On Mission magazine

A quick review of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-10T16:21:00.002-05:00

As you consider whether the new Narnia movie is worth the view, here are a few considerations:

Identity crisis and the Kingdom of God: From its opening scene the Voyage of the Dawn Treader established itself as a study in identity. Edmund struggles with his royalty in Narnia chaffing against his age in Cambridge. Lucy we'll learn later despairs over her own identity as overcast by the beauty of Susan. A third character, Eustace Scrubb, has yet to discover his identity as a child, believing facts superior to fantasy and thus unable to see himself as involved in a story more magnificent than any dream.

Mission and the Kindgom of God: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader sails on a current of mission over self ambition and thus provides for viewers a narrative describing what it means to undergo suffering for the sake of the ultimate goal. While all along succumbing to the temptation to fulfill their own desires, the characters are awakened each time by the hand of providence to who they are and how that identity is inextricable from the mission to save a world from sleepy destruction.

Imagination and the Kingdom of God: In the end Aslan faces the weeping of children sad to leave Narnia and return to their world, but the Lion reminds them He's called by a different name. He brings them to the world of Narnia for a little while so they can name him better in their world. And so viewers are left realizing Lewis' intent, that this world of imagination feeds the life we live outside the imagination, emboldens us to live it bravely, reminds us for whom we live it.

Churches and the Voyage of the Dawn Treader: This film beautifully narrates many points along the journey of the Christian life, including sin and temptation, self and the mission, grace versus works in salvation and the importance of living in the world but not with the world's desires. It's a beautiful film perfect for bridge building, illustrating the work of the kingdom of God, and is perhaps the most theologically astute and nuanced of the three movies.

How to Pray Creatively During Ramadan

2010-09-01T16:38:00.000-04:00

Look for ways to make your times of prayer varied and interesting. The 30-Days Prayer Network has some creative ways you can pray during the month of Ramadan. For instance, using Google Earth find a Muslim country and zoom in on a particular city. Pray for the people living there as you "walk" through the city.

“The Night of Power” on Day 27 is a strategic night of prayer. This Sunday night, September 5th, is what is called the "Night of Power" in the Muslim world. It is a strategic night of prayer. During this night, which is close to the end of Ramadan, many Muslims have told stories about experiencing Jesus through dreams and visions and about many miraculous things happening. Consider setting aside this night for an all night prayer time with your church or mission group.

For more ideas visit 30-Days Prayer Network.

Revealing Ramadan - Sara

2010-08-27T15:29:00.001-04:00

By Carol Pipes
Yesterday, I met a young woman named Sara* at a local college campus. I was with a volunteer team from Clarkston International Bible Church in Clarkston, Georgia. Using Soularium cards, we were engaging students in conversation about God and other spiritual matters.

Sara is from Syria but she moved here from Kuwait where most of her family still lives. She misses her family but isn't interested in moving back to Kuwait. When I asked her to describe God, she used words like beautiful, protector, giver of life. Interesting, I thought. I asked her if she attended church anywhere while at school. Sara told me that she was Muslim and attended a local mosque. She also told me she was observing Ramadan.

"I haven't broken my fast," she informed me.

With that, we ventured into a discussion about Ramadan and fasting. I asked her why she felt she needed to fast and how it impacted her life.

"I fast because it is tradition," she said. "It makes me more aware of those who do not have anything to eat. It also makes me feel closer to God."

I asked her if it was easier to observe Ramadan in Kuwait or the United States. "Oh, it's definitely easier to observe Ramadan in Kuwait," she said. "In Kuwait, everyone fasts. Here, there is much more temptation. There is food everywhere. Even in class there are students eating next to me."

She said that being able to overcome that temptation made her feel stronger.

I told her about the church and the ministries they provided to internationals just moving to the states and that perhaps her family members might check them out when they moved here.

She took a card with information and then was off to her next class.

We're about half-way through Ramadan. In the next couple of weeks, pray for Sara and others like her who are fasting.
Pray that God would reveal Himself through dreams and visions.
Pray that American Muslims who are discovering the living Messiah would become a source of life and inspiration for other Muslims in the U.S. and in their homelands.
Visit 30-Days Prayer Network for more ways you can pray.

*Name has been changed.

Call to Prayer

2010-08-19T15:37:00.000-04:00

Imagine a Middle Eastern man breaking from his morning tea a few steps ahead of the dawn call to prayer. He shuffles peacefully down a sidewalk to join his friends and family. Imagine the sound of the muezzin, that man with impressive lungs who summons the Muslim community to five prayers daily toward Mecca.

In a Middle Eastern country he might stand on the minaret of the mosque pronouncing from on high the dawn, midday, middle afternoon, evening, and sundown prayers. In Dearborn, Michigan, the local muezzin has access to a loudspeaker, and even from a mile away you can hear his voice.

Imagine crowds of men and women in saris and scarves shuffling toward the mosque past local shops advertising Halal meat. They file in. Kneel on rugs.

This is not the Middle East, but Michigan—a place where you expect hockey, industry, brutal winters, good old hardworking mid-America. Middle Easterners who’ve worked in the auto industry for decades fill many of the jobs that move the Michigan economy. Over 800,000 live in Michigan.

Muslims along with Catholics and Christians from Middle Eastern countries have settled the area bringing their religion and culture, but also a strong desire to “be American,” says one North American Mission Board missionary, who’s been sharing the gospel with Middle Easterners in Michigan the last five years. “They’ve come to America to be Americans.” The church has an opportunity to help with that and to share Christ as well.

Across the entire Islamic world, the muezzin calls the faithful to prayer five times a day: at dawn (fajr), noon (dhuhr), in the afternoon (asr), at sunset (maghrib) and nightfall (isha'a). On Fridays all male Muslims are expected to attend the noon time prayers at a local mosque. Today, Muslims will be preparing themselves for Friday prayer. This includes a ritual washing in order to be pure for prayer.

As Muslims here in the U.S. and around the world prepare for Friday prayers and fast during Ramadan, pray that God would reveal Himself and that they would meet the true, living Messiah, Jesus Christ.

To find out more about Islam and how you can pray for your Muslim friends during Ramadan visit the 30-Days Prayer Network.

Prayer for the Muslim World

2010-08-10T12:10:00.000-04:00

Ramadan begins tomorrow, August 11 and ends on September 9th. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims observe the Fast of Ramadan. Muslims worldwide will rise early tomorrow morning and eat breakfast before the day begins. They will not have anything to eat or drink until nightfall. This will continue for the next 30 days. Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and one of the highest forms of Islamic worship.

Over the next month, join us as we pray for our Muslim friends, neighbors, co-workers and acquaintances.

Today, pray that God would prepare our hearts as we seek to pray for the Muslim world. Pray that God would give us a Christ-like attitude toward Muslims. Pray that all Christians would live out Christ's command to love others.

Islam Facts: The Five Pillars
The Islamic religion is lived out according to five main "pillars" which are obligatory religious practices for all adult Muslims. One of the "pillars" is the month of fasting (Ramadan) which is translated as "Saum" in Arabic
1. Reciting the Creed (Shahada in Arabic)- "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet."
2. Prayer (Salat)- Five times each day. Just before sunrise (Fajr), Noon (Dhuhr), Afternoon (Asr), Sunset (Maghrib), Evening (Isha). Prayer is, in this sense, an expression of submission to the will of Allah.
3. Almsgiving (Zakat)- Both obligatory and voluntary giving to the poor. The Qur'an teaches the giving of two and one-half percent of one's capital wealth to the poor and/or for the propagation of Islam.
4. Fasting (Saum)- Especially during the "holy" month of Ramadan. During the 30 days of Ramadan Muslims are forbidden from eating or drinking from sunup to sundown. After sunset, feasting and other celebrations often occur. The daylight hours are set aside for self-purification.
5. Pilgrimage (Hajj)- All Muslims who are economically and physically able are required to journey as a pilgrim to Mecca (in current day Saudia Arabia) at least once in their lifetime.

To learn more about Islam, visit 4truth.net.

Muslims, Christ and the women who love them

2010-06-18T10:51:00.000-04:00

The word "Muslim" stirs mixed emotions among Americans. Fear, skepticism and stereotypes have fueled misunderstandings between Muslims and Christians in the years following 9/11, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have raised a deeper awareness both of great danger and desperation found among Muslim-populated areas worldwide.

As part of your own soul searching, how do you respond when you see a veiled head, hear conversations in Arabic, or experience any of the other artifacts pointing to worshipers of Allah?

It was MSC missionary Cherie Gray in Tucson, Arizona, who first opened our eyes to the Islamic world of African refugees as, unhindered by language, religion and stereotypes, she offered the practical presence of the Gospel among families disoriented in their transition from refugee camps in Somalia to a desert valley city in the wild west United States.

MSC missionary Pat Maddox in Clarkston, Georgia, was next. Daily, through her work with Friends of Refugees, she visited the families freshly arrived from Somalia, Morocco, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, offering them bread, English lessons, assistance with moves, furniture or just the presence of a caring person. Through partnerships with local relief agencies and churches she also demonstrated practically the work of Christ in her life.

And just recently we spoke with Annie Taylor*, a NAMB Nehemiah Church Planter serving in another town in the southeastern United States where Muslim families have established communities and strong Muslim culture, but where God is at work through dreams and visions and the willingness of faithful believers willing to enter the lives of Muslims. For Annie, it's through deep connections with Muslim women.

"There's a window of opportunity of about a year," says Annie. "When they come to the states if they meet a true Christian within the first year, they are much more likely to accept Christ."

By spending hours with families, attending birthday parties for the prophet Muhammed and making Muslim women her true friends, Annie has experienced God's work.

"They'll tell me the story of how in a dream Jesus was standing at the edge of their bed. He'll say something like 'I am the truth.' This happens more than you would believe."

In a recent book, Woman to Woman, another Christian woman, Joy Loewen, recounts her journey from indifference and even fear to love and friendship with the Muslim women in her life. Her book is a memoir but it's also a manual for understanding the mind of a Muslim woman. Just as the missionaries mentioned above, Loewen chronicles the complexity of culture among Muslim women who are responding to the gentle love of Christ as believers are faithful in sharing His Good News.

It was a fashion show, just as I expected, writes Loewen. Approximately two hundred women, lavishly dressed and happily chattering away in Arabic, Persian and Urdu, entered the hall carrying large pans of fragrant meats and sweet dishes. I knew I was in for a delectable treat of Eastern cuisine. Scanning the room quickly, I realized I was the lone Caucasian woman. I braced myself and asked God to make me stand tall and ryal like Queen Esthers, who name my parents had intentionally chosen for my middle name. As I prayed and viewed all this from the doorway, my nervousness fled and enjoyment rose within me.

As we consider how to share Christ in the real world among Muslims, what is keeping us from appreciating their rich culture and some amazing opportunities to help them know the one true God through Jesus?

--Adam Miller

More resources

What does Islam teach about Jesus? Jesus and the Koran

Christianity and Islam. What's the difference?

Mistakes Christians make with Muslims. Common mistakes

Go dog go

2010-04-21T15:10:00.000-04:00

She's 18 inches tall. She eats flies. But as far as North America Mission Board missionary Andrew Mann is concerned, his Labrador Retriever is a full-fledged – albeit four-legged –"missionary." See how God is using a trained therapy dog, and her owner, to bring people to Jesus in one of New York City's toughest neighborhoods.

Video: Find it Here

2010-04-15T12:51:00.000-04:00

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. In this video, see how believers all across North America spent one amazing weekend beginning an advance toward the goal of "every person hearing, every believer sharing."

Can we be certain Jesus died on the cross?

2010-04-01T15:50:00.001-04:00

By Mike Licona

All four New Testament Gospels report that Jesus was crucified and died as a result. Is the evidence sufficient to warrant the conclusion that these reports are accurate? Before investigating for an answer, I would like to note the importance of this question. The atoning death and resurrection of Jesus are the cornerstone doctrines of Christianity. If either failed to occur, the Christianity preached by the apostles is false. For if Jesus did not die on the cross, there is no sacrificial death on behalf of our sins as the New Testament teaches. Moreover, since the term "resurrection" refers to the transformation of a corpse into an immortal body, if Jesus did not die, there was no corpse to be transformed by a resurrection.

Without a resurrection, Christianity is falsified. The apostle Paul taught: "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless" (1 Cor. 15:17 HCSB). The Gospels report that Jesus likewise said that his resurrection would serve as proof that His claims about Himself were true (see Matt. 12:39-40; John 2:18-22). Thus, according to Jesus and Paul, if the resurrection of Jesus did not occur, it is time to find another worldview. Accordingly, since a resurrection requires death, Jesus' death by crucifixion is a link that cannot be broken if Christianity is to be regarded as true.

In this article, I would like to provide four reasons that support the credibility of the claim that Jesus died as a result of being crucified.

Read the rest of this article at 4truth.net.

Mike Licona is a New Testament historian, author and Christian apologist. He is the apologetics coordinator for the North American Mission Board. Follow him at www.twitter.com/didjesusrise.

Planting churches in Arizona

2010-03-14T05:00:00.002-04:00

By Mickey Noah

As a Southern Baptist pastor for the last 30 years – and as a North American Mission Board missionary for the past six – Louis Spears has conducted many a funeral. But none of them prepared him for the long, lonely walk behind his wife’s casket almost two years ago.

A native of Guthrie, Okla., Spears and his wife, Shelley, had been married for 32 years – ever since they were both 20-year-old church planters in Oklahoma. But in May 2008, she succumbed to a pancreas-related illness only 11 days after its sudden onset.

“Shelley was an incredible person, a woman of many talents,” says Spears. “The main thing I miss about Shelley – other than just being together as not only my spouse but also my best friend – is the amount of prayer-time she spent on my ministry. She was really my partner in ministry. It’s a huge loss and huge gap in my life.”

Spears’ strong, tried-and-true personal faith prevented him from caving in to the temptation of chucking his whole ministry and blaming God in the process.

“I never thought about blaming God. I was not mad at God. The worst thing was being totally cut off from Shelley, missing her encouragement and positive reinforcement.”

Still after almost two years, the 54-year-old missionary said the grief is still “like big ocean waves that just swell up over you and you can’t fight them, but you know the Lord is the Lord, that He is supreme, and that in His design, He had a purpose for it.

“I can’t see it and I don’t understand it but I really don’t argue with Him about it. I really tried during Shelley’s 11-day crisis and through the last year to live my life without regrets. I didn’t leave anything undone or unsaid,” said Spears, who has a 24-year-old daughter, Amy, one grandchild and another on the way.

Spears is one of some 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions. He is among the North American Mission Board missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 7-14, 2010. This year’s theme is “Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power.” The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like Spears.

While no one or nothing can ever replace the vacuum in his life caused by Shelley’s death, Spears depends on his challenging missionary work in Arizona to take up some of the slack, ease the pain and bring new victories.

Expanding God's work in Puerto Rico

2010-03-13T05:00:00.003-05:00

By John J. Correa

At the onset of his missionary career, pastor Luis Rodríguez and his wife, Lourdes Santiago, were dismayed at the lack of commitment from church members at the church they’d planted in Coamo, Puerto Rico. However, this apathy did not hamper the efforts of these Southern Baptists. Besides, from God's divine perspective, this was only the beginning.

Luis remembers the challenges faced during those uncertain days after being sent by the Raham First Baptist Church of Santa Isabel to plant a new church in Coamo.

"When we arrived at Raham-Coamo, we noticed the believers there didn't really have a commitment to come to the services,” said Rodriguez. “When we were on our way to a prayer service, they started calling to excuse themselves from coming to the service. In that moment I turned and looked at my wife and wondered if our efforts were really worth it. We began doubting if God was really involved.”

When Luis and Lourdes arrived at the small church for the prayer service, only one other couple had come to intercede for God’s work there – but a couple with a very special need.

"With great sorrow in our hearts, we found brother Carlos Santiago and his wife, Andrea, who was kneeling in prayer,” recalls Rodriguez. Andrea’s hair had fallen out due to the chemotherapy she was undergoing to fight her cancer.

“I looked at my wife, she looked at me, and the Lord spoke to my heart, saying, ‘For the love of that solitary life I'm sending you to Coamo. It's one life, one soul. Don't worry about the ones who made excuses and didn’t come.’”

Because of Andrea’s commitment, Luis and Lourdes were motivated to press on with God’s challenge of planting a church in Coamo. The result was the creation of the Raham Baptist Church in Coamo.

The name of the church, "Raham," is the Hebrew word for "God has shown compassion.” This is precisely the spiritual gift that continues to be one of the driving forces behind Rodriguez’s work in Coamo.

Luis and Lourdes Rodriguez are missionaries for the North American Mission Board, responsible for planting churches in Puerto Rico. They are two of the some 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions, and are among the NAMB missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 7-14, 2010. This year’s theme is “Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power.” The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like Rodriguez.

In word and deed

2010-03-12T05:00:00.009-05:00

By Adam Miller

Two blocks east of the “El” Train Red Line in Uptown Chicago, a lady named Susan limps over from under a covered bus stop.

“That’s my spot. I was here. I just had to sit down.”

She marks her spot by hanging two canvas bags on the fence where a dozen men and women are lined up outside Uptown Baptist Church.

“I was here. This weather is killing my arthritis.”

Her voice is husky but kind. She limps toward the bus stop, sits and takes a sip from something tightly wrapped in brown paper, looks over her shoulder again, then settles back against the glass enclosure.

As the line builds, she comes back.

Next Monday, she says, they’re giving out shoes.

“Could you help me with this?” asks Susan, holding up a kids’ Revenge of the Sith wristwatch six hours fast. “It’s a cheap watch. I don’t know how to fix it. It’s not a very nice watch.”

Every Monday around 4:30 p.m. the iron gate separating Uptown Baptist from the sidewalk creaks open and some 350 homeless men and women file into pews for a word from scripture then to the basement for a hot meal.

Shouldering computer bags and backpacks, a flock of Chicagoans scatter from the train and the buses toward home or an evening job in one of the city’s most diverse communities.

This is North American Mission Board missionary Michael Allen’s mission field.

“Uptown is one of the most diverse places in the Chicago area,” says Allen. “It's diverse in almost every way you can imagine -- ethnically, socio-economically, in gender and in age. It’s home to retirees, young couples, newborns, the brilliant and the mentally ill.”

Nearly 80 languages are represented in Uptown’s public schools. The neighborhood’s population includes government officials, college professors, business professionals and a sub-culture of “down-and-outs.”

Allen is one of more than 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®. He is among the NAMB missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 7-14, 2010. This year’s theme is “Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power.” The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like Allen.

Allen has worked with social ministries for years, beginning with his tenure at Moody Bible Church and continuing with leadership at homeless and recovery ministries throughout the city. His ability to interact across a broad spectrum has given the Jamaican-born pastor a voice among Chicago businessmen and politicians.

