contents
summer 2 021
1 President’s Letter 2 United by the gospel: We pray 4 Because you pray
6 One woman’s prayers change Las Vegas and the world
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12 United by the gospel: We give 14 Because you give
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16 Funding a frontier mission 22 United by the gospel: We go 24 Because you go 32 My Turn
On Mission highlights missionaries, chaplains and churches working to reach North America and the world for Christ. On Mission is a publication of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). NAMB is an SBC entity supported by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.® The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering is a registered trademark of Woman’s Missionary Union.® Postmaster: Send address changes to: On Mission, North American Mission Board, 4200 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta, GA 30022. Because of your valued support of the Cooperative Program, we are able to offer you a free copy of On Mission. To subscribe, visit namb.net/OnMission or text MAGAZINE to 888123. On Mission grants permission for any original article to be photocopied for educational or church use. Include the following credit: “Used by permission of On Mission, North American Mission Board, ©2021.” For special requests, email us at help@namb.net or call 800-634-2462.
NAMB President Kevin Ezell
Art Director Shawn Elledge
Executive Vice President Carlos Ferrer
Designer Steve Beaver
Chief Marketing Officer Adam Hollingsworth
Photo Editor Gentry Parks
Senior Creative Director Adam Bain
Section Editor Tony Hudson
Editor K. Faith Morgan Wroten
Contributors Scott Barkley Matt Carson Hayley Catt Kara Fulks Mark Hallock Meredith Lyons Vance Pitman Ben Rollins Natalie Sarrett Grace Thornton
Associate Editors Gabriel Stovall Shardavia Walker
© 2021 ON MISSION
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26 People over projects
On Mission Magazine 4200 North Point Parkway Alpharetta, GA 30022
volume 24 | number 3
presi dent’s letter
The Gospel Unites By Kevin Ezell, NAMB president (@kevezell)
Churches were planted across the Middle East,
O
Europe and into Africa just a few short years after ne of the best things you can do for a child
Jesus rose from the grave. The same Spirit that
is let them participate in team activities.
inspired that movement is still working today.
Working together to accomplish a common goal builds the skills we use at work, in marriage, at church and beyond. Yes, teammates need to agree on certain key principles and rules, but they also must lay aside many personal preferences and their own self-promotion for the good of the team and, ultimately, for the purpose of accomplishing something greater. As Southern Baptists, only the gospel of Jesus Christ can unite us. There may be other things we can do to bring temporary respite or to lower the temperature of our disagreements, but true unity can only be found in the hope of the gospel. In our turbulent times, I am reminded of the powerful move of the Holy Spirit that swept through
The gospel unites us as believers. By the power
the early church. Jews, Gentiles, slaves, free, men
of the gospel, we are transformed—sanctified—
and women were all able to cherish their new identify
into witnesses who bring the hope and healing
in Christ and focus on the Great Commission
of Jesus Christ directly into the middle of sin and
(Galatians 3:27-28).
brokenness.
The early church had its own issues, of course, but
My hope and prayer is that we, as Southern
through the power of Christ and the gospel, they
Baptists, would rally around and direct all of our
witnessed an extraordinary explosion of missionary
focus to the gospel of Christ. If we devote our
and church planting work in Judea, Samaria and to
energy to that mission, what might we see
the ends of the earth.
accomplished in our time?
Learn more about how Southern Baptists are working together to reach North America with the gospel at TheGospelUnites.com.
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united by the gospel: In the past two years, tens of thousands of Southern Baptists all over North America have committed to praying for and sharing the gospel with one person. See how your prayers are covering the map. 2
Learn more at WhosYourOne.com
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because you Prayers don’t just fuel the mission, prayer is the mission. When faithful, everyday believers lift up their own mission field and missionaries on the field across the continent, God moves, and lives are changed. Wherever we are, we are on mission when we go before the throne in prayer. Catherine has been praying for and sharing the gospel with her one, Mrs. B., for five years. Over the years, she has moved from brushing off the gospel conversations to considering the possibility that Jesus is real to accepting the gift of a Bible. Catherine is still praying and sharing.
