By Vince Daniel, Vice President for National Missions

When Horace Greeley wrote the famous words: “Go West, young man, go West and grow up with the country,” there was land to be acquired and room to expand. That quote in 1865 is now resonating with General Baptist. In 2022 and beyond, we will be investigating and pursuing multiple works in the country’s western region.

We have been in conversations with a ministry in the Phoenix area called the Southwest Indian Missionary Association. They have geographical access to over 30 Native American Reservations in the region of Arizona and Nevada. Please be praying as we continue conversations regarding a partnership to reach these areas of our country with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We have been blessed with a couple from the Philippines to go through our assessment and are approved to plant a church in the Seattle area of Washington State. Alvin and Juana Rebong are excited and anticipating God doing a great work in the Northwest Region of the States. Be watching for more information toward the end of the year on this great work.

Finally, we are nearing the completion of an agreement with a church plant in southern Colorado in Canon City. With a plan for expansion into the mountains of Colorado, there is a feeling of excitement and adventure.

On the 20th of March, we are asking that churches across our movement take on the Call to Go West. Like Horace Greeley’s quote, Jabez prayed that God would expand our borders. We know that God’s hand will guide us and that He will keep us from harm. We are asking you to help us expand our borders. Whether you make National Missions a part of your annual budget or help with a one-time offering for these projects, your investment will result in winning people to Christ.

Thank you in advance for your generosity.

"1 Chronicles 4:10 Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!" And God granted what he asked."

By Steve Perry National Missions Church Planter

I was born in Detroit, Michigan, during the 1980s, when the crack cocaine epidemic took place. My grandfather was a drug dealer, my mother and father were selling drugs as well. They were also drug users. The 1990s was when the police got more involved, and I watched many of my family members very close to me, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends were either locked up or die from the lifestyle. Thanks to Nancy Reagan’s campaign on “Say No” to drugs. I had a tangible reality on why to say “NO” to drugs. We lived in poverty; we had so many roaches that there had to be at least 3 Kingdoms of them, and on top of that, they were fighting wars.

It was just a sad situation. I knew as a child that for me not to die or get caught on drugs that I had to do something different. In August of 1990, I was seven years old. One Saturday evening, I asked my mother if my brother and I could go to church. She allowed us to go to church. We had never gone, so we wore a white shirt, black pants, and white gym socks. I also wore a belt for a tie.

We went to church, and I heard a gospel that Sunday so simple and with so much energy that I had to give my life to Christ. I was compelled in a church service that I needed a Savior. I needed a person that could change the direction I could have gone because of the examples I had around me.

I often ask myself what would have happened if that church was not in that community. Would I have tried Islam if it was there? If Hebrew Israelites were there, would I have made that choice? Why didn’t I join a gang? After all, that’s what young inner-city boys do when they have no guidance. What would my life be like if there was no Gospel-based church in that neighborhood? Maybe I would not have received God. When we started gathering our core group, all I had in mind was, “How could I reach a kid or an adult within this context that would be a follower of Jesus Christ.”