It’s such a massive undertaking that it only happens once every five years, but when it does, it makes an equally massive impact, says Lloyd Borden, director of missions for Lookout Mountain Baptist Association.
The On Mission Celebration, an event in November 2015 that united the churches of Lookout Mountain and Cherokee Baptist associations, gathered more than 30 missionaries for a central rally and then spread them across the two associations’ churches for Sunday services.
“We had a great rally on Saturday evening with lots of singing and the presentation of flags,” Borden said. “It went quite well. We had a really broad spectrum of missionaries speak.”
Terry Burke, pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Collinsville, in Lookout Mountain Association, said he had two of those missionaries in his church that Sunday — one from due north and one from due South.
“The lady who spoke in the morning was from South America, and the guy who spoke that night was from Minnesota,” Burke said.
They were both well received, he said.
“Missionaries excite us — we’re a very missions-minded church,” Burke said. “I think having missionaries come in enlivens everybody and makes giving to missions easier, because it puts a face and stories with the work both in North America and overseas.”
For East Centre Baptist Church, Centre, the impact even went a step further, said Pastor Chip Smith.
The church hosted three missionaries that Sunday — one a church planter from Huntsville, one a missionary in Gulf Shores and one a missionary from Africa.
“During lunch with the missionary from Gulf Shores, we started talking about ways our church could partner with him, and now our youth group is planning to go down and do a weeklong backyard Bible club,” Smith said.
Hearing about the three missionaries’ work also encouraged the church to give more to missions, he said.
“It put a face with a missionary and I think that speaks loud,” Smith said. “We’re going above what we were expecting for Lottie Moon (Christmas Offering) this year. It’s inspired us as a church to think of other ways we can get involved.”
Borden said it was great for all the churches who support missions work to see missionaries and hear testimonies from the field.
And they were able to participate in logistics too, which allowed more involvement and more time with the missionaries, he said.
“A lot of our people served as drivers, taking the missionaries from the central location to the various churches where they would speak,” Borden said.
“They also served on the hospitality and publicity committees and in a lot of other ways. It was a great thing for everyone to be involved in and it made a great impact.”
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