“I wrote my one’s name on this board at the NAMB 4
booth at the SBC Annual Meeting in 2019. I began to pray daily, and today he surrendered his life to Christ. Rejoice with me! Keep the faith. Never stop sharing.” Shaun Pillay, minister of evangelism and discipleship at Olive Baptist Church, Pensacola, Florida
pray A Girls in Action group at First Baptist Church
“Ever since we were included on the
Columbia, Mississippi, stuffed plastic Easter eggs
NAMB missionary prayer calendar we
with prayer requests from missionaries and hid
have received dozens of cards, texts and
them throughout the church building. When church
emails from all over the country. It is com-
members found an egg, they were reminded to
forting to know that an army of brothers
pray for their North American missionaries.
and sisters in Christ supports us in prayer. Sophie’s card from Trinity Baptist Fulton is the cutest we have received so far.” Rafael Valter, Atlanta church planting missionary
Your prayers count • In 2020, 27,500 prayer calendars were distributed to faithful Southern Baptists all over the nation who pray for a different North American missionary family every week of the year. • In partnership with WMU, NAMB distributed 2.6 million prayer guides to churches for the 2021 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® Week of Prayer for North American Missions. • Every week, more than 14,000 prayer warriors receive PrayerConnect, an email full of prayer requests from North American missionaries and chaplains. • More than 2.4 million Who’s Your One prayer guides and bookmarks have been distributed to churches all over the nation.
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because you pray
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One Woman’s Prayers Change Las Vegas and the World
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because you pray
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By Vance Pitman
I
n September 1999, I was sitting in my living room, just spending time with Jesus. I was reading in the gospel of Luke. At the end of Luke 4, Jesus makes this statement:
“I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also for I was sent for this purpose.” When I read it that morning, the Holy Spirit reached up and grabbed me. I went and got my
city with the gospel. Until that point, we had never
wife and we knelt down in our living room there in
even visited Las Vegas.
Memphis, and we simply said, “Lord, yes, wherever, whenever, whatever the answer is yes.”
My first week on the field in Las Vegas, my telephone rang. On the other end of the line was a
Two weeks went by, and Johnny Hunt, who was
lady from the Philippines named Letty Peralta.
the senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of
Letty said, “Pastor, can I tell you a story?” And I
Woodstock, spoke at a men’s conference hosted
said, “Letty, I don’t know anybody in Las Vegas.
by our church. After the service we were walking
You can tell me any story you want to tell me.”
out, and I’ll never forget it. Johnny looked at me
Little did I know that what she was about to tell me
and said, “Vance, First Baptist Woodstock is going
was going to forever change my life. 9
to be starting a church in the fastest-growing city in North America, Las Vegas, Nevada. And Vance,
Letty said, “Pastor, I’m originally from the Philip-
God’s put it on my heart that you’re to be the
pines, but I moved to Hong Kong to make money
pastor of that church.”
for my family, who was very poor.” She said, “While living in Hong Kong, I met an American family, and
And as soon as he said it, I knew God had called us
moved in with them and became the caretaker of
to Las Vegas. After months of prayer and preparation
their home. Over time, however, I became much
on my and my wife’s part, we began the process of
more than that. I became a part of their family, and
relocating our family to Las Vegas to engage the
they became my family—to the point that when
because you pray
they relocated from Hong Kong back to the United
We were simply getting in on something that God
States of America, I moved with them as a part of
was doing in Las Vegas long before we ever got
their family.”
here, and that He’s going to continue to do long after we’re gone.
