Welcome to Our Bi-weekly Newsletter

Volume 101, "LEAD LIKE ANDREW"

Here's our latest edition with important meetings and other news you can use! Take a look ...

Please share news, tidbits, or notices of upcoming events in your area so we may include them. We also value your feedback on this newsletter and how we may better serve you. Don't hesitate to contact:

Dr. Roy Benavides (email Roy)

Jeff Butcher (email Jeff)

or Tom Welch (email Tom).

Submission consideration deadline is

Monday at 8 a.m. for the week of release.

ERROR MESSAGE!!

Directly Speaking

By: Tom Welch

Please Submit Zoom & Hybrid Meeting Info

By: Jeff Butcher, Sr. VP for Administration & Historian

Research organizations are releasing data now portraying that the decline in church attendance and baptisms may have bottomed out and are starting to rebound. Praise the Lord! This is a train the Brotherhood needs to climb aboard immediately.

The National Service Center is creating a new database of ZOOM and hybrid chapter meetings. We have nearly 900 brothers who are listing themselves as Members at Large (MAL) who are searching for fellowship. Can you help them out?  Please send your chapter’s name, ZOOM link, dates and times of your Zoom or Hybrid men’s ministry gatherings? We would also appreciate contact name with a text-accepting phone number. Either email your information to info@brothersandrew.net or send notice via USPS to BStA, P.O. Box 1382, Louisville, KY 40201. 

FIRST WEDNESDAY WEBINAR

The monthly webinar is always on the first Wednesday of each month at 8 pm/Eastern.

Join by clicking the link below:

Monthly BStA Webinar Link

August 6, 2025, 8pm (Eastern)

Speaker to Be Announced

SECOND TUESDAY DEVELOPMENT SEMINAR

The monthly seminar is always on the second Tuesday of each month at 8 pm/Eastern.

Join by clicking the link below:

NEW Second Tuesday BStA Seminar Link

August 12, 2025, 8pm (Eastern)

Founders Day Planning

Hosted by: President Roy Benavides & Sr. VP Jeff Butcher

Future Second Tuesday Development Seminars

SEPTEMBER: Roundtable for Chapter Directors

OCTOBER: Disciplines of Prayer & Study

NOVEMBER: Lead Like Jesus/Recruiting 

Members-at-Large Meeting to Recognize Veterans

The Member-At-Large (MAL) advisory council will be dedicating the Saturday, July 19, 2025, MAL gathering to Veterans. Always on the third Saturday of each month, the national MAL meeting can be accessed via Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84365288022?pwd=Rms3cm1US0d6MWtXK214T2VYdHViZz09.

The July meeting will recognize veterans with a special program focused on sharing useful information. Come join us!

Additionally, the National Service Center has begun assembling a complete list of chapters' Zoom and Hybrid meetings specifically targeted for a MAL's benefit. Each chapter meeting will contain ZOOM links, chapter name, dates and times where you can engage in fellowship.  

HOUGHTELING CHAPTERS FOR 2025

The membership committee and the National Council wish to recognize chapters who strongly support our ministry by presenting them with the Houghteling Award, named after our founder. The award criteria required:

• making sure 75% of the chapter membership had paid dues for 2025 in a timely manner, AND
• providing a 2024 annual chapter report including names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mails of members and an officer roster no later than January 31, 2025.

This year 24 chapters met the criteria and are so recognized:

Advent #5454S, Sun City West, Arizona

Christ #5068S, Pensacola, Florida

Christ #2219S Elizabeth City, North Carolina

Church of Ascension #5206S, Knoxville, Tennessee

Church of the Good Shepherd #5041S, Silver City, New Mexico

Church of Our Savior #5121S, Palm Bay, Florida

Church of Transfiguration #5392S, Opa Locka, Florida

Holy Comforter #4706S, Spring, Texas

Holy Trinity #5461S, Hot Springs Village, Arkansas

Holy Trinity #0079S, Gainesville, Florida

Holy Trinity #2225S, Decatur, Georgia

Holy Trinity by the Lake #4699S, Rockwall, Texas

St. Georges #5136S, The Villages, Florida

St. Johns #4854S, Naperville, Illinois

St. Johns #3816S, Tulsa, Oklahoma

St. Joseph #5173S, Boynton Beach, Florida

St. Marks #1552S, Isilip, New York

St. Marys #2187S, High Point, North Carolina

St. Pauls by the Sea #1770S, Jacksonville Beach, Florida

St. Timothys #5058S, Centennial, Colorado

St. Timothys #3716S, Lake Jackson, Texas

Trinity #2048S, Mattoon, Illinois

Trinity #1037S, Elkton, Maryland

Trinity #0284S, Fredericksburg, Virginia

JOIN US IN PRAYER EACH WEEK

Mid-Week, Mid-Day, "12:00 Central Time"

What better way to level set during the middle of the week? We will hold a weekly Wednesday noon (CDT) prayer time over ZOOM that is open to all brothers and guests. Let's pray for the Brotherhood, for our Brothers, and even share some stories of how Prayer has impacted you or someone you know!

