First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, on mission

A 12-member team from First Baptist Church, Sylacauga, in Coosa River Baptist Association traveled to Thessaloniki (Thessalonica), Greece, July 4–12.

Led by Minister to Students Kenny Norris, the team joined those from three other U.S. churches to work with World Changers and Southern Baptist representatives doing church planting.

The four combined teams were split into three groups. One group prayer walked the city in the mornings and led block parties in the evenings. A second group worked at a church painting fences and volunteered in a school. A third group worked with Afghan and Somalian refugees by teaching English as a second language, hosting block parties and sharing the gospel.

Overall Norris said the trip “was a huge success” but there is still a lot of work to be done, as there are less than 15 evangelical churches in Greece and no Southern Baptist churches in Thessaloniki.

The students from First, Sylacauga, who went on the trip want to continue working in Greece for three to five years to see that the work gets finished, he said.