Ep 69 | Mission Sunday: Why GBC is all in on Missions

Yeah , yeah . But you know , at football a lot of , like , positional players will have , you know , the 50s , 60s , 70s , all the way up to 80s and 90s . So we're going to have a lot of footballs , uh this year so um , and then when we get to a hundred , I don't know what we're going to do . So , um , but I picked Jared Allen .

So he played from 2004 , uh , which was my sophomore year of high school . Um , I'm Ron Burgundy Um and um . And then he played till 2015 um , he . So nine , nine year career , yeah , five-time pro bowler , four-time all pro , so that means that he was picked as the best defensive end in football for four seasons .

uh , and then , uh , he tied , uh , the nfl record , he , with four career safeties , so he's caused four safeties . Just a really rugged player , very outspoken , a lot of fun . He played for several different teams , probably most notably the Minnesota Vikings . Yeah , yeah .

And the main purpose of missions , though , in the Christian church and um and I'm really thankful for our missions committee because they really want us to have this in mind is we want to be a part of kingdom building missions . Uh , and what I mean by that is we want to support people , places um , that that share the gospel of Jesus .

Um , in other words , we want to feed people , because Jesus fed people .

We want to make sure that they have a cold cup of water , as Jesus talked about , but we do that as an avenue or a vehicle to be able to share to people that Jesus Christ is Lord , and that's why we want to be involved in missions as individual people , as families , but also our church .

It's very important that we are on mission , that we're serving others and that we're supporting the people who are serving others .

Even Georgetown Baptist church we have different members , you know , of the body , who all have different giftings and all that stuff . It's the same way , like with mission partners , I think as well . So , like , have our church . And then I'll pick on even two more churches that we support . We have Luke Callender , who's at Grace Harbor in Massachusetts .

We just started supporting another one , trent I'm not going to say his last name Hodgkinson , thank you . And Tioga . Like , those are other churches and it's like okay , why would we support it ? Could we put that money to really benefit our ? Yes , but we want to benefit the big C church the church as a whole .

We're not the only church , we're not the best church , we're not whatever . We're a church that tries to strive to live like Christ and try to empower our partners so that they can minister to a group of people that we can't even reach . I'm not in Boston , you know . No , you are not . No , no , I'm not in Boston you know ?

not . No , no , I'm not . And that's the point is by supporting these groups .

We are choosing to be on mission and it can look missions can look like many different things , but the main purpose of it is to be on mission for Christ and for his kingdom and we as a church want to take this seriously and , like a lot of things at our um , want to take this seriously and , like a lot of things at our church , we want to get better .

We want to make sure more people in our church become aware . Uh , we're not the kind of people that want to say well , we've had this all figured out and we've done it correctly . And everybody knows it ? Probably not .

And , um , my guess is is there's hopefully going to be more people by the end of this year that know more about what we do on missions than they did last year , and I hope that happens . And one of the ways that we try to do that as a church is we pick a Sunday out of the year to focus 100 percent on who our church supports that is on mission .

We want our church members to be aware of these people . If at all possible . We want them to know these people on a personal basis , which you know can be challenging , especially for these people that are further away . But still , with all the blessings of electronics and what we can do , we can know people better and know them and support them .

So we're going to have Mission Sunday on February the 9th , which , as of this recording , is exactly two Sundays from now , and we want people to begin to plan and prepare for that day , for many different reasons , but Maverick kind of just described to our church what they can expect on February the 9th , what it's going to look like .

So Maverick is our liaison from our ministry staff to the missions committee . So Maverick is our liaison from our ministry staff to the missions committee . So Maverick is a part of these meetings and helping plan this day . So , maverick , just share a little bit about the day for us , help us understand what we're going to be walking in on .

We don't want to cancel one and , you know , do the other or anything like that . So what it's going to look like is the chapel um where the youth meet , you know , the the oldest building on this ground .