We can all spare 20 minutes in prayer. It's like stopping at the faith service station to fill your prayer tank!

Please join us every week when you can to recharge your prayer batteries!

The Zoom link for Mid-Day Prayers can be accessed by clicking HERE.

Copy and paste this Zoom link into your calendar so you can join us for 20 minutes every Wednesday at 1 pm EST/noon CST/11 am MST/10 am PST!

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85663208398?pwd=UG0vTkJ2OXAwKzBEdGpYcTBCanZEZz09

If you'd like to help lead, pick an empty date from the Prayer Leaders Schedule (below) and contact roy.benavides@brothersandrew.net

It's simple ... we already have the script made out (in our devotional handbook or the Book of Common Prayer)!

Prayer Leaders Schedule: Click Here

Thursday Night Bible Study Via Zoom

The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, The Brooklyn and Queens Assemblies, and The Diocese of Chicago wish to remind you to join the weekly Bible Study on Thursdays, 8 p.m. EDT/ 7 p.m. CDT/ 6 p.m. MDT/ 5 p.m. PDT.  Joining this group will allow you to continue to gain deeper knowledge, awareness, and understanding of the Bible. 

 If you have questions, please email nychibiblestudy@gmail.com.

LOGIN INFORMATION

1. By COMPUTER DEVICE:

Click HERE to join the Bible Study Lesson on ZOOM

Sacred Ground

BIBLE STUDY ID: 448 502 7479 (no password necessary) 

2. By PHONE:

646-876-9923

ENTER ID#: 448 502 7479, THEN PRESS #

New members to receive "welcome call" from

their Province President and/or Diocesan Leaders

New members are starting to receive email notification from the Service Center when their complete and funded applications are processed. Packets are also sent via USPS. Often, our Executive Director Tom Welch, makes a welcome call. Our senior leadership wants to take it a step closer to the ground.  Each member of the Brotherhood has a Province President, and many have a Diocesan Coordinator contact. "What province am I in?" A map is below.

Every month province presidents receive a list of the new members in his province. You should have already received a welcome call from him by now or will in the near future. It's all about building connections so we may build community and leadership. One or more of our leaders will be calling new members by phone, so you may see an odd phone number show on your phone. Take a chance and see if it is a new Brotherhood friend on the other end. They would like to get to know you. 

Likewise, every month for those new members who have indicated an interest in one or more of our seven ministries, that Ministry VP will also receive your name and plug new members into that ministry silo.

If new members aren't able to answer the call, our leaders will leave a message for a call back opportunity from our new members. What makes a new member join? What does their parish look like? What would they share to others about the Brotherhood? These are the type of questions we want to learn so we may grow in the Lord together. 

A special welcome to these new members joining since June 25:

Senior Members:

Are you a "Singing Chapter?"

Share your favorites here......

Some Suggested Hymns with Link

Safe in the Arms of Jesus

Jesus Calls Us, o'er the Tumult

When Christ Our Lord to Andrew Cried

When Christ Our Lord To Andrew Cried Lyrics

Eternal Father

Are you a member in good standing through December 31, 2025?

If you are not sure, email admin@brothersandrew.net or

YOU CAN RENEW HERE!

or mail a check to the National Service Center at

BStA, P.O. Box 1382, Louisville, KY 40201

Annual Ministry Dues are:

Senior Member (men age 21 & older) -- $50

Junior Member (young men under age 21) -- $10

Associate Member (women) -- $25

or

become a Life Member for one-time ministry dues of at least $1,000

Good Books and Articles

Some Current Reading by Brothers

• Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story: A Father’s Guided Journal to Share His Life & His Love 
  

                                                 by Jeffrey Mason

The Loneliness Epidemic: Why So Many of Us Feel Alone - and How Leaders Can Respond

by Susan Mettes, David Kinnaman - foreword, et al.

Celebration of Discipline:

The Path to Spiritual Growth

by Richard J. Foster

What are you currently reading?

Do you have any book recommendations?

Does your chapter have a book study?

Email us the title and author so we can share it with your Brothers!

Ministry News!

Keep up with Brotherhood news via the monthly St. Andrew's Cross newsletter found on the website at

St. Andrew's Cross Archives

and or via FACEBOOK at

https://www.facebook.com/brothersandrew.net

Discipleship & Mentoring

Racial Reconciliation

Recovery

Restorative Justice & Prison Ministries

Scouting & Youth

Social Justice

Veterans

We need stories from Chapters and Ministries

Kathy Copas, our editor, would like to include more news of chapter events and ministry meetings or events. If you have something to share, please send it to

editor@brothersandrew.net