Jim Goodroe, right, missions director for Spartanburg County Network, chats with Donna and Robert Burris, IMB strategy coordinators in Taiwan for more than 20 years, who now live in Richmond, Va. She does work in global research for IMB.“It was even better than we had anticipated,” beamed Jim Goodroe, director of missions for the Spartanburg County Baptist Network after 70 of its 90 churches had participated in the network’s first “On Mission Celebration” March 17-20.
“The consistent feedback from our church members and the missionaries reflects a mountaintop experience for virtually all who participated,” he said, noting that the missionaries – representing the North American and International mission boards – “thanked us for our prayers and gifts, which facilitate their work.”
The missionaries, who spoke at morning and evening worship services on March 19 also pointed out “ways we can help them, such as short-term volunteers,” Goodroe said. The visiting missionaries also made it clear, according to Goodroe, that “all Christians are to be missionaries, starting where we live.”
At a kick-off banquet on March 17 at First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, Goodroe called the Friday-through-Monday event a “once-in-a-decade opportunity” and said that missions is “the most exciting thing in the world.”
Scott Rourk, right, a church planter for the North American Mission Board, established the 411 NYC ministry in New York’s Times Square section. Learning more about his work are Kathy and Rob Green.The banquet was one of five joint events that drew 1,350 people, “so probably,” said Goodroe, “a thousand different people viewed the missions displays, heard testimonies and talked with a missionary during a meal.” In addition to the banquet, the celebration also featured a breakfast for boys and men, a luncheon for women and girls, and a youth event on March 18, with a concluding senior adult luncheon on March 20.
One of the things that church members taking part in the celebration learned, according to Goodroe, is that “missionaries are ‘regular people,’ just like we are.”
Church leaders were introduced to the visiting missionaries and several state Baptist convention leaders at the banquet launching the celebration, which had been in the planning stages for a year.
Marshall Fagg, who heads up the state convention’s evangelism and missions team, challenged the church leaders to “refocus on what has made us strong and successful” as Southern Baptists, and “that is the Cooperative Program.”
Debbie McDowell, who coordinates the South Carolina Baptist Convention’s partnership missions, urged church members to “live out” the Acts 1:8 scripture calling for believers to be witnesses for Christ.