Archive for Southern Baptist Missions
There’s No Retirement Here
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It will be several years before I can officially retire from working. But, a few days ago I was reminded that retirement from working does not mean retiring from ministry.
Last week I blogged about the precious little girls I met at the annual Lottie Moon Tea. On Friday, I met with a group of women from Baptist Village Communities to share the message of missions. Instead of me teaching them, I was the one who “got schooled!”
First, these women all live independently and are quite active. Their activities director told me, “They wear me out! I can’t find enough things for them to do!” One of the women was the Children’s Specialist for our convention until her retirement in 1998. Another was an education minister in our state for many years. Talk about organizers! I’ve known Joyce Shelby since I was in college, and she was a woman in ministry long before it was acceptable in many of our churches. She paved the way for women in full time ministry.
These women had the room completely decorated. They had placemats made with the Lottie Moon artwork. They had refreshments. They had an agenda. They had it going on – even down to their Christmas sweaters. One woman even came straight from her church where she had been a volunteer for their food pantry. (In the back of my mind, I kept telling myself that I was looking into the future. I can just see me running the women’s meetings at the retirement center and looking for the right centerpieces!)
As I stood before them to speak and share my heart for the world, I was overwhelmed with emotion. For those of you who know me, that’s not too difficult to believe. As I looked into their faces, I was reminded that this generation raised me. They taught me about Jesus. They sacrificed for me. They gave of their finances and time. Most importantly, they prayed for me. They encouraged me when I came to the convention. How could I not feel like I was standing in a room full of spiritual mothers?
Today I received a thank you note from their leader. Yes, people still actually write thank you notes that aren’t a Facebook message. Once again, I was reminded we should honor those who have gone before us.
As a leader, how have you honored those before you? How can you be an encouragement to them? I shudder at the thought of losing this generation of women. They are the backbone of many churches. The biggest honor we could bestow is to take up the mantle for missions by giving, praying, sending and going. We can honor them by deciding our retirement from work is only a step into a new phase of servanthood. Until we face eternity, let’s press on toward the mark of Christ Jesus. He’s not through with you.
Celebrating Lottie and Her Life
Posted by: | CommentsLottie Moon is a name I’ve heard since I was a little girl. Growing up in a Southern Baptist church, December was not only a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, but to celebrate the life of a woman who encouraged churches to pray and give to mission efforts. Today, many of our churches still focus on giving to international missions during the holiday season, but I wonder how many of our young people are familiar with Lottie’s story.
Last Saturday my daughter and I had the privilege of sharing missions with 100 Girls in Action at an annual Lottie Moon Christmas Tea. Gina McKean, the children’s minister at Portland Avenue has coordinated this event for several years and includes all of the churches from Capital Association. These little girls were precious and we had a blast! Gina is the type of woman who takes an idea and carries it out like none other. From the invitations to the food, to the mission project, to the craft, it was a morning that girls will remember for a long time. Here are some photos to give you a glimpse of how incredible it was.
Our tea included food just right for little girls–peanut butter and jelly, eggroll, oranges and yummy sweets.
Chopsticks were given to each girl as an ornament and prayer reminder.
The program was Asian inspired and all the decorations had cherry blossoms.
We even painted a cherry blossom tea cup.
Girls love taking their picture with our life-size cutout of Lottie Moon. She really was that small!
During one portion of the morning, Gina gave the girls a “quiz” on their Lottie Moon knowledge. Courtney is a senior in high school and I discovered I haven’t done a very good job of sharing the Lottie story with my own daughter! When I told her that Lottie died on Christmas Eve from starvation, she couldn’t believe it. No one had told her about the sacrifice Lottie made so that the Chinese people could hear the news of Jesus. This really struck home because Courtney and I spent a week in East Asia this year and our hearts were touched by students who had never heard the simple words of John 3:16. To put it simply, Lottie’s work continues today. Out of the 1.6 billion people living in East Asia, more than 98 percent do not know Christ as their Savior. Many of them work in factories where Christmas ornaments and lights are produced, but very few understand the story behind the decorations.
I’m grateful for the work of Lottie, but I’m more grateful to Southern Baptist missionaries who continue to share the hope of eternal life. I’m grateful to Southern Baptists for giving to the Cooperative Program and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. I’m grateful that as believers we can be His Heart, His Hands and His Voice. What will you give this year to support international missions?
