The Authority in Mission Work

The Apostle Paul, preaching in Athens

During the Pre-Association meeting of the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas, a question was raised about whether mission works which were not under the authority of a sponsoring church should be funded. The discussion was cut short, which sort of disappointed me because this is an issue that I think should be discussed, especially at a meeting where the objective is to share information and not to record votes.

If you poll 100 different ABA pastors, you will likely find 100 different philosophies and understandings about the proper way to carry out mission work. So, in the spirit of the diversity of opinions, here's mine:

In Acts 13, you have the church in Antioch that is ministering to the Lord. In verse 2, the Holy Spirit tells the church to "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them."

Two things stand out for me in this verse. (1) The Holy Spirit spoke to the church and (2) The Spirit called Barnabas and Saul.

The Holy Spirit called Barnabas and Saul to go out as missionaries. Scripture records how the Lord had placed this call on Saul (Paul) during his conversion on the Damascus road.

After the Spirit had called Barnabas and Paul to the mission work, He moved within the church to send them out.

In my opinion, this is the scriptural way mission work should be done. The Spirit calls men to a mission field, and the Spirit leads the church to send those men out. Those men are sent out with the full authority to do the work the Spirit has called them to do. If all those factors are present, I believe that we have a legitimate, and scriptural mission work.

So whether the missionary goes out and establishes a "mission," or whether he plants a "church" is really of no consequence to me. What I look at is whether He is called by the Holy Spirit, and whether His sponsoring church sent Him out.

For this reason, I have never been comfortable with "ministries" that seek to direct the overall direction of our associational missions (and by associational missions, I mean missionaries sent out by churches in our association). For this same reason, I have been leery of associational rules that establish rigid boundaries for missionary qualifications and rigid guidelines for how they do their work. And I have never been comfortable with a board calling, sending, and overseeing missionaries.

So, if you are looking for the authority in mission work, you need to look no further than the Holy Spirit. He calls missionaries, He leads missionaries, and He holds missionaries accountable, and you can find instances of all three of those in scripture.

As for the sending churches, they sent the men out, they sent them out with authority, and they support them. I believe that, just as Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch and gave an account for themselves, so ought missionaries today give an account of themselves to their sponsoring churches.

And that, my friend, is the authority in mission work.

Fighting the War on a Budget

Robert McNamara may have earned the position as the most controversial secretary of defense in U.S. history. His decisions to consolidate U.S. military bases angered congressmen and the citizens of those districts, the opposition to the war in Vietnam demonized him, and he has been widely criticized for his involvement in the acquisition of the F-4 Phantoms for the U.S. Air Force. The jets were made without machine guns, because McNamara believed the pilot could fire a missile on the enemy from 75 miles away. That would have worked, if the Sparrow didn't have an 89% failure rate in Vietnam. (The tropical conditions hindered the missile).

There are many things you can criticize about McNamara, but in some ways he was a man ahead of his time. He wanted to develop combat aircraft that could both serve as bombers and air-to-air combat jets. Though that development failed during his tenure, the military later achieved that goal with the F/A-18s and the F-16s.

McNamara made many mistakes, but his decisions were driven by a core belief that the U.S. could not afford to be wasteful when spending money on defense. He believed that the U.S. could afford whatever was necessary for national defense, but that it shouldn't just write the defense department a blank check. McNamara understood that the U.S. could bankrupt itself on defense spending, a lesson that the former Soviet Union learned the hard way in the late 1980s.

Few things will cause hurt feelings and lost fellowship quicker than financial issues. Looking at the associational mission funds of the American Baptist Association and the Missionary Baptist Association of Texas, I can tell you that financial issues are in our future. That is, unless the level of support these funds receive from the churches is greatly increased. Looking across our association at the state of our churches (not being critical, but many churches are struggling right now), the idea that more support is coming is not very realistic. Therefore, missionaries, the messengers that vote to support missionaries, their sponsoring and supporting churches will all have to make tough decisions in the years ahead.

