Abilene church ‘party’ celebrates raising $3.6 million for missions

Worshippers at First Baptist Church in Abilene celebrated the completion of a three-year capital campaign that raised $3.6 million for missions. (PHOTO/Courtesy of Janie Sellers)

image_pdfimage_print

ABILENE—Balloons fell from the ceiling, and the sounds of Kool & the Gang’s “Celebration” filled the sanctuary of First Baptist Church in Abilene—a congregation more accustomed to hymns and anthems presented by robed choirs with pipe-organ accompaniment.

abilene alicialee ethan300Alicia Lee, pictured with her son, Ethan, serves as a missionary with her husband, Jeff, in Macedonia. They have been supported by First Baptist Church in Abilene through its “Faces and Places” missions campaign. (PHOTOS/Courtesy of Janie Sellers)First Baptist Church celebrated the completion of a three-year capital campaign that collected more than $3.6 million—a fund-raising endeavor as nontraditional as its celebration.

The “Faces and Places” campaign focused on missions, and the Sunday morning celebration highlighted ways the church has expanded its mission efforts over the last three years.

Worshippers celebrated the work of three global missionary couples supported by Faces and Places—Jimmy and Anjani Cole, who recently completed three years in Spain; Josh and Caroline Smith, who serve in South Africa; and Jeff and Alicia Lee, who serve in Macedonia.

Alicia Lee told the congregation the story of Rinor, an 8-year-old boy who benefited from the mission efforts of First Baptist. On the day she met Rinor, Lee described, he had returned home from the market with a small packet of soup to provide dinner for his family—his parents, grandparents, and four brothers and sisters.

When the Lees opened the trunk of their car, revealing enough groceries to sustain the family for the last few months of the harsh Macedonian winter, they were overwhelmed with gratitude and relief.

Rinor’s mother embraced Lee and said, “Zoti ju bekoftë!” (“God bless you!”)—a blessing Lee relayed to First Baptist Church.

abilene boards300Sunday school classes at First Baptist Church in Abilene wrote words of encouragement and Scripture verses on blessings on boards that will be used in a Habitat for Humanity homebuilding project.Phil Christopher, pastor at First Baptist in Abilene, told the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s General Assembly last summer about the impact of a missional focus in his church.

“Jimmy Cole grew up in First Baptist Abilene, and when we started talking about what it means to be a missional church, he took what we were saying seriously,” Christopher said. “He resigned as a successful pharmaceutical salesperson, sold his home and said, ‘Here am I, send me.’ Can you imagine?


Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays


“If we are going to talk missions in our churches, if we are going to commission field personnel, if we are going to tell the ‘old, old story,’ our churches have a responsibility to make sure the resources are available when people like the Coles, the Smiths and the Lees are called to go and tell the story of Jesus and his love.”

In addition to the campaign’s global impact, Faces and Places also included local mission efforts. During the Sunday celebration, Family Life Center Director Keith Post expressed thanks for the center’s renewed impact due to renovations made possible by the campaign.

abilene missionaries400The Cole family—(left to right) Carson, Ajani, Currian and Jimmy—served three years in Spain as misisonaries supported by First Baptist Church in Abilene.Friendship House Director Janet Mendenhall described how lives continue to be affected in First Baptist’s neighborhood, thanks to the church’s faithful support.

But the mission work of First Baptist Abilene and the Faces and Places campaign is not over. During the Sunday school hour before the church’s celebration, classes wrote words of encouragement and verses of blessing on two-by-fours, which will be used in a Habitat for Humanity house the church is building during the next couple of months. Representatives of each class carried the decorated boards into the sanctuary at the opening of the service to dedicate the house and its mission to God’s service.

Bob Ellis, who served as the Faces and Places chair, joined other speakers in challenging the church to continue giving to the campaign. The initial goal was $5 million, which included a sizeable endowment for sustained missions support. The church hopes to collect the remaining $1.3 million-plus for the endowment over the next year.

 


We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.

Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.

More from Baptist Standard