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LifeWay offers free church resources for July 19 Children’s Ministry Day observations

NASHVILLE, Tenn. When 9-year-old Zac McCullar presented a motion at the 2018 Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Annual Meeting to add Children’s Ministry Day to the denominational calendar, he likely never imagined how children’s ministry would look just two years later.

Despite a pandemic with social distancing rules and modified activities, Children’s Ministry Day—which falls on July 19 this year—should still be observed and celebrated in our churches, said Jana Magruder, director of LifeWay Kids.

Maybe, even more so than ever.

“Everyone has in some way been affected by COVID-19,” said Magruder. “Children and families have been uniquely impacted because everything about day-to-day life—school, work, time with friends, and church has changed, and one person’s changes in the household affect everyone else. This, alone, is a reminder of why children’s ministry is critical to the church—and to the families in our congregations.”

Children’s Ministry Sunday is a day set aside by the SBC to express gratitude to God for the ministry churches provide to kids and their families. It’s also a day to recognize children’s ministry volunteers.

“Even before the pandemic, no church could do children’s ministry well without the diligence and dedication of volunteers,” said Magruder. “And over these past few months, children’s ministry volunteers everywhere have been heroes in our congregations. Countless modifications have been made to every aspect of the way they serve kids. They certainly deserve extra accolades this year.”

Whether churches are meeting online, gathering in homes in smaller groups for family worship, or offering children’s classes again, LifeWay Kids has created free resources to help churches facilitate recognition of this day on the SBC calendar. The resources include a sermon outline, children’s object lesson, teacher appreciation ideas, and “share squares” to help churches and leaders observe Children’s Ministry Day on their social media accounts.

LifeWay offers several suggestions for using the resources to observe Children’s Ministry Day:

Enlist a child, volunteer, or parent(s) to share a testimony in the worship service.
Include kids in opportunities to serve in church such as reading Scripture, praying, etc.
Lead a parenting class using the resource “Settle for Nothing Less” (virtually or in person).
Recognize events that have taken place during the summer such as VBS and camp. Share with the church how these events fit into the overall strategy of your children’s ministry to share the gospel with kids.
Share a video highlighting the different parts of kids ministry.
Take to social media to highlight how the children’s ministry has served and ministered to families during the time of quarantine, possibly inviting a family or teacher to share a personal story by video or in person.
Share how kids, their families, and teachers ministered to others in the church and community during the last few months of quarantine.
Remind parents of ways the children’s ministry continues to provide resources and curriculum for their children (in person or digitally).
Use the provided object lesson and sermon outline in church services.

“This is a critical time to remind children, families and volunteers of their value—not just in the local church but as God’s image-bearers,” said Magruder. “I encourage every church to not only do the recognition on Children’s Ministry Sunday, but to continue year-round the work of the gospel in a spirit of gratitude for His grace and for one another.”

To access LifeWay’s free Children’s Ministry Day Resources, visit LifeWay.com/ChildrensMinistryDay.

Southwestern Seminary trustees approve reduced budget, receive “encouraging signs” for future

FORT WORTH—Trustees of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary unanimously approved a “conservative” budget for the 2020-2021 academic year, while hearing about “encouraging signs” for student enrollment during a called meeting, July 14.

The meeting was conducted via videoconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trustees decided in their April meeting to have the special meeting in order to give the administration and trustees more time to evaluate the ramifications of the pandemic before adopting the annual budget. The meeting was held in executive session

Trustees approved a $29.7 million budget, which is six percent lower than the prior year.

“This budget represents a conservative approach in projecting revenue, a commitment to holding the line on institutional expenses, but yet is bathed in prayerful optimism that the Lord will help us to overachieve and see positive results in stewardship of the institution and its resources,” said President Adam Greenway, reflecting on the trustee action.

“We want to be in the position to navigate throughout this academic and fiscal year in a way that continues to keep students and faculty at the heart of all that we do at Southwestern Seminary,” he added. “And the commitment of our trustees and our administration is to continue to provide essential funding for us to carry out our assignment and our responsibilities.”

In spite of the pandemic, however, Greenway sees “encouraging signs” about the future.

Although the pandemic prevented an in-person preview for prospective students, the seminary hosted a series of online “virtual previews,” resulting in 165-percent increase in participation over spring 2019. Additionally, the seminary has received 63 percent more applications resulting from the virtual previews than the 2019 and 2018 spring previews combined.

