Our Blog

Filter By:
Showing items filed under “Missions”

Spare Change - December 2019

main image

                   4 Reasons Everyone Should Go On a Mission Trip
(This is a reprint of an article I wrote in. I hope it encourages you that mission trips are possible for everyone!)

Have you ever thought about going on a mission trip? Many people have but, for one reason or another, they just don't go. Maybe you're too busy with work, family, church ministries, or social activities; maybe all of the above. Maybe you don't think it's financially within your grasp. Maybe you don't feel in shape enough or you have physical limitations. There are a lot of reasons why people don't go, but here are three reasons why you should go:

1. You Can Make a Difference!
There are so many people that need help; so many people that need to hear the gospel. I have been all over this country helping churches, church plants, ministries, disaster victims, inner city kids, homeless persons, etc. The common theme that runs through all the trips I have been on is that we make a difference. I may seem small, but often those small, seemingly insignificant, things are what matters most to people. I have seen people cry over drywall being put in their home. I sat and listened to a homeless man's story. I have been able to make a difference in these people's lives, all while sharing with them the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. You can make a difference. Don't make excuses for why you can't go, trust that God will use you in spike of your deficiencies. I will say it again, YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

2. It Will Change Your Life!
Inevitably, when people come back from a mission trip there is a marked change in their life. It happens every time! People go, see the needs, minister to others, and come home different. From time to time we need a drastic change in our lives. We get bogged down in the day-to-day doldrums and stresses of life. When we go on a mission trip, our perspective on life is reset. Our priorities are reoriented to the way God wants them to be. So, if you need a refresher in your spiritual life, or just need a break, go on a mission trip, it will change your life.

3. Jesus Commands You to Go!
The bottom line is that we are commanded to go to the ends of the earth to share the gospel and make disciples. Christians must go!  The great thing is you don’t have to be a full-time missionary to make a difference.  Our long-term partnerships create an ongoing relationship that benefits those on the mission field.  We cannot sit on the sidelines, Jesus commands us to get in the game and go!  Will you obey the command to go? (Bonus Reason, newly added!)

4. God Will Display His Faithfulness
Think you can’t go because you don’t have the money.  The scriptures tell us that God owns everything (Haggai 2:8)!  It also says that we are to ask God for what we desire according to his will (James 4:2-3; Matthew 7:7-11).  Raising money for a mission trip can seem daunting, however it provides an opportunity for God to show his faithfulness to you.  God will provide if you just trust him.  There are so many ways to raise funds for a mission trip, don’t let the financial burden hold you back.  Watch what God will do if you just ask and believe.

Upcoming Trips:
Adult & Student Mission Trip to Jamaica - July 25th - August 1st This trip will be a mix of construction and ministry.  We will be installing a playground at a rural school and doing a basketball camp with elements of VBS. For adults and high school age students. Approx. cost $1,800 (cost based on previous trip; subject to change) Contact Pastor Bryan at for more info.

 

Posted by Bryan Gotcher with

Women on Mission -December 2019

main image

                                     Who is this Lottie Moon, anyway?                                                                        
Charlotte Diggs Moon, 1840-1910, better known as Lottie Moon, became a legend in her own time.  A daughter of old Virginia and one of the best educated women in the South, Miss Moon was petite 4 feet 3 inches.  Her voice is described as deep, rich, gentle, musical, which she used skillfully as a teacher/missionary.  But no photographer ever captured on film the animated, attractive, charming, delightful, energetic, fearless Lottie Moon, although a few photos do exist.

For 40 years she represented Southern Baptists in China.  Again and again she wrote back to America, “Send on the               missionaries.”  Once she wrote, “It is odd that the million Baptists of the South can furnish only three men for all China.  I wonder how this looks in heaven.  It certainty looks queer in China.”

After the Japanese-Russian war, economic conditions in China produced much poverty, but there were some new missionaries.  Miss Moon welcomed them, advised them, mothered them, and loved their children, who adored her in  return.  The Chinese women and children came and went in her home as if it were their own.  If the Pingtu Christians were starving, Miss Moon would not eat.  By December of her seventieth year she was so frail the doctors sent her back to the States.  But enroute on Christmas Eve, while the ship rode at anchor in Kobe, Japan, Miss Moon died.  The memory of such a life never ends.
In 1918, Annie Armstrong, the woman who refused marriage to a China missionary so she could fulfill her calling as the leader of mission support among Southern Baptist women in the homeland, wrote: “Miss Moon is the one who suggested the Christmas offering for foreign missions.  She showed us the way in so many things.  Wouldn’t it be appropriate to name the offering in her memory?”* And so it was.
                                                                        
                            The Most Persecuted People in the World
Named “the most persecuted people in the world” by the United Nations, more than 723,000 Rohingya have fled to Bangladesh from their homes in Myanmar (Also called Burma). An additional 100,000 remain in Myanmar living in IDP (internally displaced people) camps.

The Rohingya have been stripped of their homes, their citizenship and their rights. Living as illegal aliens in camps built on land annually destroyed by floods, these people have nothing - no education, no health care, no income, no land, no assets and, seemingly, no allies.

International Mission Study: Rohingya will introduce you to the Christian organizations who are working as the hands and feet of Christ among the Rohingya. From delivering buckets of hygiene supplies to planting grass to sharing words of hope, followers of Christ are engaging this crisis head-on. Through this study, you will a) identify with feelings experienced by Rohingya refugees; b) discover how to pray specifically for refugees; c) explore how to accept people who are different from you; d) learn ways you and your church can give through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Baptist Global Response and the WMU Foundation. We pray this study would inspire you to reach out in love to refugees and other displaced people groups in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Our study is Wednesday, December 11th at noon in the fellowship hall. Please join us if you can.

Our Lottie Moon Christmas offering goal is $18,000. Offering envelopes will be made available to each family. Women on      Mission will meet at 6:00 pm on Monday, December 9th at the home of Jean Hitchcock for a Week of Prayer program. We will  carpool from the church leaving at 5:45 pm. We collected 1,180 boxes of mac and cheese for the Evansville Rescue Mission. Thanks you to all who made this possible.

*Excerpts from The Lottie Moon Story.

 

Posted by Women On Mission with

12...47484950515253545556 ... 7475