People in the crowd standing to their feet and cheering might be the normal reaction at a sports arena, but for Danny Wood, it’s the response to celebrating missionaries in church.
“Missions is in our DNA, and the GIC is what began fueling it and continues to fuel it,” said Wood, pastor of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, referring to the Global Impact Celebration that the church has held for 20 years.
“Over the [past] 20 years, we have partnered with 55 church plants, numerous international missionaries and ministries and 12 local ministries. … [The GIC] has fueled our vision, and we have worked in 21 time zones, 80 countries, 50 states and have had 70 units and a total of 205 members serving full-time around the world.”
About 35 missionary units are brought in every year, and Wood said the goal is for Shades members to “love on them and encourage them and learn from them.”
Groups within the church are assigned missionaries along with wish lists of items that will help the missionaries with their work.
The Birmingham-area church averages 35 missions trips a year with about 1,300 people participating. For many of the missionaries, their GIC time results in ongoing partnerships.
“It has allowed us to meet missionaries/church planters up close and personal,” said Wood, “hear their heart, their challenges, successes, vision and how we can come alongside of them to help them in their work.”
The groundwork for Shades’ involvement in GIC began in 2000 when two laymen approached Wood about missions organization Global Focus. The church began to “flesh out a vision and strategy,” he said.
Now, 20 celebrations later, Wood serves on the board for Global Focus and will retire from Shades later this year after 24 years as pastor.
Shades has contributed $42 million to global missions during the past 20 years.
This year’s GIC brought back many members who serve around the world, “along with some new missionaries/church planters that we will be partnering with,” he said.
The celebration was a “trip down memory lane,” Wood said.
Making a difference
Mike Tubbs, a Shades member for almost two years, said he was impressed by how the GIC stresses the importance of reaching beyond the church walls.
“We have a country that’s turning away from God,” he said. “The church has got to make that great effort.”
Nurse Jennifer McCormick was raised at Shades. Her family has participated in food and diaper drives for local ministries, as well as preparing backpacks for school children. As she perused missionary display tables in the foyer of the church with her 12-year-old daughter Caroline, she reflected on the impact GIC has had on her family.
“It’s been refreshing,” she said, not just for her family but for the missionaries who attend. “I want to see what I can do.”
Read how Dianna Cagle answered God’s calling through Shades Mountain Baptist Church, story here.
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