“Especially in the midst of a pandemic, we are greatly encouraged by seeing a significant uptick in new student enrollment, particularly new student on-campus enrollment for this fall,” he said. “Further, at this point, it appears we will have a record summer enrollment in terms of total hours taken by students, a 24.9 percent increase compared to last summer, despite the fact that we were only able to offer online courses.”

After transitioning to an entirely online instruction model in March, Southwestern was the first Southern Baptist seminary to announce plans for resuming on campus, in-person instruction for the fall semester. The seminary is finalizing plans for returning students to campus following a “deep cleaning” of dorms and classrooms.

“We are implementing various procedures by which social distancing can be observed while still receiving the highest quality educational experience in the classroom,” Greenway said of the plans. “In some cases, this will include limiting the size of classes; in others this may include having a single course meet in multiple locations.”

Trustees also approved a new strategic plan as a part of the institution’s decennial accreditation process.

Trustee chairman Philip Levant, pastor of Iglesia Bautista La Vid in Hurst, said the board and administration are united in the seminary’s mission.

“There’s a lot of uncertainty because of COVID-19, but our mission has not changed,” he said. “The will of the president and his cabinet and the will of the board is to continue to fulfill the mission God has given us as an institution. As long as God allows us to do that, we’re going to continue training men and women for the gospel ministry.”

The Bible this quarter

One day in late March when the pandemic had just canceled the NBA season and trans-Atlantic travel and time was going nowhere quickly, my mom suggested I take the second quarter of 2020 to read the Bible. She was then finishing a 90-day reading plan and meant to repeat it in April-June. “If you ever have time to do it, it’ll be now,” she said. I couldn’t argue with that.

We followed a chronological reading plan, the type where you read 2 Chronicles in the middle of the Prophets, and where the Gospel of John and his three letters come right before Revelation. Perhaps Q3 will be a bit faster-paced than Q2, but whether busy or not I’d recommend reading the Bible quickly in big chunks, and here are some reasons and tips for it.

One, reading large sections of Scripture helps you notice different things than you might at a slower pace. You’ll cover Genesis, say, in half a week, which lends itself to seeing how the Serpent at the beginning is “crafty,” but so too are Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and his sons. The long downward spiral of Israel and the pleas of the prophets will drag out week after week. And then in short order Jesus shows up, and things change quickly.

Two, the Bible is not just a book—but it is a book. Reading chunks at a time lets you read entire stories and entire books in one sitting, which is how they would have been read (or heard) originally. Thus I found myself reading the entire Joseph story, or the whole book of Hebrews, in one morning. I no doubt missed some details a good, slow reading would uncover, but I felt the overarching themes more readily.

Three, I recommend you get a verse-less, chapter-less Bible, often called a “Reader’s Bible,” in whatever version you like best. A couple pages into Genesis, I was hooked. Even now in my shorter daily readings, I often reach for Volume I: Pentateuch, rather than my “regular” Bible. I find taking away the chapters and verses helps me pay attention to the words, without the constant tick-tock of numbers counting up or counting down to when I’m done for the day. What other book do we do that with?

Four, reading the Bible in 90 days is a commitment, but it’s a manageable one. Maybe I spent about 45 minutes to an hour in the morning, but with a little planning that’s not too bad. Pour yourself a little extra coffee. Reading the Bible in 90 days might sound intimidating (it did to me), but reading a really great book for 45 minutes every day? That sounds wonderful. And again this is 2020: what else are you going to do?

Five, keep a journal or mental log. It doesn’t have to be fancy—just a couple sentences or bullet points of themes, words or ideas that stuck out to you—from that day or from the last couple of days. Reading big chunks of Scripture means you’re likely to glaze over a lot of it. On the other hand, what you do remember you’re more likely to remember; it’s easier to find a connection between the end of Matthew and the beginning when you read the beginning two mornings ago and not last week.

The joke goes that historians one day will say they specialize in the year 2020, only to be asked, “Yeah, but which quarter?” Why not take this next quarter to read the Bible quickly in big chunks?

Midwestern Seminary introduces free local church theological training through FTC Institute

Midwestern Seminary announced July 7 the launching of the For the Church Institute—a free online training platform designed to provide accessible theological training to equip, encourage and edify the local church and beyond.

Jordan Wilbanks, director of church partnerships at Midwestern Seminary, acknowledged that there is a growing movement in local churches, called “church-based theological education,” where regular church members are seeking out educational opportunities—such as classes typically taken in seminaries—from within their own churches.

