In a year that has been anything but normal, what has your church done in the area of missions?  Dates had been set, plans had been made, funds had been set aside for that summer mission trip, then COVID hit.  Everything practically shut down and, more than likely, your mission trip was cancelled.  This left you somewhat disappointed but think about those you were going to serve. 

COVID-19 has also left many of the missionaries disappointed and, in some instances, even discouraged.  They were looking forward to the fellowship with volunteers and mission teams.  They had projects to be completed.  They were depending on resources and funds from those scheduled to come.  They could no longer do ministry as usual and had to adjust their methods of service.  They grew tired of constantly ministering and giving with no one to minister and pour into their own lives. 

I pray that you did not forget these missionaries with whom you had planned to serve, but that you continued to stay in touch and encourage as much as you could.  And it is not too late.  Consider these ways you can continue to be involved in missions during the remainder of 2020.

1. Pray for the missionaries and ministries.  Ask them for specific prayer requests.
2. Call or email the missionaries just to see how they are doing, encourage them and find out about specific needs.
3. Send a card to let the missionaries know you are thinking of them.
4. Send a care package or gift card to thank them for their service.
5. Provide resources that you know the ministry may need.
6. Donate to the ministry.  One of the Kentucky missionaries shared that, even though mission teams had to cancel, a couple of them sent funds that they had set aside to use for their trip.  The missionaries depend on these funds for ministry and these donations are a big help to continue ministering.
7. Pack a Christmas backpack for the missionaries to share with needy children. Since many Vacation Bible Schools were cancelled this year one church has suggested redirecting funds budgeted for VBS to fill Christmas backpacks. 

Ask God to show you innovative ways to support the work of missionaries in Kentucky and abroad.  Last year in our state many needy children and families were fed and clothed, homeless and hurting were ministered to, ladies with unplanned or unwanted pregnancies were encouraged to choose life instead of abortion, widows, internationals and refugees were served, those in prison or recovery were ministered to and, most of all, the Gospel of Christ was shared.  Our Kentucky missionaries reported 2095 professions of faith in Christ last year as a result of their ministries and you were a part of this as your prayed, encouraged, gave and served with them.  Thank you for adapting and not “cancelling” your 2020 mission experience!! 

Our team packed into a couple of small vehicles and made our way down the pothole filled streets where we would then turn off the paved roads and down the bumpy one-way dirt roads. We traveled these dusty roads until we came to a clearing, where mud huts and grass roofs were scattered around the villages in this West African country.  As the people came out to see who was arriving in their village, they quickly began gathering members from the local Baptist church.  Word had reached them that we were coming. 

Once gathered, we would share Scripture with the church members, offer a word of greeting from the church in the US, and pray for the believers.  We did this same routine repeatedly, spending only a short amount of time at each village.  After many stops, I pulled Stevens aside.  Stevens was a local pastor who worked with our team.  Missionaries came to his village the day he was born, and his witchdoctor father named him after the missionaries that day.    

“Stevens,” I wondered, “are we doing any good by traveling from village to village and staying only a short amount of time?”  His slender 6’6” frame leaned down to me as he insisted with his English accent, “Oh, never underestimate what your encouragement does for our people! It’s huge!”

Light bulb moment!  That’s exactly what Paul is getting at in Acts 14 and 15.  Toward the end of his first missionary journey and the beginning of his second, Paul made it a practice to travel back to the churches previously planted and “strengthen the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith” (Acts 14:22; 15:41).  Why?  Because we all need encouragement. Perhaps like never in recent years has the church needed encouragement in the faith. 

Paul tells these early churches, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).  Today is no different.  Life is hard. The fight against sin is hard.  Living for Jesus is hard.  Now throw in the mix challenges like viruses, political turmoil, escalated racial tensions, financial strains, mandated and self-regulated quarantines, and the tragedy of death.  No wonder even the church is weary.    

During it all, the church is still called to the Great Commission. The gospel moves forward even when the world is in a pandemic.  Preachers still preach. Evangelists still share. Missionaries still cross cultures.  The church continues to make disciples.  But in times like this, it’s easy to become discouraged and weary.

Like Paul before us, what pastor might you encourage this week?  What missionary can you contact and pray for that he or she might be “strengthened and encouraged”?  What church can you lift in prayer and then make aware that you did just that?  You and I might be surprised at what a simple word of encouragement and prayer will do for other believers seeking to make disciples of Jesus.  As my friend Stevens says, “Oh, never underestimate what your encouragement does for our people!  It’s huge!”  Go and do likewise.    

For this week’s blog post I would like to share an inspirational story written on June 26^th by KY-MSC Missionary Laura Roberts, Executive Director of Starfish Orphan Ministry in Paducah.  So thankful for missionaries and ministries such as this that show and share the love of Christ daily to families across Kentucky.

Yesterday at Starfish Orphan Ministry a young woman came in with her mother. She explained her story about how she had found herself homeless and pregnant with 2 children. She had to give up her children temporarily while she got her life back together.

The good news is, she worked hard and got them back, and was moving into an apartment yesterday. The problem was, she had nothing. (Like no beds for her or her children to sleep in, no towels to dry with, no chairs to sit in, no pots and pans to cook in…). We explained to her that we had almost everything she needed, even pictures to hang on the walls, she and her mother both cried. They were humble and thankful. We explained that it was God blessing her and her children. God had led people to donate much of this, and allowed us to be a tiny part in the process of blessing her with it.

