No Little Work

One of the deceptions many ministers, including DOM’s, get caught up in is the size of the ministry they are involved in. When we begin to believe the size of our association or the size of the churches of our association are too small to really make a difference we limit God. Over the years I have heard pastors bemoan the fact their church was too small to offer the same things larger membership churches offer, and they used it as an excuse to do nothing. Since the first time I heard one of those kinds of statements it became a pet peeve.

My ministry began in a small membership church and the congregation there had bought into the fallacy of they were too small to make a difference. As we worked through those issues the Lord reminded all of us He does not have a small work. Once people realized everyone served the same Big God, then great things began to happen and the Lord really blessed. That “little church” soon was doing all the things any church was doing.

George/Greene Baptist Association is a two county rural association in Southeast Mississippi. Our association is very rural and isolated. The majority of the population of our two counties drives long distances to work and choose to live here for the slower lifestyle. The vast majority of the thirty-three churches have less than fifty in Sunday School. The description of our area would delight someone looking for a great place to live in a relaxed atmosphere, but it would not stir the imagination of making a major difference in reaching a world for Jesus. Yet, through the cooperation of churches working together in an association, the Lord has allowed this small rural association to literally reach around the world for Christ.

Instead of focusing on the limited resources we had here we chose to focus on the task the Lord has given all believers found in Acts 1:8. The Lord is faithful to provide all the resources the association needs to assist churches to carry out their purpose of the Great Commission. This past year we have engaged an unreached people group in Nigeria that has no known Christians. We are in the second year of a church planting partnership with a church plant in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A team distributed over 2,000 copies of the Gospel of John in Mexico as part of Operation Go Mexico. A team of men working with a sister association in Omaha helped pass out 60,000 bottles of water with a gospel presentation at the College World Series. A student team assisted a church in New Orleans conduct a VBS. Within our own association a summer missionary held mission VBS at several locations, and we are developing a church plant from one of these VBS’s. Our construction team worked to frame the inside of a building for one of our churches that was destroyed by a tornado. The Lord has truly allowed us to have a witness from Jerusalem to the utter most.

There is “no little work” in the kingdom of God. I would encourage you to focus on Him and His mission, and He will provide you areas of influence beyond your wildest imagination. The Baptist Association is being used of God to assist churches to reach around the world in a big way.

Jimmy C. Holcomb, Associational Missions Director
George/Greene Baptist Association
Lucedale, MS