In response to this need, Wilbanks said Midwestern Seminary has spent considerable time over the past year-and-a-half developing For the Church Institute, which provides solid theological training to local congregations through 10-week classes on foundational subjects like theology, church history, being a Christian, Old Testament, New Testament and more.

“What we’ve aimed for in developing FTC Institute is to provide a curriculum consisting of shell versions of our core classes that are accessible for anyone from pre-teens to great-grandmothers,” Wilbanks said. “We want to remove the ivory tower image of a seminary in our dealings with churches. The fact is we exist for local churches.

“Our primary goal is to strengthen the church from the inside out,” he added. “In these challenging cultural times, it’s imperative that our everyday church members know how to defend their faith and continue growing as a Christian.”

The FTC Institute, Wilbanks shared, is a free resource built specifically for church members to learn from Midwestern Seminary’s world-class faculty—making the Bible come alive and enabling believers to grow in a deeper knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Wilbanks added that through this program there is absolutely no intent to displace the local church pastor’s teaching responsibilities or teaching function. Rather, he noted, “For the Church Institute is a tool created to help church leaders shepherd their people and equip them for ministry.

“The courses are intended to help church members know God better through his Word under the instruction of their pastors with our professors as a resource. At Midwestern Seminary, we have a world-class faculty, and FTC Institute shares them directly with local churches. In these classes, you can build a solid foundation of theological education to strengthen your faith and your confidence with the Word of God.”

Wilbanks said his office frequently hears from pastors wanting to provide some kind of educational structure so their people can grow deeper in their personal study and knowledge of God. In partnership, he said, FTC Institute desires to see these saints, with eyes trained on eternity, being equipped for the work of the ministry—while not leaving all the ministry to those in pastoral ministry.

For the Church Institute’s initial offerings include Church History I, taught by John Mark Yeats, dean of students and professor of church history; Theology I, led by Owen Strachan, associate professor of Christian Theology; “Being a Christian” with President Jason Allen; and “The Story of Everything” led by Jared Wilson, author-in-residence and assistant professor of pastoral ministry. Other courses to be developed in the future include Old Testament & New Testament Surveys and Interpreting the Bible.

Wilbanks explained that FTC Institute is a tool ready-made for pastors to help their churches without needing much prep time, and participating church members aren’t required to have any prior level of training to benefit from the courses. “Just come with a heart willing to learn more about the God who saw fit to come to the earth, save us from sin, death, and hell, and make us his own through his Son, Jesus Christ.”

The FTC Institute’s vision for the future is one in which each member of each Christian church is trained with sound doctrine to go and make disciples, Wilbanks said. “For the Church Institute is not a silver bullet or the ultimate answer to any church’s woes—again, that answer is Jesus Christ.

“But through these classes, we desire to have a church body in which 15-year-olds know that the Old and New Testaments are one story, revealing the Word made flesh. We need our oldest saints equipped and laser-focused for mission that they might share the great story of Scripture with friends who fear the darkness on the nearing horizon. As a result, the church of Jesus Christ will be made stronger.”

To learn more about the FTC Institute or register your church for the program, visit www.ftcinstitute.com.

SBTC founding board member dies

Albert Yukio Kawamoto, 87, a member of SBTC’s inaugural executive board from 1998-2007 died June 24. Kawamoto was born in Hawaii and worked for 29 years at IBM. He also served as a trustee for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards said of Kawamoto, “Brother Al had great experience in leadership and business practices, and he brought those gifts to his diligent service to the SBTC during its first years. We know that he is rejoicing the presence of the Lord he loved so well. We are grateful for the faithfulness he showed in serving the churches of our convention.”

He is survived by Kathleen, his wife of 55 years, three children, eight grandchildren and a great granddaughter. His memorial service was held July 13 at the Arlington Park campus of Rush Creek Church in Arlington, Texas.

A climate of change

To suggest America is experiencing rapid change may strike you as an elaborate understatement. Ironically, for most of our lives cultural change has been a constant. America is no stranger to change and even frequent disruptive adjustments to the status quo. In the midst of rapid change, regardless of how frequently it challenges us, we always have choices to make. We can recoil and hope for the best, or we can get involved and attempt to influence the moment. Southern Baptists have a history of choosing action.

