A word from your missions office
By HEITH MITCHELL
The New Testament tells the story of a rapidly expanding church movement. People were being discipled and churches were forming all over the world. We need such a movement in Texas to give every man, woman and child the opportunity to hear about and receive Jesus. Our population is exploding. God is mixing world populations. The nations, tribes and tongues are moving to Texas. The problem is, there are no such movements in any western culture. They exist in other cultures but not the USA or Europe.
Elements of a Kingdom building movement are:
- An understanding that Jesus is Lord of His church, every believer and His mission
- Disciple Making- invitation to follow, help in following, and released to follow
- Missional Impulse-a burden that every man, woman, and child can hear and know Jesus
- Equipping and releasing leaders
- Healthy Reproducible Systems
- Risk and Faith
Contrast that with a Common Western Institutional Model
- Competing identity and rule
- Programming
- Marketing
- Recruiting and Holding Volunteers
- Controlling Structures
- Risk Avoidance
Your Texas missions department seeks to be and promote a movement among the churches we are starting. We are seeing the seeds.
1. We believe Jesus is Lord of each church, this department, each mission, and his mission. Our Value that reflects this is, “Plant unique churches that glorify God while reaching into unique and diverse pockets of lost people.” Our efforts are diverse because we leave room for God to call uniquely gifted and prepared men to reach into unique pockets of lost people.
2. Our mission is to make disciples. Every mission has a disciple making strategy. Our value is, “Plant churches that demonstrate a genuine commitment to multiplying disciples, leaders, and churches.”
3. Our churches share a burden to see the gospel presented and offered to everyone in their reach. Our value is to, “Plant churches to reach the lost.”
4. We recognize that every follower is a minister and proclaimer of the gospel. God has placed them in time, location, relationships in order to make disciples. These people belong to God and he has the right to assign and reassign. The church is to equip and release them for their unique ministry engagement. Again, our value states, “Plant churches that demonstrate a genuine commitment to multiplying disciples, leaders, and churches.” Five of your mission churches have already sent out planting teams. Several existing BMA churches are also currently planting churches. Last week I was blessed to be in a unique send service. Westside Baptist Church in Nacogdoches is currently supporting and hosting the Iglesia Bautista Nuevo Renacer Mission. Last Sunday, the church and mission celebrated together as they laid on hands and sent a missionary from this Hispanic mission to start a new church in Dallas. That is equipping and releasing leaders.
5. We are creating systems that reproduce and are based on sound biblical principals. All of our equipping tools are applicable to any context and we freely give them away. Our value is, “Plant churches with prepared, equipped and cared for church planters.”
6. If God asks us to do it, it will be bigger than us. We will be in over our head. We better walk humbly and dependent, right? We better pray and ask others to pray. The goal below is God sized. It will only be God achieved. Through it God can be glorified and His Kingdom can advance. Like anything that matters, we will only see it come about through prayer, sacrifice, and faith. Will you join us in praying, sacrificing, giving and risking all for:
PROJECT 2029
100 New Churches/10 years
- That we see an aggressive multiplication movement of churches who make disciples, equip and release leaders, and start churches for the glory of God and the advancement of his Kingdom Mission
- That each new mission begin with a plan to begin three new churches in their first 10 years
- That pastors and churches of the association be encouraged and equipped to start new churches
- That we connect, evaluate, identify and train new prospective church planters
I would love to come and share Texas Missions with your church or association. I have open dates and look forward to hearing from you.
A word from your missionaries
Weskey Burke – Intern preparing for Nacogdoches
BMA Missions is alive and well in the heart of our nation’s capital. I am investing in a local church in Washington DC where Mark Dever is the senior pastor, but I should really say they are investing in me as an intern. I want to challenge all the church leaders who see this that if you have never heard of the 9Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever or never visited 9marks.org then do it now! Grace!
Prayer Needs:
Please pray for Trinity, my oldest. She is asking many questions about the faith so we are sowing deep seed right now.
Mike Watt – Crosswork Mission, Tahoka
Cross-Work is starting phase 2 of our planting process. We are gearing up for Easter and praying God will send us people who need Him. We are investing and inviting our community to come “Try Something Different” this Easter and give our church a try.
