March 3, 2003

TOGETHER:
Missions dreams become reality
___I sense excitement among Texas Baptists about sharing our faith, ministering to the needs of others and being the presence of Christ in the world. We may be on the edge of the greatest missions advance we have ever known. It will be glocal--both global and local. And it will not only be about sending missionaries, but also about the whole ch

CHARLES WADE Executive Director BGCT Executive Board

urch being missional in attitude and in service.
___Last week, the Baptist General Convention of Texas' world missions network board met for the first time. Chairman Justice Anderson asked the 32 members to share testimonies about their own spiritual journeys and reasons for wanting to serve in this missions venture. I have been blessed often by the testimonies of Baptist people, but this was a most remarkable and humbling experience. Please continue praying for this effort and for these people.
___Consider what is happening in missions:
___ A Texas Baptist couple recently gave $800,000 to the Baptist hospital in Guadalajara, Mexico. Through their generosity, the hospital was able to celebrate its 45th anniversary with a ribbon cutting for a new wing, including a pediatric care area and a 20-bed adult intensive care unit. It marks a major step forward for Baptists of Mexico.
___ Eight years ago, a young boy began attending an apartment Bible study sponsored by Mission Odessa, a ministry of First Baptist Church there. After some time, the boy prayed to receive Christ. Soon, both parents were saved, and the family became active in a church. Recently, the boy's grandmother moved to Odessa from Mexico and shared with Mission Odessa Director Margaret Edwards: "Because you cared enough to tell a young boy at an apartment community about Jesus, he told me about Jesus. Now his mom, dad and I are Christians, as well as my two sons in Mexico."
___The grandmother began serving in the mission center. On her first day, a family of six, who spoke no English, came for food and asked if someone would pray with them. This grandmother led all six family members to Jesus.
___ Yorktown Baptist Church in Corpus Christi sent a team to Mexico to look for ways the church could do agricultural missions. There they met with a Mexican pastor who felt burdened for a family of seven living in severely substandard housing at a colonia not far from his church. The Corpus Christi group saw the colonia and returned in January to build the family a small house. First Baptist Church in Freer will arrive soon to finish the home's interior.
___The report from the field is this: "God used the gift to this church family to open doors into the community. Church attendance has swelled from 23 to 120, professions of faith have increased--14 in January alone, and the children's outreach is having around 50 each week."
___Ministries you support through the Cooperative Program and the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas missions help these kinds of missions stories become reality. Texas Partnerships linked the Texas Baptist family to the hospital in Guadalajara. Missional Church Strategy and Key Church efforts encourage and assist apartment ministries. River Ministry connects churches to needs along the Borderland, from El Paso to Brownsville.
___As much as God has allowed us to do, it is but the beginning.
___We are loved.

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