Here We Grow Again

by Dr. Don Sisk

February 21—The new World Missions Center is open for the first day of official business. Miles of wire have been installed for telephones, computers, closed-circuit television, and other equipment. Hundreds of yards of carpet have been installed. Forty thousand square feet of wall space have been painted or papered. Inside and outside the building looks new and beautiful. Praise God!

Thousands of hours of manpower were donated. (By the way, much of that was womanpower). So many people have contributed in such a variety of ways that it would be literally impossible to mention names.

On June 5, the World Missions Center was flooded with new candidates (71 of them). It was a great joy to be able to house and feed the candidates at the Missions Center. It was a wonderful two weeks as they learned from field directors, office staff, godly pastors and furloughing missionaries.

On Sunday, June 11, a great host of local people came for our open house. Monday evening was set aside for the 35th Anniversary celebration. On Tuesday evening, we had the Dedication service for the new World Missions Center. Over 500 people were present for these services. Everyone was thrilled at the obvious presence of God during the activities. The need of the world was emphasized and the Lord Jesus Christ was magnified as the hope of the world.

In short, it was a time to give praise and honor to God. We want to invite you who were not able to come to any of these activities to please make plans to visit us at your convenience.

During the various activities I was asked more than once “Where do we go from here?” This is a valid question. God has so wonderfully provided for Baptist International Missions, Inc. From the beginning our slogan has been, “We exist to serve.” Our purpose is to serve local churches and missionaries who need and desire our service. Because of what God has done and the wonderful provisions He has made for us, I cannot help but feel that He is pre-paring us for a great period of growth.

We will now be able to provide temporary housing for missionaries and other people coming into Chattanooga for mission business. We have over 70 acres of beautiful property that can be utilized for building retirement homes for missionaries, cottages for missionaries to live in while on deputation and furlough, and houses for people who would work here at the World Missions Center.

Soon after Candidate School, I was off to Russia. What a privilege to go on this trip with our European director, James Ray, and his wife and his assis-tant director, Brant Holladay. Virginia and I were thrilled to work with these dear people along with several others from churches all over America in Bible distribution. We were also involved in a field conference. Over and over, the missionaries expressed their appreciation for the efficiency of the home staff of BIMI. We desire to provide this kind of service for people all over the world.

With so many open fields and so great a need all over the world, I look forward to a continual growth of Baptist International Missions. I am reminded of a statement of a mission-ary who had spent many, many long years in a particular field. When asked about the future of his field he replied, “The future is as bright as the promises of God.” Hudson Taylor emphasized that God’s work will never lack God’s provisions. This has been verified by God’s provision for our mission.

I dream of a day when we can offer our services to the missionaries without any administrative cost to them. This can be a reality if all the churches which support missionaries through BIMI would contribute something each month for administrative costs.

I have a dream . . . of being able to provide housing for missionaries on deputation so they can immediately be-gin their deputation ministry. This can be a reality if some churches will build houses on our property for this.

I have a dream . . . that when mis-sionaries retire and have no place to go, they can come here to the World Missions Center, live in comfort, and contribute to the mission through their prayers, counsel to young missionaries, and other activities which would be valuable to the entire mission cause. Again, this can be a reality as individu-als, companies, businesses and church-es feel led of God to build homes of this nature.

I have a dream . . . about having great missionary conferences where young people from colleges all over America would be challenged and encouraged to give their lives for worldwide evangelization.

I have a dream . . . that pastors from all over America can come here to the World Missions Center and, in modular courses, be trained in worldwide evangelization by pastors and mission personnel who have experienced firsthand what missions is all about.

To whom much is given, much is required. God has given us much. We feel obligated to share that which God has given to us with the entire body of Christ.

I have a dream . . . that Bible-believing, fundamental Baptists would forget their pet peeves and work togeth-er so that everyone in our generation might hear the Gospel message at least one time. This can be a reality. God never commands the impossible, and He has commanded us to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

As a mission organization, we are now 35 years old. Thank God we are still growing. Once again, we say to good, Bible-believing, fundamental Baptist churches all over the world that if we can serve you in any way, please do not hesitate to let us know. We exist to serve. As we serve others, we will continue to grow.