Fellowship Baptist

We attended Fellowship Baptist in Thomston, Georgia today. We enjoyed the fellowship and worship and will add them as prayer partners. Thanks to all those at Fellowship who have covenanted to pray for us.
We head home to Texas Tuesday morning. Plan to be at First Baptist and Faith Temple to fellowship with all our prayer warriors there.

Something New Under The Sun Part 1

What’s new at your Southern Baptist International Mission
Board?

Over the past year, the International Mission Board has
turned its world upside down: revitalizing the overseas operations,
renovating the Richmond offices and reorganizing throughout.
Even our name has changed! Meanwhile, the entire denomination
has restructured itself agency by agency! In light of all this
change, a more appropriate question might be What’s not new at
the International Mission Board?

Newness and change, however, are relative. King Solomon
observed, What has been will be again, what has been done will be done
again, there is nothing new under the sun (Eccl. 1:9). Solomon knew
that every generation is a new beginning, yet the cycle of renewal
returns again and again. No doubt his own kingdom’s reorganization
and building plans left him and his colleagues a little jaded
about change! While it’s true that one can say in the broad scope
of things that nothing is new, it also is important to see through the
eyes of faith that God is doing something new all the time. In
Jeremiah’s words, His mercies are new every morning (Lam. 3:23)!
This paradox is like the waves that break on the seashore.

On the one hand, waves are a routine and regular occurrence—
nothing to get excited about. A wave is a wave is a wave. On the
other hand, every wave is unique and brand new, an awesome
display of God’s power and might and, for some, an opportunity
waiting to be seized!

God has been at work all over the world for ages. There’s
nothing new about this. But today’s work is also unique. It is
filled with new and exciting possibilities. Our challenge is to grab
the wave that is cresting today, to maximize its potential, and to
ride its might as far as He chooses to carry us.

This is why we are reorganizing, revitalizing, retooling and
recommitting ourselves to new directions. It’s not an indictment
of the past, rather it‘s an affirmation of the present and a preparation
for the future. Yesterday’s strategies were once new and
pioneering, too, but yesterday’s strategies can’t keep up with
today’s possibilities. They may be comfortable to us, but they
may not be what is needed today. God’s will and direction for
today’s generation of lost people is already unfolding. Like a new
wave building on the horizon, we can see it beginning to surge
our way. Let’s not miss it!

Alongside Solomon’s views on change is a completely different
perspective from the prophet Habakkuk. Though living
in difficult times, Habakkuk looked ahead to a new day and a
new epoch of remarkable saving activity by God. Look to the
nations, he wrote, watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do
something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were
told (Hab. 1:5).

There are four insights we can draw from Habakkuk’s
words. First, his words transcended their historical setting. The
book of Habakkuk is addressing a time of dire crisis. Habakkuk
warned his readers of imminent judgment prompted by their
disobedience. However, in the midst of this coming judgment,

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'Great Commission demands sacrifice,' Rankin tells SBC in Louisville

By Shawn Hendricks LOUISVILLE, Ky.

