Celebrate Our Missionaries

How blessed Baptists are to be known as a missionary people. I love missionaries, they are my heroes; not because they are superhuman or different from me but because they sacrifice much every day for the cause of Christ.

What do you think of when you think of missionaries? Do you think of someone eating grubs in the Amazon Jungle? Sleeping in hammocks in Honduras? Dressed in tribal garb in South Africa? Hiding in secret locations in China?

When I think of missionaries, I think of people like Glenn and Pam Creech, Southern Baptists serving in Seoul, Korea; Rachel Brunclikova, a Cooperative Baptist serving in the Czech Republic; Deleris Carrion Rosa, an American Baptist serving in Haiti; and Macford Kalasa Chipuliko, National Baptist serving in Chilembwe, Malawi.

When I think of their lives, I think of sacrificing the comforts of friends and family and moving to a location far away. I think of trying to cross an awkward cultural barrier. I think of social exclusion, persecution and in some nations, possible death.

A missionary is one who sacrifices comforts for the sake of the Kingdom. Very few of us are familiar with that kind of sacrifice. We like to pick up our food at a drive-thru, take hot showers or soak in a hot bath, when we want it...we get it, if we don't like our church/family/job/friend we just get another one! We like cream in our coffee, 210 cable channels, yelling for our favorite sports team, and soothing our conscious at Christmas by buying a toy for a tot, sending money to the homeless shelter, or dropping coins in the Salvation Army bucket. Easy, clean, quick and we're done.

Daily, our missionaries follow God's leadership in Yemen, Brazil, Croatia, Argentina, Fiji, Kenya, Taiwan, Romania, Sumatra, Thailand, Venezuela and many other places as they spread the Good News of Christ's coming for all people. I wonder what they think of the Church in their homeland, the United States of America? I wonder if my heroes are proud of me, my church and my Convention?

They want, desire and deserve our prayers and financial support. But, at this writing, I wonder if they want more. I wonder if they want me, want all of us to identify with them by becoming missionaries ourselves...right here in their homeland. Just as they are my heroes, I wonder if I could become theirs?

As we pause this time of year to pray, thank and give our financial support to our missionaries, throughout the year we can express our thanks to them as we:

• pray for their personal needs and the needs of the people to whom they minister
• write to them at Christmas, on their birthdays, and at other times throughout the year
• give through your International Mission Board, special missions offerings or send a check to DC Baptist Convention and we'll forward it on so that their work can continually grow and thrive
• keep with current events that affect their lives and ministries as we read and view the news
• teach our children and youth about them and remain open to God's leadership through volunteerism or career service

As we end 2011 and begin 2012, let's find even more ways to remember those who serve the Kingdom in places where we are not called to serve and assure them of our sincere wishes that they experience a year full of tangible reminders of God's presence.

Remembering missionaries year round is a good reminder to ourselves of our own disciple walk and the challenge that we have to be missionaries right here and right now. No, it's not politically correct to openly share your faith, but we are not called to be of this world but to be IN it! Let's learn from and practice missionary sacrifice. Who knows, we may leave an eternal impression upon one whom we encounter.

Praying Through the Chatter

I was sitting at my desk trying to pray, and I was not doing very well at it. My concentration was in disarray. Somehow I seemed to be more aware of extraneous sounds than I was of any presence with God. I kept hearing through the walls of my office the noise of a road crew, the distant notes of music from someone’s radio, the growling of low gears on a semi-truck, the siren sound of an emergency vehicle, and a myriad of other un-discernable sounds. Infiltrating all of them were the remembered voice of a heartbroken minister with whom I had spent some time. It just seemed all this chatter kept drowning out my prayer to God.

In my frustration I found myself apologizing to God for allowing the sounds to be noticed and become a distraction while I talked with Him. Then something happened. I think it was God responding to my confusion. Suddenly I was aware that praying does not always mean shutting out the world. Indeed it must certainly mean that the "all else" can be brought to God. I don’t have to rid myself of all my problems, all the sounds clamoring for attention or all the distractions of the world. These are the things I can bring to God!

Yes, I know that I can allow sounds and distractions to thwart my prayer life, but I have been reminded of at least one beautiful thing about prayer: I can come to God right in the midst of these sounds and distractions. What consumes so much of my attention is also what I can pray to God about — and in! God cares about everything, big or small, and that should influence how I pray.

I was still at my desk. None of the sounds went away, but now I could hear God in the midst of all of them, and I knew that He heard me. So I prayed for the safety of the road crew, the serenity of the one lost in the music of his/her radio, the long grueling hours the driver of the semi-truck would endure, the medical skill of the first responders and for the health of the one suffering a medical emergency. Was that the prayer I intended to lift to my God? No, but through the chatter, my prayer became whole and centered more on the people around me and less on self. Thanks be to God!