For more information about Lottie’s life or this year’s offering, visit www.imb.org.
Finding Grace on the Lower East Side
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It’s November. A month where most of our thoughts turn towards Thanksgiving and the upcoming rush of Christmas mayhem. It’s easy to want to push the fast forward button on the calendar, especially when our office is preparing our final event. Why? While it’s one of our favorite events, it’s often overlooked. We can’t always publish the names or photos of our speakers because of where they serve. The event is on a Monday afternoon–not necessarily convenient for the masses. But if you miss this event, you will miss hearing from amazing Oklahomans who are living out Acts 1:8.
One of those is Taylor Field. A native of Enid, Field serves Southern Baptists as a North American Missionary in New York. He is the pastor of East Seventh Baptist Church-Graffiti in Lower Manhattan. Taylor will be the keynote speaker for this year’s Missions and Ministries Celebration.
I first heard Taylor at a conference at Ridgecrest. I had never heard of his ministry and wouldn’t have known about his Oklahoma roots had he not mentioned them. (there’s always a source of pride when featured missionaries are from your home state). What most impressed me was his passion to reach people who are often seen as outcasts. He and his wife have served in this area for almost 25 years, including being just blocks away from the World Trade Center attacks of 9/11.
Taylor onced described his neighborhood looking like Sesame Street. But the people are not named Elmo and Oscar. Rather, it is a block that includes homeless Tommy and Luis the pusher. Taylor described his call to this area to Leadership Journal, “The duty of delight has meant raising my two sons in an environment some people would flee if they had the money. This duty has meant confronting the dealers, embracing the users, feeding the homeless by the hundreds and growing to call a small church of the poverty stricken, who are often angry and sometimes violent, family–all in the name of Christ. ”
If you want to hear Taylor, I encourage you to attend this year’s Missions and Ministries Celebration on Monday, November 14 from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. in the East Conference Center at First Baptist, Moore. There’s no cost to attend, but the encouragement you’ll get to live out your calling will be priceless.
Click on the following link and get a glimpse of how this church is impacting New York. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=lTLHGourGBo
Sudan Sitting In My House
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It’s hard to remember exactly when I met Dinafor, but I know it was sometime during my son’s senior year of high school. Being on the soccer team of a large high school, it wasn’t uncommon for Conner to bring home friends who were from different parts of the world. Soccer truly is an international sport and our family has enjoyed the way these students have enriched our lives.
Din was just a freshman the year Conner graduated, but we’ve continued the relationship because he started coming to our church and is the same age as our daughter. We knew his family was from Africa, and more specifically, the Sudan. I’ve asked the typical questions about his large family and their eating habits of goat and rice. (because goat isn’t something that’s easily available at the local grocery store!) We had heard that his family escaped the atrocities of Sudan by winning a lottery and given the chance to have a life in the U.S. In short, our family and our church family, loves this young man.
But the reality of Sudan sat in my living room last Sunday night. After hosting our senior small group, Din stayed around after most of the students had left and I saw him talking intently with my husband, Vic. I could tell by the conversation that Din was carrying a huge burden. He’s not a big talker, so I knew something was heavy on his heart.
After he left, Vic began to explain Din’s concern about his family who are still in Sudan. There had been recent threats on their lives and they were living in danger. While most of our high school senior students are obsessed with graduation and college plans, Dinafor’s main concern was for the welfare of his homeland and his family. Vic prayed and encouraged him. It was moment I doubt my husband will forget.
I started thinking about the number of students in our high schools and colleges who are from other countries. When was the last time you had an international student in your home? Did you know most students who come to the United States as an exchange student or as a college student have never been invited to share a meal with an American family? In the past six months, we’ve had students from China, Africa and Mexico.
What responsibility do Christians have with these students? I couldn’t help but hear Din’s heart for Sudan. He truly believes God will send him back to his homeland to make a difference. He wants to play soccer for their national team. He would be a hero in his country! And we have the opportunity to pour God’s word into his life and into his heart. God could use Din to bring about spiritual change in a war-torn country. That’s just mind-boggling when I look at him sitting in my living room and interacting with other teenagers.
Sometimes missions means going to Sudan. But, for me, missions was Sudan sitting in my living room.