“We relocated and settled in a suburb north of Atlanta called Woodstock, Georgia. While there,
For us, this birthed a rally cry that went like this:
I visited a church called the First Baptist Church
“We don’t pray before we work; prayer is the work
of Woodstock, Georgia.” She continued, “I heard
and then God works.” And sure enough, we began
a preacher named Johnny Hunt share the gospel
to pray. We mobilized mission teams to Las Vegas.
and preach the kingdom of God and the Great
We prayer walked 50,000 households on the south
Commission like I’d never heard it before. But then
end of Las Vegas. We prayed through the phone
my family got relocated from Woodstock, Georgia,
book, over every name, and as we did so, we asked
to Las Vegas, Nevada, so we moved again.”
for two things. We prayed, “God, would you open their hearts to the gospel?” And secondly, “Would
Letty said, “Pastor, I’ve been in Las Vegas for a year
you raise up laborers for the harvest?”
and a half, and I’ve prayed every day that the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia, would start
It’s amazing to witness the number of churches
a church in Las Vegas, Nevada.” There was a pause
that have been planted out of our church, the
as she asked me, “Pastor, would you please tell me
people that have been sent out of our fellowship,
who sent you here?”
the nations that we’re working in all over the world – just all of what has happened, and the Godly
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Ten days earlier, my family had loaded everything
magnitude of it. The reality is that one lady from
we owned into a Dodge Caravan in the parking lot
the Philippines asked God to do it, and for two
of the First Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia,
decades since then, we have been riding a wave
and driven thousands of miles across the country.
of the favor of God’s activity in this city. All glory to
At the time that we embarked on this journey,
Him.
none of us even knew Letty Peralta existed. But Letty showed us early on in our church planting
Vance Pitman is the founding pastor of Hope
process that we didn’t come to start something.
Church in Las Vegas.
Pray for your church planting missionaries across North America at PrayForPlanters.com.
I’ve been in Las Vegas for a year and a half, and I’ve prayed every day that the first Baptist Church of Woodstock, Georgia would start a church in Las Vegas, Nevada.”
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united by the gospel:
319 128 148 102
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Every dollar given to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering ® supports thousands of Southern Baptist missionaries across the U.S. and Canada. See how many congregations gave to the offering in each state. Learn more at AnnieArmstrong.com
191 92 2,322
443
123
46
29 49
117
28
128
56
387 292
96
307
108
80
1,002
441
719
375 341
1,764
335
230
1,946
2,539
4,371
3,148 1,532
2,083 2,129
7,757
1,975
MA 185 CT 71 RI 18 NJ 158 DE 39 MD 564
3,252
3,542
1,618
2,849 WA 120
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Number of congregations that gave to AAEO per state.
108
because you Each gift, whether a few dollars earned by a child’s extra chores or thousands of dollars from a professional, is vital to supporting the work of missionaries in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and beyond.
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Send Relief’s ministry center on a Lakota reserva-
Pastor Todd Stiles didn’t think anything of it when
tion in South Dakota needed dental equipment,
he put on a Send Relief hat to run errands. When a
chairs, x-ray machines and surgical instruments for
store employee asked what Send Relief was, Todd
a three-room dental practice. After retiring from
explained Send Relief’s mission to meet needs and
decades working in dentistry, Greg Stroud was left
change lives with the hope of the gospel. As Todd
with an office full of equipment. His donation was
left the store, the employee chased him down with
just enough to outfit the new clinic in an area that
a check, asking Todd to make sure the money was
is severely underserved in dental care.
sent to Send Relief.
give Few things in ministry can bless a pastor’s heart like this. This young lady worked chores and gave all she had— $54—to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering so that our North American missionaries can go! Larry Robertson, Pastor of WMU Executive Director Sandy Wisdom-Martin led WMU volunteers in making more than 7,000
Hilldale Baptist Church in Clarksville, Tennessee
personal phone calls to churches encouraging them to support North American missions through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.
Your gifts count • During the pandemic, churches gave $49.5 million to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering. • More than 24,000 SBC churches give to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering each year to support North American missionaries and evangelism efforts. • $44 million in Cooperative Program dollars given by SBC churches funded 35% of NAMB’s budget last year. • $2.4 million was given to Send Relief by churches and individuals in 2020, fueling compassion ministry around the globe.
