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The stories got Lee Varnado’s heart pumping.
The visiting International Mission Board missionaries told of their work discipling new believers and paving the way to start new churches. It didn’t sound like an easy task, but the engineer couldn’t help but get excited and yearned to go.
Varnado watched as members of his church, North Garland Baptist Fellowship, rose to the task of partnering with the IMB missionaries. He heard more stories as the church sent one, two and even three different teams overseas to minister. The stories were a little different in the physical tasks the short-term missionaries from North Garland told, but the essence was always the same: “God is working in amazing ways!”
Finally, the day came for Varnado to minister in Ecuador and see the benefits of churches partnering with IMB missionaries firsthand.
“Before we even arrived, we were part of their strategy for bringing the gospel to an unreached people group,” Varnado said, explaining they underwent months of preparation for their assigned tasks. “As soon as our feet hit the ground, they had us plugged in and being productive.
“This was no vacation or missionaries carting us around like tourists. It was missions in its purest form—believers working together to share Christ’s redeeming love.”
North Garland is no stranger to partnering with IMB missionaries. The church has struck up partnerships in all corners of the globe. Barry Calhoun, North Garland’s director of missions and support ministry, said it was a way to help them become more “holistic” in ministry by praying for those who have not heard about the saving grace of Jesus Christ, giving to missions through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering which supports the very missionaries they partner with and sending laborers to the nations.
"The IMB knows how to take a people group from unreached to reached, so we just hopped on their wheel instead of reinventing it."
Rather than reinvent the wheel on “going to the nations,” North Garland joined the IMB in its work. Their missionaries were already trained, knew the language, established relationships and had strategies that involved how to enter a ministry in a specific country and how to exit, leaving the work to local believers. Calhoun said this “entry-exit” plan was one of the most appealing aspects because they didn’t want to create something that would be dependent on them but something reproducible by locals.
“I can’t imagine trying to figure all of that out on our own. The IMB knows how to take a people group from unreached to reached, so we just hopped on their wheel instead of reinventing it,” Calhoun said.
by the numbers
Through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Southern Baptists have given more than $5 billion to international missions yielding:
The partnerships look different in each place and even from visit to visit. Varnado’s team was made up of professionals who taught workplace skills. The workshop was used as a way to gain trust in a new community. Another partnership in Sub-Saharan Africa involved sending church member George West to live onsite with missionaries for two months in Madagascar. The semi-retired judge house-sat another missionary’s home and lived within walking distance of the church’s partner. He worked in conjunction with local believers in going door-to-door to share the “Creation to Christ” stories. West walked around the community with a translator visiting and sharing while two local believers walked the countryside.
“Because I had been to this location many times to minister, our partner had confidence to send me out with a translator. He didn’t need to babysit every day. He trained me on what was needed and set us loose,” West said.
The judge acknowledged that he benefited from the relationships already established by their IMB partner and the numerous trips North Garland made to this community. He and the translator were welcomed into homes for the sole purpose of listening to the stories of God.
“Having a person onsite like this is important. They know where to go and where not to go,” West said. “They pass on relationships to you. They have a vision and a strategy. I was blessed to be one small part of the bigger picture of reaching this people group with the gospel.”