Disaster Relief Brings Relief
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Tornadoes are no laughing matter in Oklahoma. While we may sometimes joke about running outside to watch for twisters instead of taking shelter, the truth is most Oklahomans know the devastation that can be caused in a few short minutes. We often marvel at the calm and sunshine that seems to immediately come after the damage has been done.
Victims may also marvel at the way Oklahoma Baptist Disaster Relief teams are quickly called into action. This year, the Oklahoma State Missions Offering features this ministry and its ability to reach into the lives of those who need good news. Take a quick look at this video segment and make sure your church as ordered its State Mission Offering materials.
Reach Your Community By Being In the Community
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SMO 2011 Church Planting-Vimeo HD from BGCO on Vimeo.
Each year our office has the privilege of educating Oklahoma Baptists about the wonderful work accomplished through their gifts to the Oklahoma State Missions Offering. While most people tend to perceive our office as only working with women, at this time of year we get a birds-eye view of several ways God is at work around our state.
One of the joys I encounter is being on location during the filming of the videos we produce each year. This year was no exception. Today I’ve embedded one video which shares the impact of church planting in our state.
Many people ask the question, “Why does Oklahoma need more churches?” Good question. It might seem there is a Baptist church on every corner. But the fact of the matter is that there are still a million Oklahomans who aren’t associated with any church. There is a growing need for Hispanic churches (the latest census reported that Oklahoma Hispanics have increased 85% in the last ten years).
For pastor Ernie Tullis, his calling to begin a church came from God’s prompting to go back to the neighborhood where he was raised.
What Tullis found was a neighborhood of high poverty, drugs and crime. A talented musician, Tullis began the process of working with the BGCO to begin a new church by being the church to this community. In just over a year, Tri-church meets at a local elementary, runs around 80 people each week and most importantly, they are seeing lives transformed with the Gospel.
Now is the time for your church to begin ordering their complimentary State Mission Offering supplies. Order online here and begin promoting the offer this fall in your church.
Proud to Be an Okie
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I’m proud to say I’m an Okie.
I can’t say I’ve always felt that way. I remember in college asking God to let me live anywhere but my home state. And, just like God’s sense of humor, the job He provided was less than a few miles from where I grew up and went to school. He even placed me at a job where I would have to explain the Oklahoma roots for quite some time–WEOKIE Credit Union. Honest. And I was the marketing director! (side note: They were an incredible company to work for and God blessed me abundantly in that experience)
But for the past several years, I’ve grown to love my fair state, despite its outbreaks of tornadoes and rate of obesity. This is never more true during this time of the year when our office is in the midst of producing the Oklahoma State Missions Offering promotional materials. I get an up close and personal look at how Oklahoma Baptists are making a difference and impacting our state with the gospel. Just last week I stood by our Disaster Relief Director, Sam Porter, and watched our video crew film him explaining the impact Disaster Relief volunteers have made to tornado victims in recent weeks.
We filmed several chaplains and once again I realized the breadth of ministry our trained volunteers are making. Whether they are chaplains in prisons, hospitals, on the oilfied or comforting disaster victims, their impact reaches way beyond the church walls. (the picture in this post is an Oklahoma chaplain comforting a tornado victim in Joplin, MO)
I also saw a church plant in downtown Oklahoma City that is impacting their community. They meet in an inner city school and have adopted this school as an integral part of who they are. I watched neighborhood children walk through the doors and knew they were in a safe place where they would be loved and taught the truth of Jesus.
Yes, there’s a lot to love about Oklahoma.
And, by the way, our Thunder NBA team didn’t do too bad this year.
Helping Alabama
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Oklahoma knows the wrath of tornadoes. But, last week, the southeast experienced the fury of wind and destruction that took more than 300 lives. I’m always shocked by the post-tornado photos and video showing damaged communities and disaster-stricken neighborhoods.
Although those images are hard to watch, I’m confident of the way the faith community responds in times of disaster. I’m never more proud to be a Southern Baptist when I see Disaster Relief teams mobilized within hours of natural disasters. Whether they are feeding people, cleaning up debris, or praying for a family, these volunteers are genuinely the hands and feet of Christ.
I know many people are wondering how they can help. You may be one. Most of us will not be asked to travel to disaster areas. But you can make a difference. Here are a few ways you can help victims:
1) Give to Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. You can do this by making a contribution through your Southern Baptist State Convention or through the North American Mission Board. You can be confident that every dollar you give will go directly to help those in need. For more information, visit the BGCO website or the NAMB website.
