The Work We Do Cooperatively Is Unparalleled

--- Pastor Wade and Rachelle will be returning to the United States later this week. They are currently overseas and have sent an update which we place here for your encouragement (Blog administrator) ---

One of the things that strikes any Southern Baptist who has the pleasure to visit the field and communicate with our missionaries is the incredible benefit of cooperating for the purpose of reaching new people groups with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have had a few Southern Baptist pastors who have suggested that it might be easier to send out missionaries directly -- bypassing our convention cooperative work. I have steadfastly insisted that the solution to any problem within the SBC is NOT to do independent missions, but to work together to help stop the narrowing of the parameters of missions cooperation within the SBC and to do everything possible to get every Southern Baptist excited about working together for the sake of the gospel. Having now been on the field for several days and having some incredible visits with our missionaries, it has been seared into my heart even all the more that we can all do together what no one Southern Baptist church can do independently. When I get back I will share some of the great gospel work that is being done to reach different people groups overseas, but this morning I would like to give a shout out to the support personnel who saved the life of a young missionary by being able to transport her out of the country while facing a life threatening health problem that arose quite suddenly. The details of the story are gripping, but for security purposes all I can say is that this young lady, who is now studying at one of our SBC seminaries in the US, would not be alive were it not for the heroic efforts of the support personnel our missions organization who went all out to get this young lady the medical attention she needed. The process of evacuation was incredibly complicated, and if this young lady had been from your church, supported solely and independently by the people of your church, then this young Southern Baptist journeywoman would no longer be alive. You would not have had the resources, people and expertise in place to get her out. But because of our Southern Baptist cooperative mission work, Lottie Moon, and the work of all our churches working together rathern than separately, this young lady, Lord willing, will be back on the field after seminary for a career of sharing Christ with people overseas. Again, the work that we do cooperatively cannot be matched by our individual Southern Baptist Churches. Let's keep the parameters of cooperation as wide as possible for the support of missionaries appointed by our convention.

In His Grace,

Wade