A Church Family with a Heart for Missions

by Pastor Scott Wendal, Valley Forge Baptist Temple

I am Thankful.

I am thankful that I was saved in a church that had a heart and love for missions and missionaries. I was saved when I was 15 at the Fairfax Baptist Temple in Virginia. My pastor, Bud Calvert, loves missionaries. Thankfully, I learned by example.

I am Amazed.

I am amazed that our church family is so often complimented for their heart and love for missions and missionaries. Is this not what we are supposed to do? Loving what God loves is our mission! It is a great joy as a pastor to see the involvement of our church family in the work of missions.

I am Growing.

Though our church family has a great deal of room for improvement, I would like to share from a “Pastor’s Perspective” what has impacted our church family for missions.

I challenge the believers in our church family to…

A. Give Your Heart!

For Valley Forge Baptist Temple to become a “caring church,” they must learn to have their hearts touched. In Jeremiah’s Lamentations (3:51) he shares with us his secret of having his heart touched…

“Mine eye affecteth my heart.”

This touches your emotions. As our church family sees the presentations by missionaries, their hearts can be touched. Yes, we will see beautiful places and incredible scenery, but we also see people who will spend eternity somewhere—heaven or hell. We all need to be like Jeremiah, and let our eyes affect our hearts. When Jesus “saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion on them, because they fainted, and were scattered abroad, as sheep having no shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). He saw the multitudes with no shepherd, no pastor, no spiritual leader—plenty of wolves, plenty of hirelings and false shepherds. Will you be moved with compassion by what you see in the missionary presentations this next year?

B. Give Your Head!

For Valley Forge Baptist Temple to be a thinking church, it’s going to take time. It is going to take more brain power than what Scott Wendal has to offer. I challenge our staff and lay leaders to…

“Put your thoughts into it.”

This touches your intellect. We must give some serious thought of what we can do for missions. Some in our church family have already done this. Let me give you some examples:

Junior Church leaders who take an offering all year for our missionaries come in at the close of the morning service and present it to them at our conference. That’s the kind of Junior Church I want my children to be in.

Our teenagers take Saturday morning of the conference to clean the missionary cars and vans. They are learning how to be servants to God’s choicest servants. They are cleaning cars and earning treasure in heaven. That’s the kind of youth group I want my teenager to be in.

We contact the missionaries before the conference and ask them for a “Needs List.” Many look over the missionary needs list and say, “What can I do? What can I give? How can I help?” They fill in what they can do before the conference begins. That’s the kind of church I want my family to be in.

C. Give Your Hand!

For Valley Forge Baptist Temple to be a serving church, it’s going to take some sacrifice. Put some elbow grease into it! This touches your will. I challenge everyone in our church to take at least one missions trip in their lifetime. If they cannot go, I encourage them to give so others can go.

Having church members visit the field has transformed the lives of those members. When our members return from the field, their love for missionaries has grown more than anything I could ever say or do for them. They are motivated! They are motivated to give, pray and support like never before. Our church family takes two kinds of mission trips: evangelistic and building. In our building trips, we seek to work side by side with the nationals as we do not want to take away from their church being indigenous. To stay connected, we send our church newsletter to the missionaries, showcase a missionary every week in the bulletin, and show their picture to pray for them.

D. Give From Your Wallet.

For Valley Forge Baptist Temple to be a giving church, it must begin with the pastor. This touches your bank account (and puts treasure in heaven). Teaching on Faith Promise Missions giving, having conferences with BIMI’s finest (field directors, international directors, and other BIMI leaders) results in a giving church. I believe the generosity of our church family’s giving to missions is directly tied to the missions’ conference speakers from BIMI. Missions Booster Sundays are also a highlight and an encouragement to give regularly. I am thankful for the godly leadership that Dr. James Ray gives to these men.

I am Motivated.

Coca-Cola has gone to the world—why can’t we?

The Coca-Cola website states: “Coca-Cola has customers from Boston to Budapest to Bahrain… In the remotest corners of the globe, you can still find Coca-Cola. Every 10 seconds 126,000 people choose to reach for one of the Coca-Cola Company brands and it is the company’s mission to make that choice exciting and satisfying, every single time.”

How well has Coca-Cola fulfilled its mission?

97% of the world has heard of Coca-Cola.

72% of the world has seen a can of Coca-Cola.

51% of the world has tasted Coca-Cola.

Coke has only been around 120 years (1886) and has local operations in over 200 countries. If God had given the task of world evangelization to the Coke company it would probably be done by now.

Christ to the world…that is our mission!

The mission of the New Testament Church is given by our Lord and Savior who said, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Let’s get busy about the Father’s Business and stay out of the stuff that is not our business.