When Pastor Mike Shaw received a letter with a Michigan postmark, he couldn’t help but smile at the inscription on the back: “Michigan loves First Baptist Church of Pelham.”
“It’s something to send 110 people over there as representatives of the church and receive such positive feedback,” Shaw said of his Shelby Baptist Association church’s June 20–27 missions trip to Detroit and Pontiac, Mich.
“People have even commented that it was the best missions trip ever.”
Participants ranging from youth to senior citizens helped lead sports camps, backyard Bible clubs and block parties. Several of the men also organized a construction crew.
Although Shaw said his congregation would have gone anywhere, Michigan was selected because of the Alabama Baptist State Convention’s partnership with Baptists in that state.
“Our goal for Alabama Baptists is to be involved in reaching Michigan for Christ,” said Reggie Quimby, director of the office of global missions for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions and leader of the partnership with Michigan.
“We hope Michigan will come to know Christ as Lord and Savior,” he added, noting that of the state’s population of 10 million, 8 million are lost.
As the team from First, Pelham, ministered, about 600 people heard the good news and at least 119 people prayed to receive Christ, which the church’s pastor of administration and education and leader of the missions trip, Robert Heard, said was phenomenal. “I believe God led a harvest of folks that needed to hear the gospel,” he said. “God deserves all the glory. We’re just His instruments.”
Scott Bell had the opportunity to show Christ’s love through construction. His encounter with one woman at a block party and a subsequent building project for her family are particularly memorable.
As Bell watched the woman at the block party, he said he could tell she was worried about her four children, three of whom have cerebral palsy and are in wheelchairs. She told him that she was concerned about walking her children back home.
To ease her mind and allow her to enjoy the skits and message at the block party, Bell told her that he and several other men would help her and her children get back to their house.
“When we got to her house, we realized she didn’t have a wheelchair ramp,” Bell said. “As soon as we turned around and walked back to the block party, I said, ‘She really needs a wheelchair ramp.’”
The rest of the men agreed and “about started crying thinking about her lifting three kids up the stairs into her house,” he said.
So, the next day, the construction crew built the family a wheelchair ramp. “It was a gratifying thing for me personally because I saw a need and met it. And I was able to show them Christ’s love through service,” Bell said.
Despite rain throughout the week, Heard said the Lord continually blessed the team’s efforts. It looked as if one block party for which 170 people had registered was going to have to be postponed because of rain. “But nobody left,” he said. “Thirty-seven people came to know the Lord that night. God kept them there.
“It was an incredible week of seeing God do amazing things,” Heard said.
For information about Michigan partnership projects, contact Quimby at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 239, or rquimby@alsbom.org.
Share with others: