Encourager Church Spotlight: Oakmont Baptist Jimmie Hughes Director of Missions, Oakmont Baptist, Greenville
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Greenville
akmont Baptist Church has a history of missional engagement. Members were led to Ukraine for Oakmont’s first international medical mission trip in September 1996. Oakmonters have traveled to many states and several countries to be God’s hands and feet and to live out the church’s core value of: being missional by using our church resources as a hub of ministry in our community and world to be the loving presence of Christ in meeting the physical, relational and spiritual needs of people. Jimmie Hughes, Jenny Jenkins, Ellen Sechrest and Pam Strickland celebrate as Oakmont becomes In 2008, Oakmont members an Encourager Church for Jenny’s ministry in Haiti. Eric and Julie Maas were called to serve as CBF Field Personnel in care and helping to set up mobile medical clinics, supportBelize. For 10 years, Oakmont served as their Encourager ing the local schools, and hosting construction teams to Church, supported them financially and sent 17 mission build homes, a mission team house and storage shed, and teams to help until the Maas family returned to the States new construction on a medical clinic soon. in 2018. During this period, Oakmont’s missional engageWe decided to become an “official” Encourager Church ment exploded largely due to our Encourager Church this year when Jenny visited us on March 26-27. Members relationship with the Maas family. Oakmonters rediscovof our Mission Team welcomed her Saturday evening at ered the importance of our vision statement, “Connecting a local barbeque restaurant, since she enjoys soaking up Lives with Christ as the Center Through Reaching, Growing local flavor when visiting churches. and Going,” in a personal way. We were honored that Rev. Ellen Sechrest, manager of Oakmont’s Mission Team sought another missionary Global Missions Engagement for the Cooperative Baptist to support and encourage through missional engageFellowship, was able to join us and present Oakmont with ment, prayer, materials and financial resources. The Team a plaque signifying our Encourager Church relationship prayed for a ministry that needed the types of gifts and with Jenny. talents that Oakmonters possessed. Oakmont had many We have a bulletin board in a high-traffic area to members who were experienced in serving on medical remind Oakmonters about Jenny’s work and Bible bookteams, educational and backyard-Bible School-type teams marks with specific prayer requests from her. We plan to with children, and construction teams. have her prayer requests and updates from her work in our Jenny Jenkins in Grand Goave, Haiti fit the bill perfectly! weekly newsletter, so that we can pray for her regularly. And, as a bonus, she has ties to eastern North Carolina, When it is safe to do so, we plan to send teams to assist having lived in Elizabeth City for 20 years. Oakmont has with her medical, educational and construction needs. been supporting Jenny financially and by sending care We are grateful for this opportunity to support Jenny packages, and emails for over two years. as she serves as God’s hands and feet in Haiti and to partJenny has served in Haiti for 12 years providing medical ner with her in service. 12 | The Gathering