“One day I could be at a press conference with the mayor of Chicago and all the movers and shakers and be in a suit and tie, then later that day on the street talking to somebody who’s drunk and just gave his girlfriend AIDS,” says Allen. “It's a powerful thing. It's an amazing thing. It's God at work changing people's lives and I get to be used by Him to accomplish it.”

Garden of the Gods

2010-03-11T05:00:00.003-05:00

What could be better than serving as a North American Mission Board missionary in picturesque Colorado Springs? After all, the city of 380,000 backs up to the base of snow-capped, 14,000 feet-tall Pikes Peak on the edge of the Rocky Mountains.

Money and Outside magazines have both deemed it as No. 1 on the list of the best places to live in the United States. It’s perceived as a Christian “mecca” and nicknamed “The Evangelical Vatican” because so many evangelical Christian organizations are headquartered here – Focus on the Family, The Navigators, the International Bible Society and Young Life, just to mention a few.

Colorado Springs is a military stronghold, the location of the Army’s Fort Carson, Peterson Air Force Base, Schriever Air Force Base, NORAD and the United States Air Force Academy.

The 6,000-foot high city is headquarters to the U.S. Olympic Committee, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and the national sports federations for Olympic bobsledding, fencing, figure skating, basketball, boxing, cycling, judo, hockey, swimming, shooting, triathlon, volleyball and wrestling.

The Colorado Springs area is also a vast wilderness of “lost” souls. Just ask Bill and Carol Lighty.

Bill, 53, serves as a NAMB national missionary and director of missions for the Pikes Peak Baptist Association, which includes about 50 Southern Baptist churches and church plants. In a metro area of more than 600,000, 83 percent – some 500,000 -- never darken the door of a church -- any church.

“God really broke my heart over the lostness of the Pikes Peak region,” says Lighty, who – with his wife of 32 years, Carol – has worked in his current assignment two and a half years. Prior to that, he spent almost 21 years as pastor of Chapel Hills Baptist Church in Colorado Springs. The Lightys have two grown daughters, Trisha and Ashley, and two granddaughters.

Lighty is one of some 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions. He is among the North American Mission Board missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 7-14, 2010. This year’s theme is “Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power.” The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million, 100 percent of which benefits missionaries like Bill Lighty.

Although Lighty says Mormonism and Catholicism are both strongly entrenched in the Colorado Springs area, “there’s half a million people here who don’t know Christ.”

In addition to Pikes Peak, another of Colorado Springs’ famous landmarks is the “Garden of the Gods,” so-called because when it was named in 1859, it was described as a “place fit for the assembling of the gods.” Lighty said this focus on the mythical gods – but not on the one true God – is symptomatic of many of the residents of the Colorado Springs area.

“In a very real sense, Colorado Springs is not godless because the people here have a lot of gods they worship,” he says. “Some worship nature and the mountains. Some worship skiing. Some worship the metaphysical. Spiritualism is a big element of our culture, and we have a strong Wiccan movement. Some worship their motorcycles. With five military installations here, many worship the military and the goal of getting promoted to the next rank.

“So our challenge is competing with all these other gods plus the mountains – where there’s something to do 12 months out of the year -- in order to help people worship the one true God versus their multiple gods,” Lighty says.

Off the Beaten Path

2010-03-10T13:00:00.002-05:00

To understand a person, walk a mile in his shoes. But if that person is an Appalachian Trail thru-hiker, you’ll have to walk several hundred miles.

“It’s not until about mile 500 that they start to listen,” says North American Mission Board Mission Service Corps missionary Suzy Miles. “Before that, they’re superheroes.”

MSC missionaries Craig and Suzy Miles started Appalachian Trail Servants (AT Servants) six years ago so they could help represent Christ through service, evangelism and discipleship to reach the longtrail hiking community trekking the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail (AT).

The couple has hiked about 1,000 miles of the trail themselves, and visited most of its length to conduct ministry training to churches near trailheads and to minister to hikers through acts of kindness.

The Mileses are two of more than 5,300 missionaries in the United States, Canada and their territories supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering®. They are among the NAMB missionaries featured as part of the annual Week of Prayer, March 7-14, 2010. This year’s theme is “Live with Urgency: Share God’s Transforming Power.” The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering’s goal is $70 million.

Week of Prayer for North American Missions

2010-03-10T11:07:00.000-05:00

In Romans 1, Paul tells us he is not ashamed of the Gospel and is eager to preach it everywhere he goes. Like Paul our North American missionaries know that only God is powerful enough to transform lives. Every day they live with urgency to share that transforming power.

During the Week of Prayer for North American Missions, March 7-14, pray for our eight Week of Prayer missionaries and others like them who are supported by the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® and the Cooperative Program. As you read about each missionary and pray for them, consider how you can partner with them to take the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout North America.

Day 1: Jim and Myrtle Ballard | Blackfoot, Idaho

Day 2: Mike and Vickie McQuitty | Syracuse, New York

Day 3: Vivian and Jim McCaughan | St. Louis, Missouri

The Power of Prayer

2010-03-05T08:30:00.002-05:00

By Dave Storey

I love how the Bible describes Elijah as a man just like the rest of us, but we also know that he prayed fervently. Though we always have prayer meeting on Wednesday nights, sometime last November I sensed that we should also be praying on Saturday nights – to have a time when people could just come and gather near the front of the church and pray for the next day’s services, and that God would show up with convicting power, as mentioned in John 16:8.

A few weeks after we started having prayer on Saturday nights at our new church in Blackville, New Brunswick, we witnessed God’s movement in the life a young woman named Jennifer. Just like a lot of people who grew up in churches around here, she was a Baptist and had “religion,” but she wasn’t genuinely converted. That Sunday night she was really broken and responded to the invitation I extended after warning people to flee from wrath to come, to be born again. The Holy Spirit convicted her that she was religiously lost, and her mother recommitted her life to Christ, too!

I think that when people come and pray, it invokes the Holy Spirit’s presence. When we ask God to show up, we can expect Him to move. Sometimes it will be conversions of the lost; sometimes convictions for believers. It really boils down to us coming to God; not too much happens if we’re not seeking His face.

Dave Storey is a North American missionary serving in Doaktown, New Brunswick, Canada.

The challenges of campus church

2010-03-04T12:05:00.000-05:00

This morning the North American Mission Board (NAMB) staff was on the phone live with North American missionary Mike McQuitty, a Baptist Campus Ministry (BCM) director at Syracuse University.

As the town of Syracuse fills with snow and the energy of March Madness, Mike McQuitty describes a college campus dark with an undercurrent of sin and despair.

“College campuses are the greatest missions fields in the world,” says McQuitty. But addiction and mental illness ravage many among the student body, he says. “Please pray for these students.”

Faced with the challenges of a transient mission field as students come and go, McQuitty’s job is to raise up leaders and start new works. The church McQuitty helped start is now student run and student led.

Transience and change have turned to strengths at Syracuse University. So while bolstering and building the work at Syracuse, he’s also preparing believers who will graduate and enter the mission fields of their careers and vocational ministry.

One student he mentions became a believer through the BCM, and is now an international missionary in a closed country. Similar stories are coming out of Syracuse and dozens of BCM works throughout North America.

To learn more about McQuitty, and the work at Syracuse, visit www.onmission.com.

-Adam Miller

NAMB missionary serving as Olympic chaplain

2010-02-16T16:51:00.000-05:00

North American missionary Derek Spain is serving as one of the official Vancouver Olympic Committee chaplains at the Athletes Village in Whistler, B.C. As a chaplain, Spain will be available to pray with and minister to the athletes competing at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Spain is pastor of Lake Placid Baptist Church and director of North Country Ministries, a ministry focused on the athletes who live and train in Lake Placid, N.Y.

To keep up with Spain, follow him on Twitter (@derekspain) or on his blog.

Day 4, Vancouver, B.C.

2010-02-15T13:46:00.001-05:00

It's Monday in Vancouver, British Columbia.

At the corner of West Cordova and Burrard Street in downtown Vancouver the seagulls fight for positions atop lamp posts, flapping and cawing at ravens, pigeons and each other.

From this intersection one sees the nations mingle with a city living its Monday morning, even though so much of its rhythms are set to the beat of this most prestigious of Vancouver events since the World Expo of 1986.

Canadians and Croatians alike mount the sidewalk from buses whose sides read Vancouver 2010. Some countries go to work today, and some are just beginning their celebration of global competition and camraderie.

Vancouver is grand without the Olympics, its mountains rising snow capped at the ends of alleyways and vessels cutting wakes through Coal Harbor. But now a new world of expectations and anticipation turns every Skytrain stop and street corner into an intersection with possibility.

This is the Vancouver Southern Baptists enter with their mission of making the Gospel of Christ known among nations.

Yesterday, Quillian Mercer shared a More Than Gold pin with a family at events in Whistler. “They were just so excited just to get the pin. Then I gave them the card that explains it,” said Mercer, a student pastor at Bethany Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. “Some people just wanted to hear my accent. I never thought God would use my accent as a way to talk about Him.”

Olympic pins, hot chocolate, coffee and accents are all part of seed planting among the nations in Vancouver.

“There’s a lot more happening here than just sports events,” says Jeff Wagner, North American Mission Board resort and special ministries coordinator. Jeff sees a man with a book full of pins from many Olympics. “Where there might be hesitancy to talk to me about Jesus on any other day, sharing a pin or a cup of hot chocolate shows that we’re interested in them on a human level.”

This is day four and only the beginning as we watch God work in the lives of His people here in Vancouver!