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because you give
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Funding a Frontier Mission 17
because you give
By Scott Barkley
I
“They were spiritually hungry,” he said. “Most of them are from local ranches and are seeking a place to worship.”
t’s morning in central Wyoming, and Tyler Martin is trying to keep his nose hairs from
From its early days meeting in Sims’ basement,
freezing. The Cowboy State’s winters are
WindCity set apart 50 percent of its offerings—
notoriously brutal, and not so much for
about $500 per month—for church planting. That
the cold and snow, but the winds that cut across
continued as the congregation grew and changed
your face and can literally take your breath away.
locations to a recreation center, then a Boys and
They aren’t particularly bad this day, even though
Girls Club, then a Holiday Inn, and then the out-
the mercury has settled at 1 degree, minus 11 with
doorsman store at Casper’s Eastridge Mall, where
the wind chill. Temperatures have remained low
metal tubs served as baptistries.
enough that what’s left of the 500-lb. elk Martin harvested two weeks ago has remained in the bed
“Church planting has been pretty intentional in
of his ‘03 Ford F150 with little fanfare.
our DNA from the start,” Sims said. “We want to be useful to the kingdom and see ministry leaders
“It hasn’t even started to stink,” Martin said,
discovered, developed and deployed.”
laughing. Martin has had to learn to work within his surroundings since arriving two years ago from
Quin Williams, executive director for the Wyoming
Fort Worth, Texas, to plant Outfitter Church in Bar
Southern Baptist Missions Network, was pastor of
Nunn, a town of 3,000 just north of Casper. If it’s
Boyd Avenue Baptist Church in Casper when Sims
not the cold, it’s working in an environment with a
arrived to plant WindCity. Boyd Avenue served as
frontier mindset and very little biblical literacy. Like
the Sending Church.
other pastors, he’s tasked with taking a timeless 18
message and communicating it in timely ways.
“It is a part of who they are as a church,” Williams said of WindCity’s emphasis to start other
WindCity Church in Casper was planted only seven
churches. “This would be true if the church plants
years ago, and the church has since planted six
were in close proximity or at a distance. When
more—including Outfitter—throughout the state
Chris goes through a community, any community,
under the leadership of North American Mission
he sees the opportunities to plant a church or
Board catalyst Chris Sims. On February 3, Sims met
churches there. This is just the way he is wired.”
with two dozen people at a community center in the town of Shoshoni for the launch meeting of a
Last fall, for the first time in history, Wyoming Baptists
seventh church plant, Wind River Church.
added a line item to the budget for Wyoming
Church planting has been pretty intentional in our DNA from the start. We want to be useful to the kingdom and see ministry leaders discovered, developed and deployed.”
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because you give
20
We have always depended on our partnership with NAMB to be the primary source of funds for church planting. While this is still true, we are embracing our responsibility in the church planting process.”
dollars to be used toward church planting in their
establishing new churches throughout the state.
state in addition to the money provided by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) from the
“The distance of our communities is often measured
Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.
by hours of travel rather than miles,” Whalen said. “And while mainline denominations once
“We have always depended on our partnership
held some influence in many of those areas, that
with NAMB to be the primary source of funds
influence has dwindled.”
for church planting. While this is still true, we are embracing our responsibility in the church plant-
Whalen counts more than 60 communities with no
ing process,” Williams said. “Historically, we have
church at all. Approximately 55 have no Southern
invested dollars in church plants on an as-needed
Baptist Church.
basis. In 2021, that is changing. We see the partnership we have with WindCity as a significant
“We are actively seeking to plant Wyoming Southern
part of what we will be doing in Wyoming church
Baptist churches in these communities because
planting.”
we are confident that these churches will faithfully share the gospel and push back darkness as lives
In addition, the state convention is sponsoring the
are transformed,” Whalen said.
