March 11, 2002
FEARING NO EVIL:
Texans still traveling on mission to Mali
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___SPLENDORA--Recent world events have sparked an epidemic of fear, but an intrepid band from United Baptist Church in Splendora won't let that stand in the way of mission work overseas.
___Fourteen church members left March 7 for a 10-day trip to western Africa. They will be working in a remote village where there has beenlittle or no Christian witness. The people there are Muslims
FORREST COULTER (center) responds to the question, "How do you know God wants you to go to Mali?" during a training session for members of United Baptist Church of Splendora. He sits between his wife, Jenny, and Mark Reynolds. Coulter is minister to students at the church.
___"God has been molding hearts" and making the volunteers ready to be used as his instruments, "even though they're scared," said Lori Smith, director of mission ministries at United Baptist.
___A group of volunteers from the Splendora church was working in Zambia on Sept. 11, 2001, Smith said. In a matter of weeks, while the world still tried to grasp the implications of the terrorist attacks in the United States, the congregation sent a team to Poland. When the opportunity in western Africa surfaced, United Baptist was ready to go again.
___But not all Texas Baptists are traveling.
___"Since Sept. 11 we have certainly felt a mild downturn in people who've inquired about volunteering for international service," reported Don Sewell, director of the Texas Partnerships Resource Center.
___The center, a ministry of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, worked with more than 4,000 volunteers in 2001. Sewell expects this year's totals to be about 65 percent or 75 percent of last year's.
___While the numbers are down, "we do have a significant number ready to go overseas this year," he added.
___The Splendora group is among those. In western Africa, they will work among an unreached people group. Part of the team will work side-by-side with locals in laying the foundation and beginning construction of a new school building, while the remainder will prayerwalk in nearby villages and invite people to evening worship services.
___Their goal is to "shine Christ" in their relationships, Smith said.
___Bernard "Frenchy" LeBlanc, at age 68, is one of the older volunteers going to Africa. He said the events of Sept. 11 had no impact on his decision. "I've had peace about it all the way," he explained. "It's my firm decision to go."
___Brittany Newcomb never has been outside the United States, but she is one of three high school students who will be making the trip.
___"I've been praying a lot," Newcomb said. "I told my grandma I was going, and she said, 'No way.' ... Then finally, God was working in her heart, and she was excited I was going."
___The commitment to missions involvement at United Baptist has been strengthened in recent months as the congregation has seen God work in their lives, church members said.
LORI SMITH speaks to the volunteer missionaries about their trip to Mali, located in western Africa. Most of the initial group, plus one other volunteer, left for Africa March 7. Smith is director of mission ministries for the church, which is located northeast of Houston.
___Pastor Walter Kahler was on the team stuck in Zambia Sept. 11. They were at the airport ready to leave when the airline representative got a call about the World Trade Center and then the Pentagon. The Texans finally made it home a week later.
___"A lot of prayer went into that," Kahler said. Church members at home prayed. The volunteers in Zambia prayed.
___"It was a difficult time," said Smith, who also was in Zambia. But, looking back, she can see a larger purpose in those difficulties.
___"The Lord was preparing our church at that point to continue with the work. He proved to our church and everyone involved in that trip in Zambia that he's protecting us and he's faithful, and if he's with us, he will take care of us and watch over us."
___Then, in late October came the planned trip to Poland by women from the church.
___Jenny Coulter, a 28-year-old mother, was one of those on the Poland team. Her parents were planning to pay for the trip, but they offered her more money if she would stay home. Coulter could not be swayed. "I wasn't scared," she said. "I was excited to be able to go."
___Smith recalled that every one of the women said: "God called me to go. I can't say he changed my mind."
___"There was some concern, but no one ever wavered," she acknowledged. "It was a stretch for the church, but they were able to see God."
___Then came the opportunity in Africa. Smith had been there on a BGCT exploratory team early in 2001. "God just really broke me for that people," she said. "Just walking through the land" she got a sense of "how much (God) longed to be there."
___That region of the world is not the most inviting for those living in suburban America. The temperature will climb above 100. "It's very dry and very dusty, desert basically, and lots of rocks and climbing," Smith said. There's no running water, no electricity and "no soft places to sleep."
___It reminded her of Psalm 63, which speaks of a soul thirsting for God "in a dry and weary land," Smith said. "People are going to other places, but will we be willing to go to those places where it's difficult and it's not comfortable and it's not what we are used to? Are we willing to suffer for the sake of Christ and for the opportunity to share?"
___She discovered a number of people in United Baptist Church who were willing.
___Coulter is going on the trip to western Africa along with her husband, Forrest. "I prefer hotel rooms, air conditioning, blow driers, curling irons, makeup and cold Cokes," she said. But, "I started feeling an excitement about going, ... a peace about it."
___This will be Howard Osgood's first mission trip.
___"I'm retired now, so I've got the time to do it, and I had better do it pretty soon if I'm going to do it at all," he said. "I'm sick to death of being an armchair Christian and think God is sick of me being one too."
___Pastor Kahler said of the church's involvement in missions, "You can't stop something that God's already begun, and he began this mission work long before we ever got on board.
___"Our people have been drawn closer in their own personal relationships to the place that God's bigger than their fear and God's bigger than their finances," Kahler said. "It's just a part of the way they see God. ... A lot of people look at their problems and circumstances and try to see God on the other side. ... We just try to see the Lord, and the circumstances disappear."
___The BGCT's Sewell said Texas Baptists should be careful in traveling overseas.
___"There are certainly countries where the travel risks are far higher than in other countries," he said. "We would be glad to consult with anybody about the level of risk they would be taking on" in regard to specific places. "We simply want to assist people to serve where God wants them to go."
___"I'm very proud of and thankful for the Texas Baptist volunteers who are willing to continue what we've been doing for years," Sewell said. "Baptists and lost people around the world are still watching us. They're looking for a word of hope from us."
___
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