Posted by

Posted on

December 30, 2021

Posted under

The Harvest in Marlow, Oklahoma

By James Mitchell - Church Planter

If you’ve ever been excited to watch a shuttle or rocket launch, you know sometimes there is a delay. That is just what we’ve experienced. In mid-September, my wife and I both tested positive for COVID. Our quarantine covered the date of our launch. It was hard, but we knew we had to decide to delay. What we have learned through the process is nothing short of amazing.

Our team is ready, still growing, and eager to lead. On the date which should have been our launch, September 26, our worship team, recovery ministry team, and greeters wanted to go ahead and meet, even though their pastor was home. By the afternoon, we had a team brimming with confidence in their roles, contacts from first-time visitors that Sunday, a hunger to see God “add to our number,” and a passion for people far from God.

It’s time to lean into our strengths and work on the weak areas. We have already begun the process of acknowledging what we do well and showcasing it. The flip side is seeing where we are weak and finding out ways to right the ship. Our student ministry is thriving, with many of the teenagers who attend Wednesdays coming from homes where parents do not attend church yet. We have chosen to use the word “yet” deliberately.

We hope that Christ at work in the lives of these young people will be the catalyst to bring entire families to saving faith in Jesus.

Lastly, our family has seen we are genuinely not alone in this desire to reach Marlow and Northern Stephens County. I am delighted, proud, and excited about the future of the Harvest Church because it’s not a Mitchell family project. It is God at work in the lives of believers, new and seasoned, with a passion for reaching the “nones and dones,” as we put it. ‘Nones’ are people who traditionally have had nothing to do with church. ‘Dones’ are people who have given up on attending church or decided to ‘never go back.’

A FEW PRAYER REQUESTS:

Continue reading →

Posted by

General Baptist Ministries

Posted on

December 27, 2021

Posted under

Church Growth, Executive Office, General Baptists

We Exist FOR The Church!

By Danny Dunivan - President of General Baptist Ministries

God has called General Baptist Ministries to exist for the church.

We do not exist so that churches can support us. We exist to make it possible for the local church to fulfill the Great Commission. The role of the national organization is not to make disciples. We exist so that the local church can do that work more effectively. Whether we come alongside a church to help them make a bigger impact in their community or give them the ability to extend their ministry to other communities in the US and around the world, our God-given core purpose is to be for churches. Full stop.

We do this by inspiring and equipping churches to make disciples through strategically focusing on developing leaders, engaging with churches, and doing missions. Everything else is a distraction!

The focus on multiplying the local church’s ministry is not a new focus or an accident of our time. We have always been passionate about this common mission! We are loyal to our organization because we believe the mission is worth it! We give ourselves to serve one another because we believe that we can do more together than we could alone. Any time we have strayed from these shared values, we have violated our identity.

Even our doctrinal convictions are a product of these values! We believe that making disciples of all nations means that all people are the object of our mission. Christ died for all, and we are sent to share this good news with all. We have believed that the scope of such a venture requires us to work together.

Despite our shared mission, values, and beliefs, sometimes we have failed to live them out as an organization, as individuals, or as churches. We have sometimes focused on the wrong things and decided that we can do more alone than together. This also is not new!

Recently while looking through some older materials developed by different General Baptist ministries before I was born, we discovered conversations about mistrust or failures to cooperate that sound as they could be from last week. Even as far back as the late 1800s, I have read people decrying our failure to partner and were exasperated because the common mission was so clear!

Our future together is bright insofar as we can leverage our partnership around our shared mission and values! Moving forward, we will continue to focus on how our working together makes us better. I will champion engagement with our churches and lead so that the mission is clearly at the fore, and we will be transparent in the way we operate to accomplish the mission.

Continue reading →

Posted by

General Baptist Ministries

Posted on

June 4, 2021

Posted under

Calling, International Missions, Mission One Teams

Called As A Mission Team Lead

By Charity Julian

My first experience with missions was at a very young age. Dad was pastoring the Oak Grove General Baptist Church in Oakland City, Indiana. Once a month, our Wednesday Night children’s group participated in a program called Guild, which later was renamed Youth for Missions. We learned about all the various missionaries serving our denomination. We were taught about the countries the missionaries served and researched the differences between the numerous cultures being encountered on the mission fields. It was interesting to discover what the missionaries were accomplishing, and the variety of talents being used for the Kingdom of God. We studied nurses providing medical care to people with little exposure to healthcare. We read about educators teaching at the General Baptist Bible College in the Philippines and nurturing individuals providing a good home environment for orphans in Jamaica. I was amazed by how God equipped ordinary people with talents that could be used for his glory.

Missions continue to impact my life as an adult. I went on my first mission trip during the summer of 2011. To say the least, it was a life-changing event. While on that trip, God laid on my heart a desire to lead mission trips, so that others could encounter the same experience I had. It is amazing how your perspective is transformed through involvement with new cultures and surroundings. When you are removed from the comforts of your hometown, you are faced with language barriers and cultural differences that oftentimes leave you feeling inadequate. During those times God reveals how much we need him, not just on mission trips, but every day of our lives.

A few years ago, one of our teams chose to do a Vacation Bible School at Bethel General Baptist in Honduras. As with anything in life when you begin a new project, things do not always go as planned. First, I had never led a VBS in a cross-cultural setting. One of the major obstacles in a project like this is the language barrier. This hurdle seemed like an insurmountable task, but God placed knowledgeable people in our path and provided the tools to overcome this challenge. Next, we prepared snacks and craft material for about 60 children. All these arrangements were in keeping with our initial budget. A week before we left, we found out 100 more children would be in attendance. The team prayed about our “wonderful” problem and God provided for every need.

Honestly, there have been times I did not want to leave family and journey on another mission trip. There have been times when I feared for the health and safety of others. I have often dreaded riding on a bus due to issues with car sickness. I have even felt overwhelmed by the jobs we have signed up to do, but God has given responsibilities like these to all of us at some point in life. When all these doubts and fears enter my mind, I find peace in knowing God always provides for his laborers. He does not always call the equipped to serve, but he always equips those he calls.