Wyoming Contextualized Leadership Development/ Advance program. Through it, a partnership with
“Planting is still an important part of our WSBMN
Cooperative Program-funded Gateway Seminary
strategy,” Whalen said. “Nearly 25 percent of
provides seminary-level training to students in
our Wyoming Southern Baptist Mission Network
Wyoming as well as other states. Many of those
churches are, or were, new church plants within the
students, Williams noted, are now pastors and/or
last 15 years. Many of those plants have become
church planters across Wyoming, including some
strong, Multiplying Churches, actively planting
who serve through WindCity.
even more new churches.”
Don Whalen, church planting strategist for
This article was adapted from a story first published
Wyoming Baptists, cited the unique challenges of
on Baptist Press and is used with permission.
Give to support North American missionaries at AnnieArmstrong.com.
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united by the gospel:
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Supported by Southern Baptist churches across the continent, church planting missionaries have been reaching communities all over North America with the hope of the gospel. See how many churches have been planted since 2010. Learn more at SendNetwork.com
Church plants in 2010 Church plants in 2020
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because you It’s the child crossing the street to share the gospel with a neighbor, the church planting team moving across the continent to share the gospel with an unreached community, the chaplain sharing the gospel at a hospital bedside. It’s all of us going on mission to the lost. Students from Georgia Southern spent their spring break serving with church planting missionaries in Miami. They helped with food distribution, clean-up projects and passing out invitations for Easter services at local church plants.
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“I’ve heard from Send Network planters all over about Easter. Back yards to baseball stadiums, multiple services for distancing to 1,800 outdoors…here’s the theme: missionaries are willing to do whatever it takes to proclaim Jesus to their context. I’m proud!” Noah Oldham, Senior Director of Deployment for Send Network
go More than 30 volunteers and Cincinnati missionaries distributed over 30,000 pounds of food to their local community.
“Quarantined and helping our daughter with her 3 Circles Valentines. If you love someone, you share the gospel with them.” Cissy Smith, church planting missionary
Your service counts • Nearly 200,000 volunteer hours were logged in crisis response efforts in 2020. • Church planting missionaries have planted more than 8,000 new churches in the last decade. • 10,162 volunteers served with Send Relief in 2020. • Southern Baptist chaplains baptized more than 3,000 people in 2019. • Send Relief reported 804,000 gospel presentations and 23,000 professions of faith last year.
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because you go
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People Over Projects
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because you go
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One of the reasons we love working with Gospel City is they’re intentional about focusing on the people they’re serving, not just the project.” By Natalie Sarrett
W
ith travel restrictions and pandemic safety measures in place all over the world, many churches have had
to delay or cancel mission trips and compassion projects.
But Gospel City Church found a way to still bring hope and help to the people of Puerto Rico. After discovering they needed a negative COVID test within 72 hours of their departure from Indiana, the men’s ministry team quickly established their own makeshift, drive-through lab. A church member with medical training volunteered to conduct the testing, and another member paid the lab fees for the whole team to ensure they could all travel safely. Upon arrival in Puerto Rico, the team was shown to their socially distanced, dorm-style quarters and were asked to wear masks both inside and outside as they worked on construction sites, rebuilding homes decimated in Hurricane Maria and subsequent earthquakes. Send Relief’s ministry coordinator in Puerto Rico, Itamar Elizalde, was incredibly impressed with the team’s willingness to take whatever measures necessary in order to serve. “One of the reasons we love working with Gospel City is they’re intentional about focusing on the
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because you go
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With 2020 being the year it was, it can be tempting to take a backseat in ministry and just try to get through the year unscathed. But the gospel still needs to be proclaimed amid COVID-19.”
people they’re serving, not just the projects,” she
end of the day, it’s not about repairing the roof so
said. “We saw them gracefully abide by local rules
much as it’s about caring for the people who will
and ‘become all things to all men’ in their adjust-
live under it.”
