Hartselle native Angie Bates was the lone Alabama Baptist among 121 missionaries commissioned by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) Feb. 17 at Birmingham’s Huffman Baptist Church. But that didn’t keep the nearly 1,000 people who attended from enthusiastically expressing their support to the missionaries who are or will be serving in various locations throughout North America.
Bates, 23, is a member of Woodmont Baptist Church in Florence and a recent graduate of the University of North Alabama. She is serving a two-year term in Philadelphia as ministry coordinator with Philadelphia Spirit. Philadelphia is one of NAMB’s strategic focus cities for evangelism efforts.
“I’m excited about my assignment,” Bates said, noting she will be working as a ministry coordinator for World Changers in her area this summer.
From recent college graduates to grandparents, the missionaries’ ages and backgrounds were as diversified as their assignments.
Providing personal testimonies to the congregation were Bill Howse, who serves in Arkansas, and Derek Spain, who serves in New York.
Howse, along with his wife Ruth, serves with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention in the area of church and community ministries. A fourth generation Southern Baptist, Howse said he was called into Christian service in 1986. “It was on the last night of youth camp, complete with a campfire and ‘Kumbaya’,” he said, beaming to the crowd. “I surrendered my life to become a pastor. I didn’t know where the Lord would take me. I just trusted in Him and I now have my dream job,” he said of his missionary assignment. Spain and his wife, Kimberly, serve in Lake Placid, N.Y., where he is the resort missionary for the Baptist Convention of New York.
Spain explained that part of his work is to coordinate efforts to share the gospel with athletes, spectators and other visitors to the Lake Placid area.
Along with these words of testimony, each of the commissioned missionaries introduced himself or herself and said a brief word about his or her service. They were each presented certificates and were shown support from family, friends and well wishers during the nearly two hour celebration service.
The program included prayers of thanksgiving and guidance by First Baptist Church, Chalkville, Pastor Joel Farrow, and NAMB representative Mike Day. There were also words of encouragement by host pastor Tim Lovett and Birmingham Baptist Association director of missions Ricky Creech.
During the commissioning prayer, Wanda Lee, executive director for national Woman’s Missionary Union, asked the congregation to form a prayer chain and lay hands on each of the missionaries. She prayed as all hearts and hands were linked throughout the sanctuary.
NAMB vice president of evangelization John Yarborough challenged the missionaries and preached from Timothy.
Elaborating on Paul’s message to Timothy, Yarborough told the missionaries to “anticipate that persecutors will come after you. Avoid pleasure seekers and abide in the Word of God. …Listen to me,” he said. “People of the world need to hear the Word of God. It is the Bread of Life. Don’t let them tell you they don’t want to hear it – they do.
“We need to hear and heed the Word of God and then we need to habituate it (make it a habit),” he said. “We don’t believe it unless we live it.”
Early in the service members of Huffman led the procession of state and representative territory flags. Throughout the service members of the Huffman Celebration Choir, under the direction of Dennis Altizer, led a lively array of traditional and contemporary music including a crowd pleasing rendition of the Negro Spiritual, “Ain’t God Time to Die.”
The commissioning service was the culmination of several days of training and orientation for the NAMB missionaries.
The Alabama Baptist
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