Passport: A pastor’s ticket to gaining passion for global missions

GAINESVILLE (FBW)–The 92 percent of Southern Baptist pastors who have not set foot on foreign soil as part of a mission project were a special focus at a conference in Gainesville Oct. 9-10.

“If we don't take them, our people won't go.

”

- Gary Crawford president FBSC State Board of Missions

Pastors and wives attending a missions conference at Westside Baptist Church heard numerous speakers assure them that "global commitments" won’t detract from what they’re doing at home. Far from it, international mission projects will "empower your local ministry."

Gary L. Crawford, pastor of Westside and president of the Florida Baptist State Convention State Board of Missions, and his wife, Freda, led the two-day meeting in conjunction with his church’s sixth annual MissionFest, Oct. 8-12. The conference theme was "Here Am I: Send Me."

Crawford said his inspiration for planning the conference came from a "progressive understanding of the need and the possibility." The event was co-sponsored by the Missions Division and Financial Services Division of the Florida Baptist Convention.

Crawford told the 66 pastors and wives at the sessions that he served as a pastor for 12 years (six in Texas and six at Westside) before he personally set foot on foreign soil. He confessed, "I was a hypocrite—I preached about the Great Commission, but my practice did not match my theology." He added, "We will never be consistent with our theology until we have a global commitment."

Crawford’s first international trip was to Sweden in 1987. He said it came about through an "incidental invitation." In the last 16 years, he has led groups to Australia, Benin, Brazil, England, Russia, Southeast Asia and the Ukraine. He said those who say "God didn’t call me to the international field" aren’t hearing Jesus’ command to "Go into all the world."

"If we don’t take them, our people won’t go," Crawford told the listeners. He said his prayer was that those pastors who attended the conference will return to their churches with a commitment to move to another level in missions.

In this past year, members of Crawford’s church have led 35 trips to 16 countries, organizing 12 churches on three continents and seeing more than 4,000 decisions for Christ. On a recent trip, members of Westside joined a team that traveled to the Middle Eastern country of Jordan to facilitate the spread of the Gospel there through distributing food and other supplies to Iraqi refugees.

The Oct. 9-10 conference focused on the importance of "catching the vision" and leading people on mission trips.

Greg Kell, pastor of Thomas Memorial Baptist Church, Quincy, said, "People will go where they are led, but seldom where they are pushed." He challenged pastors to "champion the mission cause."

Kell’s church undertook its first mission trip in 2001. It was such an inspiration that one-third of the active members of the church (75 of some 200 in Sunday School) participated in trips in 2002.

Freda Crawford shared with the wives that, due to health reasons, she cannot travel abroad, but she is praying that God will release her to go abroad on a mission trip in the near future. Earlier she participated in trips to Southeast Asia and Brazil. She said, "My greatest fear is that my health will prevent Gary from being where God wants him to be."

Julie L. George, coordinator of evangelism, prayer and missions at Westside, shared her personal experience—how she was afraid of missions to the extent that "I worked in the library to avoid praying for missions." But she encouraged the women to move out of their comfort zones just as she has. In recent years she has led or participated in mission trips to Africa, Asia, Europe and South America.

"Why should any Christian be without a passport?" George asked.

Fran Terhune, minister of education (ret.) at Westside, spoke on "leading your church to the field." She has participated in mission trips to Russia, Tanzania and Asia.

Karen Bullock, associate professor of church history at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Ft. Worth, Texas, told conferees "ministry is always costly." She recounted the many instances where Baptists have lost their freedom, and even their lives, for their faith. "Tomorrow we must expect to lose our lives," she added. But she observed that "persecution has never hurt the church."

Albert Byrd, pastor of Holiday Hill Baptist Church, Jacksonville, led a breakout session for those pastors (about two-thirds of those registered) who have yet to take that first trip. He advised them to "Sell your key leaders on the idea, put together a strong team, and always keep the main purpose in mind. We are there for them (the missionaries)—not for us."

Kevin Peacock, professor of Old Testament and Hebrew at Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary, Alberta, stated the case for Canada as a mission field. He said, "Some of the seed of the Gospel has fallen on frozen soil." Only seven percent of the people of Canada are believers.

John Sullivan, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, concluded the conference by recounting his own personal experiences in missions. He will return on a mission to Haiti later this fall.

"We trade our wings for crutches when we don’t have mission experiences in our lives," Sullivan said. He said the Scripture clearly teaches us to "Go, sow and do.., but do is the key word."

During the conference the pastors and wives had opportunity to interact with 50 missionaries from 12 countries. Steve Lyon, International Mission Board career missionary since 1986 as seminary professor to Venezuela and currently Caribbean Basin Regional Member Care Team consultant, was keynote speaker for MissionFest.

Oct. 11 MissionFest activities included a Global Baseball Clinic (with 22 youth making professions of faith) and an International Fair for the community. Nineteen students from the Baptist College of Florida (one of Westside’s seven mission partnerships) participated in MissionFest.

Mark Barnes, interim music minister at Westside, composed words and music for the conference theme chorus, "Why Did You Come So Late?"

All of the conference presentations are available on CD from Westside. For more information call 352-333-7700.