Years in the making

2010-02-12T20:52:00.005-05:00

From an apartment window at 26 stories we watch fog fill distant hills and traffic stir the streets of Surrey, a town just 20 minutes from Vancouver on the Skytrain. Loss of a slider from the Republic of Georgia's luge team creates mixed emotions as a city builds toward tonight's festivities and more than a thousand Christian volunteers gear up for ministry. NAMB missionary Derek Spain remains in Whistler with fellow Olympic chaplains, ministering amid aftershock of a fallen competitor.

Churches across Vancouver will host viewings of the opening ceremonies, providing venues and hospitality to a city whose population will swell by more than 300,000 over the next three weeks.

"This has been years in the making," says Alan Au, a coordinator for Southern Baptist work during the Vancouver Olympics. "We've had volunteers arriving for three days from all over."

Many volunteer groups led by NAMB missionaries and pastors have already jumped into their roles providing hospitality at Skytrain stations, labor support to More Than Gold offices and outreach efforts throughout the city.

"The Olympics have provided Vancouver with an opportunity it hasn't seen since the World Expo in 1986," says Au. "It provides for increased infrastructure, for more emphasis on caring for the underprivileged and homeless and for an amazing cooperation among churches of many different denominations. Because of this the churches in Vancouver will be able to work together for many years to come."

Life in the Fast Lane

2010-02-03T16:28:00.000-05:00

He travels “90 miles an hour down an ice chute with an inch of error on either side.” His name is John Napier. He is a U.S. Olympic bobsledder and a new Christian. In this video, travel to Lake Placid, N.Y. and learn how North American Mission Board missionary Derek Spain leads Olympic athletes like John to faith in Jesus. View video.

The church in the center

2009-10-22T15:09:00.000-04:00

By Adam Miller

A critically ill infant, a desperate prayer and a call to missions: God is working through missionary Ben Hays to bring together the most unusual of ingredients to build a church in the most unusual of places – the Texas Medical Center in Houston. (View video)

For years Ben Hays and his wife, Kelly, served in local churches, but for many years “missions” had been a recurring thought. Though they “never knew the ‘where’ or the ‘when,’” Hays said.

Then their son, Landon, was born.

“He was this robust 10 pound, 10 ounce baby boy. Looked like the picture of health,” Hays said. “But on the second day of his life, we discovered that Landon was born with a pediatric liver disease.”

God sent them to the medical metropolis of the Texas Medical Center in Houston as “two extremely terrified young parents going through a really hard time dealing with this illness with our son.”

Multiple surgeries and procedures made the hospital a second home, but it also opened the eyes of these scared parents to the mission work to be done in the Houston medical community.

“God said a couple of things to us through that,” Hays said. “That I’d never belong long-term on the international mission field. And that you don’t have to go to the international mission field. You have one right here in front of you.”

While praying for his son’s health, Hays began praying for the doctors, nurses, technicians and students he passed while walking the medical center’s campus. He soon realized God was calling him to plant a church. The Hayses were appointed as church planter missionaries on April 1, 2008 by the North American Mission Board.

Ben and Kelly’s son, Landon, is doing well now and so is The Church in the Center , which launched in September and meets on the 8th floor at the Hilton Houston Plaza in the Texas Medical Center.

“We felt the need to put the church right in the heart of where the people are,” Hays said. “The chances of the very busy doctor, resident, intern or med student who doesn’t have a car making his way to a suburban church is very unlikely.”

The Church in the Center reaches people from all groups and walks of life. From California to places such as India, China and Africa, the medical center staff is an international community and mission field.

“Some grew up in church but have a huge spiritual vacuum. Others have never been exposed to the Gospel,” Hays said. “There’s a need that cries out for a church that is contextualized for this community.”

Adam Miller is associate editor of On Mission.

North American missionaries minister to people groups

2009-10-14T08:39:00.002-04:00

As a young man living in India, Vivek Arora had a dream he would someday find a book that would answer all his questions and that he would be instrumental in bringing people together in a way that would let them live in harmony. He discovered that book years later when he came to faith in Christ while reading a Hindi translation of the Bible. As for people living in harmony, he believes the Great Commission is God’s plan for that.

Today, Vivek and his wife, Manisha, are church planting missionaries in Boston, reaching out to the international community that has gathered from around the world in one of America’s great cities.

“We are reaching out to international students and professionals,” Vivek says. “Many come here from their countries for two or three years. If we can reach them for Christ the impact will be greatly multiplied when they return to their home countries.”

The Aroras were among the 119 missionaries and chaplains commissioned by the North American Mission Board on Oct. 5., in Denver, Colorado.

Those commissioned reflected the diversity of the mission field and the missionaries going to that field: Prasad and Vandana Aghamkar minister among the South Asian Indian and Nepali communities of Louisville, Ky.; Ken and Thurleen Bain reach out to Native Americans in Arizona; Chuy and Maria Avila are reaching Hispanics in Laredo, Texas; Jali and Sundus Dawood minister to the Arabic community of Dallas; Harold and Barbara Lunsford minister to oilfield workers in Wyoming; Pedro and Dionisia Escobar are reaching Latinos in New Mexico. All of these missionaries work through state convention partners to most effectively link national priority with local strategy while maximizing efficient use of Southern Baptist resources.

As North America's population grows increasingly diverse and complex, the greater the need for missionaries and chaplains who can reach specific people groups. Pray for these missionaries and others who God has called to reach people in North America.

Christ revealed at unique events

2009-09-30T16:46:00.000-04:00

By Martin Davis

As a missionary evangelist, I work through special events, such as the Rose Bowl Parade, to creatively share Christ with people in settings where crowds gather. But I always look for opportunities to build personal relationships because I also understand how important they are to receptivity for the gospel.

Recently I participated in the Wichita River Festival Outreach in Kansas. While doing street witnessing, I paused on a walkway with ICE (Intentional Community Evangelism) volunteer Walt Dejager. We watched as Darrel Davis talked to a group of young people on the river walk below us.

Juggalos are fans of a certain kind of punk rock who have formed themselves into a family, a closed community of young people who brand themselves with piercings and tattoos. I admired Darrel’s ability to relate to the Juggalos. Darrel is accepted by them. He’s spent a time over the years building a relationship them, and their rapport shows. From my vantage point, I felt like a mere onlooker to evangelism with this closed community because I didn’t have that kind of experience.

Beside us, a young woman spoke up. “I was down there last year,” she said softly. “I was one of them. That guy led me to Jesus. I turned my life around.”

Walt and I looked at each other. Here at our elbow was someone special, a person who could go where we could not.

“Do you feel comfortable enough now to start building a relationship with those you used to hang with and start taking them to church?” Walt asked.

She considered. “Do you think I ought to do that?"

We explained that if she was no longer tempted by their lifestyle, she could help reach Juggalos with the gospel. “It might just be God’s calling on your life.”

God placed that young woman in our path at just that moment not only as a call to her but as a reminder to me: God will faithfully prepare and send the right person to go places where I cannot. When a special event ends, God’s intervention in people’s lives continues.

Martin Davis is a North American missionary serving in California.

A quarter of Americans likely to claim no religion in 20 years

2009-09-29T12:09:00.001-04:00

If current trends continue, a quarter of Americans are likely to claim "no religion" in 20 years, according to a recent report by Trinity College based on the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey. Americans who identify with no religious tradition currently comprise 15 percent of the country, representing the fastest growing segment of the national religious landscape. "Religious Nones" accounted for just 8 percent of the population in 1990. The '90s saw a boom in secularism -- each year 1.3 million more adult Americans joined the ranks of the Nones.

According to the report, "“None” is not a movement, but a label for a diverse group of people who do not identify with any of the myriad of religious options in the American religious marketplace – the irreligious, the unreligious, the anti-religious, and the anti-clerical. Some believe in God; some do not. Some may participate occasionally in religious rituals; others never will."

So where did these Nones come from? The majority (73%) emerged from religious homes, the vast majority of which were homogeneous, according to the survey. Twenty-seven percent of Nones had a non-religious parental role model.

Because of the gain of younger members, we can expect to see more Nones in the future. "Twenty-two percent of the youngest cohort of adults [18 to 29 year olds] self-identify as nones and they will become tomorrow's parents," according to the report. "If current trends continue and cohorts of non-religious young people replace older religious people, the likely outcome is that in two decades the nones could account for around one-quarter of the American population."

Interestingly enough, there is a variety of belief in God among the Nones, ranging from theism to atheism. Twenty-seven percent believe there is definitely a personal God. Another 24 percent believe in a higher power and 16 percent aren't sure.

This provides a great opportunity for Christ followers to tell the Nones about the One who wants a personal relationship with them.

Happy New Year!

2009-09-18T10:19:00.000-04:00

By Jorge Sedaca
The Jewish community worldwide will celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, beginning at sunset Friday, September 18. It is the beginning of the year 5770. This also marks the beginning of the High Holiday season which ends 10 days later with the celebration of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The biblical basis for this celebration is actually the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23:24-25; Num. 29:1-6). Typically, the shofar (ram’s horn) is blown in the synagogues to mark the beginning of the new year. Apples dipped in honey are served at home to symbolize the hope of a sweet year. The traditional greeting is l’shanah tova, the wish for “a good year.”
This is a joyous occasion but also a serious one as each Jewish person begins to look inward to make an evaluation of their life. This retrospection culminates in Yom Kippur, the holiest day for the Jews, where true repentance should take place.
Please take a moment to pray for the salvation of the Jewish people. These coming days provide an excellent opportunity to engage them in spiritual conversations that can lead to sharing the Gospel. Make the Apostle Paul’s words your own, as he shares in Romans 10:1, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them [Jews] is for their salvation.”
For more ways to connect with your Jewish friends click here .

