JEFFERSON CITY – Lori was a 14-year-old victim of human trafficking when she became a resident of Freedom 43:19, a ministry of the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (MBCH). Thanks to a patient and loving staff, Lori for the first time experienced the freedom and healing only the Lord can give.
Today, Lori talks openly about God, and the staff keeps praying that she will one day trust in Jesus for everlasting life.
The ministries of the MBCH are supported in part through the Rheubin L. South Missouri Missions Offering (MMO).
This week, the Missouri Baptist Convention is mailing packets of promotional materials to churches across the state to help them prepare for the 2018 MMO. The packets should arrive early in July, giving church leaders ample time to prepare for MMO’s fall promotion and week of prayer, slated for Sept. 16-23.
The scriptural theme this year is 1 Chronicles 29:14b: “Everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your hand.”
MBC Executive Director John Yeats notes, “We truly are the recipients of great blessings from the Lord. And when we give back to Him a portion of His abundance through MMO, we are investing in the transformation of lives and communities with the gospel all across our state.”
Last year, 778 Missouri Baptist churches supported MMO. Yeats expressed his hope that the number of participating churches tops 800 this year: “If your church hasn’t been receiving an MMO offering, please review the promotional resources arriving soon and bless your people with an opportunity to support our children’s homes, church multipliers, summer missionaries, and so much more.”
The statewide goal this year is $710,000. Last year, Missouri Baptists contributed $759,920 to MMO, a hefty increase over the previous year, and reaching a level not seen since 2001. Further, last year’s gifts marked the fifth straight year of MMO giving above $700,000.
Supporting missions projects
MMO is our state’s annual missions offering, named after Rheubin L. South, the late executive director who pioneered the annual giving emphasis that today supports projects in three areas of ministry:
- Making disciples – collegiate summer missions; sports evangelism; youth evangelism and missions; Vacation Bible School training and resource development; international student ministry missions conference and new work resources; and Missouri State Fair ministry
- Multiplying churches – next-step requests for church multipliers; partnership missions in Mexico, Italy, and Minnesota/Wisconsin; strategic missionary development; and ethnic church multiplier development
- Developing leaders – disaster relief; volunteer mobilization; Missouri WMU; developing leaders strategic initiatives; church revitalization projects; and hunger relief
In addition, 17 percent of MMO receipts go to the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, which provides spiritual guidance, counseling, and a safe haven from abuse and neglect at five state campuses.
And 10 percent of MMO gifts go back to the associations of the giving churches, where the funds support regional mission projects.
Promotional packets
The promotional packets feature a get-started guide, posters, prayer guide, allocations budget, associational report, and an order card.
Most of these resources are available as free downloads at mobaptist.org/mmo. The move toward electronic resources enables the MBC to significantly reduce postage fees and invest more in MMO mission projects.
“We encourage you to set a faith goal for your church and use the promotional resources to show how the Lord uses even the smallest gift to do great things,” said Yeats.
There are four simple ways to order MMO materials:
- Complete the order form in the promotional mailer, and send it back. All materials are free of charge.
- Click on mobaptist.org/mmo to download materials or to place an order electronically.
- Call 1.800.736.6227, ext. 303, to tell us which resources to send.
- Send an email to cdowell@mobaptist.org.