For instance, in 1919 our Southern Baptist predecessors, including Baptist leaders in Texas like George W. Truett, L. R. Scarborough and J. B. Gambrell, led the convention to embrace a vision that would capitalize on global change and get serious about reaching the nations for Christ. They and others championed the idea of a new way of cooperating to fund missions, evangelism and theological education. The $75 Million Campaign of 1919 was an effort to raise $75 million for missions and ministry. By 1925 their initial vision matured and was presented to the convention as a way to work cooperatively and sacrificially to do “missions, teaching and benevolence.” The plan was adopted, and the Cooperative Program, which still serves as our best way of funding the Great Commission, was born.

Most of us are familiar with that history, but for a moment consider those dates. Think about the cultural upheaval around those events. From 1914-1918 America was embroiled in World War I. The next year Southern Baptists began pressing for a coordinated giving mechanism. In fact, L. R. Scarborough used the unity and sacrifice exhibited by the nation during the war effort as a prime example of what can be done when we sacrificially commit and work together. So rather than letting the specter of war and the cultural disruption it caused stop them from launching their vision, Scarborough appealed to that same can-do spirit present in the nation during the war as a catalyst for funding missions!

In addition to the national challenge of war and its aftermath, the most deadly pandemic of the 20th century claimed nearly 700,000 American lives as the influenza of 1918 spread across the country and around the world. Still, Southern Baptists soldiered on with their vision to reach the world for Christ in spite of the fact the convention was mired in crippling debt at the time of the Cooperative Program’s adoption.

Then, just a little more than 48 months after the 1925 Convention, when the Cooperative Program began, the stock market crash of 1929 led immediately to the Great Depression. Still, Southern Baptists gave generously and pressed forward with their new Cooperative Program.

It’s obvious from this brief overview we are not the first generation to experience big challenges and constant change. The exact circumstances may be different today, but, in one sense, the questions before us are the same: Will we recoil at this moment of cultural change, or will we work together and give sacrificially in the face of the volatility around us?

The churches of the SBTC, as we trust God with the future and give faithfully and sacrificially through the Cooperative Program, will continue to support missionaries, minister compassionately and responsively in times of tragedy, plant churches and train a new generation of men and women for ministry. Our work together is greater than anything we can achieve separately. Cultural change is not a reason to stop working together. On the contrary, the constant change in culture and many of the problems associated with destabilized cities, families and emerging cultural norms are clearly calls for us to work more in sync than ever before. We work better as teams.

Our generosity and faithfulness in giving is part of our answer to volatility and change. We give not in spite of change but as a response to it. After all, we are proponents of change—the kind that occurs in the human heart when lost people suddenly become followers of Christ.

Through sacrifice, generosity and teamwork, God has used Southern Baptists of Texas as a powerful witness across Texas and throughout the Southern Baptist Convention. In the days ahead, regardless of unforeseen changes, our support of the Cooperative Program and the work of the SBTC can be among the things that don’t ever have to change.

Support of missionaries absolutely vital for gospel advance

Throughout our 175-year history, Southern Baptists have maintained an uninterrupted witness among the nations in spite of famines, wars, civil unrest and—as we have all experienced this year—even a pandemic. This commitment has not come without sacrifice by your missionaries, and their continued witness cannot continue without your sacrifices of support.

The financial challenges we are facing at this moment are significant as we seek to care for missionaries and take advantage of open doors to impact the lost. Your continued gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® are absolutely vital for us to continue to advance the gospel. We cannot continue our work without the support of your prayers and your gifts.

What impact is made when you pray and give? More than half a million people heard a gospel witness last year, resulting in nearly 90,000 new believers!

In Central Asia, IMB teams created gospel-witness videos for 99 different languages. Production has begun on gospel videos for the last 11 languages of Central Asia which have no Bible tools of any kind.
Deaf Southeast Asians have set up a studio for Scripture translation, and the local Deaf church is working with IMB colleagues to evangelize, plant churches, work on Bible translations with other new believers and complete Bible stories in all the neighboring countries of Southeast Asia.
In North Africa and the Middle East, evangelism has happened in a clinic, a gym, a living room, a coffee shop, a barbershop, a park, a classroom—all places where your Christian workers normally interact with people in their communities on a daily basis.
In South Asia, small congregations dedicated 30 minutes a day for 30 days to talk to people intentionally about Jesus. Over the course of one month, these faithful individuals shared with more than 7,000 people!
The Lord has worked mightily among a traditionally animist people group in the mountains of East Asia. The church has grown, and there are hundreds of believers among this remote group. Now the church is working to send out missionaries to reach other unreached groups with the gospel.