Seven ways to connect with Muslims during Ramadan

2009-09-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

Here are some bridges you can build to your Muslim friends for the sake of the gospel:

1. Try to visit them in the evenings rather than during the day. If you visit in the day they will still insist you eat and drink, even though they will not, and it is a bit awkward for both parties.

2. Invite them to your house during Ramadan to break fast together after sunset. Ask them beforehand what is important for this special meal called an "iftar" and where to buy it.

3. Keep in mind that visiting and sharing meals is more appropriate toward the end of the month. Ramadan starts out rather somber and ends up more festive, especially with the big holiday at the end.

4. Be ready to tell your Muslim friends what you believe about fasting. They will probably ask you, so do your research ahead of time and learn what the Injeel (Bible) says about fasting. (see Isaiah 58:6-12 among others)

5. Challenge your Muslim friends to read the "4 Holy Books" (Torah, Psalms, Gospels, Koran). Every good Muslim tries to read through the Koran beginning to end during Ramadan. The Koran also commands Muslims to read these other Holy Books. Do some research and find one (Bible) for them in their own language.

6. Consider a practical way to bless them in Jesus name during the three-day holiday at the end of Ramadan. This holiday (eid al-fitr) is similar to our American Christmas with new clothes, gifts and lots of visiting.

7. Pray! Intercede for Muslims throughout this month. May the Holy Spirit move and work among them in this time of spiritual devotion, radically changing hearts and revealing Jesus to them in a powerful way.

"Ramadan Karim" (Happy Ramadan)

2009-09-16T16:11:00.000-04:00

Editor's Note: This week marks the last week for Ramadan, the Muslim month-long celebration that ends Saturday, September 19.

My name is Larom and I am nine. My grandparents were born in Turkey, my parents and I were born in Russia, and my little brother was born here in Tucson, AZ. I speak three languages fluently. We moved from Russia to America two years ago, and I had to say goodbye to my two best friends and all my cousins and our dog. I don't know if I will ever see them again. When we came to America I thought everything was very strange -- funny talking, funny clothes, and no trees! It doesn't even ever snow here! I didn't think I would ever like it in Tucson, but then when school started I learned things fast and I met new friends and I found some things about this country that I like. There is one whole isle at the grocery store that is just candy, and there is an ice cream place that has 31 different flavors! I want to grow up and be a teacher in America and help kids who don't speak English.

Pray That Larom And her family will discover more things they like about America, and also discover Jesus. This community of Meskhetian Turks is very closed to the Gospel, please pray that God will give them ears to hear.

"Ramadan Karim" (Happy Ramadan!)

Changing the world one home at a time

2009-07-06T14:28:00.006-04:00

This week more than 300 junior high and high school students, along with their adult leaders, are repairing, painting or roofing 35 homes in the communities of Neptune Township and Freehold, New Jersey, as part of a World Changers project taking place there.

With horns blaring, a parade of vehicles left the Neptune Hill High School parking lot at 7 a.m. After a commissioning prayer led by World Changers speaker Keith Pipes, crews were sent off to worksites scattered throughout Monmouth County.

On Neptune's 8th Avenue, the Knot Heads and the Lumber Rumblers cleared away the tall grass and overgrown shrubs that hid a beautiful century-old home. Joan MacKenzie's family has lived in the faded-blue victorian since 1944. No longer able to make the much-needed repairs to her home, World Changers stepped in and provided free labor.

MacKenzie was excited to receive help from such an unlikely bunch. The two crews are comprised of junior and senior high school students from across the country and across the Atlantic—two students working on the house are from Ireland.

"This is a good group of young people," said MacKenzie. "I'm glad to have them working on my home."

World Changers seeks to provide a dynamic, weeklong missions experience for Christian youth and adults with opportunities to meet the physical and spiritual needs of others.

They are here in New Jersey not only to work on people’s houses, but to change people’s lives with the love of Jesus Christ.

Desert Journal: Life at Camp Victory

2009-06-11T08:47:00.006-04:00

By Carol Pipes

BAGHDAD, Iraq— There’s strong and then there’s Army strong. Nowhere is that more evident than on the front lines of war. My experience embedding with the chaplains of the XVIII Airborne Corps solidified my belief that we have the best of the best serving overseas.

After three full days in Baghdad’s International Zone, we made our way by midnight Rhino to Camp Victory. Camp Victory is the primary component of the Victory Base Complex (VBC), which occupies the area surrounding the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). VBC encompasses the former Al Radwaniyah Presidential Complex and contains several man-made lakes, the Ba'ath Party House, the Victory Over Iran and Victory over America Palaces, dozens of smaller mansions for Ba’ath Party officials, and Al Faw Palace, which currently serves as the headquarters for the Multi-National Corps Iraq (MNC-I).

VBC has most of the amenities of a stateside base—electricity, sewage, potable water, Internet, communications. It’s like a small city, complete with its own hospital, fire department, police force, water purification plant and multiple chapels. It even has a coffee shop, Pizza Hut and Burger King.

The sand-colored buildings, once inhabited by Saddam’s family and Ba’ath Party officials, blend in with the landscape. The most notable building is Al Faw Palace, Saddam’s former retreat center and one of 99 palaces built by the former dictator. Al Faw is a curious blend of marble, tile, gold trim and massive chandeliers, all surrounded by a cerulean lake and golden sand.

The half a million square foot palace—62 rooms and 29 baths—was a playground for Saddam’s sons, Uday and Qusay. Standing on one of the private balconies, you can almost imagine them fishing or water skiing on the lake below. (Note: Saddam’s land ‘o lakes was hidden behind a wall encircling the compound. It wasn’t until U.S. liberating forces swept in that Iraqi famers, not 10 yards on the other side of the wall, realized how Saddam had squandered so much water forcing them to eek out an existence from the dry ground.)

Walking up the circular, marble staircase, I feel like an Arabian version of Scarlett O’hara. Tara has nothing on this palace. Or does it? Upon close inspection, not all that glitters is gold. Much of the décor in the palace is fake, including the massive chandelier hanging in the foyer—it’s mostly plastic and gold-painted tin. Saddam’s titanic palaces matched his ego and mimicked his reign—they both lacked substance.

The U.S. military is making good use of the palace. It serves as headquarters for Mulitnational Force Iraq and all operational aspects of Operation Iraqi Freedom. And Saddam’s lake? Well, it provides soldiers with the perfect spot to relax after a hard day’s work. Some hone their fishing skills trying to catch the elusive “Saddam Bass.” While others practice their swing driving golf balls into the expansive lake.

The area has a dusty, pale beauty. Palm tree lined lakes make it easy to forget you’re in a combat zone. But the constant whop, whop, whop of Black Hawk helicopters and the occasional mortar round sent over the wire by the enemy serve as a reminder to our troops of why they’re here.

“Sometimes you can get lulled into a false sense of security,” one soldier told me. “But we’re in a combat zone and the enemy doesn’t sleep. So the Army doesn’t sleep.”

My temporary home was a trailer beside one of Saddam’s man-made lakes. The first few nights on base, I slept lightly, listening for air raid warnings and mortar rounds that never came. I’d been warned about what to do in case the enemy decided to flex their muscles—hit the ground or look for the nearest bunker. Fortunately, I never had to exercise those precautions. Once we hit our battle rhythm, though, I slept hard and sound.

Truth is, it was easy to forget we were in a combat zone, especially being at Victory. It was almost like being at camp, except that these campers carried guns and the food was better. The dining facility served everything from turkey and dressing to surf and turf. I ate a different flavor of hand-dipped ice cream almost every day. (Everyone said I’d come back 10 pounds lighter. No such luck.)

The expansive buffer between us and the Red Zone served as a protective womb. A soldier asked us one day if we’d heard explosions the night before. What? You’re kidding? He wasn’t. The enemy had sent over a couple of mortar rounds in the night. And I’d slept right through it.

At first, I felt like an interloper, camera hanging from my neck, pen and paper always in hand. But all the troops I encountered were friendly and happy to answer my endless barrage of questions. When I offered my thanks for their service and sacrifice, I almost always got the same response: “Just doin’ my job, ma’am. Just doin’ my job.”

We have an amazing group of men and women who have volunteered to leave their families behind for a year or more and selflessly put themselves in harms way. Americans have short attention spans, and as the economy tops the headlines we would do well not to forget that there’s still 140,000 of our sons and daughters in Iraq. And they are doing everything they can every day to make sure those of us back home are safe.

Their work is long and tedious and success is definitely a process. But, for the most part, troops are positive about the progress that is being made in Iraq. Life is returning, somewhat back to normal, whatever that is. Children are going back to school—schools built by U.S. troops. Iraqi soldiers, trained by U.S. soldiers, are taking on more responsibilities. And Iraqis are once again governing themselves.

Every day on base was filled with new experiences and hearing the stories of our Southern Baptist chaplains who are serving God and country. They carry no guns, yet U.S. military chaplains are considered combat multipliers. The Army recognizes its soldiers as spiritual beings, and chaplains provide care for them particularly in places where the spirit gets weary from the fight. But spiritual care goes beyond religion. No matter a soldier’s faith background, the chaplain is chaplain to all.

From counseling the young soldier whose wife just filed for divorce to being a leveling moral presence among troops trained to fight and kill, chaplains play a significant role in the success of combat operations.

