MBC, NAMB, IMB sponsor missions confab
By Allen Palmeri
Staff Writer
May 25, 2004
JEFFERSON CITY – Kicking off a new missions emphasis within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), Missouri is serving as the pilot state convention for a Global Impact conference set for July 11-12 at Skyline Baptist Church, Branson.
The Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), North American Mission Board (NAMB) and International Mission Board (IMB) are sponsoring “The Acts 1:8 Conference: Expanding Your Missions Vision.” Keynote speakers are John Marshall, pastor, Second Baptist Church, Springfield, and Ed Stetzer, director of the Nehemiah church-planting program for NAMB.
“In every other state convention in the future, they’re going to be wanting to do a joint enterprise like this, with ours being the model,” said Jerry Field, state director of church planting for the MBC who is facilitating the Missouri involvement in the conference.
Field said the conference is intended to be regional, drawing mission-minded Southern Baptists from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Churches like Second Springfield who want to impact a city, a region and distant nations with the Gospel are invited to send representatives.
Second Springfield works closely with the IMB as one of 16 Great Commission Networking Centers, sending short-term missionaries all over the world. The church’s mission statement consists of three simple words: worship, serve, go. The “go” part is how a church can have global impact.
Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Those are the final recorded words of Jesus Christ before He went up to heaven. Thus, the Acts 1:8 SBC strategy is designed to bring total balance to missions as it bears fruit within the local church, Field said.
The conference will consist of general sessions during the day and a message in the evening. Field and other members of the MBC church-planting department will help teach some of the sessions.
For more information on how you can participate in this pioneering missions conference in Branson, call Carla Martin, MBC church planting administrative assistant, at (573) 636-0400, ext. 611.