With 75 associations mapped out across Alabama and 74 of those led by an associational missionary, one might think it easy to squeeze these leaders into the same mold — that they would all look and act alike. But that thought wouldn’t linger very long.
These men — also known as directors of missions (DOM) or executive directors of missions in some cases — come from all walks of life and bring a myriad of skills and talents to the table. Most are or have been pastors, some serving as bivocational pastors while working another full-time job. Some are retired educators. Some have a background in business, and one is a layman who works full time as a sales manager for a tractor dealership.
Their ages span the spectrum, and their missions and ministry experience is just as vast, but they do have one thing in common — a love for associational missions.
Their role as DOM means three things:
First, they serve as mission strategists. They serve as leader, inspirer, catalyst, activator and challenger, emphasizing the association’s missionary role in its surrounding area.
The DOMs help start new church work and assess the needs that exist. “In Alabama, we look at the associational missionaries as church planters,” said Gary Swafford, director of the office of associational missions and church planting with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). “The associational missionary and staff are the ones to help guide churches when church plants are needed. They have the big picture.”
Second, they serve as minister to the churches and church leaders. “They have been called a pastor to the pastors,” Swafford said.
Timothy George, noted church historian and dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, said it is this role that DOMs do like no one else. “Where does the pastor go to get encouragement?” George asked. “The DOM fulfills that ministry and it is really important, especially in our (church governance) system where we don’t have bishops. It can be lonely.”
DOMs not only work with pastors and churches individually but they also assist in strengthening relationships between churches in their associations.
Third, DOMs serve as the general leader of the association. They maintain appropriate relationships with other associations, state conventions, the Southern Baptist Convention and other Baptist bodies. They also perform basic management and administrative duties for running the associational office. They become the general resource person for denominational information.
“The associational missionary tends to become the director of missions in a culture where he has served before or where he was born,” Swafford noted.
“Associations are the avenue for churches of all sizes to actively participate in carrying out the Great Commission,” he said. “Churches can do more together than they could separately. Active involvement in the association is the most effective and efficient method for sharing the gospel. A bonus benefit is mutual encouragement and joy for the journey.”
And “[a]ssociational missionaries … are key partners with [the SBOM] in reaching Alabama for Christ,” he added. “They are frontline mission strategists leading local associations of churches, which are likewise critical to evangelistic and ministry outreach in our state.”
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