The year was 1792. William Carey had challenged his Baptist brethren to obey their responsibility to take the Gospel to unreached lands. Baptists of mid-England formed the “Particular Baptist Society for Propagating the Gospel Among the Heathen.” They appointed Carey and John Thomas to go to India as missionaries. In 1793 Carey said a tearful farewell to his church in Leicester, England. On a Wednesday the Society came together for a farewell service as Carey and his son prepared to leave. Sometime during that all-day meeting, Carey met with the four leaders of the Society. These men promised Carey “that, as he went forth in the Society’s name and their Master’s, they should never cease till death to stand by him.” Andrew Fuller, one of those men, later described the occasion with the following illustration.
Fuller said that the mission to India seemed like a few men who considered going into a deep, unexplored mine. It was as if Carey said, “Well, I will go down, if you will hold the rope.”
We have spend several months preparing to go back to El Salvador. When I say we, I don’t just mean the mission team. We as a church are going down. Some are going while others hold the rope. As we pull out of Kirksville on Wednesday evening, July 18, you will continue to play an integral role as you bathe the entire trip in prayer. Everything from personal visits, teaching & preaching opportunities, visits to schools and even an orphanage can all be opportunities to see the Holy Spirit at work, quickened by your prayers.
The same thing will be true with our local missions via: Vacation Bible School (July 9-13) Firehouse Kidz/Lunch in the Park (July 16-20) and Mission VBS at First Baptist Queen City (July 30-Aug.3). If you can hold the rope by praying or making extra gifts to offset the challenges of these ministries or can “go down,” please contact Children’s Minister, Sarah Mires at the church office or at children@fbckvmo.org. Maybe your niche is the collegiate ministry where we will reach out to the new students via bottles of water and a lot of love in August and Sept., you can hold the rope by praying and giving, or you can “go down” and volunteer to be a smiling face with that ministry by contacting Collegiate Minister, Jason Chrisman at students@fbckvmo.org.
July & August are going be moths full of opportunities to grab your part of the rope! Eccl. 4:12-12 states “11 Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? 12 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. ” and When God’s people started to be obedient and seek God’s face again, the Lord promised them a blessing of growth, Isaiah 54:2-3 "2 Make your tent bigger; stretch it out and make it wider. Do not hold back. Make the ropes longer and its stakes stronger, 3 because you will spread out to the right and to the left. Your children will take over other nations, and they will again live in cities that once were destroyed.” Amazing things will happen if you and I hold the rope together and watch what God wants to do through all of us.
Only in His strength and power,
Pastor Marty
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