A FOUR DAY MISSION TRIP

 

On May 1-4, 2022, I had the honor of joining half a dozen other members of Northside Baptist Church in Indianapolis on a four day mission troop at Ethnos 360 in the Ozarks in Missouri.

Are you familiar with Ethnos 360? Some of you might be more familiar with it by its former name, New Tribes Missions. Two of my college friends, Tony and Lauren Finch, joined New Tribes when they graduated. I remember Tony writing to me in the '80's and excitedly mentioning he was going to a place where "Jesus" isn't even a swear word. We learned Ethnos 360 is the third largest missionary organization, behind Wycliffe and the Southern Baptist's International Mission Board.

We came right after the missionary trainees spent a three week period of time in shelters they constructed during the first week and lived more off the land (they also learned how to butcher their meat). A billboard company gave them used billboard tarps which they used for shelter. We helped collect the used tarps and tools. Me and one other friend helped grind up pork for sausage.

The grounds were quite large and have a lot of things going on. For example, they had an auto garage, where they seemed to store everything. We also had a presentation on working with solar energy and water purification, and saw where they were growing plants hydroponically (without soil, using nutrients in water).

One thing we did was construct a place where they kept some of their supplies. We first put a couple of billboards up and then covered it with plastic to protect the structure from wind and rain. They decided to put the billboard with the pictures facing in, so anybody in that building could see a gigantic Jimmy John sub sandwich and this guy advertising truck driver training.

One blessing was finding out the grounds crew leader had served in Mexico with the Finches previously, and one of the other grounds workers who also headed up working with volunteers spent a semester at my alma mater, Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College.

We spent time with Ethnos Missionaries Dennis and Monika Farthing. Dennis and his family used to attend Northside. We had dinner with the Farthings, their children, and Dennis' parents, and Monika, who's from Germany, fixed us Wienerschnitzel. Another evening, we took a boat ride on the Lake of the Ozarks, with a former missionary piloting the vessel.

It was a blessing to spend some time on working with Ethos 360 and with my co-laborers at Northside Baptist Church.

 

 







 

I'M EXCITED ABOUT MISSIONS! AREN'T YOU?

Map in CEF director's Reese Kaufman's office, indicating where the sun is shining on the world.

 

One of life's great mysteries I started think about while in Junior High: Why did some missionaries have full 8 1/2 x 11 length prayer letters, folded in half so they can fit in the bulletin, while others' letters were half that size?

I don't know how long it took me to figure that out, but it still wasn't long. The full size letters were from CBFMS missionaries, while the half page letters came from CBHMS missionaries. The ones serving on foreign fields got the full size paper, while those on the home field (North and Central America) only got the half page.

Which left me wondering why they thought the home missionaries didn't deserve the same amount of paper the foreign missionaries did.

One other thing I noticed. At Verde Baptist Church, the Conservative Baptist church I attended, they had pictures of their missionaries and where they served. There, at least, the foreign and home missionaries got an equal due.
Then, when I attended Cactus Baptist Church when I moved to Phoenix to start college, I would see a different set of pictures. Mel Bitner, who was in France, was on both missionary boards, but the others were different. Why? Because CBFMS and CBHMS would appoint the missionaries, and then the missionaries would "discover" their support at the various local churches. Each congregation would choose who they supported.

Over the years, I moved East. In that move, I noticed fewer Conservative Baptist Churches, and more Southern Baptist. the main difference? How they support missions. The Southern Baptist Convention has the Cooperative Program (CP), so basically all Southern Baptist Churches are supporting all the Southern Baptist Missionaries.

One thing that excites me are the Lottie Moon Christmas and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offerings. As you'd expect, any Mission organization has overhead costs, and for the Southern Baptist Convention, the CP takes care of those. With the Lottie Moon Offering, 100% goes to the international missionaries; the one named after Annie Armstrong goes entirely to those serving in North America. (I'm posting this the final day of Annie Armstrong this year.)

Why do those offerings excite me? Because at the beginning of those offerings they send out a pamphlet on how to pray for specific missionaries each day for a week. Usually, I select one or two to keep praying for after the offering ends. 

Becky and I are also interested in other mission organizations. Becky's active with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), which has official workers in every country except one (can you say North Korea, boys and girls?). We used to volunteer with Voice of the Martyrs and actively correspond with two sister ministries Spirit of Martyrdom (which is in Clarkdale Arizona, where the CEO attends Verde Baptist Church) and Vision Beyond Borders. We've attended dinners for Wycliffe Associates (where they send workers to take care of things like teaching and construction so the Wycliffe translators can concentrate on translating). One of my former roommates is active with Community Health Evangelism and Medical Ambassadors International. 

International Learning Center, Rockville, VA

 How many would think Thru The Bible would fit in the conversation? Oh, but they do. That program is heard in 120 languages and dialects around the world. No, you're not going to hear Dr. J. Vernon McGee's Texan accent speaking in Tagalog or other languages, or even the quartet singing "How Firm A Foundation." The programs are more aimed at the locality it's aimed for.

Are you excited about missions? If so, what excites you? If not, what would it take to change your mind?