ments to COVID-19 guidelines in Puerto Rico. I can’t imagine it was easy working on roofs in the
Though this was Gospel City’s third trip helping
hot Caribbean sun while wearing masks, but they
rebuild homes in Puerto Rico, it was the first trip
did what they had to do in order to respect the
conducted with our local partners since the pan-
homeowners.”
demic. In remaining communicative and patient, volunteers were able to construct a Sunday school
One of the women whose roof was being repaired
classroom, repair the church’s sound system and
shared that she was surprised and comforted by
build two homes for disaster survivors who had
the fact that this group of strangers respected her
lost everything.
enough to be consistently uncomfortable in the name of love. Similarly, the accompanying construc-
“With 2020 being the year it was, it can be tempting
tion crew said that working with the volunteers was
to take a backseat in ministry and just try to get
a joy because there was such obvious fellowship
through the year unscathed,” said Holder. “But the
and comradery among the men that it made them
gospel still needs to be proclaimed amid COVID-19.
look forward to doing projects with them. The
The beauty of being a follower of Christ is that we
local pastor partnering with Gospel City is already
get to be a part of reconciling the anxieties of the
looking forward to planning their next trip.
world by respectfully and responsibly still helping the vulnerable people around us. There is a way to
“We teach our volunteers that flexibility is key and
be good, safe citizens while also seeing the kingdom
paramount to missions work,” said missions pastor
of God established and the Good News shared.” 31
Tyler Holder. “We had already prepared our team ahead of time in saying that we weren’t going to
As one Gospel City volunteer endorsed, “I always
do anything to risk our relationship with the people
feel closer to God after spending a week with Send
we’re serving. We want to be good neighbors and
Relief!”
honor the families we’ve committed to help. At the
Learn more about Send Relief mission trips at SendRelief.org.
my turn
Thank you, church By Mark Hallock
thin. The local church is beautiful. It is truly beautiful.
O
And God has used the local church in magnificent ne of the things that pops up continually in
ways for His glory.
my mind these days is the kindness, godli-
ness and faithfulness so many Christ-followers have
While this past year has shown us some of the worst
shown their local church over the past months. To
that our sin-full, rigid, self-absorbed me-focused
be honest, the thought of it brings me tears of joy.
hearts can bring, we also have been witness to the God-honoring beauty that is found when the body of Christ displays Jesus-like, selfless, others-focused joy-filled love, care and patience. Jesus spoke the truth when he said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” The world has seen countless examples of what true Christian discipleship looks like as this supernatural love has been put on display in a million different ways, both large and small. Sure, the critical and cynical among us might quickly jump in and point out all the ways the Church has failed, all the ways Christians have fallen short. And they would be right. I agree with them fully. The Church is not perfect, and every Christian falls short. I know this all too well each time I look in the mirror.
And I’m not only thinking about the faithful men
But this is why we as disciples of Christ rejoice in the
and women, boys and girls in my own local church,
gospel of grace. This is why we trust in our Savior,
but faithful men and women, boys and girls in local
Jesus, who is not like us:
churches all over our city, nation and world. He is the perfect One. He is our salvation. He is our
32
I love the local church. I love it. I believe in it. I
hope. He is our rest. He is our joy. He is our assur-
believe the local church is God’s primary tool to
ance. He is our Deliverer. He is our King. And He has
form and mature followers of Christ, empowering
saved an imperfect people for Himself, conforming
them to penetrate a dark world with the hope and
them to His image and using them for His good
light of the gospel. There is nothing like it this side
purposes in the world. These are His people. This is
of heaven. The local church is not a burden; it is a
His body. This is His Church.
blessing. It is not to be beat up on, but nurtured and cared for. The local church is to be cherished and
Mark Hallock is Lead Pastor of The Calvary family
committed to, through good and bad, thick and
of Churches in Englewood, Colorado.
A N E S T I M AT E D
75% of people in
North America
have no relationship with Jesus.
NOW WHAT? 33
Get tools to train your church in evangelism at namb.net/evangelism.
volume 24 | number 3
