Churches Send Missionaries to the Nations

God is providing unprecedented opportunities to serve him among the nations, and “with a degree in fibers, fabrics and handcrafted textiles, along with a desire to take the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth, the Lord is allowing me to literally and figuratively weave the gospel of Jesus Christ into the hearts of Central Asians,” said Carter Finley*, who is sent by her church in North Carolina, during an International Mission Board Sending Celebration March 1.

Twenty-nine Southern Baptists were approved and appointed as missionaries to the nations during IMB’s trustee meeting Feb. 28–March 1 near Richmond, Virginia. The new missionaries celebrated during the service are being sent by churches in eleven state conventions. They’ll take the gospel to peoples in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Americas.

Taylor Edmonds (center) receives concerted prayer on her behalf as she is appointed as a Southern Baptist missionary. Sent by The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina, Edmonds will share the gospel with European peoples. Those praying include (from left) Rodney Freeman, IMB vice president of Support Services; Karen Villalpando, a trustee from Michigan; Richard Richie, a trustee from Alabama; and Eric King, IMB director of church mobilization. (IMB Photo by Roy Burroughs)

“We are going because we know that God’s heart is for all people to know his name,” said Aaron Stormer, who is sent by Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, to the American peoples.

Melissa Stormer said she realized God’s heart for the nations while sharing the gospel in a small mountain village in Haiti. “I felt Jesus whispering, ‘I died for them as well as you,’” she said. Her husband felt God calling him to the mission field while walking the stone lined streets and surrounded by blue tiles and the lost people of Porto, Portugal.

“God has called us to go and carry out his mission in order that the lost may be found and His truth proclaimed,” she said.

Aaron and Melissa Stormer, sent to take the gospel to American peoples by Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee, share their testimony during a Sending Celebration March 1 near Richmond, Va. “We are going because we know that God’s heart is for all people to know his name,” Aaron said. (IMB Photo by Roy Burroughs)

Jim* and Pam Smith* expressed thanks that Southern Baptist Churches work together through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® to send and support missionaries. Jim said it was as a young Royal Ambassador at a church in Virginia that he became aware of God’s heart for the nations. From Panama to China, short-term mission trips were formative in turning his heart toward the nations.

Growing up as a pastor’s kid in Colorado and Virginia, Pam felt God used short-term mission trips from the bush of Kenya to the busy streets of Turkey to awaken her desire to go from short-term to full-time missions. The family is sent by their church in Virginia to share the gospel in South Asia.

A Day of Wide Open Doors

During the trustees’ plenary session, IMB President David Platt implored trustees to lead Southern Baptists away from the deception, diversion, distraction, and division that have dominated news not just in American culture, but also in the church, and specifically the Southern Baptist Convention. Rather, Southern Baptists should be looking at what the apostle Paul refers to as a “wide door for effective work” (1 Cor. 16:8–9).

IMB President David Platt challenges new missionaries during a Sending Celebration March 1. The service, to honor appointees and the churches sending them, was conducted in conjunction with an IMB board of trustees meeting. (IMB Photo by Roy Burroughs)

“We are living in a day of wide open doors here and around the world, and it is high time for Southern Baptists not to divide, but to join together—not to be distracted, but to be resolutely focused on the purpose for which we came together in the first place: the spread of the gospel in a world of urgent need. . . a world of urgent need and unprecedented opportunity,” Platt said.

Sharing a video story about Abuk, a young refugee from Africa who obediently answered God’s call to return to Africa to make disciples, Platt praised God for a Southern Baptist church in Amarillo, Texas, that reached out to the immigrant family.

“We hear those words [refugee, immigrant] today, and they’re so politically charged, and if we’re not careful, we can start to picture immigrants as problems to be solved, not people to be loved,” Platt said. “Brothers and sisters, there are wide open doors to love people right around us in a way that leads to love for people all around the world.

“This is a story of a refugee turned IMB missionary! And that’s possible—why? Did you see the news headline in that video? ‘Baptists come together despite barriers.’ Oh, may that be the commentary on our cooperation in this day of wide open doors.”

Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national Woman’s Missionary Union, presents gifts to the International Mission Board, including $11,355 for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® and an additional $2,154 for support of missionary kid educational needs and spiritual development. Wisdom-Martin made the presentation during IMB’s board of trustees plenary session March 1. (IMB Photo by Roy Burroughs)

During the plenary session and committee meetings, trustees also:

  • Accepted a gift from Woman’s Missionary Union Foundation, presented by Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director of national WMU, including  $11,355 for LMCO and an additional $2,154 for support of missionary kid educational needs and spiritual development. “For the countless innumerable pennies and prayers, we give thanks,” trustee chair Scott Harris prayed in gratitude of the gift.
  • Appointed a sub-committee to ascertain the best way to ensure representation of all state Baptist conventions, including “new work” areas, on the trustee board.
  • Noted the process for any amicus brief in the future will involve the legal department, the Office of the President and the board of trustees.
  • Approved the schedule of meeting three times in 2017 to enable trustees to travel internationally each year to see field ministry firsthand. Trustees will meet June 12 in Phoenix in conjunction with the SBC annual meeting and Sept. 12-13 at Ridgecrest, North Carolina, in celebration of emeriti missionaries.
  • Remembered the lives of 63 missionaries, former staff, retired missionaries and staff members who died in the past year. Collectively, the missionaries represent 1,672 years of service spreading the gospel around the world. Their average age was 83, and their average service was 29 years each.

Reading the names, places and lengths of service for each former missionary, Platt concluded the list with Alma Rohm, age ninety, who served in Nigeria for fifty-four years. She sailed to Nigeria on a cargo ship in 1950 and died in Nigeria in 2016. Chief Adebisi Adesola called Rohm the “last of the Mohicans” because she survived all odds in love for the people of Nigeria as the longest-serving American missionary to Nigeria from the Southern Baptist Convention.

“These lives beckon us, brothers and sisters, like the chorus of men and women in Hebrews 12, to come together and fix our eyes on Jesus and the mission to which he has called us,” Platt said. “Let’s work together in a day of wide open doors and many adversaries to send multitudes more Alma Rohms to the ends of the earth.”

Michal MacDonald (left) and her husband, Scott, share a moment of celebration with their children Adelaide and Malachi, and with Michal’s mother, Patty Mitchell (right). The MacDonald family, sent by Third Baptist Church in Marion, Illinois, will share the gospel with Sub-Saharan African peoples. (IMB Photo by Roy Burroughs)

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* Names changed for security reasons.

Julie McGowan is public relations leader at IMB.

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