2) My friend, Mitzi Eaker, formerly worked for national Woman’s Missionary Union as a Children’s Missions Consultant in Birmingham, AL. You can visit Mitzi’s website and find ways to directly help children who have been impacted by the storms.
3) You can pray for Disaster Relief volunteers. Pray for opportunities to share the love of Christ with those who find themselves dealing with loss of life and possessions.
4) Pray for churches whose buildings have been damaged or demolished. While the church is not a building, these congregations and communities of faith will have a long process of rebuilding the facility in which they met.
5) You can also give to WMU’s HEART Fund. Grants and money are distributed to organizations who respond to natural disasters.
Sowing Seeds: Seeing God
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I just returned from spending a week in East Asia. As with any overseas encounter, my heart is still full from the ways our team was able to sow the seed of the Gospel and witness how God’s glory is being revealed to the nations. There are many ways I cannot share specifics, but I want to take the opportunity to give you some of the highlights we witnessed.
1) On our first day, we met a young woman who teaches in a university. Not only does she teach, but she is opening a Christian bookstore in her home town. Because of her bold witness, she teaches a class on Bible and culture. Our team had the incredible privilege of sitting with students in small groups and answering their questions about the Bible. When asked the question, “How many of you have heard John 3:16?” only two out of 90 students raised their hands. We knew God had given us a tremendous opportunity to share.
2) Meeting several workers and their families. I’m not sure if you personally know a missionary, but after meeting several workers, I’m impressed more than ever with their competence and boldness. Many were young families (with lots of preschool children!) who are being obedient to the call of Christ. They are smart. They are humble and they represent you well. To connect a face with your prayers is very powerful. I will treasure my times of conversation with them.
3) Worshipping with Asian believers. Our team met with a group of believers for lunch. We ate together, shared our stories and sang in our heart languages. It was a small picture of heaven. Hearing from a pastor’s wife who has spent two weeks in prison for her faith gives me the desire to have more courage in the face of persecution.
4) Practicing English and engaging in conversations with Asians. Young people in Asia are anxious to learn oral English and we stood outside in the cold just answering their questions and helping them become better English communicators. We watched the Holy Spirit turn ordinary conversations into God conversations.
5) Handing out 1,200 New Testaments in one morning as we stood at a popular tourist site that allows Gospel distribution. Knowing where those Bibles are going is an encouragement to remember God’s word never returns void.
6) Having a passion for the cities. While there is much emphasis on unreached people groups, there is still a huge need among the heavily populated cities in Asia. I’m not against the strategy to “go where no man has gone before”, but we can’t neglect cities of 14 million people where 99 percent do not know Christ. Let’s not be unbalanced in the approach to reach all peoples.
7) Gaining a heart for the deaf people of the world. Meeting two of our workers whose primary responsibility is working with those who cannot hear made a huge impact on my heart. Our team wept as we prayed for these two short-term workers and the harvest that is before them. God is doing a mighty work with this affinity group.
Finally, one of the precious parts of last week was the time spent with the women on my team–including my 16-year-old daughter. I know trips change lives as the Gospel is presented. But, short term missions changes those who go. I believe the women who went on my team will never pray the same, give the same or consider the lost in the same way.
How is God calling you to be involved in missions? Will you pray? Will you give? Will you go? Sow the seed and see God at work.
Making Christmas Memories: Giving
Posted by: | CommentsOne of my own childhood memories is that every Christmas our church celebrated the life and work of Lottie Moon, a southern Baptist missionary who served in China. Not only did she literally sacrifice her life so that others could hear about Jesus, but she was a voice to Southern Baptists about the need to support their workers in foreign lands. She died from starvation on Christmas Eve, and our churches honor her and other international missionaries each year by giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.
Our world seems much smaller now than it did 100 years ago. But, there are still more than 6,400 unreached people groups who still need to hear the message of Christ.
You can make a special memory for your children by helping them learn about the gift of giving this Christmas. Sure, there are a lot of organizations that help people around the world. But Southern Baptist missionaries are counting on you to give generously so they can continue the work God has called them to do. The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides more than 50% of the support needed to keep our missionaries on the field.
Will you do something significant and memorable this Christmas? Give.
I am the Women's Missions and Ministries Specialist for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma. Our purpose is to encourage women to embrace and echo God's heart for the world.
