March 12, 2001

___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___PORTLAND, Ore.--A stream of Texas Baptist volunteers as wide and long as the Columbia River is needed to advance the cause of Christ in the Northwest Baptist Convention.
___Like the Columbia, a massive waterway that forms a vital seam between Washington and Oregon, hundreds of Texas Baptist volunteers already have brought energy to Baptist work in the Northwest through partnership missions.
___But hundreds more are needed to keep the river of love flowing this spring, summer and beyond.
___Opportunities are available through Texas Partnerships for church groups, families, individuals, youth groups, college students and retirees to serve as short-term and long-term missions volunteers. Some of the roles require specific skills, but many require nothing more than a love for God's work and a willingness to serve.
___Through Texas Partnerships, the Baptist General Convention of Texas has been engaged in a formal partnership with the Northwest Baptist Convention since 1997. The partnership extends through 2002--especially significant timing because Seattle has been targeted as a Strategic Focus City by the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board in 2002.
___One of the most urgent needs is for this summer, though, as 800 Texas Baptist volunteers have been requested to help with a regional evangelistic emphasis called "Jericho on the Coast."
___Last year, about 100 Texas Baptist volunteers worked in a similar project in the Tri-Cities area of southwestern Washington. This year, an even larger project is planned along the Oregon coast, in what is considered the Northwest's most-unchurched region.
___Texas Baptists will work alongside several hundred Northwest Baptist volunteers to saturate seven coastal towns with a gospel witness. Planned activities include prayerwalks, acts of kindness, backyard Bible clubs, sports clinics and block parties.
___"We believe many hundreds of people will be saved," said Adrian Hall, evangelism strategist for the Northwest Baptist Convention.
___Volunteers are needed for all phases of the project, but Hall cited a special need for the sports clinics--a role he is certain Texas Baptists can help fill.
___Sports events, including demonstration teams and instruction, create a natural attraction for children and teens, Hall explained. Through sports, the Baptist volunteers will "earn the right to share the gospel," he said.
___Dates for Jericho on the Coast are July 28-Aug. 5. The location is Coast Baptist Association, which includes the towns of Lincoln City, Depoe Bay, Newport, Siletz, Toledo, Waldport and Yachats.
___Southern Baptists have only six churches in the county, and only one of those averages more than 100 in attendance.
___For more information about participating in Jericho on the Coast, contact Aaren Gushwa, director of missions for Coast Association, at Box 787, Waldport, Ore. 97394; (541) 563-3696; agushwa@hotmail.com.
___Likewise, about 300 volunteers are needed in the Seattle area June 1-5 to go door-to-door in a new-work probe designed to assess the viability of starting churches in specific areas.
___Results of this probe will help determine priorities in church starting for Puget Sound Baptist Association. The association recently has dramatically increased its church-starting efforts, with a goal of beginning 90 congregations over the next two years.
___All types of neighborhoods will be surveyed, but the association has a particular need for volunteers who speak Spanish, Chinese, Korean and other non-English languages.
___For more information, contact Gary Irby by calling (425) 640-3676 or e-mailing him at garyirby@aol.com.
___Other partnership missions opportunities in the Northwest fall into several categories:
___ Special projects. Many of the evangelism and ministry projects to be done during Jericho on the Coast are done at individual churches and associations throughout the Northwest each year. Many churches need help with Vacation Bible School, backyard Bible clubs, door-to-door witnessing, "Jesus" video distribution, musical presentations and acts of kindness.
___ Long-term projects. Volunteers from Texas and elsewhere provide essential services at the Northwest Baptist Center in suburban Portland, Ore., where they provide maintenance and housekeeping services. When volunteers help the convention, associations or churches with such essential services, they free funds to be used in other direct ministry and evangelism.
___ Church strengtheners. Repeatedly, Baptist pastors and convention officials in the Northwest cite the need for developing core leadership in small churches. Because Baptists in the Northwest are proportionately few, and because there is not a pool of lifelong Baptists to draw upon in most communities, Texas Baptist volunteers are sought to become lay members of Northwest churches for periods from six months to two years. "There are Sunday School directors in Texas who would be elite trained ministers of education out here," said Jeff Iorg, executive director of the Northwest Convention.
___ Construction. Most new-church construction, remodeling and expansion among Northwest Baptist churches is done with the aid of volunteer labor. Limited dollars for building can be effectively doubled or tripled by the use of volunteer labor. Each year, churches of the Northwest Convention have 30 to 40 construction projects under way.
___ Student work. Volunteers, particularly recent college graduates, are sought to lead Baptist Student Ministries on college campuses in the Northwest.
___ Church-to-church links. A major strategy of the Texas-Northwest partnership is to link individual Texas churches with individual Washington and Oregon churches for ongoing support, prayer and resourcing. The same can be done between associations. For example, San Antonio Baptist Association has linked with Puget Sound Baptist Association in Seattle. And Bell County Baptist Association sent a retired pastor to serve several pastorless churches in the Northwest's Juniper Association. Every adult Sunday School class at First Baptist Church of Lubbock has linked with a church in Oregon's Willamette Association for prayer and support.

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