Has everyone heard? No, everyone has not yet heard. We know that every second, two people die without knowing Christ. We know that 25 percent of spoken languages do not have Scripture to share the gospel in their heart languages.

Thank you for continuing to give, even as you are navigating these unexpected challenges. Your commitment makes a difference! I recently received a message from one of your IMB missionaries, Joyce Pittman, a member of the São Paulo Gateway City Team who has served with our company for 23 years:

“This morning … I was struck with the thought of how supported we have been during this COVID-19 crisis by the IMB. … It is a difficult time to do our job and feel productive. We are all seeking the Lord daily for guidance, but sometimes we let the enemy accuse us of not doing enough or not being useful right now. Not once though has any pressure been put on us by the IMB or any accusation been made of not adequately doing our jobs. Instead, what has been expressed over and over during this challenging time is care, concern and encouragement.

“That is why I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the IMB and commend all the leadership for the way you have treated us during the pandemic. You have made us feel loved and understood. You have shown you trust our dedication to the calling God has on our lives as missionaries, even in the midst of an unprecedented situation such as the one in which we are all living. So thank you for the way you have responded to this crisis and how you have consistently upheld your missionary colleagues. You are in our prayers!”

The care our missionaries feel is care your support makes possible. Thank you for helping missionaries such as Joyce shine the light in a dark world—especially in a year when a pandemic threatens our economic stability.

The nations are waiting. Will you give now at imb.org/give? Thank you for doing your part.

Editor’s Note: IMB’s 2020 Annual Report can be watched online at: www.imb.org/video-gallery.

Brazos County church building “total loss” in Fourth of July fire

BRYAN – Southern Oaks Baptist Church burned to the ground late in the evening July 4. . No one was injured, but the building is a “total loss,” according to SBTC field ministry strategist Gordon Knight, who works with pastors in the area.

The building “started burning sometime around midnight on Saturday night,” Knight said. By the time the fire department arrived, the building was “totally engulfed.” Around 4 a.m., the fire was under control.

The church held an Independence Day celebration the evening of the fire, Knight said, but “they left the church around 10:30” and when the fire started “no one was on the property.”

The cause of the fire is still being investigated. “Because of the total destruction of the church, it’s going to be very, very hard for them to determine what happened,” he said. It’s unclear whether enough evidence remains for investigators to know what started the fire. Jason Ware, Brazos County Precinct 3 Volunteer Fire Department chief, told KBTX that “when you have this much fire damage … it’s very difficult to determine a cause.”

SBTC Executive Director Jim Richards commented, “It has been my blessing to have known Pastor Ramiro from the early days of the SBTC. We are sorry with them in the loss of their facility but stand with them as they seek to move forward for the future.”

Hours after the fire died down on Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. the congregation gathered at the Baptist Student Ministry on the campus of Texas A&M. Southern Oaks, which began as a mission church, runs about 70 people on a normal Sunday, according to Knight.

Knight, who in addition to serving with the SBTC also pastors Christ’s Way Baptist Church in Bryan, said his church has also offered its facility for Southern Oaks to use.

“I’ve known Southern Oaks for quite some time,” Knight said. “ The pastor is an excellent, excellent servant. He and his family are great people. The church is solid. I just think it’s very unfortunate that it happens to anybody, but when you actually know who the people are—it’s close to home, it’s personal. We as the SBTC want to do everything we can to help them with everything they need, and we’ll be here for them.

“This church is an example of the majority of Southern Baptist churches,” Richards said. “Although small in number they have been faithful to our Lord Jesus through the years.”

Ensuring diversity, quality key goal for GuideStone

Kasan Boyd is no stranger to GuideStone’s employees and leadership. A 14-year veteran of GuideStone^®, Boyd knows the organization’s needs thoroughly.

In her newest role, as director of inclusion and diversity, she’ll lead GuideStone’s efforts to recruit and retain a more diverse workforce.

“I believe my purpose in life is to help people,” Boyd said. “In this day and time we all need help in understanding what is needed to eradicate these deep-rooted injustices that we see in our country and how those play out in our everyday lives. When I was approached about leading inclusion and diversity efforts at GuideStone, I saw this as the opportunity to help GuideStone show the world what it truly means to walk out Romans 12:5–8, and I knew this was God’s hand at work.”

