Brookwood Baptist Church, Birmingham, members John and Genie Morris gathered nine members of their family — representing three generations — for a June missions trip. They flew off to an impoverished squatter village in the dusty desert of Peru to participate in medical missions.
John and Genie, three of their children and four of their grandchildren were part of a medical missions team organized by Brookwood Baptist Church, Birmingham. John, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and Genie, his wife of 50 years, have been involved in Brookwood’s medical missions ministry for years, working with clinics in Venezuela, Brazil, Honduras and Peru.
Their oldest son, also a doctor, joined them on one trip and the Morrises enjoyed the experience so much that they developed a dream: to share a missions trip with their children and grandchildren. That dream came true in June.
Brookwood Baptist Church partnered with Global Missions Fellowship of Dallas to erect two temporary medical clinics and used those clinics to evangelize and plant new churches in the clinic communities. Morris family members held a variety of positions on the mission site: doctor, pharmacist, triage nurse, dental assistant, evangelist and children’s ministry organizer.
When John describes the experience of looking around a mission site and seeing three generations of his family members working together, he becomes emotional. “Now, that was a mountaintop experience,” he said. “I felt like I could reach out and almost touch God’s hand; He just felt so close.”
The most memorable family vacations can be in dusty deserts.
Monty J. Martin Sr., member of Seven Hills Baptist Church, Mobile, said, “For once in my life I followed through and the Lord was lifted up.”
He shares the following account of his missions trip to the Philippines.
In an online Christian chat room, I became acquainted with a young pastor in Davao City, Philippines, roughly 15,000 miles from the comfort of my home.
This young pastor told me he would love for me to come speak to his countrymen. I simply thanked him and dismissed it.
But over the next few days God impressed me to watch for the young man in the chat room. Of course it happened. “Did you mean it about wanting me to come?”
He said “Yes.” My heart was pounding and I was keenly aware of what I was ‘hearing’ inside: “Go.” and “Here am I Lord, send me!”
My wife and I did all we knew to get funds together privately. However, once my plans were made public, many of God’s people wanted to be a part and funds were donated to assist me. Our local church chose to have a “commissioning service” to send me out as an international missions volunteer.
We formulated a ministry plan for every day of my stay. I was to minister to believers in church buildings, churches in homes and to churches in the jungles among the tribes of Mindanao. There were public crusades on tribal lands, seminars with pastors from many churches around the Mindanao area, and a trip into the high mountain jungles to a young church on the cutting edge of Christianity. It was an unforgettable experience, and many souls came to receive the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Overwhelmed, inadequate, unprepared, intimidated and suffering cultural, spiritual and language shock, I spent my days and evenings preaching, counseling and praying. Many days I preached three or four services and traveled between each location. At night I found little sleep because of the need to search the Scriptures for food to feed the masses on the morrow.
His Spirit fulfilled the promise of “bringing to my remembrance” all those things the Lord had spoken to me through all these 37 years of life in Christ. He wants more from each of us than merely “sacrifice.”
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