Part of the chaplain’s job is to go where the soldiers go to make sure their spiritual needs are being met. Being present with the troops where they work and where they live is essential to serving them and meeting their needs. It’s a chaplain’s duty to strengthen soldiers for another day in the combat zone, to pray for them and bring comfort and hope when faced with death.

The key to being effective, chaplains say, is building relationships. As clergy in a secular institution, chaplains are not allowed to impose their religious views on others. But most would say that proselytizing would hinder developing close relationships with soldiers, and that’s where the real ministry takes place. So, chaplains continue to walk a church-state tightrope, leaving their preaching to the chapel services and allowing the cross on their uniform to speak volumes. There’s power in that tiny stitched cross. It opens doors to conversations with soldiers who need a listening ear. Much of a chaplain’s ministry occurs one-on-one in the chow hall, down at the motor pool, in the gym or standing in line at the PX.

A thick cloud of dust blocks the sun as our small convoy of SUVs bumps along the road to Camp Liberty. It’s a big day for Army Chaplain (Maj.) Mark Frederick and Navy Lt. Comdr. Nicole Battaglia. Their mission: to baptize Lt. Comdr. Battaglia. It’s mid-morning and the temperature is only in the mid-60s. The water in the baptistry is bound to be cold. But that’s not stopping these two. Battaglia knows it’s time to follow up her commitment to Christ by being baptized. Her only regret: “I wish my mom were here to see me do this. She was so excited when I told her.”

For chaplains like Frederick, this is what chaplaincy is all about—bringing God to the soldiers and soldiers to God.

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission.

God at Work in Iraq

2009-06-09T13:35:00.000-04:00

It was explained to me that Iraq is a country that respects the freedom of worship but not the freedom of religion. In other words, Christians who are non-Muslims are allowed to worship God and meet together. Muslims, however, are prohibited from converting to Christianity.

God has placed Christians and specifically Southern Baptists in some key roles within the military in Iraq. While proselytizing Muslims is strictly prohibited, Christians in the military are demonstrating the love of God in their actions. The fruit of the Spirit that exudes from our chaplains and Christian troops is not lost on the Iraqis.

Only God knows the future of Iraq and its people. His ways are not our ways and His plans rarely fit into a nice, neat little package that we can comprehend. But God has a plan for the people of Iraq, of that I’m sure.

I heard again and again that history is being made in Iraq. “His Story” began in what is now modern-day Iraq and continues there to this day.

Around the IZ

2009-06-02T14:09:00.004-04:00

Once in Baghdad, we spent two days exploring the city within the boundaries of the IZ—now controlled by the Iraqi government. The International Zone (formerly known as the Green Zone) is a heavily guarded diplomatic/government area in central Baghdad. The IZ includes the main palaces of former President Saddam Hussein as well as the new U.S. embassy; the Monument to the Unknown Soldier; the former Baath party headquarters; the Al-Rasheed Hotel; the Convention Center; and a large park including the crossed sabers and Hussein’s famed parade grounds.

Iraq has a terrain of palm trees, incidental water and endless desert. But the citadel on the Tigris is certainly an oasis of sorts with its tree-lined streets and private gardens. Mosques and tall, skinny minarets dot the landscape of the city. Five times a day, residents are called to prayer by wailing music over a loudspeaker.

The IZ is protected by armed checkpoints, coils of razor wire, chain link fences and "T-Walls" (reinforced and blast-proof concrete slabs). Escorted by a couple of good-natured soldiers, we visited some of the pertinent “tourist” spots. When we stopped for photos, we often were met by smiling Iraqi soldiers who were all too willing to have their pictures taken.

The Iraqis are a lovely people with manners both primitive and polished, their language flowery and circuitous. Their actions are guided by traditions of conduct and morality that go back to the beginnings of civilization. With the birth of a new democracy, they have hope for a new life, a new beginning. But don’t expect them to throw off the old traditions and cloak themselves in Western ideals and culture. The Iraqi people have begun an intricate dance that will ultimately lead them to find their own balance between ancient traditions and the modern world.

Our arrival was preceded by the January provincial elections—the equivalent of U.S. state legislature elections. I read in the military paper “Stars and Stripes” that a total of 14,431 candidates, including 3,912 women, competed for 440 provincial council seats in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces. The elections took place without major incident, a cause for celebration for the fledgling democracy.

The hovering storm of violence that plagued the country for so many years seems to have dissipated in Baghdad and most of Iraq, and Iraqis have started the reconstruction process. They are now about the business of building a new government, seeking national reconciliation between Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds and Christians and rebuilding their lives. There still are roadside IEDs (improvised explosive device) and car bombs, but for the most part security issues in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq have improved. U.S. forces are downsizing and turning many bases over to the Iraqis. Under the new security agreement, Iraqis now take a leading role in all operations.

“We’re trying to gain their understanding, get them believing in us,” said one U.S. soldier. “That we’re not here as the bad guys, but we are here to try to help them.”

Working with the Iraqi army and police has sometimes proved frustrating for U.S. soldiers. But I heard several soldiers say they’ve seen improvements within recent months. Many are excited to be witnesses to the birth of a new democracy. Added to that excitement is the uncertainty of the future here as troops begin to leave Iraq to fight the war on another front.

Desert Journal: Journey into Baghdad

2009-02-24T09:02:00.009-05:00

By Carol Pipes

BAGHDAD, Iraq—Four weeks ago, I boarded a plane for a once-in-a-lifetime journey to the land of desert sheiks, Aladdin's lamp and Ali Baba. A land where the desert sands hold the history of its ancient people. A land so ancient it is considered the cradle of civilization. The birthplace of Abraham. The land where Nebuchadnezzar held Israel captive. I was headed to Iraq. My mission: to embed with Southern Baptist chaplains serving in the U.S. military.

On the way to Baghdad, my co-worker and videographer, Tim Kwiat, and I overnighted at a military Life Support Area (LSA) in an undisclosed location in the Middle East. This was my first trip to the Middle East, and I marveled at the barren land surrounding the military base. Beyond the metal fence and concertina wire, laid the desert—stretches of sand for miles, with dust clouds whirling over it.

Looking out over the landscape, I imagined Bedouin tribes traveling by caravan on their desert ships. While the sand and dust soon became a nuisance, I tried to remind myself that the dust I was shaking off my pants was possibly the same sand tread upon by Abraham, Ezra or Daniel.

The LSA consists of scores of brown tents housing the 3,000 to 5,000 military personnel and contractors who pass through on their way in and out of the Middle East Theater. Fortunately for us, we spent only one night there; other are not so lucky. I met soldiers and civilians who'd been there for days with no hope yet of a flight out of this dreary tent city.

From the LSA we traveled to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP) by way of a C-130 with a plane full of soldiers. We arri

ved before dawn and were met by an officer barking orders at us to get in formation. Formation? What kind of formation? I thought to myself as I struggled to sweep the cobwebs of sleep deprivation from my head. The soldiers formed a series of straight lines. I jumped into one of the lines, thankful that the years of marching band had paid off. We received instructions on how to claim our bags and where to find chow.

After retrieving our bags, we set out to find a ride into the International Zone (IZ). The quickest way to get there is by helicopter, but a dust storm had swept in from the west and all flights had been cancelled. Our only option was to take the midnight Rhino run. It seems the military prefers to move people under the cloak of darkness.

If you don't have a helicopter at your disposal in Baghdad, there's only one safe option and that's to travel in one of the heavily armored Rhino Runner buses. It looks like a

boxy RV, but the Rhino Runner is the toughest bus on the planet.

A Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle led our Rhino convoy. The MRAP makes a Humvee look like a Mini Cooper. We traveled the famous "Route Irish," the name for the 7.5 mile road between the secure International Zone in Baghdad and BIAP. This stretch of highway was once one of the most dangerous roads in Iraq. I'd read about the white-knuckled rides and looming dangers of suicide bombers, ambushes and booby-trapped litter. Today, the road is probably one of the safest in Iraq, with U.S. and Iraqi military checkpoints along the way. But the U.S. military still takes precautions when transporting people on this road.

The security personnel gave us instructions about what to do in case we were ambushed or hit an IED and where to find the medic kits. Hearing the warnings, I was thankful for the helmet and Kevlar vest I'd lugged all the way from Atlanta. And even more thankful to be traveling with highly trained soldiers.

Within 30 minutes we were safely inside the International Zone. A kind soldier from the coalition press office picked us up and took us to what would be our home for the next few days.

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission.

Baghdad Bad Boys

2009-02-17T05:00:00.012-05:00

By Carol Pipes

BAGHDAD (Iraq)--The sound of a banjo tuning bounces out the door of the coffee house at Camp Victory in Baghdad, Iraq. Before you know it, the familiar tune of "Rocky Top" fills the air.

Every Sunday morning soldiers, airmen and marines make their way to Green Beans Cafe for a cup of joe and a chance to escape the chaos of living in a combat zone.

A little more than a year ago, a chaplain and a Southern Baptist deacon formed the Baghdad Bad Boys. Chaplain Jeff Houston and LTC Greg Rawlings, both with the 18th Airborne out of Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, discovered a mutual love for bluegrass and decided to start a band. One-by-one they added instruments - first a banjo, then a mandolin, next a fiddle and finally a harmonica.

They started playing on Sunday mornings for the Protestant worship service at Hope Chapel on Victory Base Complex. The next thing they knew they were invited to entertain patrons of Green Beans Cafe, the military's version of Starbucks. Every Sunday after church, they entertain the troops as they sip their lattes and cappuccinos with bluegrass standards - "Rocky Top," "Seven Bridges Road" and "Salty Dog Blues."

