It was a highlight of the year!  We attended the Commissioning Service for International Mission Board missionaries on Friday. The ceremony was held in Oklahoma City at Southern Hills Baptist Church.  As each person shared his or her journey and preparation and calling to missions across the world, there was a true sense of awe.  God truly calls out his best to serve Him!

Two of the missionaries being commissioned were Joel and Mary Ellen Ragains from Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany Indiana. They serve at the Kiev Theological Seminary in Ukraine, preparing Ukrainian church planters to share Christ with their country.  Their work as ISC (shorter-term) missionaries has been exemplary. They just graduated their first seminary class of young men who went through the entire church planting degree and graduated. Each has begun at least one church in the Kiev vicinity.

Steve and I have been to Kiev to assist them on a couple of trips, and I’ve got to say these are some of the best missionaries alive!  Please check out their website and pray for Joel and Mary Ellen as they commit to vocational missions and continue the work that God has started through them in Kiev. 

And, as God tends to orchestrate, there was another bonus! When my husband, Steve, was pastor of First Baptist Church of Humble (1988-ish?), we loved serving there with Randy and Susan Lind. Randy was the minister of music there, and–you guessed it!–he’s recently been called from Humble to Southern Hills Baptist in OKC.  We loved seeing our dear friends, and hearing their choir and orchestra, and visiting in their home.  Double blessing!

One hundred and five teenagers from across the nation are already in Indianapolis, working hard on housing projects in needy areas with our North American Mission Board’s “World Changers.” Sharing hope. We had dinner with their leaders last night.

There are TV ads and newspaper ads titled: “WE ARE SOUTHERN BAPTISTS. SHARING HOPE EVERY SINGLE DAY.”

And that’s just the beginning. 

Hundreds of Christians from across our nation will come in this weekend, working on thirty exciting CrossOver evangelistic events in Indy. Sharing hope. Sharing Jesus.

And THAT’s just the prelude.

Thousands will arrive at the Indianapolis Convention Center for Sunday and Monday’s Pastors’ Conference, WMU Missions Celebration, and a myriad of other wonderful pre-convention events. Every event is about sharing hope. Sharing Jesus.

And after all that,

the Southern Baptist Convention begins, with somewhere between ten and twenty thousand attenders. (I’ll let you know the final number next week!) Tuesday and Wednesday are packed full of reports and praise and presentations and special events–all telling the story of what’s going on across our nation and world with the SBC denomination.  42,000 churches in the U.S. with 16 million church members! In our state (Indiana), there are 430 Southern Baptist churches and missions. Every one of those churches are all about sharing hope. Sharing Jesus.

The amazing thing is that each church is totally autonomous, but voluntarily join together for our Cooperative Program, sending 5,000+ home missionaries and 5000+ foreign missionaries in 153 countries. There’s much more (check out  www.sbc.net, www.wearesouthernbaptists.org, www.namb.net, www.imb.org). Southern Baptists share a commitment to biblical truth and a commitment to sharing the hope of Jesus Christ with everyone everywhere. (Did you enjoy that Southern Baptist 101 lesson?)

Please pray for those leading our SBC convention. Pray for the hundreds of Indiana Baptists who are volunteering behind the scenes to make the details happen. Pray that each person coming from around the country will be encouraged and inspired as a Christian, and will take opportunities as they visit to share Jesus with the masses of people around downtown Indy who don’t know Him. 

That’s what it’s all about!  Sharing hope. Sharing Jesus.

P.S. Even if you’re not a Baptist, you’re welcome to come and enjoy the convention. The schedule is on the sbc.net website, and there’s no cost.  You’ll enjoy the crowds. You’ll learn a lot. And, if you don’t have a personal relationship with God, you’ll learn how to do that! See you there?

At Indiana’s East Central Association women’s retreat this weekend, I get to lead a breakout session about “How to Plan a Mission Trip.”  I love giving fun little tips, and I’m looking forward to the class.

However, for basic planning, there’s no reason to reinvent the wheel! I found these fabulous instruction guides, already prepared and ready for you to go. There is even a downloadable book about planning a mission trip. 

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