At Mission: Brownwood, we have tried to be as cost-efficient as possible. Our biggest expenditures have been on my salary, building refurbishment and massive outreach campaigns. As time progresses, the new work will undertake more of those expenses on its own, but the work is only growing so fast despite our best efforts. None-the-less, when I look at the financial state of the MBA of Texas mission fund, I face the reality that there are not going to be many years of full salary for myself left. In fact, if something doesn't happen, the fund could be broke by 2012. At the same time, out direct support from sister churches has dropped off in the past couple of years. Two years ago, we averaged $1,800/month in direct support. In May of this year, we took in $1,200 from sister churches.

The fact of the matter is that missionaries are going to have to begin to make tough choices, because the well can run dry. We need to have a plan in place to keep our works going should that day ever come. Gone are the days when a missionary could go on salary and know that he was going to be able to draw that salary until his work organized (usually after the completion of an expensive brand new building). We're going to have to learn to purchase older church structures from protestant groups who have folded. We're going to have to learn to work out of school buildings, civic centers, and apartment community rooms. We are also going to have to learn to organize before land is purchased, buildings are built, and possibly before the pastor can draw a full-time salary from the church. We are going to have to streamline our expenses and learn to do more with less.

At the same time, it wouldn't hurt to see more support going to our associational mission programs. Over the past few years, especially when the fund balance was high (in both the Texas and national associations) men began to stand up and promote the idea of withdrawing support from these funds and directing support elsewhere. Some wanted to expend the reserves to purchase land in large cities. Others wanted to just expend it altogether. Others began to rail against our associational mission programs and call them waste of money. The discourse took its toll, and support began to erode. Now we are in a time when that support is needed, but getting the support back is always much more difficult than losing it.

There was a time when Missionary Baptists were proud of their mission programs. There was a time when having a healthy balance in the fund was a good thing, and the prayer was that more men would engage in true mission work so we could see that fund put to use. There was a time when men liked to see missionaries well-supported. Today, it seems that has all changed.

Satan is on the attack. Seminary enrollment is down, support for our associational mission programs, seminaries, mission development funds and mission efforts in general is down. Discourse on how to get new works started has been replaced with finger-pointing and back-biting. All the while, missionaries struggle on the field and supporting churches struggle back home. Let's all get back on the same page, and remember that our purpose here is to make disciples, baptize them, indoctrinate them and organize them into New Testament churches.

My pledge to you, as a missionary, is that I will do my best to streamline expenses and minimize my need. All I ask from you is that you engage in our associational mission work and help promote the Gospel in Texas, the USA, and around the world.

How to Thursday - Support Your Missionary

This will likely be the last of my How-to series. However, if you have any how-to questions, I'm always happy to share my ideas. Just send me an email or call me.

Support your missionary. When a missionary asks for support, most pastors and church members bristle... after all, the assumption is that he is asking for money.

While money is a blessing, and it affords you the ability to acquire tools to enhance your outreach and discipleship efforts, it is not the end all when it comes to missionary support.

Few things are worse than being on a mission field with a sponsoring church that is unaware of his efforts, successes and failures, no matter how in-depth the reporting. Few things are worse than having to leave the field to visit the sponsoring church to beg for a basic ministry necessity. Few things are worse than having to explain the scope of your work to the sponsor over and over again.

I am very blessed. Rocky Springs is very solidly behind the work in Brownwood, and they demonstrate this every single time a Brownwood-related matter comes up for a vote. It is a blessing to know that my strongest advocates are also active members of my sponsoring church. Rocky Springs is a good example of what a sponsoring church should do.

I have before stated that a church need not be wealthy financially to sponsor a missionary. While I still hold to that statement, a sponsoring church MUST have a committment to see that the missionary has the tools he needs for the work set out before him. If the sponsoring church has the ways and means to supply those tools, they should. If they sponsoring church does not have the finances to provide those tools, then they should aid the missionary in raising the support from sister churches. It is perfectly acceptable for a church to turn to sister churches for help in carrying out the Great Commission.