For a couple of hours each week, the band and those around them are transported out of the desert to a simpler time and place. Sitting in the coffee shop, you'd never know that 800 meters away lies a combat zone where the enemy reminds the troops of their presence with the occasional mortar round.

"This is our therapy," said Rawlings, only half joking. "The object is to knock the dust off our boots and go back to North Carolina for a couple of hours."

Said Houston: "We have a great time of fellowship. The few hours that we play together helps us get through the week."

The group has changed over the past year as individual deployments ended and new ones began. New players are always welcome. Like most country or bluegrass musicians, the group's dream is to one day play at the Grand Ole Opry.

It might not be the Opry, but the audience at Camp Victory couldn't be more appreciative of their performance.

The Baghdad Bad Boys wind down their set with a rousing version of "Rocky Top."Folks join in on the chorus whether they are from Tennessee or not, each thinking of a place back home.

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission.

Desert Journal: Day 2

2009-02-13T12:26:00.008-05:00

By Carol Pipes

SOUTHWEST ASIA--Air Force Chaplain (CPT) Dallas Little has a 24/7 ministry. Little serves at an airbase in an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia. He described it as a giant Greyhound bus station but with airplanes. Every day 3,000 to 5,000 troops pass by his office on their way in or out of the Middle East theater.

Little's focus is to provide a ministry of hospitality. "We provide a safe, comfortable place for travelers as they wait for transport," said Little. The chaplain's office is no more than a couple of cubicles, but they managed to create an inviting atmosphere. Visitors to this small oasis are greeted with hot coffee and, if they're lucky, Krispy Kreme donuts. "We probably go through 25-30 pots of coffee a day."

Little sees a lot of soldiers on their way back from R and R. For some the trip home brings more trouble than rest. "They've been in combat, then they go home and manifest signs of post-traumatic stress," Little said. "This often leads to trouble with the spouse. By the time they get back here, some wish they'd never gone home."

Little sees a lot of soldiers and marines who suffer from combat stress and PTS. His job is to provide a listening ear. "It's my privilege and my burden to keep anything they say to myself," said Little. "People come to us, because they know it's safe to come to us."

Last year, an estimated 20.2 suicides occurred per 100,000 soldiers, the highest since the Army began tracking the figure in 1980. The figure is just slightly higher than the national suicide rate. 2008 marked the fourth consecutive year that suicides have increase, according to the Army's 2008 Suicide Data report released in January.

"Last year the military had more deaths due to suicide than combat," said Little. "These guys are eye-to-eye with death. We try to help them deal with what they've seen and experienced."

It's an intense ministry, but Little is grateful to God for the opportunity.

Desert Journal: Day 1

2009-02-05T16:50:00.008-05:00

By Carol Pipes

KUWAIT CITY, (Kuwait)--Instant camaraderie develops between strangers when traveling to the Middle East. As I sat at the gate waiting for my flight to Kuwait City, I noticed the nods and smiles exchanged between fellow passengers. "Where you headed?" could be heard throughout the waiting area. "Baghdad." "Fallujah." "Kabul." came the replies.

I was among a handful of civilians on the flight to Kuwait. The majority of passengers were soldiers, marines and airmen headed back to the front lines to rejoin their units and platoons after much-needed R and R.

The two young soldiers sitting near me at the gate had only been home for a few days of emergency leave. Even the Army knows it's important to mourn the loss of a loved one.

I offered my condolences for each of their losses. Dave's* mother had lost her battle with cancer. Jim had lost a child and fiancee in a car accident. A death in the family is especially hard when one is thousands of miles from home.

They both quickly changed the subject, preferring to focus on the mission at hand—getting back to their respective units. We chatted about our destinations.

They were quite interested when I told them I was headed to Camp Victory in Baghdad to embed with the 18th Airborne. "I'm reporting on the work of military chaplains deployed overseas," I told them.

"Our chaplain's great," Dave said. "Every Friday he bakes bread for us and always has hot coffee. He's a good guy."

It's the small comforts that make a big difference when you're 7,000 miles from home.

They were kind enough to brief me on life in the Army and what I could expect living at an FOB (Forward Operating Base) for two and a half weeks.

My conversation with these two soldiers only solidified my reasoning for the importance of my assignment. Life in the military is hard. Many soldiers suffer from combat stress. Add to that the stress of trying to hold a family together with only the occasional phone call or email. Divorce rates among soldiers and marines are significantly high. Military chaplains have the privilege and burden to minister to these highly-trained and hard-working warriors. But how does one minister in a combat zone? That's the question I hope to have answered during my time in Iraq.

As I boarded my flight, I offered up a quick prayer for my new friends. "God, protect them and comfort them."

Carol Pipes is editor of On Mission and on assignment in the Middle East.

Names have been changed for security reasons.

Church takes on The Acts 1:8 Challenge

2008-12-04T18:02:00.002-05:00

Earlier this year, Lewisville Baptist Church in Lewisville, North Carolina, accepted The Acts 1:8 Challenge. Pastor Les Puryear has been blogging about their experience since October. Recently he posted a list of 15 ways The Acts 1:8 Challenge is already affecting their church. You can read that blog post and follow the church's path as they learn to become missional in their community.

GPS: God's Plan for Sharing

2008-06-13T18:36:00.002-04:00

The North American Mission Board unveiled an ambitious National Evangelism Initiative at the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention. Named God's Plan for Sharing, the goal is every believer sharing the Gospel and every person hearing by 2020. GPS is designed to provide the tools and perspective for fulfilling the Great Commission in North America. GPS is being launched in four languages—English, Korean, Chinese and Spanish. The initiative concentrates on four biblical markers: praying, engaging, sowing and harvesting.

To learn more about GPS, click here.

New SBC President

2008-06-10T16:56:00.000-04:00

This just in. Johnny Hunt was elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Hunt is pastor of Woodstock Baptist Church in Woodstock, Georgia.

Bucca di Missional

2008-06-10T10:22:00.009-04:00

By Adam Miller

Over family style plates of spaghetti, linguini, and bottles of Pelligreno a hundred or so pastors chatted up the idea of crossing linguistic, cultural and other barriers that might otherwise prevent a church from reaching its community for Christ.

Blocks away from the sterile ballrooms and conference tables of the Indianapolis Conference center, attendees of the 2008 Missional Network Dinner and Panel Discussion were squeezed into a back room at Bucca di Beppo where rubbing elbows and brushing against Roman decor seemed to remind one of what it means to be missional--engaging culture and engaging people.

Exploring the challenges and practicalities of a missional community, pastors Kerry Shook, Brian Bloye, Daniel Floyd, and Shawn Lovejoy offered a brief view into the worlds of churches successfully reaching their communities.

Dinner with a Hero

2008-06-10T08:00:00.001-04:00

By Carol Pipes

I had dinner with one of my heroes last night. He's probably not on your list of who's who in the Southern Baptist Convention, but in my eyes he's a hero.

I first met Steve Fowler when he was planting a church in Houghton Lake, Michigan. As a young teen, this was my first encounter with a real life church planter. I remember thinking that Steve and his wife were totally cool. Here was an amazing couple who'd given their lives to God and moved to this small town to start a church from scratch. That made a huge impression on my young life. Of course, Steve was just following in the footsteps of his father Carrol Fowler—another Southern Baptist hero.

My church, First Baptist Church, Tullahoma, Tennessee, had a partnership with one of the Baptist associations in Michigan. For more than a decade volunteers from our church made trips to northern Michigan to help support new churches and strengthen existing ones. It was on one of those trips that I learned how to put hands and feet to my faith. I also witnessed the results of cooperative missions. And for the first time my eyes were opened to the mission field right here in North America.

I haven't seen Steve since 1989. So imagine my surprise when he and I were seated across from each other at a dinner sponsored by the Missional Network at the North American Mission Board. We were up to our elbows in lasagna when I finally realized who he was. Wow! It's not very often that you get to tell someone how their ministry and missional lifestyle impacted your own life. I'm sure it's no coincidence that we were at the same table last night in a room full of church planters. So I took the opportunity to tell Steve, who now heads the church planting team in Montana, how those trips to Michigan and working with him had given me a passion for missions and church planting.

So thanks Steve and to all the other pioneer church planters in northern Michigan and across North America. You are my heroes.

“Seize divine moments” NAMB’s Hammond challenges

2008-06-09T14:12:00.000-04:00

By Adam Miller

The rains Saturday brought a flood of ready metaphors to Southern Baptists—plenty commenting they’d “prayed for a downpour…but not literally.” Today North American Mission Board president Geoff Hammond reminded members of Calvary Baptist Church in Greenwood, Indiana, that seizing divine moments to help neighbors in need could bring that more spiritual deluge churches had anticipated.
This bright sky Sunday following Saturday’s dreary and drenched Crossover with some frustrating cancellations, Hammond set an encouraging tone and provided a challenge.
“The rain yesterday did not surprise God,” said Hammond.
Nor did the outrageous odds Jonathan faced in 1 Samuel 14 when he decided to head into battle with no more than a sword and an armor bearer, Hammond said, connecting the mission of reaching North America with the Old Testament narrative.
“Leaders know it’s about who is with you, not how many,” Hammond said. “It’s not about the who you can see. It’s about the Who you can’t see. God works through the supernatural. God is fighting for us today.”
With North America’s consistent move toward secularism and a growing number of unchurched, the odds for evangelizing the lost would be harrowing. But balking in fear, as Saul did as he tended his trepidation under the Pomegranate tree, costs the timid a chance at a miracle.
“He missed out on it,” Hammond said. “Under the pomegranate tree is a dangerous place to be.”
As Southern Baptists move into several days of celebrating God’s activity through missions, evangelism and the work of the church through the world, Hammond placed a rainy Crossover in its perspective.
“As you go home today, consider the neighbors who’s flooded yards might offer an opportunity to reach out,” he said. “You can live like a missionary right here. Seconds are ticking. We must live with urgency and seize our divine moments. You have one right now.”