(BP)—An evening of testimonies conveyed both miracles and the remaining challenges of a lost world. And Southern Baptists responded on their knees with prayer — and a gift of more than $100,000 to international missions June 23 at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting in Louisville, Ky. Following recent news that the International Mission Board had to suspend appointments to two short-term programs and reduce its missionary force, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention presented a check to help put more missionaries on the field. Another offering of about $43,000 — the average annual salary of a missionary — was collected during the Southern Baptist Convention’s Pastor’s Conference earlier this week. “Just a few weeks ago we received the sad news … that we had more missionaries that wanted to go than we had funds to send them,” said Jim Richards, executive director of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. “[We] decided to take action … to begin making up the difference.” Despite the economic challenges and growing hostility toward Christianity, Southern Baptist missionaries are changing lives in difficult places or “pockets of lostness” — areas around the world that represent various government restrictions, persecution and logistical challenges. ‘PRAY FOR A THOUSAND’ Several missionaries — unable to be identified for security reasons — stood on an unlit area of the stage to share their stories. One recounted how she and her husband struggled for three years to find one believer in the Muslim-dominated area where they live. One day she began praying that God would raise up 100 new believers. “God immediately put in my mind — pray for a thousand,” she said. “I said, ‘I don’t know a thousand.’ [But] He did.” Before the couple retired from the field this past May, more than 1,600 people had accepted Christ. “God said it, we believed it, He did it,” she said. Brad Bessent, pastor of Beulah Baptist Church in Hopkins, S.C., shared about how his church entered into a missions partnership with the IMB in 2006 to reach Mali’s Bambara people, who are less than 2 percent evangelical. The church has now started churches in six villages. The congregation, which averages about 200 people each Sunday, has made multiple trips each year and seen more than 150 professions of faith. “What God has allowed us to do,” Bessent said, “He can do through any church that is willing to step out in faith and obey the commission.” Beulah is just one example of churches finding a way in a harsh economy to make an impact for Christ. “I know these difficult economic times are impacting families and churches, but has not the Great Commission always demanded sacrifice?” Rankin asked. “There are vast pockets of lostness where multitudes have yet to even hear the name of Jesus.” STANDING ACCOUNTABLE The SBC should take a closer look at its use of resources, Rankin contended. Last year, Southern Baptist churches reported receipts of almost $12 billion, he said. Of that amount, less than 2.5 percent was channeled through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to reach a lost world for Christ. “Is it more important to maintain our institutions, sustain church programs and support a denominational structure centered on 5 percent of the world’s population that is already well-churched than to send the missionaries God is calling out of our own churches to reach the 95 percent of the world who are deprived of an opportunity to know Jesus?” he asked. “Is it really a problem with the economy or rather distorted priorities and hearts that are not aligned with our Lord’s passion to be glorified among the nations and peoples of the world?” In May, IMB trustees approved the suspension of new appointments to two short-term missionary programs and cut back on the overall number of missionaries to be appointed for the remainder of 2009. The $141 million collected for the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions fell $29 million short of the $170 million goal and more than $9 million short of the 2007 offering total. The IMB’s missionary force — which stands at more than 5,600 — will be 400 fewer than it is now by the end of 2009. It could be 700 fewer by this time next year. The reductions will occur through retirements and completions of service. “Are we saying that 5,000 missionaries are enough … to evangelize the rest of the world while we support over 100,000 pastors, church staff and denominational workers in our own country?” Rankin asked. Southern Baptists face a critical choice, Rankin said. “We can examine our priorities, restructure an outdated bureaucracy, support the missionaries being called to reach our world or allow our hearts to become hardened, our future to decline, our influence to crumble and our witness fade into insignificance as we focus on maintaining the status quo and strive to sustain that which is increasingly irrelevant. “Let us not dilute the Great Commission to mean less than our Lord’s mandate to disciple the nations and to be His witness to the ends of the earth.” ‘RADICAL RESTRUCTURING’ The organization currently is in the midst of what Rankin called “the most radical restructuring of [IMB’s] 164-year history.” In 1997, IMB launched “New Directions,” an effort to tighten the organization’s focus on unreached people groups. Though thousands of people have come to Christ as a result, Rankin said the organization must take new approaches to continue that success. “We cannot presume that past methods and structures will produce the same results in a changing world,” he said. “We find our own society polarized, fighting cultural battles we never dreamed would be viable issues of political debate. Denominational loyalty is fragile, and our churches are seeing diminishing success in trying to evangelize a post-modern society.” Restructuring changes include: consolidating administrative field structures and intensifying communication between churches and their missionaries on the field. Once assigned to 11 regions, missionaries now will be able to reach out to their designated people groups anywhere and everywhere they are accessible. “Geographic boundaries are irrelevant in our world today,” Rankin said. Increased partnerships with Southern Baptist churches also will be a key to the success of the reorganization, he said. “Will we not one day stand accountable before God for failure to fulfill the mission for which He blessed us in numbers and resources?” Rankin asked. “How will we explain our unwillingness to send and support the missionaries He calls from our churches?” At the end of the IMB’s presentation, more than 50 messengers and guests gathered at the front of the convention hall to pray and seek God’s plan for missions in their life.