GuideStone strives to reflect the ethnic diversity of the Southern Baptist Convention and recognizes the inherent strength of a diverse workplace, GuideStone President O.S. Hawkins said. The ministry’s recruiting efforts seek an ethnically diverse team through visits to college career fairs, the career website and other recruiting materials. At the start of 2020, non-Anglo employees accounted for 17.9% of GuideStone employees, up from 9.8% at the beginning of this millennium.

“One would think that after two millennia, the words of James 2:1–13 have become optional choices instead of principles for living in Christ,” Hawkins said. “Sadly, as the events of 2020 remind us, favoritism and its close cousin racism are alive and continue to plague our nation, its institutions, and even the last place we should ever see racism, some churches. It should not be so. At GuideStone, we are working daily to ensure it is not true in our offices, and we could not be more thrilled that Kasan has taken on the task of helping us build a more diverse workforce.”

Boyd is respected and loved throughout the organization. A University of Texas graduate, the Fort Worth native is well-acquainted with GuideStone’s ministry and business needs, having spent eight years as a corporate trainer and senior corporate trainer before joining the Human Resources team almost six years ago. In Human Resources, Boyd distinguished herself by partnering with different business divisions, providing employee development and coaching.

“Now is our opportunity to show the world God’s vision for inclusion and diversity — what conversations, actions and behaviors should look like,” she said. “This type of culture allows employers to be relevant and in touch with those they serve.”

In management ranks, GuideStone has grown its diverse population more than 300% since 2005, including the addition of a South Korea-born health care leader — Chu Soh — to the executive team. Among its Board of Trustees, GuideStone currently has five African American individuals serving, including Renée A. Trewick, the first African American woman to serve as the chair of an SBC trustee board in our convention’s 175-year history, and David Cox, the first African American to serve as chair of GuideStone’s Insurance Committee, one of five standing committees of the board.

The unique perspectives and experience of these men and women make GuideStone stronger, Hawkins noted.

“We are better stewards of the ministry we have received from the Lord when we reflect the diversity the Creator God placed on His planet,” Hawkins said.

Boyd hopes to build on those efforts to ensure that every employee who joins GuideStone will feel welcomed and affirmed, growing their careers to benefit the 250,000 men and women served today and those it will serve in the future.

“Any employer should seek a more diversified workforce if they’re planning on attracting and retaining the best talent that aligns with the mission and vision of their organization,” she said. “Statistics show that diverse work environments are more innovative and productive.”

Hawkins underscored the commitment the organization has to diversity and inclusion.

“We recognize we have not yet achieved our goal to reflect the diversity of God’s kingdom,” Hawkins said. “By his grace, and with the commitment of every senior leader of GuideStone, we will continue to become more like the kingdom he ransomed from every nation, tribe and tongue.”

IMB missionaries use trauma care resources to help refugees, start churches

BOGOTÁ, Colombia—It’s tough to overstate the trauma the Venezuelan people have experienced over the last decade. The price of the country’s chief export, oil, cratered. Hyperinflation at one point hit 10 million percent. The country’s power grid failed, leading to massive power shortages. An unpopular dictator defied an election. More than 4.6 million people fled the country from 2016 to 2019.

Then came COVID-19.

For the nearly 2 million Venezuelans, like Omer and Vanessa Fuentes and their three children, who left for nearby Colombia, life didn’t improve this year in their new country. COVID-19 hammered Colombia, completely shuttering the area where many Venezuelan refugees worked. Despite the hardships they had just left, some returned to their Venezuelan homeland.

International Mission Board missionaries in Colombia are helping the Fuentes family, among others, deal with the trauma of the last few years—and helping them start churches in their neighborhoods.

Before leaving Venezuela, Omer and Vanessa had a growing ministry, and Omer had a good job as a computer programmer. As a youth minister, he had seen 23 youth baptized and had 100 youth attending the church in just three years. Yet nationwide blackouts cost Omer his technology clients, making it impossible for him to feed his family.

“It was getting tougher and tougher in Venezuela,” Omer said. “We had only rice to eat. It came to a point that we had to make the decision to go or we wouldn’t have enough money to leave.”

In early 2019, Omer, Vanessa and their three children left for Colombia. Last summer, they met IMB missionary Matthew Fisher, who helped the family deal with the traumatic events that forced them to leave Venezuela and partnered with them to start a church in their home.

