February 10, 2003
TOGETHER:
Network to stir up missions passion
___Texas Baptists are more involved in missions than ever before, moving from representative to participative mission service. At one time, the only way the average church member could have a part in missions was by paying for someone else to go to a mission field and praying for them while they were there. Now, ordinary church members can be involved in hands-on mission service
___Churches in Texas offer mission ministries to the unreached andunderserved people in their communities--feeding the hungry, providing for the homeless, building houses for the working poor, training people for jobs, teaching parenting skills, loving sinners and befriending the lonely. Texas Baptists partner with Baptist leaders, churches and missionaries around the world. Churches in Texas collaborate to reach parts of the world where there are special connections between church members and people in those far-off places. Baptist Student Ministries, universities, child-care ministries and hospitals in our Texas Baptist family already are involved in mission outreach around the world.
CHARLES WADE
Executive Director
BGCT Executive Board
___Helping these partnerships and collaborative efforts grow and improve is part of the assignment the BGCT gave to the new world missions network. I pray that in the next five years, every Texas Baptist church, association and institution will have ministries that give their people hands-on experience in missions in the immediate community, the surrounding county, the state, the nation and to the ends of the earth. Some call that being an Acts 1:8 church. Some call it having a glocal vision--global and local. I call it being a Jesus kind of church--one that loves people close at hand, goes where people live, travels to places that can be reached and puts on our hearts the world for which Christ died.
___The world mission network will help you and your church locate missions opportunities, training and partnerships. It will assist you in thinking strategically about missions so you can see where your part fits into the total vision.
___I am excited that the first meeting of the new world mission network board will be Feb. 20-21. Justice Anderson, experienced missionary and retired missions professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, will be the first chairman of this new missions entity. Albert Reyes, president of Hispanic Baptist Theological School, will be vice chair of the 32-member board.
___The breadth and the diversity of the board excite me. But most of all, I am grateful for the mission experience and passion found there. In personal interviews, all of these board members have expressed their commitment to missions and their desire to be used of God to increase Texas Baptist missions involvement.
___Please pray for them. Pray that the missions passion of Texas Baptists can be stirred up, cheered on and channeled as never before. Pray they will be able to find the person God has in mind to lead this new missions network. Pray every obstacle will be an opportunity for creativity, innovation and unusual missions advance to the glory of God and the salvation of the peoples of this earth.
___In the meanwhile, you don't have to wait to love your neighbor, share God's invitation to abundant life and welcome into your Sunday School class or small group the next person who shows up. The mission field is all around you. You can't do everything. But you can begin right where you are. Now.
___We are loved.
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