Your Voice

Reports from Ukraine

“From here on out, it is our understanding that the majority of refugees who come across the border are those who do not have the means, who do not have family in other places,” said Tom Beam, state disaster relief coordinator for North Carolina Baptists and part of a Disaster Assistance & Response Team who went to Poland to survey how trained volunteers from the U.S. can serve. “That changes the dynamic of the type of refugee and what the types of needs are.”

This is a new reality for us. Our home, the way we knew it before, is gone. … Every morning when I take a warm shower, I really think that might be my last warm shower. … That’s the way life is right now. … What you have now, you might not have tomorrow. It kind of makes life simpler and more complex at the same time. … But God did not call us to comfort. … He called us to our people. So I’m very thankful I have that opportunity. Would I have sought this freely and willingly? Probably not, but it came to me, and I better use it.

Yaroslav “Slavik” Pyzh
President, Ukrainian Baptist Theological Seminary, Lviv

A mission from God

Christians believe our mission from God began with Abraham. God called him away from his home and family and promised to bless the world through him. And to this childless senior and his wife, Sarah, God promised to make their descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Abraham and his descendants taught the world the laws of God in the Old Testament, and one of Abraham’s descendants became the Messiah. We who follow the Messiah, whom we normally call by the Greek equivalent, “Christ,” continue this mission to bless the world.

How do we bless the world?

Jesus appeared on the shores of Galilee and said, “Follow Me.” As we follow Christ, we go with Him into places of need. Christ had compassion for the sick and He healed many. We’re commanded to care for the suffering and to pray for them.

Faith hospitals from St. Jude in Memphis to local Baptist hospitals in Birmingham offer compassionate care for the sick. My mother spent time in Birmingham’s St. Vincent’s Hospital before her death and told me how much it meant for the Catholic sisters to stop in and pray with her.

Christ had compassion for the hungry, and He fed them. Christians know that if people have empty stomachs they probably won’t listen to our message about empty hearts.

Christ had compassion for the outcasts. He spent time with the immoral and despised Samaritan woman. He promised living water to satisfy her spiritual thirst.

Christians disregard social barriers because our task is to share the same living water with those who need to know God’s love. It’s true. We’re on a mission from God.

Pastor Michael J. Brooks
Siluria Baptist Church, Alabaster, Ala.

Our expectations literally are to be God’s hands and feet to everybody we encounter.

Walter (Wally) Leyerle
Disaster relief associate from Texas who will serve Ukrainian refugees in Romania

“All of these individuals are made in the image of God, and seeing them celebrated affirms that to us. It’s a highlight of our church and community’s year,” said Ryan Johnson, pastor of Agape Baptist Church in Scottsboro, which is involved with Night to Shine, an event sponsored by the Tim Tebow Foundation. The event, Johnson said, allows his church to show the love of Christ to the community through helping provide a special night of celebration for those with special needs.

“True contentment comes ‘through Christ’ and means being satisfied and at rest with what I have, where I am and Who I have,” said Jarman Leatherwood, pastor of House of Hope and Restoration Church in Huntsville, Alabama, who spoke at the Pursue conference, Feb. 25–26 at First Baptist Church Opelika.

“In a culture that has an insatiable appetite for more, the Christian must be willing to swim upstream and say, ‘I don’t need any “more” … because I have it all already,’” said author and Christian communicator Michael Kelley, who spoke at the Pursue conference, Feb. 25–26 at First Baptist Church Opelika.

“We want to teach our members what the word of God says, but also how to do what the word of God says. If you don’t go out and practice what you’re learning, what good is it to learn it? There’s a need for people in the community to see you have a heart for God. It’s a witness,” said Charles Spence, pastor of Indian Mounds Baptist Church in Moundville.

“He could finish dead last but still be ecstatic, walking up to people and high-fiving them and saying, ‘Nice job.’ I wished I could be a little more like him,” said Nik Nikic, about his son, Chris, who has Down syndrome. Despite his disability, Chris became the first person with Down syndrome to complete a full Ironman triathlon in 2020 in Panama City Beach, Florida.

From the Twitterverse

@tedtraylor
Only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last!

@revandyfrazier
If we want a better country, let’s start by being good citizens and neighbors. Let’s complain less and pray more that our country has leaders who seek wisdom from God and His word.

@shane_pruitt78
“Every world religion teaches that you must do ‘good works’ to reach up to your god/gods. The gospel says that no amount of ‘good works’ are enough, so our great God came down to us.”

 @DrPaulChitwood
In Poland & just met with a Baptist church planter from Lviv, Ukraine, who brought his family out of the war. Now working to help us get relief supplies back into Ukraine.

Struggling to talk, he said, “I’m sorry for getting emotional. I wasn’t prepared for this in seminary.”

@trillianewbell
Speaking at an event and a 76-year-old woman told me, “I didn’t want to come, but I’m so glad I did. I’ve been tired but returning to my First Love.”

You are never too old, broken or weary to go to Jesus.

@GaryFenton07
Studying the word of God with a bad attitude often leads to a bad interpretation. Lord, create a right heart in me each time I study Your word.

@MichaelCatt
Do not be the one in your city who’s competing with other pastors for the most people. Be the one who prays God will bless them. Love one another, serve one another & pray for one another.

@LysaTerKeurst
God is good at being God.

We don’t have to try to fix what He hasn’t assigned to us to fix. No need to manipulate, control or spend all our emotions trying to figure it out. We can let Him be God & free ourselves from the impossible assignment of trying to keep it all together.

@jordaneasley
Sin thrills. Then it kills. It fascinates. Then it assassinates.” —@johnnymhunt

@BillyGraham
Don’t let the headlines frighten you. God is still sovereign. He’s still on the throne.