Fisher used American Bible Society’s Trauma Healing Institute (THI) curriculum to help Venezuelans like the Fuentes deal with trauma in their lives. The curriculum teaches “basic biblical and mental health principles that help people respond to emotional trauma,” according to the program website. THI teaches these principles using Bible stories, such as creation, the fall and Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In describing the impact of the THI program, Vanessa pointed to the chapter on bringing their pain to the cross.

“Bringing our pain to the cross was very beautiful,” Vanessa said. “It gave us peace with ourselves, to be OK with why we came here.”

During this lesson, the couple wrote down their hurts and then burned them to symbolize that they had taken those hurts to the cross. The Fuentes’ traumatic move to Colombia had caused family upheaval, and the THI workshop helped them overcome several painful family events.

For Fisher, THI provided an avenue to use his background in counseling to start churches in the Bogotá area. He has an undergraduate degree in psychology, a master of divinity degree and a master’s degree in pastoral counseling.

As a church planting catalyst, Fisher often struggled to gather groups in the city.

“It was the hardest thing to get people into groups because everyone was super busy,” said Fisher, who is from Houston. “Everyone is trying to survive in the city. It was hard to find something interesting enough for them to come.”

But in THI, Fisher finally found a ministry that garnered enough interest to be a gathering opportunity. Since Venezuelan refugees had been through significant trauma in recent years—even the move itself traumatized many—they were open to a THI workshop. Plus, the workshops helped people process personal traumatic events like the death of family members, childhood abuse and other violent acts committed against them.

“I love it because I am able to see their hurts being healed as they bring them to the cross, understanding that God isn’t causing the situation,” Fisher said. “It’s really the will of man and Satan. Everyone blames God, but he isn’t the one to blame. People come into the workshops blaming God, but they leave feeling relief because they see the Bible verses that show the biblical truth about dealing with sin.”

Fisher held 16 workshops throughout Colombia. At the end of the workshops, he asked participants if they wanted to continue meeting. Four of them, including Omer’s group, decided to do so. Fisher led two of the groups himself.

Thanks to provision by Send Relief, Fisher was able to give the Fuentes 100 bags of rice, along with other dietary staples, over two weeks as dramatic COVID-19 lockdowns kept many of their neighbors out of work. The food helped the Fuentes support their neighbors and share Christ in the process. In total, the Fuentes engaged 50 families (giving each a bag of rice per week). Fifteen people became followers of Jesus through the effort.

Fisher notes that many of the people they gave the food to were Colombians who had not treated the Venezuelan refugees well at first. The gift of food was able to soften their hearts toward the Fuentes family, their church and ultimately the gospel.

“The people who were able to donate the money so we, as missionaries, were able to go out and buy the food and be able to provide it for the church that we helped plant—this was such a blessing,” Fisher said. “I see this totally as a God thing, because the Colombians had been so closed off and hard-hearted. Some were even racists [toward the Venezuelans], and they were able to receive food, because they were suffering as well, from this church. They are opening up to the gospel.”

Frida Robles, an IMB missionary who leads the missions department at Baptist International Theological Seminary in Cali, Colombia, has been training leaders throughout the country to use THI in their ministry contexts. She also helped train volunteers, both believers and non-believers, throughout the country who are engaging Venezuelan refugees.

“There were a lot of people who were psychologists, who were professionals in the government here in Cali, but they were not believers,” said Robles, who is a master trainer for THI. “But when they received a little bit of the trauma training, they really liked it. They said, ‘This is what we need. We’re doing the psychology part, but we’re not touching the spiritual. We didn’t even have it.’ After that opportunity, we were having psychologists interested in spiritual matters, because they were dealing with psychology, but it wasn’t answering all the needs of the people.”

Robles believes that tools like THI help missionaries and other ministry leaders to start new groups and reach non-believers without people feeling like they’re being trapped in a religious group.

“This is a very strong tool for us, as believers, because this is a tool to open new work for people who are suffering,” Robles said. “Even people who know God deal with trauma, but they have God on their side. But the people who don’t know the Lord, it’s worse for them because they don’t have the holy presence of God to strengthen them and to give them the peace that only God can give. Also, it allows us to open up a new Bible study or a new group in a community without people feeling trapped in something religious.”

Editor’s Note: This is a two-part feature published in the July print issue. The counterpart story can be found here.