As I got the news of our commitments for our Love Offering for Jesus, “WOW” was my response! In a short 18 weeks we have committed to give almost $57,558.49 for missions! This is above and beyond our tithes and offerings. This amount, along with our Cooperative Program giving and other budgeted missions that we give towards, we will have given over $260,000 just to missions this year (based on this committed amount). Our Church will be very active in missions this year: we are helping Bro. Jeff Phillips plant a church in Vancouver, Canada, we are looking at partnering with a church in Mexico, and we are in the preliminary talks of working with a church in South Africa. This doesn’t include the ways we currently are, and will be reaching out to the Desoto County area! Right now our Missions Team is focused on not being “all over the board” with little purpose in our missions - but rather we are wanting to make sure that the work we participate in will be in partnership with local Churches who have a firm grasp on the Gospel and are committed teaching Biblical doctrine. As we refocus our efforts to make sure we are good stewards of every dollar given, and as we spend time helping our Missions Team develop their vision and guidelines, we will better be able to communicate this direction and goals to the Church as a whole. We will be able to accurately account to where we are investing and look more closely at the impact that our giving is having in local areas. I believe in the days ahead we will see Trinity becoming more and more passionate about the advancing of the Gospel into all the World. This missions giving commitment will end on December 27th, but our passion for reaching a lost and dying world… I pray it would burn red hot!
When you look at the above figure and at the amount of our budget that goes to missions, I want you to think of how wide spread this investment is: this covers not only foreign missions, home missions, but it also includes Mid-America Seminary, the Gideon Ministry, and our Memphis Union Ministry! Many lives are touched for the Kingdom of God because of our offerings, but also because there are many of you who serve in these (and many other) areas! May God raise up men and women from Trinity Baptist Church that will make an eternal impact on this world! When we see this, and this passion continues to grow, it should leave us all simply saying… “WOW!”
