December 16, 2002
Muleshoe Baptists get a kick out of resigned missionaries
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___MULESHOE--Baptists give generously at Christmas to help missionaries who are serving overseas. That's nothing new.
___But this year, a West Texas church gave to help make Christmas a little merrier for two missionary families who have returned to the United States.
___These missionaries felt they could no longer serve through the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board due to a mandate that missionaries affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___Last April, First Baptist Church of Muleshoe began giving to support the Baptist General Convention of Texas missionary transition fund. The BGCT Executive Board established the fund to help Southern Baptist missionaries who cannot in good conscience affirm the controversial faith statement.
___The Muleshoe church determined that this year, instead of giving the traditional Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions, members would support global missions through the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and they would take a special offering for a pair of missionary families in transition.
___"We wanted to ease the burden of holiday expenses for these families," said Stacy Conner, pastor of the small-town church about 70 miles northwest of Lubbock.
___The church contacted Don Sewell, director of the Texas Partnerships Resource Center and BGCT staff liaison for ministries to missionaries in transition. He provided the church with the names of various missionaries in transition, and the church selected two.
___Conner wrote to the families, telling them that the church planned to collect a Christmas offering on their behalf Dec. 8.
___"This is a new type of offering for our church, and therefore we are not certain what to expect," he wrote. "For the purposes of planning, our missions committee is promising you will receive a minimum of $300 per family. However, I have great confidence in our congregation and believe we will exceed this minimum promise."
___Conner's confidence was well founded. The church gave $1,502.50, providing a gift of $751.25 for each missionary family.
___In the past, Conner noted, the church had given some significant Lottie Moon offerings, but they were due to "the generous gifts of a few, not the church as a whole." The offering for the missionary families in transition, on the other hand, gained the widespread support of the congregation.
___"I was told that the gifts came mostly in offerings of $10, $20 and $50, with the largest single gift of $200," he said.
___Mike and Karla Cannata, who served in East Africa with the IMB since 1994, wrote to the Muleshoe church saying they were "amazed" at God's provision and the church's generosity.
___"I shouldn't have been amazed--God is always so faithful--but we are very touched that you thought of us in this way. God has been so faithful to provide our needs during this transition time, but this is above and beyond. He is even providing for many of our wants," Karla Cannata wrote.
___The Cannatas served in Tanzania and Kenya, where he was a missionary pilot and radio communications specialist. She most recently worked with students at a Nairobi college.
___The Cannatas have four children. Thirteen-year-old Bethanie plays the piano and clarinet, and she wants to be a veterinarian. Eleven-year-old Hether, 7-year-old Stan and 5-year-old Nate enjoy sports and outdoor activities.
___The family has relocated to Alaska, believing "this is where God wants us for now," they said.
___Leaving Africa was tough, the Cannatas said, but they felt they could not in good conscience continue to serve as IMB missionaries while refusing to affirm the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message.
___"We have both been raised by missionary parents to believe as Scripture teaches that 'all authority is ordained by God.' Our rebellion against the demands of the IMB was breaking our relationship with the Lord, so we felt we had no choice but to remove ourselves from beneath that authority," they said.
___"It was a very personal decision and one we agonized over for months. The sense of peace we now feel is our only accolade, but to be back in tune with our Lord is a great gift."
___The other missionary family, who asked not to be identified at this time, served 15 years with the IMB in three Latin American and Asian countries. The family has two teenage sons and a 7-year-old daughter who "loves Barbie, her play kitchen and anything pink," the family wrote to the Muleshoe church.
___"This has been a difficult transition for us, but it has been made less traumatic by the love and support we have received there in Texas," the missionary family wrote.
___The father of the family, who has experience in administration and religious education, is seeking a church staff position in the United States. The family currently is living in a missionary furlough house in Texas.
___"We want to be wherever the Lord wants us to be. We feel at peace with our decision to leave the IMB, even though it was painful. It was the right decision for us," the family wrote.
___The Muleshoe church recognized the pain that the missionary families had experienced this year, and they just wanted to do something to ease it a bit around Christmas, Conner said.
___"We hope to relieve any holiday stress they might be feeling," he said. "We wanted to do a little extra for them."
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