Marks of a Fantastic Missions Conference Pt. 3

I believe that this mark of a fantastic missions conference could be the most important, outside of having the power of God upon the conference. A third and very crucial mark of a fantastic missions conference is connection between the people of the church and the missionaries. I believe the key in seeing this accomplished can be summed up in one word: time. If the people do not have time to get to know the missionaries, then they will not get to know them.

This begs the question, "Why is it so important for the people to have a connection with the missionaries?" Here are a few thoughts.

1. The best picture of missions for the people of a local church is the missionaries themselves. When people have the opportunity to get to know missionaries on a personal level, missions ceases to be an abstract idea, and becomes a personal involvement. I believe that some of the most missions-giving churches are those churches that have a missions conference in which the people have plenty of opportunities to get to know the missionaries.

2. When the people of the church and the missionaries establish a good connection at a missions conference, the also establish a good prayer base, and this is a two-way street. Not only are the people better equipped to pray for the missionaries (because the missionaries are no longer just faces on a prayer card, but real people with real needs), but the missionaries are better equipped to pray for the church.

3. The more time the missionaries have with the people, the better the opportunity is for the missionaries to make an impact on the church- especially on the young people of the church. *On a side note, I believe it is vitally important to expose the teenagers to every missionary that comes through the doors of the church. If a missionary is just in for a Wednesday night service, it would be great if the teenagers could come and see the missions presentation before going to the teen service.

4. Having been in a few meetings in which a good connection was not made between the people and the missionaries, I can tell you that in those situations the entire atmosphere of the conference is a bit insipid. In order for an exciting, vibrant atmosphere to be present in the missions conference, there must be ample opportunity for the people of the church and the missionaries to establish a solid connection.

There are many venues that provide great opportunities for the missionaries and the church members to get acquainted and build solid friendships. Having a meal before each service that is open to all who want to attend is a great opportunity. Strongly encouraging the people to visit each display both before and after the services can also be rewarding. Allowing the missionaries to be a part of the various Sunday school classes on Sunday morning can be very beneficial. If at all possible, having all the missionaries in for the entirety of the conference, as opposed to having each family in for one night only, is the best way for the people to get to know the missionaries.

These are just some thoughts.

Marks of a Fantastic Missions Conference Pt. 2

After discussing this topic with my wife, we came to the conclusion that another mark of a fantastic missions conference is organization. While great missions conferences may vary in different areas, one area they all have in common is that they are organized.

On several occasions, I have received a letter, an email, or a packet over a month before the conference began that gave the schedule of the conference (what time to arrive, where to meet, what night I was presenting our ministry, activities, etc.). It is difficult to put into words what that does to the heart of a missionary! It builds a spirit of anticipation within my heart, and it sends me the message that this church is serious about missions, and that they are eagerly anticipating our arrival. It shows that the missions conference is not just being thrown together at the last minute.

I am not suggesting that a church that does not send the schedule to the missionaries in advance is an unorganized church. We have been a part of some great conferences that did not send the schedule in advance; but they did have a schedule!

Marks of a Fantastic Missions Conference

We have had the opportunity to be in numerous missions conferences over the past eight months. I want to use the next few entries into this blog to discuss some common characteristics that I have found present in those missions conferences that were fantastic, not just mediocre.

Characteristic #1: There is an evident spirit of anticipation amongst the pastor and the people.

You can just sense it! From the moment we step out of the van and shake that first person's hand, whether it be the pastor, a staff member, or a lay person, a spirit of anticipation and excitement is present. Here is the key: this spirit of anticipation and excitement does not happen by accident. It is the result of months of prayer, planning, and promoting.

Pastor, make the missions conference the highlight of the year for your people. If possible, make it several days in duration. When the conference is just a one or two day meeting, it is difficult for the missionaries to get to know you and the people. Hopefully, these missionaries that you invite will be an extension of your church for decades to come, and they will be partners with you in the ministry. The more time you have with them, the stronger that bond will be.

A spirit of anticipation will not be built by simply going through the motions. Begin praying that God will truly empower the conference. Begin planning, and ask God for wisdom in how each day will be scheduled. Finally, begin promoting the missions conference a couple of months in advance, and encourage every member to become a part of reaching the world with the Gospel through his/her faith promise commitment. I believe these steps will help in having a truly fantastic missions conference.