This is another way I am blessed by Rocky Springs. The Old Cherokee Association (Rocky's local association) is not going to have a mission rally without Bro. Charles Swilling or Bro. Jim Slocumb giving a Brownwood report and asking for support.

More important than financial support, however, is the issue of emotional and prayer support. The mission field can be very discouraging (and that's just Brownwood. I can only imagine what our brethren in France, Africa, Ukraine and Thailand are feeling). A missionary needs to know that the sponsoring church understands the importance of the mission work, is behind the work, and that they are there for moral support.

How can a sponsor show that support? Easy. Call the missionary and offer words of encouragement and thanks. Tell him that someone spoke on his behalf in Sunday School, Send him email and letters, and maybe even a gift package... and don't forget his wife and kids. All too often, they make the biggest sacrifices.

And last but not least, don't fall into this mentality that a mission work is a drain on church finances and resources. That mentality will lead to bitter feelings between missionary and sponsoring church. God blesses our church finances for the sole purpose of carrying out his work. That work is mission work, both local and beyond.

Thank you for your prayers and support. There have been hard times in Brownwood, but not many... and with your support and encouragement, they never seem all that bad. In fact, these are the best days of my ministry. Thank you so much.

Mission: Brownwood July 2009 Report

Grace Pointe MBM makes most of rented facility

The mission moved into the new facility that it rented in June, and immediately went to work making the necessary improvements to bring the building up to a place of worship.

Following weeks of intense painting, flooring, and trim work, the mission hosted the Southwest Association Mission Rally on July 25.

Grace Pointe MBM hosts mission rally

The Southwest Mission Rally was a beaming success.
Fifty three people from 11 churches gathered to hear mission reports, give reports, and fellowship as we shared our passions for missions and reaching lost souls.

The district ladies auxiliary shared testimonies and planned a retreat, while the men’s brotherhood enjoyed an informative program presented by Bro. Marion Reed on state missions.

Bro. Jim Slocumb preached the afternoon message, and really challenged those in attendance.

The next Southwest Mission Rally is scheduled to be in Clovis, N.M., in October, but Grace Pointe is eager to host again.

Sizzlin’ summer months not so hot in Brownwood

While the city of Brownwood enjoyed above-normal rainfall and below-normal temperatures in July, the mission did not enjoy lower attendance. Attendance fell off slightly in July, and is on pace to be down in August due to vacations and illnesses. Offerings were up in July, but will likely be back to normal in August.

There are ups and downs in mission work, and we are not phased. We are, however, renewing our outreach efforts, follow up efforts, and ministries such as VBS.

Mission: Brownwood surge!

We are currently reaching a turning point in the discipleship process where emphasis will be placed on fundamentals, and where the mission will have to learn to be a church. The added strain of this, along with the ever increasing need of evangelism, combined with an increased workload at my job, has prompted me to request Rocky Springs to recommend me for full salary at the MBA of Texas meeting this fall. Rocky Springs has honored that request, so we ask you to pray about our pending request for full support. Those with questions may call me directly at (325) 200-8531, or we can discuss the conditions on the field at the pre-associational meeting at Rocky Springs in October. Thank you, and God bless.