And some of the tables will be , fortunate enough , where members of that mission can be there , and if they're not there , that's where the missions committee comes in . We've taken the time to learn about each and every mission and all that stuff .

So during the Sunday school hour that you go so like for the youth let me use the youth as an example we go to Sunday school at nine and we go to the 1030 service .

Well , for about a 30 minute period , the youth are going to go into the chapel along with other Sunday schools , and we're going to walk around and we're going to learn about each mission and why we support them and what they do and how they spread the gospel and all that stuff .

And then you know it doesn't have to be exactly 30 minutes , it can be longer and all that stuff if we want to learn more .

And you're going to just walk around and learn all about the missions and then you're going to go back to your Sunday school class and , hopefully , talk about missions or just continue whatever you're studying and all that kind of stuff , and then we'll go to service and the people who have the 1030 Bible study hour . It will look the exact same for them .

However , you might be thinking well , there's people that you know don't go to Sunday school . All that stuff we're telling those mission people we're not cleaning up at 12 . You know , like , when our church lets out , we're going to direct them to the missions and maybe you want to spend more time there .

Or maybe you know of a friend that didn't go to Sunday school and you want to drag them to the chapel . Drag them to the chapel just to even learn about who we support . Because we say this in our meetings if you support GBC , like if you like our church , you support what we do then you support these missions .

It's good for you to know about these missions .

Um , yes , you know , we have some local missions , uh , in other words , places that are within 20 miles of of you know , our church steeple that , uh , we are involved in financially supporting uh , praying for , uh , even our own members that go are involved in financially supporting , praying for even our own members that go and volunteer in these areas .

And then we have some , you know , domestic places , you know in the United States that we support , and then there are some missions outside of the United States . So the goal is to bring all of these missions into one space so you can have an idea about how we comprehensively uh try to be on mission and support .

And you know you hear financial support and go well , is that all you do ? No , we do many other things , but , um , it is important that that , even down to our church budget , that we financially support these groups .

So you're going to get to learn so much , you're going to be able to walk away with information physically in your hands that you can be more aware of these groups , knowing how to pray for them , knowing how you could even potentially go and be a part of these .

But then , when you go into the actual worship service itself you know the nine o'clock service or the 1030 , we're going to emphasize missions there as well and it's going to be really , really special .

So Bill Austin , who is the chairman of our missions committee , he's going to be in there , I'm going to be in there and we're going to have a few of our partners in the actual service to share stories . We can't have all of our partners and there's not any partner who's more important than the other .

I will say we may have members that are extremely passionate about one mission for a reason and then other members that are passionate about another , and I love that .

We will still have a normal experience of we're going to sit in the chairs and we'll praise the Lord through song , but during the actual message time you're going to get to hear from these people and learn what God is doing , and you're not going to want to miss it . But one thing that I really want to emphasize is we are going to take a special offering .

So on that day we'll have our normal offering .

You know where people will give , you know the way we do every Sunday , but then we're going to have a special offering for our missions committee and our missions partners and it's extremely important that we listen to the Lord on our involvement with that , because the way we plan our budget year is we take , you know , the money that's budgeted towards missions and

that's going to go , but then what's given in this offering is also being budgeted to be given for the year , and I've gotten one of the greatest joys at the beginning of the last two years where I get to sign letters telling our mission partners we're upping our support .

So the last two years we've gotten to up our support to every single mission partner and um to to to .

To do that is not just hey , yeah , you're going to have more money , which praise God that that can happen but it's also the body of Christ looking at these mission partners and we're literally it's like we're watching them and attract me and we are cheering . We're telling them we see what you're doing , keep serving the Lord .

I mean , is that , if that's not the beauty of the church ? So that offering is crucial for the whole year for these folks .

And , um , you know , on my , just from a personal standpoint , my wife once ran one an organization and watching the encouragement that she received when different churches said we see you and we support you is so much deeper than you know a bank account , um , because it's , it's literally us saying , no , we're connected too , we're a part of this too , you're not

alone , you're serving the Lord and you're going to get to learn so much , and that's our goal . We want you to know that's the main goal of Mission Sunday is to support our mission partners and we want you yourself , your family , your kids to know who these people are , because we know a lot of people that we cheer for .