Some Deputation Thoughts

The following are just a couple of thoughts that helped me when we were on deputation from 2009-2011. There are varying views on how to approach deputation, and there are good men who hold to all of these views. I certainly don't claim that my view is in any way superior to anyone else's; these are just some approaches that proved to be successful for our family.

1. It is not necessarily a bad thing to be in one church for the a.m. and p.m. services. I found that it gave me a better opportunity to know the people and spend time with the pastor. I enjoyed the Sundays when the pastor required me to be there for the whole day. Usually, I would teach Sunday school in the morning, and preach and present in the evening. Also, most of the time in these situations the pastor would take us out for lunch, and we would get more time to get to know him. I really enjoyed these types of meetings, because if this church is going to be a partner with us in ministry for decades to come, I would like to spend at least a little quality time with the pastor and the people. Sometimes when a missionary is only involved in one service, it seems like a "roll in, roll out" situation with no real connection. Not always, but sometimes. You just have to feel the situation out. There are times that it is obvious that the pastor only wants you in for one service. In those situations, you don't want to push yourself on him to stay for an additional service.

I would say that our meetings were broken down into three categories:

• Regular meetings for only one service, either Sunday morning, Sunday evening, or Wednesday evening- about 38 percent of these churches partnered with us for financial support.
• Regular meetings for both morning and evening services on a Sunday- about 50 percent of these churches partnered with us for financial support.
• Missions conferences- about 81 percent of these churches partnered with us for financial support.

2. My preference was to stay in a missions conference from the first service until the final service, without missing a day in between, even if I was not scheduled to do anything. Why? First, it gave us an opportunity to really get to know the pastor and the people. I made good friendships all over the country with people that we met at missions conferences. I never felt that I was wasting my time by staying for the entire missions conference. I loved walking away from a church with the feeling that we had gained true partners in ministry, not just support money. Second, it gave my family a few days in one place where they could get some rest and get into a routine, at least for a few days. This was especially helpful to my wife, since we traveled with two children under the age of three. Third, when we were in a missions conference from beginning to end, we felt that we made some wonderful memories with the pastor, the people, and the other missionaries. We were in many conferences where a real spirit of camaraderie was developed amongst the missionary families. Fourth, it gave us an opportunity to serve and be an encouragement to the pastor and the people. Fifth, spending more time with people naturally endeared them to our hearts, which makes it easier for us to pray for them. Sixth, the more time we had with the people, the better opportunity we had to influence them for the cause of Christ. We were in some conferences where I believe God used us to really help some people take steps in the right direction.

These are just some thoughts.

But Also in Power

Paul, by the moving of the Holy Ghost, penned these words to the Thessalonian believers: "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake. And ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost: so that ye were ensamples to all that believe in Macedonia and Achai."

Incredible. These Thessalonian believers became what every pastor or Sunday school teacher wants his converts to become. Notice the progression: we see that they turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; then they became followers (disciples) of Paul and of the Lord; then they became examples to the churches in Macedonia and in Achai of what a church should be. That is what we call fruit that remains!

But how did this happen? It certainly wasn't an accident. Another question: why don't we see this more often in our own ministries? I believe this passage in 1 Thessalonians 1 gives us some vital keys to having a vibrant, growing ministry.

1. The first key is that the gospel did not go to these Thessalonians in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost (v. 5). This is huge. How many times have I gone to the door while soul winning, said all the right things, had the perfect smile on my face, and yet walked away knowing that nothing was done to further the Gospel in that person's life. Now, I recognize that not everyone is ready to trust Christ as his Saviour. I also recognize that every person has a free will to choose whether or not to trust Christ, even when the Holy Spirit is working in that person's heart. But I have to admit that many times I have brought the Gospel in word only, and not in the power of the Holy Spirit. Little time was spent in prayer in the morning hours, begging and pleading with God for His power.

2. The second key is that these Thessalonians saw what manner of men Paul and Timothy were. (v. 5b) In other words, Paul and Timothy lived godly lives. They lived what they preached. And not only that, but they lived in such a way that the Thessalonians could see them. It is not enough just to live a godly life; we must live our lives in the plain view of other people, so that they can see how the Christian life is to be lived. It is directly related to one of the qualifications of the bishop. Can you guess what it is without reading ahead? Hint: it is found in verse 2 of 1 Timothy 3. The answer is "given to hospitality." This literally means, "fond of guests." I believe that the lives of Paul and Timothy were open books for the Thessalonians to read. I believe if Paul had an office, he would have had an open door policy for new believers to come and and ask questions about the Christian life. Of course, there must be a balance. We must not do the work of the ministry at the expense of our families, and I am not implying that. But we must be willing to tear down unnecessary walls of selfishness so that we can mentor new believers and model the Christian life. Again, Paul said, "...as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." Paul modeled the Christian life so that the Thessalonian Christians could see it.

