Stories tagged with: international missions

• Bapt. mission teams stuck but safe in Haiti

  by Diana Chandler, posted Monday, July 09, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  Woodland Community Church photo

  PORT-AU-PRINCE (BP) -- About 200 Southern Baptists on mission were trapped in Haiti after violent riots closed airports, sources told Baptist Press, but at least one team plans to return home today (July 9).

  "The Woodland Community Church (Bradenton, Fla.) and The Glade Church (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.) team arrived safely at the airport in Port-au-Prince this morning! They are scheduled to return home to the U.S later today," the Bradenton church posted on its Facebook page this morning. "Thank you for praying for this incredible group during their extended stay in Neply" about 20 miles outside of Port-au-Prince. Read More

• Lifelong singleness not an issue for missionary surgeon

  by Diana Chandler, posted Friday, January 05, 2018 (6 years ago)

  

  BP file photo

  NASHVILLE (BP) -- Decorated surgeon and missionary Rebekah Naylor, who heard God's call to medical missions at age 13, never longed for marriage and motherhood. She simply left the details of her life up to the Lord, she told Baptist Press just shy of her 74th birthday.

  "I think it is vital that we not put qualifications on God's call," said Naylor, who celebrated her birthday on Jan. 2. "It cannot be that I agree to respond to God's call to missions provided He gives me a husband or sends me to a particular place.

  "Total submission to Him is essential," she noted. "Then the promise is that He will direct our paths. I have experienced that over and over." Read More

• IMB's Platt: When we pray, God works

  by IMB staff, posted Tuesday, December 12, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- No matter what the story is, whether it's a family planting a church in a doctor's office in Japan or a young man sharing truth over coffee with university students in Mexico City, International Mission Board president David Platt says two things are true: God is at work through missionaries around the world and praying for them matters.

  "This isn't just a rushed or mechanical exercise. God has ordained our prayer as a means to accomplish His purpose in the world," Platt said. "We've got to be aware that our praying for boldness for missionaries is actually going to affect whether or not they have boldness. God ordained it that way. When we pray, God works." Read More

• Hearts drawn to Gospel: Missionaries see God at work

  by Staff, posted Monday, December 11, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB photo

  RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- It was as vivid a dream as it could possibly be, and she didn't know where it came from.

  Dilara* hadn't been asking anyone questions about Jesus or researching Christianity. But in her dream, Jesus picked the woman up from her bed and started walking her through the streets of her town.

  "We eventually came upon this building, and He opened the door for me," she said. Then she realized it was a church. Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Family finds calling in 'young people's haven'

  by IMB staff, posted Friday, December 08, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  LONDON (BP) -- Shane Mikeska's missions calling and plane ticket didn't land him in London -- a tropical illness did. "It definitely wasn't part of our plan," he said. "My wife, Lindsay and I started out in Southeast Asia on an agricultural farm. We loved the people, and we loved the language. But long story short, I got sick."

  He needed to be in a place with a colder climate, and after much deliberation, it looked like England was the place. So the couple moved, and the difference was stark. It wasn't just the climate that was cold; Shane said the people seemed cold toward Christianity. And the pace of life in England's cities felt chaotic and hard to engage. Read More

• What Lottie Moon taught me about injustice, Gospel

  by Lori McDaniel, posted Thursday, December 07, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  RICHMOND (BP) -- I've met injustice face to face.

  She was a trafficked woman who stood beside me at a train station in Asia, her pimp glaring from a few feet away. Everything within me wanted to grab her hand and rescue her. But our conversation ended abruptly, and I don't know where she is today.

  I heard injustice cry out on the edge of an African village as 10-year-old girls were "circumcised" as part of a village tradition. The village women sang in celebration, and my heart split between anger and compassion. The need for justice and the Gospel weighed heavy on my soul. Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Hope for the forgotten refugee

  by IMB staff, posted Thursday, December 07, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  EUROPE (BP) -- Six years ago, one of Seth Peyton's* good friends paid a high price to escape the violence and famine of his home country.

  Like hundreds of other North African refugees, he gave his savings to a smuggler who packed him into a standing-room-only truck for a long, miserable trip across the Sahara Desert followed by a dangerous boat ride across the Mediterranean Sea.

  Many don't make it -- their bodies wash up on the shore of Europe's coast. But Seth's friend said he wasn't sure the fate he found in surviving was better. Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Gospel vision anchors Mexico City team

  by IMB staff, posted Wednesday, December 06, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  MEXICO CITY (BP) -- From Todd Beel's house in Mexico City, he can spot planes coming in every five minutes or so. "Each time, that's another couple hundred people coming in from Europe, multiple cities across Europe, cities across South America, many cities in the United States and Canada," he points out.

  Each time one lands, the city of more than 28 million opens its arms to a little more diversity, and each time, for Todd's team of 12 International Mission Board missionaries, the task gets a little bigger. But that's exactly why they're compelled to be there. Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Prayers back home boost new Japan church

  by IMB staff, posted Tuesday, December 05, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB Photo

  JAPAN (BP) -- From the minute Tara Jones walked through the door of her new pediatrician's office, she knew something was going on that was bigger than the fact she had a sick child.

  Tara and her husband Jared had been praying for years for God to start a fire in the hearts of the people of Japan, where the couple serves as International Mission Board missionaries. They had been praying for God to open very specific doors -- doors that many people had told them were sealed shut. And they had been praying for God to soften hearts in a country many consider hard, cold and closed. Read More

• WEEK OF PRAYER: Ministry among Muslims in Moscow

  by IMB staff, posted Monday, December 04, 2017 (6 years ago)

  

  IMB photo

  MOSCOW, Russia (BP) -- Argun* is tough. He and his friend Carlos*, a businessman who moved to Russia to share Christ with Muslims, spend many nights at a martial arts club in Moscow.

  And when they do, Argun doesn't lose very often.

  When he first met Carlos, Argun was very closed to the Gospel, even hostile. He associated Christians with the Russian army, the ones who bombed his childhood home in Chechnya. But ever since Argun moved to Moscow, his friendship with ... Read More