Mobilizing to be on mission together

I remember it as if it were yesterday, stepping off the plane on the island of Cebu in the Philippines. It was hot and humid, yet there was an excitement with our team I had not experienced before. I had been the pastor of this church for a couple of years, and this was our first mission trip together. The next few days flew by, and we had some incredible experiences serving the Lord.

Leading mission trips for our church became both a passion and a priority. Over the remainder of my time pastoring, we led over 10% of our church overseas on mission trips every year. It lit a fire in us for missions and evangelism that ultimately would begin spreading in our local community. 

I love mobilizing people to go on mission for the Lord. If you are a pastor, let me strongly encourage you to develop mission opportunities for your people. It will have a lasting impact on the ministry of your local church. 

Many churches have mission strategies and opportunities already in place. If your church does, be intentional about leading those trips and taking as many as possible. For a lot of churches, the desire to go is there, but maybe the opportunities are limited. Some churches can send large teams and some only a couple of people. In either circumstance, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention can come alongside you and help you develop a strategy that provides mission opportunities.

In fact, we have a great missions mobilization strategy to do just that, assisting churches in mobilizing their people to the mission field. We have mission opportunities in India, Puerto Rico, and Nevada, and we are in the process of developing some other great mission avenues, as well. Mission trip grants are also available to SBTC pastors. If you would like more information, please contact Colin Rayburn, our missions mobilization associate, at crayburn@sbtexas.com. We would love to serve you in this way.   

If you are a pastor, we lead vision trips to these mission opportunities. We would love to have you join us on one of these trips. I will personally be on some of them and would be honored to spend some time with you as you seek ways to mobilize your people. I love you and am honored to be on mission with you.