Ron Crow, Chaplain (center)

The year 2011 has been called the “Year of Disasters.” Your Missouri Baptist Convention Disaster Relief volunteers have served faithfully in St. Louis after the Spring tornado, Poplar Bluff and Morehouse following the spring and summer flooding, at Joplin as they recover from the EF-5 tornado, and in Northeast Missouri, cleaning up from the flood there.

Your Missouri Mission Offering dollars help fund a very large portion of the Disaster Relief operating budget. Thank you for helping “Serve Christ in the Crisis.”  Our state offering goal this year is $750,000.

>Click on each photo to see it larger.<

Missouri Director of Missions, Steve Tanner, Chaplain

Brenda Donnell, Childcare

Missouri Director of Missions, Jerry Palmer, Communications

Missouri Director of Missions, Tommy Blair, and JoAnn Haas serving in Mass Care

In Real Evangelism (motorcycle stunt evangelism)…1,500 in attendance at harvest night and approximately 180 people saved.

In “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames”…a dramatic presentation of the urgent need to be saved…more than 1,200 attended and 90 were saved.

In the purchase of more than 6,000 Bibles to be distributed in northwest El Salvador…many people there had never had a Bible of their own.

In the purchase of a van to be used for missions in El Salvador in the northwest area of that country.

In Operation Kirksville, a pilot project to reach 6,000 homes in Kirksville with the gospel…a prelude to God’s Plan for Sharing (GPS)…four churches cooperated to reach every home in that community.

In hiring summer missionaries over several years to help the churches with vacation Bible schools in churches or Bible clubs in parks, etc.

We could not have done these things without the partnership with MBC and the support from the Missouri Missions Offering. — Bill Smathers, Director of Missions, Thousand Hills Baptist Association

Also, click here to visit the Missouri Baptist Convention Disaster Relief page at Facebook.

— Josh Hall, pastor, Selmore Baptist Church, Ozark

“They even asked and begged us to let them have the joy of giving their money for God’s people.” — II Corinthians 8:4 (CEV)

“From Me to Missouri” is the theme for the Missouri Missions Offering emphasis in September of 2011.

God’s people want to help others with physical needs and to share the love of Jesus with those who do not yet know Him. I believe that with all of my heart. I also know that we want to not only send, pray, and give money, but to SHARE in the meeting of those needs. Much of the emphasis for the Rheubin L. South Missouri Missions Offering is about praying and giving. But just like the churches of Macedonia, churches across Missouri want to generously give of themselves and their money by these loving actions: Sharing Christ’s love, Sending missionaries, and Starting churches.

This year as churches seek to educate and enlist the involvement of people in the pew it will be personal. “From Me to Missouri” is a means of involving “Me” in Missouri Missions. The materials used in this MMO emphasis, whether it be a simple bulletin insert or a powerful video, will show people how they are already involved as a Missouri Baptist, and how they can be more involved.

“Won’t you partner with us…to reach as many Missouri Baptists as we can for this great Kindgom opportunity?”

The dollars given in the Fall of 2011 will be used in the ministries of MMO in 2012. We encourage you to use the provided materials: a top quality video DVD for the worship services, a Promotional booklet & CD that have bulletin inserts and a preschool and children’s sermon, and a sermon starter that the pastor might like to use.

In today’s internet age, we are able to share electronically as well as personally. Our MMO web resources, including this website and our Facebook page make it easier than ever to get our message of Sharing, Sending and Starting out to the people of Missouri. Won’t you partner with us in your church and on the web to reach as many Missouri Baptists as we can for this great Kingdom opportunity?

Watch your church mail box for your MMO promotion packet to arrive in June.

Spencer Hutson
Cooperative Program / Biblical Stewardship Specialist
Missouri Baptist Convention

I hope you are enjoying reading about how your MMO gifts are helping reach people throughout Missouri. Many of these ministries are completely funded by MMO, and would not be happening without your support through the Missouri Missions Offering. Keep checking back with us! We will continue posting features and updates. Even through we only focus on promoting MMO during the fall, your gifts continue working throughout the year!