Prayer Needs:
Please pray that the core team sticks to the plan. Pray that I am able to keep the vision in front of them and we can all push towards the goal of every person in Tahoka having a chance to hear and respond to the Gospel and planting a church that plants churches throughout west Texas.
Jaime Garcia – Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida Mission, Gilmer/Mesquite
Let us continue united in doing the missionary work and unite in prayer for all the needs of the servants of God who always have the Love of the Lord Jesus Christ in their hearts. Pray that they can continue trusting and believing in the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ who said that He would be with us until the end of the world. Amen.
Prayer Needs:
Please and thank you for helping me in prayer so that God continues to use me more and more in presenting his Gospel and that people receive the Word of God with pleasure and simplicity of heart.
Spencer Simpson – Redeemer’s Love Mission, Houston
Our heart is focused on making disciples of Christ, and we are overjoyed to see the spiritual progress and growth of the people in our discipleship groups, which are designed to teach them about being a disciple and how to go and make disciples. Thank you for your continued love, support, and most of all prayers as we seek to make disciples in southwest Houston.
Prayer Needs:
Since we have had a semi-public existence on social media and other platforms we do receive numerous guests. However, often some of these guest seem to be at odds with the churches core values, as well as seem to be primarily focused on self, and are not interested in the mission of Redeemer’s Love. Alongside this we have a good amount of regulars but the idea of committing to a church is difficult for them since many have church hopped for so long. This stems from the challenge of trying to develop a core team on site, rather than coming in with one. The relationships we have built with other churches/ministries will hopefully alleviate some of this concern, as well as solidify a stronger core team that will survive going public unlike past attempts of public launches.
Isaias Rojas Osechas – Church Plant in Spring
Thank you for your support and prayers for the planting of new churches and pray more for all and our situation as volunteer planters.
Neptaly Molina – Iglesia Bautista Mission, Nacogdoches
Prayer Needs:
- Pray for the establishment of the New Renacer Baptist Church of Nacogdoches. Pray for new Hispanic families to win for Jesus Christ.
- Pray for the pastoral family of Molina Perdomo
- Pray for two new Works in Marshall and Cussing.
- Pray for legal documentation, a work permit and Social Security. On April 14, 150 days will be met, after the traces.
- Pray for my theological training, Associate and Master’s preparation.
- Pray for the group of disciples to persevere.
Cristian Martinez – Grace Harvest Baptist Mission, Lubbock
I desire to continue to share with you what we anticipate God doing in Lubbock as we make disciples whose lives are centered on the gospel, passionate for God’s glory, and equipped to live out Jesus’ mission in everything they do.
Through the church’s proclamation and demonstration of the gospel of Jesus, we expect to see God creating new hearts that are passionate for His glory. This transformation will result in new lives that will be equipped to strategically bring the Kingdom of Jesus to their home, workplace, school, neighborhood, the City of Lubbock and through it, the ends of the earth. This vision is inspired by God’s greatness (Habakkuk 2:14), God’s design to use local churches at the center of His eternal plan (Ephesians 3:10), and God’s strategy to spread the gospel in the world (Acts 14:21-23).
Please pray for us in this journey and for more laborers to reap the spiritual harvest in the city.
Prayer Needs:
Pray for unity in my family and among the disciples, for fruit as we proclaim the gospel and make disciples and that Satan will not take the seed of the Word from their hearts but they will obey it, grow, and produce fruit.
Cliff Robertson – Carpenter’s House Mission – Lake Jackson/Clute
We realized that we must continue the work we began at the first to keep growing. I think this is a lesson we all need, whether we are two years old or 20!
Prayer Needs:
Pray that the upcoming projects and opportunities to reach out will be all that God intends them to be!
Ronnie Mills – Kingdom Chapel Mission, Saginaw/North Fort Worth
Hey, BMA churches! I’m so excited for all the Lord is doing among us. We’re not in our fifth week in our new space, and we’re loving it! We ask that you pray for us to continue in faithfulness to the Lord, and that He provides in the area of worship, and youth. Love you all!
Prayer Needs:
Our request is just that we would build a community of believers that love the Lord, and are committed to one another and what the Lord has called us to.
Matthew Prather – The Bridge Mission, Midlothian/Waxahachie
The new building God has provided is coming along.
Prayer Needs:
Easter Outreach and finishing the new building
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