“And See How They Do” - Acts 15:36

by Frank Gagliano

A few years ago while we were attempting to lead our young church to be a strong Faith Promise Missions Giving church, I was challenged to become more personally involved. One of my deacons said, “Pastor, it would help you and it would help our ministry if you could visit the mission fields to become better acquainted with what our missionaries are already doing.”

I thought about his advice, but I never really had a great desire to do that. I figured I had my own mission field here in Springfield, Tennessee. Shortly after, I turned down a chance to go with two other preachers to Japan. It wasn’t until one of our own couples from our church left to become missionaries to England that I realized that I needed to visit the fields. Since that time, I have been to several different fields and my heart has been challenged in a greater way for missions. Our church has had six missions conferences and our missions budget has gone from $12,000 a year to our recent commitment of $80,000.

Just a few weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting the field of Australia. It was a great joy and honor to be with Dr. Don Sisk, President of BIMI, Dr. Richard Wallace, and Brother Robert Meyer. We went to the area of Brisbane, Australia to preach in the different Baptist churches and to hold a one-day BIMI Field and Bible Conference.

Australia looks just like Southern California except that they drive on the wrong (opposite) side of the street, and the driver sits on the opposite side of the car. They also talk differently than we do! But my heart was so challenged after visiting with these dear missionary pastors and their churches. Australians are very hard to reach with the Gospel. Their attitude about death is this: “It'll be right mate!” Many of them believe that they are here to enjoy life and when it’s over, they’ll go on and enjoy whatever comes next. They are kind people in general, but they are very rude to Bible-believing, witnessing Christians.

Because of this, the harvesting of souls has come very slowly. Pastor Mike Marsh, who has been in Australia for some 25 years, has a church that runs around 100 people on Sunday morning. This is one of the largest Independent Baptist Churches in Australia. We had the privilege of being with Brother Mike’s, Wayne Harper’s, and Bob Bartlett’s churches, and with several other pastors.

Until the Bible Conference on Tuesday, I never realized how much our visit would mean to these dear people. Dr. Sisk, Dr. Wallace, Brother Meyer and I preached. There were three sessions and we each preached a couple of times. After the morning session, one dear brother came up to me and said, “Brother Frank, I came today so discouraged. I’ve been thinking about quitting and giving up. I came today as my last hope!” With tears in his eyes, he said, “God has already encouraged me to stay and to continue to work in His harvest field and to leave the results up to Him.”

All day long these dear but discouraged men, women, and even children, were encouraged, comforted, challenged, and empowered by God to stay at it. The day after the Tuesday Bible Conference, Dr. Wallace and I talked with a brother and his wife who had both attended the Conference. He said, “I’ve been here for fifteen years. Yesterday God did something for me!” He went on to share with us that it had been fifteen years since the last time he felt this warmth inside of his heart for the work of God. There were 22 preachers, their wives and church members who attended the Conference. Each of them came with their own story of God’s blessings that fell on them during our visit. It all came together in my heart when an Australian man said to me “If it weren’t for your American churches, there would be no Baptist churches in Australia.”

I could hardly wait to get home to the field that God has personally called me to! I began to realize how good God has been to me, to allow me to pastor in America at our great church at South Haven. I also realized how important it is that we pray for these precious brethren, who have forsaken family, friends, and many comforts to obey the Lord’s calling. I realized that these folks get discouraged, just like we get discouraged. They need to be reminded, like we do, that we’re only required as stewards to be faithful; God is the one who gives the increase. They need to be reminded, as we do, that God is not unrighteous to forget our work and labor of love which we have done in His name. And may all of us remember that one day if we remain faithful, we can hear these precious words from our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

“Well done thou good and faithful Servant!”

May God give us pastors in America and our churches a world wide vision for souls.