Also, even though September was the preferred promotion month, you can still promote the offering throughout the year; just remember that all 2010 gifts must be submitted to MBC by December 31, 2010 to be distributed in 2011.

One church I know of was short of their goal by $5 of a $500 goal. It was mentioned on the last Sunday of September and another $425 came in that day!  Folks believe in what MMO is about!

Bookmark this site and click the link to your right to become a friend of our Facebook Fan Page so you can receive updates throughout the year.

—Spencer Hutson, MBC, Stewardship Specialist

At around 10:50 a.m., the worship team and other co-workers got into a circle near the kitchen to prayer. As I glanced at the rows of empty seats to my left, I felt disheartened. I closed my eyes, bowed and silently said to God, “I have faith in You.”

At 11:00 a.m., still only a handful of people had arrived. Since it was our first day, we decided to wait a little bit. Shortly after, people started to pour in and I found myself helping the greeters to welcome people. In the upstairs hallway, it was packed with people waiting to receive sticky name tags. As the seats were about to fill up, I had to ask Roger Turnbough and a few male students to help bring out more chairs from the storage room.

Due to the late arrivals, the service didn’t start until around 11:15 or 11:20 a.m. After the service, I learned from Rose Lancaster that Dr. Marshall had actually stopped the service at Second Baptist Church at around 11:20 a.m. to pray for us. There is a Chinese song titled “Jesus is in Charge.” Part of the lyric says, “…regardless of circumstances, believe with all your hearts, Jesus is in charge of everything…”

Once the service got started, everything went smooth as planned. The inflatable swimming pool that we had purchased for use in the baptism worked really well. The message WenPing delivered was well received. There is no doubt that seeds had been planted. Everyone was in good spirit when the service ended.

Then, we had a moment of chaos as we tried to figure out how to set up tables with over 100 people and chairs all crowded together in the middle of the room. Thanks to Billy who had a plan and everyone pitched in to help once they knew what needed to be done. WenPing preached about God’s love and brotherly love—the scene was like a big happy family preparing for a banquet. Although we had to wait little longer for the food to arrive, no one seemed to mind. There was good extra 45 minutes of fellowship time.

No one could have written a better script. God allowed all these things to happen not only to test our faith, but He also wanted us to have the most memorial first day and teach us that His grace is always sufficient.

Please continue to pray for us. Thank you and God bless!—Philip Wong

This is Kingdom impact stuff—just think of those won to Christ and those who will be won to Christ—some staying and witnessing here and some returning one day as witnesses in their countries of origin! Thank you all for your prayers and continued prayers for this new church.—Ken McKune, Church Planting Specialist, Missouri Baptist Convention

Part of the MMO focus this year is “STARTING more Missouri churches.” New church plants will receive $95,000 of the MMO budget in 2011. This money provides funds for salary support, rental assistance, and start-up costs for new church starts.

Liked this post? Click here to get more…

What do you think…should we be starting more churches? Please leave a comment below.

“We have many funny stories and many decisions. But when all said is done, all the glory and all the praise goes to God because this is such a good ministry; and it is so rewarding when the children realize that they need Jesus.”—Tyler Bolton

“When you show the children how much you love Jesus and what He has done for you, they will wonder how they can have that joy. That is the best gift you can ever give, and I had to pleasure of giving that all summer long.”—Tyler Bolton

“My typical summer would consist of practicing basketball for the upcoming season, attending church youth groups, and working on my tan. With Sports Crusaders, I experienced the joy of being able to use the gift and talents God has given me to share with kids who wanted to learn more about God and basketball. There was one little boy I had the privilege to talk to who had never even heard of the name Jesus or who he was. I realized I was living the verse of Isaiah 52:7 “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation.” Sports Crusaders really grew in me the urgency and passion we as Christians should have, or ask God for, to share salvation with others. If I could explain Jesus and what He did for us to a six year old, why have I been holding out on my twenty-year-old friends?”—Tori Hagni