Final Lottie Moon Total falls short of Goal by 30 Million

Lottie Moon offering falls short of goal, totals $141 million for 2008

6/4/2009
By Shawn Hendricks
RICHMOND, Va. (BP)--Despite financial hardships caused by the economic downturn, Southern Baptists gave $141 million to support the work of missionaries through the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. But the total, which fell nearly $30 million short of the $170 million goal, is not enough to fund many of those who are ready to go.
The $30 million shortfall is equivalent to what it costs to support the work of approximately 667 international missionaries for a year. The final figure for the 2008 offering is $141,315,110.24, which is more than $9 million below of the record 2007 offering of $150.4 million.
“We are grateful that in these difficult economic times Southern Baptists displayed amazing generosity in giving $141 million to the 2008 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering,” said Jerry Rankin, International Mission Board president.
“When many families are hurting financially and churches are experiencing a decline in giving, faithfulness to the support of the International Mission Board reflects the high priority given to global missions and our responsibility to reach a lost world for Jesus Christ.”
The final offering results follow a May 19-20 IMB trustee meeting in Denver, where trustees approved the suspension of new appointments to the International Service Corps and Masters programs. They also approved reducing the number of new appointments to the career, apprentice, associate and journeyman programs.
New appointments will continue on a more selective basis, involving the most strategic assignments.
One hundred percent of the Lottie Moon offering goes to the International Mission Board’s overseas budget to support missionary work. The IMB spends 71 percent of its total budget, including a major portion of funds received from the Cooperative Program, on missionary support. That percentage includes salary, housing, medical care and children’s education. It averages approximately $43,000 annually per missionary.
By the end of 2010, the IMB’s missionary force of 5,656 is expected to fall to a level “compatible with financial resources,” said Rankin. The reduction will occur through retirements and completion of service.
“We will not be able to replace short-term personnel completing their assignments and will have to restrict the number of new personnel that can be appointed,” he added.
Just a year ago, the IMB celebrated the offering hitting a historic mark. Cumulative gifts to the offering, which was initiated by the Woman’s Missionary Union in 1888, topped $3 billion.
"We are grateful for the sacrificial giving of Southern Baptists to missions,” said Wanda Lee, executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union.
“This year's giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering may be more sacrificial for some than ever before considering the level of unemployment and loss of income experienced by many in our churches. And yet, Christ's command to go into all the world compels us to give in support of our missionaries during these challenging times.
“I believe if we keep our hearts focused on the mandate of the Great Commission, God will be faithful in providing the people and financial resources needed to reach a world desperately in need of the hope found in Christ."
In November 2008, IMB trustees adopted a $319.8 million budget for 2009 — $10 million of which was earmarked to offset the rising cost of support for the missionaries already on the field. The 2009 budget made no provision for an increase in the number of missionaries, which rose to more than 5,400 at the beginning of the year.
Though the number of Southern Baptists who want to go — and are qualified — keeps growing, there are not enough funds to support them.
With the growing number of job losses and the decline in financial markets, David Steverson, IMB treasurer, said the organization’s situation could have been far worse.
“When you consider the number of our constituency who have lost jobs and are directly affected by this economy,” Steverson adds, “we are grateful that the offering experienced only a 6 percent decline.”
That translates into the largest dollar decrease in the history of the offering.
Rankin said the opportunity has never been greater to take those resources to a lost world, and the stakes have never been higher.
“Never before have we seen such unprecedented response to the Gospel and opportunity to disciple the nations,” he said. “God is moving through global events to open opportunities to share the Gospel as never before.”
According to the 2008 IMB Annual Statistical Report, 565,967 people were baptized, and 26,970 churches were started overseas through IMB missionaries and their Baptist partners.
The Gospel also was shared among more than 1,190 people groups — 100 of these groups heard about Jesus for the first time.
“We need to realize that God has blessed Southern Baptists with numbers and resources to be His instrument to fulfill His mission to the ends of the earth,” Rankin continued. “One day we will stand accountable to Him for how we have used our resources.
“It breaks my heart that God-called people want to go — and millions need to hear the Gospel message from them — yet we don’t have the funds to send them. I pray this situation will convict our hearts and challenge His people to do whatever it takes to get the Gospel to the whole world.”
To learn more about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, visit imb.org/main/give.