By The Numbers…

Attendance
(Sunday Mornings)

7/5 – 17
7/12 – 18
7/19 – 13
7/26 – 24

Finances
Grace Pointe MBM

Offerings –$1,252.75
Memorial MBC (Rusk, TX) $100
John Nickle (Rusk, TX) $25
Northcrest BC (Andrews, TX) $86.44
Jim Slocumb (Jacksonville, TX) $200

Expenses:
TMD - $62.64
Texas state missions - $62.64
Electricity - $70.91
Water - $26.22
Rent - $600
Leland salary - $100
Banking - $3

Mission: Brownwood Fund

Support:
MBA of Texas $1,911
Denson Springs MBC (Grapeland) $300
Salmon MBC (Elkhart, TX) $65
Hickory Grove MBC (Newport, AR) $113.05
Ridgecrest MBC (Levelland, TX) $25
White Rock MBC (Center, TX) $100
Heritage BC (Missouri City) $200
Memory Lane MBC (Palestine, TX) $50
Bassett Road BC (Palestine, TX) $75
Muse MBC (Grapeland, TX) $200
Quaker Ave. BC (Lubbock, TX) $100
Bethel MBC (Tatum, TX) $50
Rocky Springs MBC (Jacksonville, TX)$200
East Side BC (Jacksonville, TX) $100
58th Ave BC (Amarillo, TX) $111.09
Nevill’s Chapel MBC (Mt. Pleasant)$184.13
Sublett Road BC (Arlington, TX) $50
Wyndrock MBC (Abilene, TX) $40
First Baptist Church (Arp, TX) $240

Expenses:
Salary: $1,911
Radio ads: $400
Tables and Chairs: $882.50
Refrigerator: $388.73
Paper goods: $88.56
Mission Rally food: $63.85
VBS Art Supplies: $128.46
Pulpit supply: $101.69

Major Barbara

Did you ever see Major Barbara, the 1941 film based on the George Bernard Shaw play? I did. I watched it during a college English class at Jacksonville College.

Shaw was a socialist, and he satired not only capitalism, but just about every facet of every day life, from business, to marriage, family, and so on. In fact, many of these very things were satirized in the Major Barbara play. Imagine, a Major in the Salvation Army who was a woman, Major Barbara. Or how about a man named Dolly (Major Barbara's love interest?) Or a wealthy weapons manufacturer looking for an heir to his empire (he didn't want to pass it down to his kids because he didn't want his kids to take over a business they didn't understand.) One comical line came during the movie when said weapons manufacturer was asking his son what line of work he'd like to enter into. Upon exhausting a list of possible skills, all of which the son said he didn't have, the weapons manufacturer replied "I suppose then the only thing left for you then is politics."

I don't share Shaw's views, but his plays (Major Barbara, The Chocolate Soldier, and others) were good reads.

One thing that came out in Major Barbara, that I believe is infiltrating the churches of the Lord today is the price of salvation. After Major Barbara compromised her principles in order to receive a large financial gift from a wealthy donor, one of the transients at the Salvation Army began to ask, "What's the price of Salvation now?" He continued to ask this question over and over again.

Over the past few years, I have noticed this question is becoming relevant in today's churches. Business meetings, missions meetings, and associational meetings are dominated, not by the validity of the missionary's work, but rather, if the body wants to commit the funds to it. How much will it cost, what's our obligation, how long will this mission project continue to need financial support, hasn't this work been financially supported long enough, and can't we do something more efficient with this money, are all questions that arise on the floor in any given Missionary Baptist meeting.

Now I agree that we need to be good stewards of the funds God has given us, and I also agree that missionaries should be held accountable for what they do with funds sent to support them. I also agree that we need to have a general idea of what the purposes of the general fund and the missions funds are.

However, while we deliberate the direction of our missions programs, let's not forget the reason we labor, give, request, and report for the Lord. It is the millions of souls in Texas, and worldwide who currently do not know the Lord as their Savior. It is the millions of people who will die in their sins and go to Hell.

Our goal is to win these souls to the Lord, baptize them and disciple them... help them grow in their faith and watch, help and enable their Spiritual growth. The result of this is new churches that are solidly planted in God's truth.

So while we debate questions as to what the definition of missions is, how much a missionary should be paid, how long he should be paid, and how much money he should receive for the mission/church he is working to see planted, let's keep in mind the value of the human souls reached... or to put it another way, "How much is the cost of salvation now?"