Disclosure: this post is a bit longer than usual, contains a lot of links, and I’ll be asking you for something at the end.
Long before Tom Cruise started turning “Mission: Impossible” into Hollywood blockbuster movies…
…(7/8 released so far) spanning almost 30 years, there was the original TV series with 7 seasons (1966-1973). I remember watching those as a pre-teen.
Almost as iconic as the theme song was the taped mission instructions given to the team leader at the beginning of each episode: “Your mission—should you choose to accept it … this tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds.”
I must admit that I’ve never had such a dramatic mission invitation. And I don’t know anyone else that has, either.
But I have been invited into some pretty amazing opportunities in my life—things for which I was not completely aware of how much God had been preparing me. So many parts of this journey of 46 years of ministry, 39 of marriage, 35 of parenting, and 9 of grand-parenting. I could spend many words describing the specifics of that, but today I want to highlight one of the most recent.
It was just over a year ago when I let my very small “safe group” know of my plans to retire from Harvest Baptist Association in June of this year. It would not become public for another 5 months.
A few days later, one of the guys sent me a text that I followed up with a phone call. The gist of the message was that he had been working with the CEO of Texas Baptist Men (TBM), who told him that they needed a representative in the Amarillo area to connect with churches, pastors, and associations to build missional relationships.
My friend said, “I might know a guy.”
About a month later, I had my first informal coffee meeting and—fast forward to July 2, 2023—I’m now the TBM Church Engagement Officer for the panhandle of Texas.
Through 20 years as a pastor and 15 years as Executive Director of an association of churches, God was preparing me for this new mission of encouraging, informing, and connecting.
And this was never even on my radar. Isn’t that just like God? Using circumstances and experiences in one time and place as training for another time and place?
I share this experience with you for two reasons:
One is to encourage you to look at your current reality and consider how God used the experiences of your past to prepare you for where you are now and how He is using your current reality to prepare you for your next mission.
A second is to invite you to partner with TBM around the world.
TBM has 4 core ministries:
- Disaster Relief – Since 1967 TMB has been going to places of disaster and devastation to bring hope and healing. Whether it is helping clean up and rebuild after a natural disaster (tornado, hurricane, flood) or an industrial disaster (like the chemical explosion in South Texas yesterday), or to serve thousands of meals to those displaced by those disasters, TBM is always ready to respond.
- Builders – TBM sends skilled volunteers to help churches and camps with their building needs to that they can devote their resources and attention to ministering to their communities. TBM volunteers have built over 1600 church and camp facilities over the past 20 years.
- Water Impact – A more recent and growing worldwide ministry of TBM is providing clean drinking water through well-drilling and water purification systems. Whether responding with water purification following earthquakes in Syria and Turkey, or drilling sustainable water sources in Ecuador and Uganda, TBM is helping communities with physical and spiritual needs.
- Student Discipleship –Royal Ambassadors began as an organization in 1908, and over 2.5 million boys have learned to join God through mission education and projects. TBM coordinates RAs for the state of Texas. In recent years, that discipleship ministry has expanded to working with all teens/students in discipleship events, studies, and projects.
So, how can you partner with TBM?
- Pray – that God will continue to provide the material and people resources to meet every opportunity. For stories about how God is using TBM around the world, go to https://www.tbmtx.org/news
- Donate – TBM serves people in any place there is an open door for ministry. And when they get there, they serve anyone in need with a mostly volunteer work force. Your donation makes high impact ministry possible. To learn more about how to give to TBM, go to https://www.tbmtx.org/ways-to-give
- Go – Almost every ministry of TBM is open to participation. Whether on a local project, a long-term Builder or Disaster Relief Project, or even an international mission trip, there is a place for your skills and passions to be put into practice. And even though the official name of the organization is Texas Baptist MEN, about 40% of the staff and volunteers are women! The TBM homepage has links to learn more about all the opportunities. Go to https://www.tbmtx.org/
Thanks for reading a longer-than-usual post. I want to share a quick example of how God goes ahead of us to prepare for something not even on our radar.
In that first coffee meeting last year, Mickey Lenamon (CEO) told me that TBM had a project going in Israel. At the invitation of the Israeli government, TBM had constructed a secure Disaster Relief facility and was taking trips to Israel to train volunteers for future disasters. This project started in 2018.
When Hamas attacked Israel last month, TBM had trained volunteers on the way to Israel within 24 hours. Click here for the news story.
In this new chapter of my journey, I’m so glad God has allowed me to work with this amazing ministry/mission organization. If the Lord leads you, I’d love to talk with you about how you and/or your church can partner with TBM.
Until next week …
Be amazing today, my friend.
