The Special Missions Committee met at Perryville, MO last month and the meeting provided an opportunity for great discussion on current mission works and plans for the future of church planting in Missouri. Below is a synopsis of a few of the actions taken at this meeting:
1. An offering of $1000 was approved to be given to the Refuge Work Fund in Nixa, MO. All agreed that John and Alisha Herring are doing a great job in establishing a new work and our state missions program can and should provide financial assistance.
2. Our Mission Symposium emphasis offering is designated to the Missouri Baptist Paper. Our state paper is one of the finest within the BMAA and is in need of financial support if it is to maintain its current format. We hope every church will consider giving a special emphasis offering in May, 2014.
3. Our Missions Director will host a 2-Day Prayer Retreat with both the missions committees of both the BMA of MO and the Meramec Association. During the retreat we will consider and discuss the practical step-by-step plans for church planting found in the book “Missional Journey” by Robert Logan and Dave DeVries. Both of these authors are recognized experts in the field of church planting and now they have provided a wonderful guide on how to make disciples, that will in turn, plant churches. From this retreat, we will put together further action plans that move toward more churches being planted. Pray with us that God will provide wisdom and courage during the retreat: January 27-28, 2014.
I am very grateful to the pastors who serve on our missions committees. They tirelessly give of their time and energy to seek out new mission fields, assess worthy missionary candidates, and provide me with wise counsel. When I think about the past few years, I wish that more churches were planted. Yet I know that these men have followed God’s leading and have done the very best job with the opportunities that God has presented.
