A Virtual Missionary

On March 1, 2007, Roger Stacy became the Director of Missions for the Gibson Baptist Association. Having previously served as a missionary with IMB to Brazil and Ukraine, he brought a passion and desire to see that nation of Brazil evangelized.

As a part of developing a strategy for reaching a population segment which includes the Slavic speaking people group, Roger met with Terry Sharp, State and Association Relations Director, International Mission Board. Terry shared the vision and concept of becoming a virtual missionary association (strategy coordinator association). From that conversation and with Terry’s help, Roger shared the vision with his mission team and with the Executive Board of the association. At the annual meeting of the association in October 2007, the association officially voted to become a virtual missionary association.

Roger began working with Phil Kesler, mission strategist for Brazil. A team traveled to Brazil in November of 2007 to do research and practice the principles of a virtual missionary. Phil Kesler visited the Gibson Baptist Association in December and trained volunteers in how to be virtual missionaries and work within the Churches Multiplying Churches strategy for Brazil.

The Association has developed a Masterplan for simple church starts in the southern part of Brazil in the state of Paraná. Their critical path has been presented and approved as well. According to Phil Kesler, the Gibson Baptist Association is the first group to submit a volunteer request in all of Brazil for the new Churches Multiplying Churches strategy for Brazil.

Terry W. Sharp
Director, State and Association Relations
International Mission Board,SBC
(804) 219-1939
http://dom.imb.org/

Stop the Merry-Go-Round!

Stop the merry-go-round and let me get off! Or, at least, slow it down. Do you ever get that way? It seems that summer activities begin earlier and earlier and from the middle of May until the middle of September is a never-ending cycle of activities. I would imagine your life is that way also.

In June, we got home from the Southern Baptist Convention on Monday, to begin Powerplant on Friday, with a couple meetings in between. What a blessing!! After the first night on a cot, before the Powerplant teams came in, I knew I was getting too old for this! As we welcomed teams from Georgia, Nebraska, Minnesota, and yes, even our own association into Sioux Falls I was again struck by the cooperation that we as Southern Baptists share! Here were my brothers and sisters coming to help us start new churches. Even the NAMB staff was almost young enough to be my grandchildren but there was a connection of all being on the same team! And, when I found out that this staff of young people did much of their own work after everyone else was in bed, I found my own little corner so I could get some sleep!

The future is bright! Our two speakers for the event were great. They related well to the teens that had come to serve. The maturity and commitment of the staff that NAMB sent was impressive. Despite last minute changes in assignments, some poor turnouts, and less than ideal conditions for sleeping and showering I did not hear any complaining or murmuring.

Out of this week, we assisted a mission who had recently moved into their own building in a new neighborhood, and two new church starts. In one of those, we saw 15 professions of faith (we had been laying a foundation for two years with activities in the area). We laid groundwork in the other two areas with various servant evangelism activities, VBS, block parties and a grill out.

Thank you, fellow Southern Baptists, for your commitment to helping one another. Thank you for your support of NAMB who does Powerplant but also supports many of us in the “new work” areas (No, this is not a paid advertisement!).

Even though I am still on the merry-go-round I am excited about next summer’s Powerplant (maybe by then I will have caught up on sleep). Bring it on!

Jim Pratt, Area Missionary
Siouxland Association of Southern Baptists
Yankton, SD 57078