One new Southern Baptist missionary knows the fears and anxiety of being in a foreign land, unable to speak the language.
“My discomfort and feeling of helplessness gave me a taste of God’s power and glory in my weakness,” said the man from Tampa, Fla., who remembers his first volunteer mission trip to Bulgaria in 2001. He and his wife overcame their fears and are headed to an undisclosed location in the Pacific Rim region.
A procession of international flags began the appointment service in Cape Girardeau, Mo., held in conjunction with the Missouri Baptist Convention annual meeting.They were two of 67 new Southern Baptist missionaries appointed Oct. 31 in Cape Girardeau, Mo. The event brings the total number of IMB missionaries to nearly 5,200. It was part of Missouri Baptist Convention’s annual meeting and the International Mission Board’s trustee meeting held in St. Louis.
SBC president Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors, spoke briefly during the service. He challenged the missionaries to “remember who you are.” It’s a challenge Page said he often gave his children as they left the house.
“You’re a Jesus missionary first and foremost,” he told the crowd. “Remember who you belong to, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.”
One new missionary, who grew up in Alaska, recalled how the Lord revealed her missionary destiny at the age of 16 while reading in a tent in Madagascar during a summer-long mission trip.
“The Lord used a missionary biography to call me to join him in proclaiming the hope of Christ to the nations,” said the 27-year-old woman who will be going to the Ukraine. “Now after 11 years of a lot of waiting, I’m ready and thrilled to join him in what he is doing.”
Another woman remembered the voices of Ukrainian women, a Burmese girl confessing Christ and a Muslim woman questioning her faith – memories from past volunteer mission trips helped fuel her decision to become a missionary in Southeast Asia.
“God has called and confirmed my work in international missions,” she said. “I can’t wait to hear the sound of women in Southeast Asia proclaiming Jesus Christ as Lord.”
One of the missionaries shared how her life was influenced by the sudden death years ago of a young missionary who was a wife and mother of four.
“I cried out to God and questioned him, ‘Why did this happen?'” she said as her voice cracked. “His reply came in a still, small voice, ‘What keeps you from going?’ I knew then it was time for us to go wherever he wanted us to go, even to the ends of the earth.”
Despite all the successes of missions work around the globe, there is “another side to that picture,” IMB president Jerry Rankin said. Last year’s Annual Statistical Report showed “unprecedented church growth” around the globe. He cited nearly a half-million new believers baptized and more than 100 new people groups engaged with the gospel.
Still, there is much work to be done.
“There are 1.7 billion people who have yet to hear the name of Jesus,” Rankin said. “Thousands of unreached groups where there is yet to be a church, where there is yet to be a missionary assigned, where there is yet to be believers worshipping and giving glory to our Lord.”