Students involved in Dunamis Ministries at Twelfth Street Baptist Church, Gadsden, took part in two summer missions trips.
Twenty-two students and six adults traveled on the first trip June 17–25 to Chicago to work with LifeWay Christian Resources’ Urban Connexx, a ministry aimed at teaching rural churches how to connect with inner-city churches.
Six adults and eight of the students were also able to participate in the second trip July 20–29 to the Canary Islands. The primary focus of this trip was prayer walking and street evangelism. The group worked through local missionaries with the International Mission Board (IMB), and their primary people target was the Saharawi, refugees from the western Sahara who come to the Canary Islands to work.
A prayer-walking team of seven from Southside Baptist Church, Dothan, traveled to Guatemala July 7–14. Working with IMB missionaries Jim and Carol McGriff and two Kekchí missionaries, the team visited 11 unreached Kekchí villages and prayed overlooking 24 unevangelized communities.
Thirty-nine members of Southside Baptist Church, Greenville, joined more than 230 youth and adults for a World Changers national construction project in Anchorage, Alaska, July 10–17. Students spent their days roofing, painting, building ramps and doing various other construction projects in the Anchorage, Wasilla and Palmer communities. In the evenings, they participated in worship, Bible study and team-building activities.
Seventeen volunteers from Shiloh Baptist Church, Somerville, traveled to Fosterville, Tenn., July 11–15 to work on Fosterville Baptist Church and its pastor’s home.
Forty-nine members of First Baptist Church, Union Springs, and seven members of First Baptist Church, Eufaula, traveled to First Baptist Church, Smiley, Texas, July 15–23. They worked on a construction project that involved replacing the ceilings in the sanctuary, vestibule, choir loft, two Sunday School rooms and a main hallway; rewiring these areas; and installing new lighting. In addition, the exterior was painted, the kitchen remodeled and numerous other tasks completed around the church. Vacation Bible School was also conducted, with an enrollment of 29 children and workers.
Southside Baptist Church, Talladega, sent 14 members of its youth group to Juarez, Mexico, July 15–24 to join with Casas Por Cristo in building a home for a needy family. The ministry Casas Por Cristo, “houses because of Christ,” started in 1993 to serve the needs of the poor in Mexico. Southside Baptist’s youth spent three days digging and preparing the foundation, mixing the concrete themselves; building the frame and setting it into place; installing insulation; running electrical wires; and putting a roof on the house. Following completion of the house, the youth held a ceremony to present a Bible to the family and dedicate the house.
NorthPark Baptist Church, Trussville, sent 13 on a missions trip to Jamaica July 22–29. The team brought donations to give to four orphanages and spent time with the children at three of the orphanages. They painted a church-owned house inside and out and painted a few rooms at a school. The group also put a roof on part of a school, which had its roof destroyed by Hurricane Ivan. They led services at two churches, did personal evangelism and prayer walked.
Highland Baptist Church, Union Grove, sent 14 of its youth on a missions trip to Dauphin Island July 23–30. The youth painted houses for widows and the disabled, ministered in a chapel service and worked in a Bible bindery. They also assisted in cleaning up a home flooded by hurricanes.
Thelma Baptist Church sent a team of 16 men to the Czech Republic July 22–31. The team, composed of basketball players ranging in age from 25 to 50, ran basketball camps for children that included time for devotionals.
In the evenings, they played college and club teams, using halftime to allow one man to give his testimony. On July 28, the team showed the “Jesus” film, in Czech, to the people of Hermanuv Mestec. The next day, they led a Bible study that they hope will one day turn into the first Protestant church in that town. The trip was led by Pastor Greg Pouncey, and Ben Styles, pastor of New Canaan Baptist Church, Somerville, assisted the team with the “Jesus” film project.
Forty-nine members of the youth and college ministries at Moffett Road Baptist Church, Mobile, traveled to Mexico July 22–30. The group was involved in backyard Bible clubs, street witnessing and worship services.
Eighteen members of Brookwood Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills; two members of Blooming Grove Baptist Church, Curry; one member of Calvary Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa; one member of Second Baptist Church, Boaz; and one member of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, were part of a medical missions/church-planting trip to Lagunas, Peru, July 28–Aug. 7. Through a door-to-door neighborhood campaign, children’s ministry, Bible studies and spiritual counseling in the clinic, 131 people made decisions, and another 167 asked for follow-up visits to learn more about Christ.
The Work Force at Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, is a church-based missions group that served the church this summer by doing missions-minded projects and activities. The group met on Wednesdays and worked on Saturdays.
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