past year.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATIONS: WE CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU
It cost $200.00 per week to air A Fresh Start on WTWV in Memphis and $187.50 per week to air the program on WVLR Knoxville. The cost for three hours studio time and eight hours of editing, which results in four new programs, costs $800.00. We really need to be producing 24 new programs a year, so, if that is the case, the total cost of airing A Fresh Start for a year is $24,550. Two weeks a year the program does not air on WVLR due to Fundraising Telethons. We have now been back on the air for a year the third time around on WTWV in Memphis. In addition to the two airings a week we pay for, the WTWV station manager airs the program another two or three times a week at differing times. We also receive complimentary airings of the program on IHope TV in Knoxville and on the Creative Christian Network, which the director and editor of A Fresh Start, Bob Denney, founded. We do want to publish Divine Discipline in a few months, as well as more sheet music and music soundtracks of songs I have written. So, it takes about $40,000 a year just to do the minimum amount of what we desire to do for the cause of Christ through Back To The Basics Ministries. Thank you for being a ministry partner with me in fulfilling the Great Commission the Lord Jesus called all Christians to carry out.
Right now, monthly donations are enough to help us cover TV airing costs, but to be able to tape new programs we need additional donations to BTTBM. If you have not given to the ministry in awhile or may have never donated to BTTBM, if you could help us out, your tax-deductible financial gift will be greatly appreciated and will be a difference maker.
You may send your check to: Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930 or go to the web site www.drbobbymullins.com, click on the Donate link, and follow the directions.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes, worshiping together, sharing the faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
June 21st, 2016 — Uncategorized
RECORDING PROJECT FOR MELODY MULLINS
Melody Mullins, my daughter, has been the featured soloist on A Fresh Start since we began the program. I sing quite a bit on the program, but that has usually been due to Melody not being able to be in the studio at the time of taping because of her full-time job. I have included a link below of Melody singing with the choir and orchestra of Sevier Heights Baptist Church in Knoxville a few years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izsDE69oOiE. in an all music program of A Fresh Start featuring Melody (the music starts about the 5:47 mark).
Melody has a beautiful voice but of greater importance she has a heart for God and lives accordingly. When she first began singing publicly at around 14 years old or so, I prayed that the Lord would anoint her singing so that when she sang it would touch hearts for Christ in a positive way. I remember one of the first times she sang publicly was at a Middle School PTO meeting at Briarcrest Christian School in Memphis. As she sang I looked around and saw several of the mothers in attendance with tears in their eyes or wiping tears away who were touched by the song she sang and her singing. Thank you, Lord.
Back To The Basics Ministries would like to fund a recording project for Melody. In time we will use her CD as a gift to send to those who donate to the ministry. You all know that BTTBM is a faith ministry that is dependent on the donations of friends and supporters of the ministry to air A Fresh Start TV Program (almost 1200 airings since November 2009 PTL!). We soon hope to publish books I have written and now to produce CD recordings for Melody. Right now we have enough funds coming in per month to pay for air time of A Fresh Start on WVLR in Knoxville and WTWV in Memphis (although we need to raise more funds to keep it on the air in Memphis). We need financial help to make Melody’s CD a reality. She has someone whom she can record through that will provide 600 hard copies of the CD and we will need soundtracks made for seven or eight songs. That comes to between $1500 and $1700. By the time other incidentals are included, I feel like we can have a completed recording project for $2000.00.
Melody plans for her first recording to be mostly some great hymns of the faith. She is planning at this time to record a couple of songs I have written. One way we will keep costs down on her first recording is not having to pay royalty fees for songs written by others. The hymns she will use are Public Domain, for which you do not have to pay royalty fees.
HOW YOU CAN HELP US GET MELODY’S RECORDING COMPLETED
If you can give a $100 donation or more toward Melody’s recording project, we will guarantee you a complimentary hard copy of the CD when it is released plus you get credit for a tax-deductible donation (less the value of the CD). To the regular contributors to BTTBM who give a hundred dollars or more per year, we will give you a complimentary copy when the CD project is complete.
You may send a check to Back To The Basics Ministries; P.O. Box 32486; Knoxville, TN 37930
or go to the web site www.drbobbymullins.com and click on the Donate link and follow the instructions.
We will keep you updated on the status of Melody’s Recording Project.
GETTING THROUGH THE SUMMER SLUMP
June, July, and August are especially hard times for non-profit ministries and organizations when it comes to financial donations. We have just enough funds in hand to get us through summer airings of A Fresh Start, but we could use extra help financially right now to help us be able to tape new programs of A Fresh Start, with Melody’s Recording Project, for publishing one of the books I have written, and other ministry projects. Please see the info in the section above on how to make a tax-deductible donation. Thank you for your generosity. It is making a positive difference in the lives of people. I will share some examples next month from some whose lives have been bettered because of A Fresh Start and Back To The Basics Ministries.
Blessings,
Bobby Mullins
Bobby Mullins,
Executive Director – Back To The Basics Ministries
Pastor – Fellowship Baptist Church, Hernando, MS
“Keep in the Word, on your knees, loving God, loving each other, building godly homes, worshiping together, sharing the faith, supporting the Lord’s work financially, living life abundantly”