Here is a testimony of one of our Host Churches…

“Wow! God blessed us in a fabulous way this summer with our Sports Crusaders Basketball Camp. We had 70 kids in attendance and 10 boys and girls were saved! We praise the Lord for this ministry because it brought our entire community together to reach these kids for the glory of Christ. Our local School System let us use the gym of one of elementary schools, the YMCA brought their Day Campers over to be a part of the Camp, and everyone was blessed. The team of young men that we had from Sports Crusaders played and ministered to the kids well, and we look forward to doing this again in our Church next year. This is a wonderful ministry and I would highly recommend it to everyone!”—Chris Atkinson, Pastor, Centennial Baptist Church, Mexico, Missouri

We are gearing up for the 2011 camp season; bathing each host church and summer staff person with prayer…that God will continue to use our gifts and talents as a “common ground” to reach the children across the states to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

“Sports Evangelism” will receive $10,000 of the 2011 Missouri Missions Offering Allocations Budget. When you give through the offering in 2010, your gift will combine with others to support ministries like Sports Crusaders in 2011. Thank you for supporting Missouri missions by giving through the Missouri Missions Offering!

Submitted by Tricia Alberts, Sports Crusaders, Executive Director

Click here to get more!

Rick Hedger shares his salvation story with a Soninke villager in Mali.

Recently MBC hosted a Western Gateway Summit and Base Camp 1 at FBC Arnold, MO where representatives from 27 MBC churches were trained to participate in our partnership for this region of Africa. The partnership is beginning to strengthen as we specifically pray that the Lord will call out 36 MBC churches to become engaging churches to the unreached, unengaged peoples of the Western Gateway Cluster of Sub-Sahara Africa.

Click here for more info about African partnerships!

Missouri Baptist Convention and Canadian National Baptist Convention have partnered together to seek out 50 indigenous church planters from Ontario to pastor our possible 50 church starts in Northern Ontario. Gary Smith, our NAMB National Missionary, hosted a series of One Day Church Planter trainings September 20-25 throughout Northern Ontario. As God calls out indigenous church planters, MBC churches and associations will have someone to actually partner with as they follow the Lord Jesus on mission in Northern Ontario. Please continue to pray to the Lord of the Harvest that He will call out laborers into His harvest fields of Northern Ontario.

Click here for more info about Ontario partnerships!

These trainings were both made possible as a result of the Partnership Missions portion of your faithful giving to the Missouri Missions Offering. Thank you on behalf of all those in Ontario and the nations of Africa that respond to the gospel as a result of this training.

April, 2010. Kyle Beverlin (hidden behind the boys), Nathan Dawson and Rick Hedger share the Lord with a group of young men at a skateboard park in Fort Frances, Ontario.

Just think about how you will benefit from promoting the Missouri Missions Offering in your church:

• Giving through the Missouri Missions Offering as a congregation will give your church renewed unity of purpose and mission!
• You’ll gain a feeling of accomplishment knowing that you are supporting vital ministries across the state.
• You can be satisfied that all of your MMO gifts will be used specifically to support Missouri causes.
• Giving through the Missouri Missions Offering lets you share in accomplishing more by giving together with other Missouri Baptist Churches than your church can accomplish on its own.
• By watching the video segments, you will see many people who have been helped and hear many stories about the ministries that the offering supports.
• By praying for the people whom MMO helps, you’ll come closer to God and become more like Jesus.
• You’ll feel richly blessed when you become a blessing to others!

Not ready yet?

If you need promotion materials there still is time to put your promotion together. If you need a promotion packet, order by phone by calling 800-736-6227, ext. 201.

Click here to read through the Quickstart Plan located on this website. It will tell you how to promote MMO.

Or…download duplication masters and resources from this website. Click here to visit the Downloads page.