BRANDON, Fla. — The North American Mission Board (NAMB) commissioned
81 new missionaries and chaplains at a commissioning service attended by some
800 people at First Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., on Sunday, March 20.
In his first-ever missionary commissioning sermon, Larry Wynn, NAMB’s new vice
president for evangelism, drew the crowd’s applause when he looked out over the
pews of missionaries and told them that “you are the real heroes.”
“You are sacrificing to go where God is calling you. You’re leaving family,
friends, familiar surroundings, your comfort zone, and the things you love, to
go and make a difference. We’re going to reach North America because of men and
women like you,” Wynn said.
Arnold and Teresa Wong were commissioned as Mission Service Corps (MSC)
missionaries for church planting in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada. The Wongs
formerly were International Mission Board missionaries in China.
“We’ll be planting churches among the 60,000 Mandarin-speaking Chinese in the
Richmond Hill area,” Wong said, noting that “99.9 percent of them are
non-Christians. They’ve never been exposed to the gospel. It’s a challenge to
make them understand the gospel. First, we have to be their friends because
being from communist China, they’re suspicious of other people. They have to
trust us first. We have to win the right to share the gospel.”
Wong said the Mandarin Chinese to whom he’ll be ministering — highly educated
professionals such as computer experts and accountants — are basically amoral
and don’t understand the sacrificial, unconditional love of Christ and
Christians.
Among those also commissioned was U.S. Navy chaplain Stephen Griffin, 30, and
his wife Julie of Portsmouth, Va. Stationed at Norfolk Naval Station, Griffin
soon will leave Julie and their two-month-old daughter Tierzah for active duty
in Afghanistan where he will minister to U.S. Marines.
“Julie and I prayed and cried over my assignment but finally we just came to
the conclusion that it’s an opportunity God is putting out there for us. We
just said, ‘Roger that, God, we’ll do it.’ But we’re sober about the
difficulties.” Julie and Tierzah will stay behind in Portsmouth during her
husband’s six-month deployment.
Kyle Yocum was commissioned as a NAMB US/C2 missionary based in Peoria, Ill.,
where the 26-year-old single will combine church planting and evangelism in an
effort to plant a new collegiate church in the area, the home of Bradley
University.
“I’ve been looking forward to being commissioned,” Yocum said. “It’s nice to
talk to other missionaries who are going through the same things you are — to
know you’re not out there by yourself. And it’s wonderful to have people who
don’t even know you to pray for you. That’s totally empowering and reassuring.”
Edward and Donna Villarreal were commissioned as Nehemiah Church Planting
missionaries in Salinas, Calif. They’ve planted His House Christian Fellowship,
ministering to a hardcore group of unchurched bikers and gang members who come
with their addictions, tattoos and body piercings.
“Because of the hard lives they’ve lived, they also come with hard hearts,”
Villarreal said. “Before we get them, they’re heavy into clubbing and partying.
They try to be family guys through the week but party all weekend.
“I started going after the men because if you can get them into a men’s group,
you can get their families,” Villarreal said. He started by forming a house
church that grew to 30 members — baptizing new believers in the apartment
complex’s hot tub. The church now meets in another church’s building for free.
About 50 people attend His House Christian Fellowship on a typical Sunday.
Betty Barham Newsom was only one of the new 81 missionaries but she stood out.
Revealing she was 81 years old, Newsom left the applauding congregation of 800
in both awe and surprise as one of the oldest MSC missionaries ever
commissioned by NAMB.
Photo by John Swain Betty Barham Newsom, 81, became one of the oldest NAMB MSC missionaries ever commissioned during a March 20 service at First Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla. She will be serving in southwest Mississippi mobilizing churches for missions. |
Based in Brookhaven, Miss., Newsom drives a seven-county circuit in southwest
Mississippi, mobilizing churches to get involved in and to support the WMU, the
Cooperative Program, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and mission education.
“This is what I want to do because of my love for the Lord Jesus and His love
for me,” Newsom said in her sweet Mississippi drawl. “Last year in this area, I
went to 44 different churches, large and small.”
North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell thanked First Baptist
Brandon for hosting the “Send North America” commissioning celebration and for
the church’s “weekly investments to plant churches across North America.”
“We in the South think everywhere is like us,” Ezell said. “In Florida, there
is one church for every 6,800 people. But in New York, there’s only one church
for 59,000 people. In New Jersey, there’s one church for 76,000 people. And in
Canada, there’s only one church for every 123,000 people.”
Tommy Green, senior pastor of the 5,100-member Brandon church for the past 15
years, called First Baptist a church “committed to missions in terms of giving,
going and praying.”
“We’re committed to the Cooperative Program and to Annie Armstrong. Just to be
host for this service is an honor for our church — and a chance for us to love
on these folks and let them know how thankful we are and prayerfully excited
about what God is doing in their lives,” Green said.
Two NAMB missionary couples commissioned during the service — Greg and Victoria
Shawgo, US/C2 missionaries in Missoula, Mont., and Matt and Amber Peavyhouse,
church planting missionaries in Hollywood, Fla., — are former members of First
Baptist Brandon.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Noah writes for the North American Mission Board.)
(SPECIAL NOTE — Thank you for your continued support of the Biblical
Recorder site. During this interim period while we are searching for a new
Editor/President the comments section will be temporarily discontinued. Thank
you for your understanding and patience in this. If you do have comments or
issues with items we run, please contact [email protected]
or call 919-847-2127.)