My friend and I prayed with her and her mom, as they both wept. This girl had all the required paperwork to back up what she had told us. When we were done with that part of it, we had explained that we did not have anyone to deliver to her right then. She said she had someone that could pick it up.

When the elderly man arrived in a small pickup truck to get the apartment full of furniture , he explained that he had just gotten out of the hospital, and could not lift anything heavy, and would not be able to make multiple trips. He had just felt sorry for her and offered to drive.

It was almost end of the day, there were no men there, some of the volunteers had already gone home, but there were myself and four other women left. We came from different backgrounds, but it didn’t matter. We had different skin colors, but it didn’t matter. We had different reasons for volunteering that day. One of us was ordered by a judge to be there, but it didn’t matter because she said “I’ll call my mom, she will help too. So, 6 women loaded the big box truck and headed out at the time that “volunteer time” was over. We worked together to deliver this gift to this mom and her children.

We all left feeling blessed to have gotten to see the difference made. A very pregnant mom and her children would have had to sleep on the floor, but instead their family was together for the first night in a long time, and they each had their own bed! Praise God!

When I climbed into my bed last night I thanked God for their beds and my bed. I thanked God for the people who donated the items, and for the people who folded and sorted the items, for all the people and groups who have raised money for us to buy the material to build the beds and those who have donated to them, for the friend who oversees the bed building, for the mattress company who donates crazy amounts of mattresses for children in need. I thanked God for the foundation that supports Starfish with operating expenses so that we can stay open and all other donations can go to help the families like this one and for little children who raise money with lemonade stands or recitals in Grandma’s yard. I thanked Him for the churches that support Starfish monthly and the individuals who stick a random check in the mail or donate online. I wished that all those people could have been there and seen that Mamma cry!

Then I thought about the blessing. …. who was blessed today? The woman and her children obviously, but I guarantee you that each woman that helped today would tell you that we were blessed as much as the woman was!

Starfish is getting more requests each day. Our overfilled warehouse is looking vastly different! We are very low on some types of furniture. We have missed out on lots of furniture lately because of no one to pick it up.

For those who deliver and pick up, we provide masks (if you want to wear them), we provide hand sanitizer, we have a spray that kills germs on surfaces, we have gloves available. We can have the items waiting outside.

We desperately need people on call to go pick up and deliver. We have a church group (who I am SO thankful for) who comes the second Saturday of each month to do pickups and deliveries, but we really need at least one more to do another Saturday. We need drivers and lifters. It could be that your family would want to make up a pickup/delivery team!

If people could understand the blessing, if they could have been with us yesterday, there would be people fighting to do it!

If you want the blessing of helping, please call 270-519-7340.

One of the largest and strongest horses in the world is the Belgian draft horse.  These horses are so strong that one Belgian draft horse can pull 8,000 pounds.  What an incredible feat.  Apparently, if two stranger Belgian draft horses are harnessed, they can pull 22,000 pounds.  Notice that their combined strength more than doubles their ability.  However, when they train and pull together, these two Belgian draft horses can pull up to 32,000 pounds—four times the amount that they can pull alone.

I recently shared about a mission survey that the Missions Mobilization Team (MMT) of the Kentucky Baptist Convention sent out to our churches.  Our desire was to learn how our KBC churches are engaged in missions and how we can better help them reach KY and the world for Christ.  In my first article detailing the survey results (“We Are Stronger Together”), we focused on two areas: praying and giving.  This last article, I want to share about the results as they pertain to mission engagement locally, nationally, and internationally.

Two-hundred and forty-six churches participated in the survey.  When asked how many churches are engaged in missions locally, 75% said that they are.  Indeed, it is encouraging that KBC churches are beginning in their own Jerusalem as Jesus instructed (Luke 24:48).  As a follow up question, participants were then asked how many partnered or worked locally with a KBC or SBC connection.  Of responses, only 20% of the churches engage locally with KBC or SBC partners. 

Moving our attention to national mission engagement, 46% of participating churches said that they are engaging somewhere missionally nationally.  When asked how many of the churches are partnering with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) for their national mission engagement, only 22% said that they are.    

As we think on a global scale, participants were asked about their mission involvement internationally.  Of responding churches, 57% affirmed that their church is engaging internationally.  However, only 30% of those churches are partnering with the International Mission Board (IMB) or Baptist Global Response (BGR), the Disaster Relief arm of the IMB. 

So, what did we find out from this survey?  For one, our churches are much more engaged locally (75%) than nationally (46%) or even internationally (57%).  However, in their local engagement, they often partner outside of the KBC and SBC family.  Another lesson learned is that our national and international engagement, while closely averaging a combined 50% of churches, is relatively low when it comes to partnering with NAMB or IMB/BGR (only 22% and 30%, respectively).

As I noted in my first article, these churches support the Cooperative Program overwhelmingly at 96%.  Perhaps at that rate we can pull 8,000 pounds for gospel advancement.  However, what if in our partnering we meant not only giving, but our going too?  Maybe instead of pulling 8,000 pounds, we can pull 22,000 or even 32,000 pounds.  When we stay within the family and “pull together” in our praying, giving and going, we can accomplish much more, even in some instances four times as much.  As the Missions Mobilization Team of the KBC, we would love to help your church engage your Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the world as we “pull together”.