Tim Mathis said his church had experienced a long drought, and they wanted it to end, starting with their new pastor.
“A huge part of the interview process when I came was, ‘How missional are you as a pastor? We want to be a church on mission,’” he said.
SIGN UP for our Highlights emails that hit your inbox on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Subscribe to The Alabama Baptist today!
Mathis said that was important to him too, and as he settled into his new office a little over a year ago, he started reading up on the church’s story.
“The church has a rich history of missions engagement,” he said. “There’s nothing spectacular, but that’s the point — they were faithful with everything. They went on a lot of missions trips, supported missions offerings and have had a very active WMU.”
That last one goes all the way back to Kathleen Mallory, one of the early leaders of national Woman’s Missionary Union, who grew up at FBC.
“Our church has always felt particularly connected to the WMU,” Mathis said.
But for some reason, over the past 10 or 15 years, FBC had not been involved in any missions trips, and when they interviewed Mathis, they were clear that they wanted a change.
“I started trying to cast vision for us to use our people and resources to have a missional impact both in our city and around the world,” Mathis said. “But I got overwhelmed with all the opportunity and the need, and I knew I couldn’t do it by myself. I wanted someone who could be co-missions pastor with me.”
Guidance
So in October, the church hired Caleb Newsom to be minister of students and sending. Mathis would also continue working on missions efforts as he served as senior pastor.
They were both excited — but they also recognized they needed a little guidance.
“Caleb and I both had a lot of passion and a lot of vision for missions in the sense of we want our people going — we want our students going, and we want our senior adults going,” Mathis said. “But we both lack some experience.”
He said he wanted so badly to be a missions-sending pastor, but he got overwhelmed with the details.
Then Lee Tate, associational mission strategist for the local West Central Baptist Association, told Mathis the association would pay for him to attend an International Mission Board event called Senders Summit that helps church leaders know how to equip and mobilize their churches.
It was a significant help, Mathis said, and he and Newsom decided to plan three missions trips for 2025 — one to Vermont, one to Toronto and one to Budapest. All three were easy points of entry for them, he said.
‘Gateway to missions’
In Vermont, FBC has connections with Northeastern Baptist College because of their former pastor, Johnny Fain, who now serves as the school’s advancement ambassador. A group traveled there in March on a vision trip.
Then in May, a team from FBC went to Toronto to serve refugees through Send Relief and help a North American Mission Board church plant.
Mathis said it was a “an easy, entry-level gateway to missions” with “low-impact culture shock.” He found the trip on NAMB’s website.
“Our people are now saying this is a place we have to go back,” he said. “This could be the beginning of a long-term partnership.”
Being a resource
Newsom said the Budapest trip — a Go Impact trip through the IMB — will help students share their faith cross-culturally and also shows them what missionary work looks like.
“We often think being a missionary is a super unique calling, but it’s often people who work normal jobs — lawyers, doctors, accountants who God can use among the nations,” Newsom said. “We want them to see that God can use them and whatever they have for the Great Commission.”
The FBC team will travel to Budapest in July, and Newsom said it’s another trip that is low-impact culture shock. It’s also low on planning — the IMB handles a lot of the details, he said.
Mathis said he and Newsom are happy to help other churches who might need help figuring out what their first step is toward being involved in missions.
“We want to be a resource to others,” Mathis said. “Where we lacked experience, we now have a little experience. If we could help someone at square one, we’re happy to do that.”
Praying, sending, going
Tate said he’s excited about how the church has stepped into this new season of ministry.
“First Baptist Selma is writing a new chapter in their amazing history,” he said. “Praying, sending, giving and going as partners in Christ’s Great Commission looks beautiful on them.”
The next IMB Senders Summit is Sept. 15–17.
For more information, visit imb.org/event/senders-summit-2025.
Share with others: