The pews of First Baptist Church, Charleston, South Carolina, were filled to celebrate newly appointed International Mission Board missionaries on Wednesday (Feb. 5). Thirty-nine missionaries preparing to live and serve among unreached peoples shared brief testimonies with the crowd and welcomed prayers offered on their behalf.
Marshall Blalock, pastor of the church and IMB trustee, welcomed the missionaries and congregation to the historic church with strong ties to Southern Baptist history. The current sanctuary building, still used today, was built in 1822 and designed by Robert Mills, the architect of the Washington Monument. The church, which began in 1682, has the honor to be the “very first” Southern Baptist church in the United States. The first international missions offering for Southern Baptist missionaries was also collected among its members.
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Blalock told missionaries, “This church has always been focused on international missions, and it’s the same today. Our goal is discipleship and sending missionaries.”
IMB President Paul Chitwood emphasized the significance of new missionaries continuing the legacy of missionaries who went before them. Chitwood explained the story of missionary Lula Whilden, who grew up in the church. Three-year-old Lula stood with her parents and siblings in 1848, when they were commissioned as missionaries to China.
Whilden would go back to China at age 25, serving for 45 years among the most vulnerable girls in China. She is known to have reached hundreds of girls, many rescued from human-trafficking, with the gospel and the gift of education.
New missionaries stood on the original floorboards in the First Baptist Church sanctuary where Whilden stood with her family to be sent to the lost.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Leslie Peacock Caldwell and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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