Marion Association crosses state line into Mississippi for gospel outreach

Marion Association crosses state line into Mississippi for gospel outreach

Jim Berrian says for him Marion Baptist Association’s missions trips are like a “revival on steroids.”

There’s preaching. There are testimonies. But there’s also construction work, backyard Bible clubs and occasionally sports camps and cheerleading camps.

“It’s a blessing,” he said.

This year’s trip was no different. Berrian, a member of Hines Memorial Baptist Church, Bear Creek, led the association’s team to help build a new facility for a church in Gunnison, Mississippi. They hung insulation and did the wiring while others led backyard Bible clubs and did community outreach.

For the first three nights C.W. Box — the father of Keith Box, director of missions for Marion Baptist Association — preached and on the fourth night the team shared testimonies.

“The Lord met with us,” Berrian said.

And at the end of the week three people professed faith in Christ.

“There is a great need over there,” he said, noting that many people are stuck in a cycle of generational poverty. “God is moving to help those folks. We just want them to see the love of Christ through our missions work and share Jesus with them.”

Zane Miles, student minister and associate pastor at First Baptist Church, Guin, said the youth who went on the trip embraced that opportunity as they led backyard Bible clubs and ministered to children at a Boys and Girls Club in the area.

“For me personally it was phenomenal to see the students that I interact with on a daily basis become the leaders and begin to share Christ with the people around them,” Miles said. “They kept saying, ‘Man, I didn’t know that I could love somebody so much in such a short amount of time,’ and ‘I didn’t know these kids would have such an impact on my life.’”