In January, Alabama Baptists signed a three-year partnership with Guatemala Baptists. With 31 trips for 2006 either planned or already made, prospects for a successful partnership are promising.
The partnership is twofold, according to Reggie Quimby, director of the office of global partnerships and volunteers in missions for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). It includes an agreement with both Operation GO (Gospel Outreach) of the International Mission Board (IMB) and the Convention of Baptist Churches of Guatemala.
Quimby said the Operation GO relationship will focus primarily on gospel distribution.
The partnership with the Guatemala convention has a different focus. The projects planned in conjunction with it are called GT (Guatemala) projects, Quimby said. These include medical and social ministry and construction projects, along with plans for Vacation Bible Schools (VBS) and prayer walking.
The GT projects also focus on partnerships between Alabama Baptist churches and their Guatemalan counterparts.
Thomas Wright, director of missions for Mobile Baptist Association, was a member of a vision team that visited Guatemala in 2005 as part of the partnership planning process. He is enthusiastic about the prospects for the partnership.
“The missionaries and national leadership have a plan that will use the gifts and availability of any believer,” Wright said.
The IMB Operation GO strategy coordinators, Larry and Sarah Plyler, are working with many of the volunteer teams.
Operation GO’s goal is to place a Book of Luke or John or a cassette of Bible stories told in the people’s native language in every home in Guatemala, Sarah Plyler said.
The Plylers send volunteer teams into neighborhoods where there is no Christian witness.
“We begin by prayer walking the areas and covering the entire area with prayer,” Sarah Plyler explained. They then go door to door, distributing the gospel, praying with the people and inviting them to be a part of a Bible study in their home or the church near them. Sometimes someone in the group shares his or her testimony and the plan of salvation.
Bob Gross, minister of senior adults and media at First Baptist Church, Dothan, in Columbia Baptist Association, has participated in two Operation GO projects.
“Operation GO is the most basic [missions trip] because you are telling people about Christ. It is also the pinnacle because the reason behind all missions work is to lead people to Christ,” he said.
Working in a small community called El Peru on his most recent trip, Gross and his team visited a school with about 150 students.
“We passed out candy and Bibles,” he said. “Later we were sitting on a sidewalk eating our lunch and here came two or three of the girls.
“We asked them if they still had their Bibles, and they pulled the Bibles out and read to us.”
David Cochran, minister of missions and outreach at Mount Zion Baptist Church, Huntsville, in Madison Baptist Association, is participating in a GT project. His church has formed a three-year partnership with Adonai Baptist Mission in Huehuetenango, Guatemala.
Cochran said he developed a close relationship with the local pastors involved in the project during his first trip there. “After three days, it was like we were brothers.”
Mount Zion Baptist is planning a return trip later this year. The group of 15 volunteers will hold VBS for 200 Mayan children.
Jorge Morales, president of the Guatemala convention, said three new churches have been planted as a result of work done by Baptist volunteers from Alabama.
“We are sure that the Lord, who is wonderfully faithful, will show favor on the churches and families in both countries and will reward each one according to his work,” he said. “God bless our conventions and our nations.”
Rick Lance, executive director of the SBOM, agreed, saying, “We look with genuine anticipation toward the future, knowing that God blesses His people when they are lovingly obedient to the challenges of the Great Commission.”
The SBOM will host six summits in September to share information about Guatemala missions opportunities. These will be held at the Etowah Baptist Association office in Gadsden Sept. 7; Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, Athens, Sept. 11; First Baptist Church, Pelham, Sept. 12; Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Montgomery, Sept. 14; First Baptist Church, Bay Minette, Sept. 18; and Bethel Baptist Church, Dothan, Sept. 19.
For information about the summits or projects, contact Quimby at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239, or rquimby@alsbom.org. A detailed list of projects is on the SBOM Web site, www.alsbom.org., and can be accessed by clicking on the Resource Center link.
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