Jerry Rankin and his wife Bobbye were serving as missionaries to Indonesia when Jerry was chosen in 1993 to be president of the International Mission Board. Rankin’s tenure was marked by sweeping organizational changes and a steady personal calling.  In 2009, the year Rankin announced his retirement, more than 5,500 IMB missionaries helped plant nearly 27,000 churches and engage 101 new people groups for a total of 1,190 engaged people groups. During his report to the IMB trustees, he said he hoped that his presidency would not be judged for the accomplishments of the organization under his leadership but for how the organization is poised for the future

 

As members of the body of Christ at FBC, Montgomery, we need to pray that the IMB’s future will include the continuation of its mission to make disciples of all peoples in fulfillment of the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20. Pray also for the IMB search committee as they seek for a leader who, in Jerry Rankin’s own words, can “identify with the next generation, one who has credibility to mobilize Southern Baptists, creative vision to implement new strategies and faith to provide the spiritual leadership that will keep us aligned with the mission of a sovereign God.” Pray for the 5,000+ IMB missionaries serving around the world today. Pray that more people will respond to God’s call to International Missions.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations...  (Matthew 28:19)

 

 

Jerry Rankin has said, “It is not the responsibility of the International Mission Board to do missions on behalf of Southern Baptists. Our role is to serve, enable and facilitate all Southern Baptists to be obedient to God’s kingdom purpose and fulfill the Great Commission. We live in a world of growing warfare, chaos, suffering and political upheaval. God is using these global conditions to turn the hearts of people to spiritual answers. Now is the time to pray, give and go, to lead your church to respond to the lostness of our world. There are many things you can do to make a huge difference in eternity. Everyone deserves an opportunity to hear the story of Jesus.”

Here at First Baptist we have a great church family! Members are loving and supportive of each other, give tithes and offerings regularly and support missions. But, can we do more? Can we have a greater impact on God’s world? The answer is, “Yes!”

 

Remember, YOU are the church! Pray that God will lead YOU to get more involved in sharing Christ’s love – at home and around the world.

 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes ... (Romans 1:16)

 

 

It’s true that personal contact with a missionary makes missions more real, as our praying and giving also identifies with a face. Our church can support missionaries in many ways, like becoming a strategic prayer partner, corresponding with them, inviting them to share their testimonies, maintaining a long-term relationship with their parents or college-age children, and partnering with them in strategy to reach an unreached people group.

 

FBC is blessed to have former IMB and NAMB missionaries as members. One of our young couples has just been appointed by IMB to serve in South Asia and is now preparing for missionary service. Several of our members are proud parents and grandparents of missionaries. Many of these missionaries live in our First Baptist missionary house while on stateside assignment. Through the various mission trips that our members have made, (over 400 members have participated in mission trips this past year), close bonds with missionaries have been established.  Several of our FBC young people have gone out on short-term missionary assignments through Student Summer Missions, Journeyman or other youth missions programs. Through our Global Impact Celebrations, like the one planned for February, 2011, we are given the opportunity to rub shoulders with missionaries who serve in almost every corner of our world.

 

Pray for those missionaries whom you know by name. Ask God to direct you how you can personally minister to or meet the needs of these missionaries. Pray that God will call out from our fellowship many more to serve as laborers in His harvest fields.

 

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”  (Matthew 9:37-38)

 

 

None of us have a hard time identifying with the fact that many nations of the world are in darkness, as it were, hidden from the light of Christ. Over 1.6 billion people still live with little or no access to the Gospel. Consider the megacities of the world. In South Asia, there are unengaged people who live in a vast sea of humanity in cities like Dhaka, Karachi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Delhi, virtually “untouched” by the gospel. In Southeast Asia, 29 people groups with a population of more than 50,000 are not yet engaged. Rural peoples of the Levant include Bedouin, Gypsies, farmers and people living in villages outside metropolitan areas. Their needs are unique and creative ways must be found to access the gospel to these areas. In West Africa, the A people count 20,000 located in the extreme eastern part of Nigeria, part of the Lake Chad Basin. During the rainy season, it is impossible to reach this region.

 

Although the task of bringing the Gospel light to all peoples of the world seems daunting, God is “punching holes in darkness” as a result of your prayers and financial support, the work of our missionaries, and the living testimony of native believers in almost every area of our world.

 

Ask God what more you can do. Give sacrificially this year to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. Pray every day for lost people. Go and tell the story!

 

Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. (Ps. 2:8)

 

 

In North America, nearly three out of four people are living without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Time is short and we have a long way to go to reach more than 250 million destined to spend eternity separated from Christ. It’s time for each of us to become intentional witnesses for Christ in our own nation!

 

You don’t have to make an overseas mission trip to reach the nations, for the nations have come to us. In our own city, international leaders from all over the world come to Maxwell AFB, bringing with them their wives and children. Through the Montgomery Baptist Association partnering with FBC, we are able to host many of these families weekly through the ministry of ESL (English as a Second Language), or the FBC International Café.

 

College campuses are replete with international students. In Montgomery our Baptist Association, through Baptist Campus Ministries, seeks ways to reach these students. One way is by providing lunch, where students find not only good food but Christian fellowship and have the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

 

Our First Baptist Single Adults have been reaching the Bhutanese refugees in Atlanta, Georgia. Our Baptist State Convention has been partnering with fellow Baptists in Michigan which is one of the largest centers of Islam in our nation.

 

Find ways you can personally be involved in these and other ministries to internationals in our city, state and nation.

 

In our nation there is a great need for personal repentance and prayer. We must daily intercede for centers of power and influence, i.e., the Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family. Pray, pray, pray for America!

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord. (Psalm 3:12)