If you have been a Southern Baptist for very long or visited one of our churches often,  you have probably picked up on the fact that we consider ourselves a missional entity: that is,  a group of redeemed people giving our best efforts to spread the redemptive message of Jesus Christ (the Gospel) to the ends of the earth.

That is who we are.  And the really great thing is; we never have to attempt this task on our own: The Holy Spirit is with us,  and we have the privilege to band together to accomplish the mission.

To that end,  over the years,  the SBC has developed 2 separate (yet equally important) missions boards to accomplish this feat.  The North American Mission Board (NAMB) that serves the U.S. and Canada;  and the International Mission Board (IMB) that serves everywhere else. Each time you give a tithe or offering in one of our church services,  you help fund these boards through what we call the Cooperative Program.

As of late,  I have been focusing much of my attention on one particular aspect of NAMB’s mission: Church Planting.

Below is an excerpt from the North American Mission Board website:

The North American Mission Board impacts North America with the gospel.
The North American Mission Board exists to work with churches, associations and state conventions in mobilizing Southern Baptists as a missional force to impact North America with the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism and church planting. We accomplish that through Send North America, our national strategy for mobilizing churches to plant churches and mobilizing church planters and other missionaries to assist with those efforts.

Involve My Church
In your church, God has assembled a body of believers with complementary talents and abilities that can be used for His kingdom.
At the North American Mission Board, our desire is to see every church on mission in the United States and Canada. In order to push back lostness in North America, we believe every church has role to play in advancing the gospel and winning souls for Christ.

Every church on mission. ..that has a nice ring to it.

But how can we best be involved?  

What is God calling us to do?

I have already mentioned one way that we are and can be more involved: giving to the Cooperative Program.  Let’s keep that up,  for sure. But I believe God is calling us to be involved in other ways as well.

You might have noticed that we are taking time in each of our worship services to pray for NAMB church planters by name.  We will continue to do this,  they need our prayers.

Beyond that, I believe there will come a time when God calls us to Go personally  to help these church planters on their mission to reach their communities. I truly believe that time will come sooner rather than later.

What will you say when God says “Go”?

Will your answer be that of Isaiah? :

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord asking: Who should I send?  Who will go for us?  I said : Here I am,  send me

–Isaiah 6:8

What will you say?  Begin praying now,  the opportunities are there,  He will lead us to the proper one.

I love you all,

Pastor John