A Four-Month Stretch

We leave Saturday for a four-month long stretch of traveling without returning to Georgia. Here's where we're going:

Faith Baptist Church- Pikeville, TN- May 1-6 Missions Conference

Gospel Light Baptist Church- Rogers, AR- May 9- All Day

Calvary Baptist Church- Connersville, IN- May 12

Grace Baptist Church- Attica IN- May 23-26 Missions Conference

Bible Baptist Church- Jacksonville, AR- May 29-June 2 Camp Meeting

Landmark Baptist Church- Louisville, KY- June 6-11- Presenting Sunday, and staying for their Vacation Bible School for the rest of the week.

Bible Baptist Church- Norwich, NY- June 13, a.m. service

Bible Baptist Church- Sydney, NY- June 13, p.m. service

Emmanuel Baptist Church- Hooksett, NH- June 16-20 Missions Conference

Sequoia Baptist Church- Visalia, CA- June 21-25- Flying out for their teen camp

First Baptist Church- Caldwell, NJ- June 27- All Day

Community Baptist Church- Groton, CT- July 11-16- Presenting Sunday, and staying for their

Vacation Bible School for the rest of the week.

Community Baptist Church- Pascoag, RI- July 18

First Baptist Church- Monticello, IL- July 25 All Day

Southside Baptist Church- Effingham, IL- August 1- a.m. service

Greenland Baptist Church- Beecher City, IL- August 1- p.m. service

Maranatha Baptist Church- Rantoul, IL- August 8- All Day

Calvary Baptist Church- Urbana, IL- August 11

Calvary Baptist Church- Gays, IL- August 15- a.m. service

El Vista Baptist Church- Peoria, IL- August 15- p.m. service

First Baptist Church- Clinton, IL- August 18

Go home for a breather before the busy fall schedule- August 22

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Ignore

Have you ever hit the "ignore" option on your cell phone when someone was trying to call you?

Webster defines "ignore" in this way: "to refuse to take notice of."

What are some reasons we choose to hit that "ignore" option on our phones? Here are a couple of thoughts:

1. We are simply too busy to take the call. Now, this does not mean that we dislike this person who is trying to call us. In fact, we will probably call this person back at our convenience. But basically what we are saying when we hit that "ignore" option is that this person is simply not important enough to interrupt our activity. Again, we may not necessarily have a dislike for this person who is trying to call; he is simply not important enough to cause us to stop what we are doing and take his call.

We may ignore his call, and five seconds later receive a call from someone who has great influence upon us, who is important enough to cause us to stop what we are doing and hear what he has to say.

2. This is a person we are trying to avoid. We simply do not want this person's input or influence. We have no intention of calling him back, because we do not want to speak with him-period.

I'm sure there are many more reasons to hit "ignore", but I believe these are the top two reasons.

It causes me to think about a verse in the Bible, where Jesus says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in..." This verse was written to a church, a body of believers, not to the unsaved. Jesus was saying, "Hey, remember me? Your Saviour. Your first love. I want to have access to your life. I want to be a welcomed guest in your home. I want to be the number one influence in your life. But I'm an outsider."

Here is reality. Jesus stands and knocks on the door of our hearts. We have a choice: will we open the door, or will we just ignore?

Have you ever hit "ignore" on Jesus? Is it because you are just too busy to respond to Him? There are other influences that you answer, influences that are truly a priority in your life. But when Jesus is trying to get your attention, you are not willing to stop what you are doing to answer. It's not that you dislike Him; you just don't hold Him in high enough esteem to allow Him to interrupt your schedule.

Or is it because you are trying to avoid Him? You know He is going to correct you for some sinful habits. You know He is going to make some changes. You know He is going to make you uncomfortable. You hear Him knocking, but you pretend that you're not home. You ignore Him.

I have ignored Him too many times, but I don't want to repeat that terrible mistake. I hate to be ignored, especially by someone whom I have helped. Christ has helped me more than any person. How could I ignore Him?