Record rains can't keep this church from its Crossover '08

2008-06-07T23:53:00.000-04:00

By Mike Ebert

Each year before the Southern Baptist Convention, local churches and volunteers from throughout North America arrive early to reach out to the host city with the love of Christ. This year in Indianapolis was no different with plans for car washes, car shows, music events, block parties and much more to take place in communities throughout Greater Indianapolis.

But when we woke up this morning, it was clear that things would not go exactly as planned. Middle Indiana was hit with a 10-inch downpour which flooded rivers and streams and stranded hundreds of residents in their homes. At least two major interstates and dozens of local roads were closed due to flooding.

Needless to say, many Crossover events were cancelled. But about 17 miles west of Indianapolis, Hope Community Church in Brownsburg, carried on with a block party attended by 250 people from surrounding neighborhoods. When the torrential rains hit Saturday morning, members moved the event indoors and made the best of the situation.

"I was up praying at 6 o'clock this morning hoping the Lord would change His mind about this, but He didn't, and we said rain or shine we are committed to this event," said Jim Bohrer, Hope Community's pastor. "We advertised it, we told people we were going to do it, and we were going to keep our word whether or not it was convenient."

At least 90 people who are not regular attenders showed up for the event and at least five indicated they prayed to receive Christ. Volunteers from Michigan helped train local church members for the event, and a team of college students from Tennessee was on hand to help. When flooding cancelled other Crossover events, volunteers from North Carolina diverted to Hope Community to add their evangelistic efforts as well.

"We had some people who had done it for awhile show us the ropes so we didn't get stuck or confused or miss a beat. We were able to see this run smoothly, even with the rain because of the assistance we were given from other Southern Baptist brothers and sisters in Christ," pastor Bohrer said.

Frank Page, president of the SBC, dropped in on the block party after spending two hours sharing Christ door-to-door in the rain earlier in the day. He said Crossover is still a very important part of the annual convention.

"I know they are important because they combine the energies of the local people with visitors such as myself in a beautiful partnership and then the Gospel is shared far more than it normally would be. So it's very important and I believe it's just a great practical way to express the Great Commission."

Page said it's important to start each year's convention with Crossover "Because it shows what our priority is—winning people to Christ."

Steve Davis, executive director of the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana, said he takes encouragement in the fact that the impact of Crossover will last far beyond a weekend event.

"We're doing some other things connected with these events so it's not just an event but a process," Davis says. "It's the beginning of helping us plant nine new churches in the Indianapolis area. And every event is connected to a local church. So we're going to have much better follow up and we should see a much better result coming from this in terms of baptisms and strengthening church membership."

Davis said this weekend's evangelistic emphasis also is a healthy reminder for the state's evangelistic believers.

"Eighty percent of the people in Indiana do not attend any Christian church on any given Sunday," Davis said. "One of the things we're trying to do is remind Christians that Indiana is a mission field."

More than Bricks and Mortar

2008-06-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

By Carol Pipes

In the shadows of Indianapolis's city center lies Eastside Community Baptist Church. This small church has a big heart and it shows.

Cheryl Lewis, wife of pastor Terry Lewis, loves to tell the story of how God placed them in the heart of Indy. They started the church in their living room three years ago. A year later they found an old brick church on Indy's Eastside. "The building was in bad shape," said Cheryl. "The basement had been flooded years before and had begun to mold. The upstairs sanctuary needed a lot of work as well." Thanks to volunteers with Campers On Mission, the Lewis's were able to move into the refurbished building. Surprised that God was moving them so close to downtown, they soon realized it was exactly where He wanted them. Terry and Cheryl have continued what they started with the church by buying and refurbishing homes in the neighborhood. The homes are then provided as transitional housing for families living on the streets. "It's hard for homeless families—consisting of mom, dad and kids—to find shelter. We're helping to provide that."

Today, the church is more than just bricks and mortar. They've become a beacon to the community surrounding them. And today that light was magnified. Eastside church hosted a block party for friends and neighbors in the community—one of 26 block parties held in conjunction with Crossover '08.

"A block party is a great way to serve the community," said Jimmy Kinnaird, coordinator for Crossover. "It attracts people of all ages and allows the church to show the community that they care."

Volunteers from Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Kansas were on hand to help Eastside with this large event. A group from Hull's Grove Baptist Church in North Carolina brought anvils and hundreds of horseshoes to hand out at the block party. Every person that passed by received a personalized horseshoe with John 3:16 imprinted on the shoe as well as a printed plan of salvation. Marcus Redding, pastor of Hull's Grove Church sat and shared the gospel as he stamped the name into the iron shoe. "We have a captive audience while they wait on their horseshoe," said Marcus. "It's a great way to start a conversation about Jesus."

They started their horseshoe stamping ministry two and half years ago. Since then, they've stamped more than 12,000 shoes.

But horseshoes weren't the only means of gospel sharing. Artists painted pictures portraying the separation between God and man and Christ's redemptive work on the cross. Others mingled through the crowd talking about the life change that occurs when Christ enters one's heart.

Of course, next week the real work begins, according to Jimmy Kinnaird. The most important part of an event like this is the follow up. But the Lewises and their church family are ready to disciple those who made decisions to follow Christ today and continue to build relationships with those who are still seeking.

COSBE “Hall of Faith” Induction Dinner

2008-06-07T08:38:00.001-04:00

By Mickey Noah

For four hours last night, thunder and lightening flashed outside the huge windows at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Union Station ballroom on Illinois Street in downtown Indianapolis. A tornado watch had been issued outside and the skies turned yellow. But inside, no one cared. Some 200 Southern Baptists were enjoying the Conference of Southern Baptist Evangelists' inaugural "Hall of Faith" induction ceremony banquet.

After a welcome by Dr. Jerry Pipes of NAMB, a brief performance by the ventriloquist team of "Geraldine and Ricky," some praise and worship music, Dr. Johnny Hunt, COSBE advisor and senior pastor of FBC, Woodstock, Ga., charged up the audience with some of his own God-inspired thunder and lightning.

After Dr. Hunt's challenge to COSBE to keep on preaching the Gospel, COSBE president Brian Fossett presented crystal trophies to 29 living and deceased preachers—some of the SBC's greatest evangelists and revivalists.

The evangelists honored included Billy Graham and three other members of his team: Cliff Barrows, George "Bev" Shea and the deceased T.W. Wilson. Honored posthumously were evangelists Walter K. Ayers, Manley Beasley, E.J. Daniels, Ron Dunn, Mike Gilchrist, Vance Havner, Jesse Hendley, Rudy Hernandez, Eddie Martin, Angel Martinez and J. Harold Smith.

Living evangelists honored and inducted into COSBE's "Hall of Faith" included Wayne Bristow, Sam Cathey, Clyde Chiles, Freddie Gage, Junior Hill, Homer Martinez, Bailey Smith, Jerry Spencer, Bill Stafford, Jay Strack and Don Womack.

But it was 78-year-old Bette Stalnecker-Gibson, inducted for her long career as an evangelistic soloist, who brought the house down—earning the only standing ovation of the night with her rendition of "His Eye is On the Sparrow."

Shalom

2008-06-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

Tonight I worshiped with my Jewish brothers and sisters in Christ—members of the Southern Baptist Messianic Fellowship. It was a wonderful way to begin my time at the annual Southern Baptist Convention being held in Indianapolis. They are a warm and welcoming group, and they have a passion for seeing nonbelievers come to Yeshua.

The Shabbat service was a beautiful blend of Hebrew and English. With a theme of encouragement and strengthening of the saints, Rabbi Ric Worshill exhorted his audience to go out and make disciples.

The SBMF is working with the North American Mission Board and LifeWay to produce evangelism training tools to help teach believers how to share the gospel with non-believing Jews.

Carol Pipes, editor

Summer Issue of On Mission magazine

2008-05-28T09:58:00.000-04:00

The Summer 2008 issue of On Mission will be on your doorstep in just a matter of days. In this 10th anniversary edition, you'll read how God has placed each of us uniquely where we are for the purpose of growing His Kingdom. Our cover story, "God's Plan for Sharing," introduces NAMB's National Evangelism Initiative designed to provide the tools and perspective for fulfilling the Great Commission in North America by 2020.

We'll also fly you to the frozen tundra of Alaska, home to expansive and unforgiving terrain and to a spiritually lost population. It's also home to collegiate missionary Brenda Crim, who is leading students to Christ at the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

In "Facing the Race of Your Life," we'll introduce you to the high-octane intensity and near-religious following of NASCAR. And to a group of Christians who love NASCAR but love the unchurched even more.

These stories and more can be found in the upcoming issue of On Mission.

We're going to SBC

2008-05-05T13:14:00.000-04:00

On Mission magazine will take you behind the scenes and into the lives of attendees at the 2008 Southern Baptist Convention. Join us as we tell the story behind the stories of Southern Baptist leaders and missionaries and of the amazing ministries going on in Indianapolis. Stay tuned June 6-11.