It began with the "On Mission Celebration" when we heard from missionaries from Uruguay, Thailand, San Francisco, Indiana and yes, right here in Arizona. The missionaries were representative of International Missions and North American Missions of our Southern Baptist Convention. We heard each missionary share how they were able to serve on there particular mission field because of the support of churches, like ours, that give regularly through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program. What we experienced was the joy of putting a face on the financial support that we provide through our church budget.
Now, we are in our Faith Promise Missions emphasis. The missions committee has done an excellent job of arranging for us to hear from various representatives of the ministry and mission items in the Faith Promise Mission budget. This is just a continuation of the overall mission strategy of our church. The difference in Faith Promise missions and the Cooperative Program missions is that FPM is directed to local ministries and involves our own people going on mission projects. January 26 will be very important to all of us. This is day that we will participate in the Faith Promise Missions Fair sponsored by the missions committee. We will have opportunity to meet representatives of each of the ministries that are in the FPM budget and will be fed by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention disaster relief team. They will have their disaster relief mobile unit set up for us to see and will prepare and serve the food from that unit. I'm sure many of you remember that during the hurricane Katrina, we gave generously to support the ministry of the Southern Baptist disaster relief teams that went to New Orleans. My prayer is that once we have seen this unit and how efficiently this Arizona team serves, we will have some of our people desire to be a part of this very important ministry.
Well, God called us all to be on mission with Him and the challenge that we all must face is how do we respond. It will be different for each of us. I want to be and do what God has called me to do. Will you join me with your commitment?
PB
Friday, January 18, 2008
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Faithfulness At All Cost
I just returned from a very snowy trip to Flagstaff. I went up this morning to attend a reunion of the current students as well as former students who participated in the Baptist Student Ministry at Northern Arizona University. This is a ministry that is supported through the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention. I had a thirty-five year relationship with this ministry and saw many changes that happened through the years based primarily on the leadership. Which leads me to the point of this blog.
The present leader of the program came to his responsibility twenty years ago.
While directing the state student ministry program for the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, I enlisted Mark Hill, a recent graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, to come to Flagstaff to take the directorship of the program at NAU. Mark and his wife Lisa came to this ministry on a part-time salary, worked at a local church as a part-time staff member and Lisa took a job in order for this young family to have enough money to live on. Only God's grace and their commitment enabled them to stay with the ministry in the first few years. God honored their commitment with fruitfulness, took care of their needs and now, Mark, who is fully funded through our ASBC cooperative program, is in his twentieth year as ministry director.
Twenty years of snow storms, mission trips, discipling generations of students, adding a tremendous staff person, supporting local churches and seeing many students come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How? Faithfulness!
It should not surprise anyone when I say that Mark Hill is one of my heroes. I know that what I have observed in his leadership is the same that is needed in the life of every Christian. My prayer is that every church member sees that God blesses faithfulness. My desire for myself is that faithfulness characterizes my own life and ministry. Mark, stay 20 more years!!
PB
The present leader of the program came to his responsibility twenty years ago.
While directing the state student ministry program for the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention, I enlisted Mark Hill, a recent graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, to come to Flagstaff to take the directorship of the program at NAU. Mark and his wife Lisa came to this ministry on a part-time salary, worked at a local church as a part-time staff member and Lisa took a job in order for this young family to have enough money to live on. Only God's grace and their commitment enabled them to stay with the ministry in the first few years. God honored their commitment with fruitfulness, took care of their needs and now, Mark, who is fully funded through our ASBC cooperative program, is in his twentieth year as ministry director.
Twenty years of snow storms, mission trips, discipling generations of students, adding a tremendous staff person, supporting local churches and seeing many students come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How? Faithfulness!
It should not surprise anyone when I say that Mark Hill is one of my heroes. I know that what I have observed in his leadership is the same that is needed in the life of every Christian. My prayer is that every church member sees that God blesses faithfulness. My desire for myself is that faithfulness characterizes my own life and ministry. Mark, stay 20 more years!!
PB
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