That I mean , yes , they're , it's neat . You know I love sports and I love to cheer , you know , for athletes . But as I'm getting older , I want to know guys like Luke calendar that's . You know that's in Massachusetts , that serving as a missionary there to share the gospel .

I want to know Anna , you know , at the Bethel house of hope , who is a third generation Christian , who is reaching out to orphan children in Juarez , mexico . These are the people we need to know because they're the hands and feet of Jesus , and Georgetown is just as much a part of that as these folks are .

You know , a lot of times when there's struggle and there's heart , you know shape , it's like , uh , you want to give all these things , but sometimes , when you give actual things , it's overwhelming and sometimes they need man , we need water , you know , we need to pay our bills , we need , you know , all this stuff , and so it's just been really exciting .

And one thing I do want to mention is , like , you know , we got to raise our budget this past year , or we had to raise our budget this past year , or we had to raise our budget this past year because you know , we're building a new building , all that stuff . What's cool about that is georgetown like . No , nothing makes us do this .

Georgetown predates my time decided to give 10 of their budget to missions , and every time we raise our budget , for whatever reason , we made a commitment , we'll raise the mission budget as well . So 10% of our budget goes to missions . That is local , statewide and just globally , and it's amazing .

So that's why I say , if you support GBC , you give to us all that stuff , you are giving to missions and and we just thank you so much for that .

This is just Jake speaking . Ok , I'm not speaking on behalf of all our people . I think that's even more of a reason why we need to take a special missions offering , because we are reminded of where this is what this is all about . And , uh , even this building itself , this building is not built as a as like a palace , uh , for people to come and worship .

No , we , we're . We're building it for our mission partners . We're building it to be on mission . We're building it to for the glory of God and for his kingdom .

And , uh , I just encourage you , uh , if you're a , if you're a person who just has a strong heart for missions , you're going to love this day . Or if you're a person who's seeking to know and understand , you're not going to learn everything on this day , but you're going to learn a lot .

And and it can give you some fuel of how you can learn throughout the year because we do have a group of people in our church elected by our church member , church membership , to help us be focused on missions and to help us . And we do pray because we know our God is capable of anything .

We pray that , if it's God's will , that we would always be able to have eyes open for new missions to support in the next several years and , um , we want you to be a part of it . You know there are some trips that are being talked about that could be happening this summer .

Uh , we want people to feel like , you know , maybe this is my year I can go on a mission trip , one of my . What I would love is just the big . Here's the problem . I would love to happen .

We have all these people that want to go on mission trips and we don't have enough spots , you know what that means we got to plan a mission trip because , because we want people to desire that . So please be praying for our missions committee .

They've got a big job in front of them to prepare for the ninth , but I , just knowing them and seeing their hearts , I can tell you that it's a , it's a labor of love and , uh , we have a great day to look forward to . Uh . But if you could start praying now , lord , what would you have me do on this day ?

Uh , to be a part of , um , of of this offering , and be a part of , uh , the missions , uh and the partners of our church .

There is no limit to the amount of churches we need in this county and I just that excites me . And I'm even more excited that Georgetown is looking at someone who is doing a hard thing and we're jumping in . But I could answer that question with every other group , but yes , I'm very excited that we're supporting the Bridge Church in Tioga .

So come learn and use it as a conversation starter for your kids , for your families , all that kind of stuff , just to show that man this is . We want to be Christians who are living on missions .

And this is a test . I need to know if people actually listen to this thing , Like is it just you and me talking to this one listener ? So here's the deal If you will send me or Maverick , a text saying I would love an empower Ranger t-shirt and we get 10 , 10 text messages , that means 10 different listeners have to tell us .

I will figure out a way to make that happen with your size .