JEFFERSON CITY – Like most Southern Baptist churches in Missouri, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church (PHBC) is a small congregation with a huge mission: reach the world for Christ.
“We may not be able to start a cowboy or biker church on our own, but through the Missouri Missions Offering (MMO) we can be involved in those things,” said Kenny McCune, pastor at PHBC, which averages about 40 people on Sunday mornings. “We can touch the world and though we are a small church, we can have a big impact.”
Prior to 2012, PHBC had not given to MMO for many years. The first year the church gave a little over $200, which increased to $348 in 2013. But this year that amount more than doubled to just over $700, which McCune believes is the result of his congregation’s confidence in the MMO.
“Each year they’ve become more and more familiar with (MMO),” he said. “The first year we relied heavily on the video promotions, but this year we used a little less video and I just made a point to speak about the value of it.”
He said it’s easy for the church to relate to ministries under MMO because they can see the results of the gifts almost immediately. Whether it’s through Disaster Relief projects, associational partnerships or church planting, all of those missions and many more are supported through MMO.
“Not only are we involved in missions throughout Missouri, but we can actually feel that involvement each time we read a story in The Pathway about missions efforts undertaken as a result of MMO,” McCune said.
And it doesn’t take deep church pockets to be a faithful and cheerful giver.
“Finances present a challenge to all churches, big and small, but that should not be our focus when it comes to a missions offering initiative like MMO,” McCune said. “Our primary focus is advancing the gospel and not the mundane issues. If we focus too much on these mundane issues, like money, we are failing the gospel. A church has to look at MMO and not think about what they can’t do, but what they can.”