LOS ANGELES — In his first missionary
commissioning sermon as the new president of the North American Mission Board
(NAMB), Kevin Ezell told 62 missionaries and chaplains to “stay focused and
stay faithful” as they begin their new ministries throughout the United States
and Canada.
About 700 people packed New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church, an African
American congregation in south-central Los Angeles, for the Oct. 17
commissioning service.
The church was founded 48 years ago by Lonnie Dawson, the only pastor the
church has ever known, who currently is ill and was unable to attend the
service.
“As a missionary-minded church, we are delighted to share in NAMB’s missionary
efforts for Kingdom-building,” Dawson said in an advance statement. During his
tenure, New Mount Calvary has grown from six members to more than 3,000.
In welcoming the standing-room only audience to the commissioning service,
Sonja Dawson, the pastor’s daughter, said, “When Dr. Dawson planted this church
over 48 years ago, this day was only a dream. We could not have dreamed that
our humble congregation would ever host such an auspicious occasion.”
Ezell told the crowd, “There is no better church from which to talk about
staying focused and faithful than New Mount Calvary, where Lonnie Dawson has
done it for 48 years.” Ezell, at 48, was an infant when Dawson planted the
church on east El Segundo Boulevard.
Using Colossians 3 as his text, Ezell told the new missionaries and chaplains
that “it’s so easy in the world we live in to get distracted by the things that
are not important. It’s easy to fill your life with the good things while you
push out the best things.
“The Apostle Paul told us to be on guard within and without. Missionaries,
protect your time with the Lord, your families and your ministries — in that
order. Remember who you’re doing this for as you begin your ministry. You’re
doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ. Start well and finish well. He (Jesus) did,
up until the time He said, ‘It is finished.’”
Ezell was named NAMB’s new president Sept. 14 by the Southern Baptist entity’s
56-member board of trustees who attended the commissioning service at New Mount
Calvary prior to their quarterly board meeting, also held in Los Angeles.
The 62 new NAMB missionaries and chaplains — chaplains serving the military,
corporations, the health care industry and law enforcement — will be deployed
in 15 U.S. states and three Canadian provinces. They join the ranks of 5,300
NAMB missionaries and chaplains already in service throughout North America.
Wendy Tsai, a native of Taiwan, was commissioned to serve in Canada’s
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, along the southern gulf of the St.
Lawrence River in southeastern Canada.
“I’ll be ministering to the growing population of Chinese immigrants there,”
Tsai said. “We want to establish a Mandarin-speaking church for those Chinese
immigrants who have never heard the gospel. These people are lonely and need to
learn English. If we can establish the church, they will love to come and we’ll
have the opportunity to reach them for Christ.”
With 1,800-plus Chinese immigrant families — averaging three members each — in
the Charlottetown area, Tsai said they come because it’s cheaper to immigrate
there than to Vancouver or Ontario.
The daughter of non-Christian parents, Tsai said her commissioning was a high
point of her life because becoming a missionary has been her “vision and call”
since she was 11 years old.
“God has made my vision come true through NAMB. I’ll stay as long as God wants
me to stay. I’ll follow what He says.”
Photo by John Swain Capt. Mike Jernigan of Fayetteville, a new North American Mission Board chaplain assigned at Fort Bragg, carries the American flag during NAMB missionary/chaplain commissioning ceremonies at New Mount Calvary Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles Oct. 17. Jernigan, a veteran of the Afghanistan war, ministers to some 300 soldiers in the 196th Ordinance Battalion DOD, some of whom will be deployed to Afghanistan. |
Mike Jernigan, 40, a captain in the U.S. Army, was commissioned as a chaplain
to continue serving in the 196th Ordnance Battalion DOD at Fort Bragg.
With one 34-month tour to Afghanistan already behind him, Jernigan ministers to
some 300 soldiers in his battalion at Fort Bragg, some of whom will be deployed
to Afghanistan in the months ahead.
“I feel pretty strongly that soldiers need to have meaning in their lives,”
said the closely cropped red-headed Jernigan, a native of Fayetteville. “I try
to make them see that there’s something beyond their years on this earth, that
they need to know there’s hope in Jesus Christ.
“Encouraging is a big part of what I do. I stress how they need strong
relationships with fellow soldiers and with their families back home,” said
Jernigan, who is the father of three children with his wife Jennifer.
Newly commissioned missionary Ray Willis’ mission field is draped by the
mountains and blue skies of Billings, Mont., where he and wife Arlene serve.
Willis is minister of evangelism and discipleship at Fellowship Baptist Church
in Billings. His goal is to raise up a core team of people to evangelize and
disciple new believers.
“As Baptists, we do a great job of putting church planters in the field and
starting churches,” Willis said. “But once the church is organized, the work is
only beginning. We need to grow leadership in evangelism, music and in other
key areas such as Sunday School.
“Pastors can get so busy administrating that the discipling is never completed,”
Willis said. “My heart and passion is to do something about that. It’s why I
get up every morning.” A pastor for 42 years, Willis first came to Montana in
1977 after leading churches in Illinois and Arkansas.
Also attending and speaking at the commissioning service at New Mount Calvary
were Fermin Whittaker, executive director of the California Southern Baptist
Convention, and Debby Akerman, national president of the Woman’s Missionary
Union.
Ezell also met with trustees while in California. See story.
(EDITOR’S NOTE — Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.)