A 13-member team sponsored by First Baptist Church, Dillon, returned in mid-January from the church’s second mission trip to the bush region of Burkina-Faso, where they worked among an unreached people group known as the Dagara.
Chris Williams and North Greenville University student Preston Moore help villagers transport bricks.Initially, Jamie Arnette, then serving as minister of education at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, Dillon, requested that the International Mission Board send his teams somewhere Southern Baptist missions volunteers were not already going, and they were linked with former IMB missionary Lynn Kennedy, who currently serves with Shattering Darkness Inc. Seven from Dillon served on that first team in 2000, recalled Arnette, who now is associate pastor of First Baptist Church, Dillon.
“God touched our hearts, and we’ve returned every year since,” said Arnette, who has made four of five mission trips to Burkina-Faso. Nearly 50 team members have participated since the inception of the mission trips, in spite of the primitive living conditions encountered by teams, who sleep in tents with no running water or electricity.
Jean Norris and Terri Holiday perform a simple eye exam for a local tribesman.Trips typically include some medical personnel, and on this recent trip, the team distributed approximately 1,500 sunglasses and 500 reading glasses. They also helped construct a 60-by-30-foot, mud brick church building, where about 65 people worshipped the following Sunday.
Team members also built a small parsonage, led a children’s church, sharpened tools for the natives, rebuilt a truck’s engine starter and sponsored a soccer clinic. The “Jesus” film was shown each night in outlying villages. On one night, about 150 people attended the evangelistic movie and 30 to 40 decisions were made, Arnette reported. “When the movie got to the scene where Jesus rises from the dead, they all applauded,” he recalled.
Arnette told of one young man the team encountered who was wearing a fetish – a rope tied around his ankle – which he believed possessed a superstitious power to ward off evil spirits. Arnette confronted the man, who had not spoken to anyone in four months, urging him to accept Jesus as the only way to salvation. The man later took the fetish off, built a fire and burned it. “The next Sunday, he came to the church service and responded to the invitation,” Arnette noted. “While he still has much to overcome, I felt we had made some real progress.”
Keith McKenzie and Mickey Fore sharpen tools for villagers.He attributes the mission team’s successes to members of Dillon First Baptist and others who covenanted to pray 30 days before and 30 days following their trip. “Our members have become involved and engaged in missions. We’ve seen them grow spiritually by leaps and bounds,” Arnette said. “We entrusted the people with a ministry, and now they are excited about it, and we’re seeing it make a radical difference in their lives.”
Serving with Arnette on the team were three North Greenville students – Elise Ivey of Fayetteville, Ga.; Preston Moore and Steven Clark Moore, both members of Dillon First – and five others from Dillon: Terri Holiday, Jean Norris, Mickey Fore, Keith McKenzie and Craig Townsend. The team also included Mary Hudson, a doctor from Florida; Paulette Holt, a nurse from Texas; and Chris Williams and Joseph Hedgepeth of First Baptist Church, St. Paul, N.C.
Observing that there are more than 770,000 Dagara, with only three other Baptist churches in the region, Arnette noted that Dillon First Baptist is a strong supporter of Southern Baptist missions work, giving $77,000 this past year through the Cooperative Program and about $24,000 to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, and hopes its members will “continue making an investment in the Dagara people group until they are reached.”
Team members, from left, back row: Joseph Hedgepeth, Preston Moore, Steven Clark Moore, Keith McKenzie; front row: Chris Williams, Craig Townsend, Mary Hudson, Elise Ivey, Jean Norris, Mickey Fore, Terri Holiday, Paulette Holt and Jamie Arnette. This photo was made during a layover in Casablanca.More images:
