UBC On Mission

In the entries below, you will find the stories and experiences of the people of UBC on mission for the glory of God.  We created this weblog so that you may join with us as we passionately seek to declare, demonstrate and display the gospel of Jesus Christ to every tribe, language, people, and nation here in our community, state, nation, and to the uttermost parts of the world.

Feel free to make comments.

La Fiesta – October 2009

Here are some shots from the La Fiesta we threw for Pastor Jose’ Segura’s Church – Iglesia Bautista Shalom on Saturday, October 24th.  We had about 50 kids from the neighborhood and some of their parents come out for the event.  We had a soccer clinic, puppets, crafts, snacks, and a pinata busting as part of the afternoon.

 

Oaxaca – October 2009

My wife, Angela, and I traveled with Mike and Dianne Lawrence on mission trip to Oaxaca, Mexico.  Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka) is a state in the far southern portion of Mexico.  The capital, Oaxaca City, is the home and ministry area of one of UBC’s direct support missionaries, Floriano Ramos.  The main purpose of our trip was to encourage Floriano and to see the scope of his ministry as we plan to send future teams to work in areas of ministry needs.  Personally, I was so encouraged by the depth and reach of his ministry.  I’ll share more below.  We also spent a day and half with Kerry and Mauri Johnson, missionaries working among indigenous people in the Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains.

On Thursday, Oct. 15, we spent the morning at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary of Oaxaca.  Floriano teaches church history three days a week.  He also spoke during the chapel service where he taught on biblical marriage and family.  We had the opportunity to visit with the seminary director, Iván Sosa López.  He shared his dreams for the seminary wanting to see it doubled in student attendance over the next five years.  He also shared some of their physical and financial needs.  We also had the privilege of meeting the IMB missionary to Oaxaca, Tim Lightsey.  Tim and his wife Becky focus their efforts upon raising up national pastors to plant new churches.

On Friday, Oct. 16, we spent the day at two of the churches Foriano’s church has planted in the last five years.  The first was in a community called Solidadidad.  Irving Jarquin is the pastor and also a student at the seminary.  Five families are members of the church.  Let me encourage you to pray for this church plant as they reach out into a community heavily influenced by Catholicism.  They are presently ministering in the community by providing free cement block to 24 unchurched families.  We also visited a church in a community in Monte Alban.  Celestino (Cele) Diaz Gutié serves as the pastor of about ten families.  Cele recently graduated from seminary.  The church meets on rented property under a large canopy.  He brought in a medical mission team to his church and invited the community to come for free healthcare.

Friday evening we met at Floriano’s home church for worship and a special time of teaching on marriage and family.  I had the privilege of sharing the message in the service. After the service, we enjoyed an extended time with the Lightsey, Johnson, and Ramos couples.

On Saturday, Oct. 17, we traveled outside of Oaxaca to three small towns where Floriano’s church is seeking to plant new churches.  There is no evangelical work in any of the towns.  In fact, each town has a large Catholic church in the town center like the one pictured here, which pretty much controls the religious life of the community.  We spent time in each town praying for the community, for open doors to the Gospel, and for the individuals from Floriano’s church that are doing mission work there.  What’s wonderful is that Tim Lightsey is also training these missionaries as church planters.  He leads an institute on church planting and Floriano’s church helps with the funding for the missionaries.  I’ll share another blog which will allow you to virtually prayerwalk these three towns.

Sunday morning was a wonderful time of fellowship with Floriano’s church.  Mike had the opportunity to share his testimony and I again preached the message.  Our emphasis was on the mission of the church.  We were blessed to have the church pray over us.  After lunch, we traveled with Kerry and Mauri up into the mountains to a community called La Cumbre.  The views at 9000 feet were spectacular.

The village of La Cumbre encompassed about 70 families.  Kerry and Mauri have spent years developing relationships and helping with water and agricultural projects.  Numerous families have come to Christ, and the Johnsons lead a weekly Bible study in the village.

Us men helped set a pump in a well, which would furnish water for one of the widows of the village.  The ladies helped some of the women make blankets.  We enjoyed the hospitality and genuineness of the people of La Cumbre.  Our time in the mountains ended with a stop at the local trout restaurant.  I can still taste the fresh, fire-baked trout and tortillas.

We’ll be planning future trips to stand alongside our partners in Oaxaca.  God is doing some incredible things through the ministries of Floriano & Lillia, Kerry & Mauri, and Tim & Becky.

Written by John Mueller

Nicaragua – October 2009

Sunday, October 18

Tonight we worshipped with the church in Las Sabanas and it was one of the most humbling experiences I’ve had.  Everything was very simple; the pastor played the guitar and his wife sang (along with a couple of other women).  The guitar was not tuned and the singers were off-key… but they didn’t care.  They sang and played with all their heart and mind and strength and the resulting passion was incredible.  It was all to the glory of God and God alone.  How foolish we can be when we forget who we worship and think our own ideas of perfect pitch and tone are anywhere close to what God desires.

Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! Psalm 95:1-2

Tuesday, October 20

Today we went to a community called La Victoria.  It’s a small town and is not easy to get to.   In our prayer-walking the day before, we were invited to a believer’s house who offered to host us today.  She was someone who had done evangelism in another area before and was now in La Victoria.  Again, I was amazed to see God’s sovereignty at work in how He puts people in each other’s paths at just the right time.

Because of the small size of the community, it did not take long for us to go house-to-house and we were done by lunch time.  I remember thinking that sometimes we get these “Billy Graham” views of evangelism and expect that “success” equals thousands of people coming to Christ in a single setting.  Or, that we’re somehow more spiritual if we walk long distances over huge hills to do God’s work.  Yet, God shows how limited those views really are and how different His perspective is.  There was a reason He sent us to a place that had maybe 25 houses.  To Him, that community was important, regardless of its size.  Those people were valuable to Him and they were worth the effort.  And, that night, just about the entire town came to a 1-room school house to watch a movie about Jesus and heard the gospel.

But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.       Ezekiel 33:6

Friday, October 16

There were times during this trip that I felt completely inadequate for the task laid ahead of me.  I’m not an outgoing person, I cannot hold conversations with people in Spanish, and I rarely hold conversations with people in English.  I confessed to Loren that one of the things I worry about is that my “introvertedness” gets in the way of doing things that God might want me to do.  After reminding me of a number of people in the Bible who felt similar inadequacies, Loren also reminded me that I did end up going up to several people’s houses and communicated effectively enough in Spanish that they knew I had a gift for them and when/where the movie was that night.  Before and afterwards, I was my quiet self, but for 45 seconds, God absolutely gave me what I needed to get His work done.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

Written by Jennifer Gidden

Nicaragua – October 2009

Our primary purpose while in Nicaragua was to partner with IMB missionaries Loren & Karen Dickey, as they oversee Operation GO Nicaragua.  The primary task of Operation GO is to get the Gospel into the hands of every person in Nicaragua.  This is done through Gospel saturation and showing the Jesus Film.  During this week our team of seven worked alongside Pastor Francisco who is a local church pastor in Las Sabanas Nicaragua.  Francisco has a heart for reaching eight neighboring villages surrounding Las Sabanas.  Our team was able to go into two of the remote villages (La Victoria & Aruse) passing out the Gospel of Luke and sharing the film.

During our time of ministry in La Victoria and in Aruse, as we showed the Jesus Film to 100 plus individuals and families whom we had visited over the span of two days, I couldn’t help but be reminded of the urgency with which we share the Gospel.  Not only that, but what it must be like to finally have someone come into your village (which can only be reached primarily by foot, horse, donkey, or in our case Land Rover SUV) to share the Gospel message.

As I sat there with my team and the Nicaraguans watching the visual depiction of Christ’s life, death, burial, and resurrection I wondered how many were seeing and hearing the Gospel for the first time.  How would they respond?  Would they cry, be amazed, wonder, or maybe not care?  Then I thought how many times I have seen, heard andread the Gospel account.  Would it affect and impact me now, just as it did the very first time I understood what Christ had accomplished for me.

I also began to think about how far we drove to get to these communities and then hiked to get to these homes.  Who would go if we didn’t?  Who would share the good news if we hadn’t?  As Carl F.H. Henry is quoted as saying, “The Gospel is only Good News if it gets there in time.”  I came away from this trip with a much deeper devotion to the Gospel, to evangelism and to taking the message of Christ to those who have yet to hear.

“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?  And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?  And how are they to hear without someone preaching?  And how are they to preach unless they are sent?  As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’ “  – Romans 10:14-15

Written by Ryan Martin

Bikes, Blues & BBQ – September 2009

What sounds like the continuous sound of thunder in Fayetteville for four days is actually millions of bikes rolling into town for our annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ. This is the 10 year anniversary of the event and the third year that UBC has engaged in outreach to the bikers.

This year, as in years past, we offered free biker parking in our lots. We also expanded our cookouts to both Thursday and Friday nights this year. Donnie Baker provided the grill and his grilling expertise, and we served approximately 250 bikers. Other areas of outreach included free Wi-Fi access and a cafe setup in our Student Activity Building at night. We are grateful for all the volunteers from UBC and Sigma Phi Lambda Sorority for helping to make this a huge success!

One of the neat opportunities in which we have partnered in each year is having a Christian Bikers Association, led by ‘Rude Dog,’ set up their ministry next to ours. Rudy and his team of bikers have been able to connect at an even deeper level with the bikers who pass through our lot. He provided Bibles, tracts and other Christian material.

We pray that through all of these avenues of outreach that the Gospel was planted both through word and deed. We are thankful to God for the unique opportunity to reach out to a different culture that has come to our Jerusalem right here in Fayetteville.

Written by Ryan Martin

Wichita – July 2009

Since the Wichita mission trip I have thought many times about what made the experience so unique and why I look back with such fond memories of the time we shared together. Someone commented during the trip that we had shared at least three years worth of fellowship in our week together. I don’t mean fellowship like we like to call it when we have a cookout in the backyard. I mean true koinonia…..sharing the love of Christ in the context of multigenerational biblical community. Koinonia was experienced as we ministered to the needs of others motivated out of a love for them and a love for the Gospel…backyard bible clubs, soccer camp, and construction projects. Koinonia expressed itself through serving our own team in love, meeting the physical, temporal, practical needs of the members of our team with an eternal mindset rooted in a love for others because of Jesus. This was seen as some worked to serve our physical needs through preparing meals for us or as others stopped loud games early for the sake of younger children who needed their rest. It was expressed through a thoughtful phone call from one team member to another to offer to bring back a favorite drink from Sonic. It was expressed through laughter, hard work, worship and sharing. Families, singles, teenagers, empty-nesters, newly weds, and grandparents all working together as the body of Christ….what a blessing to be a part of it all. I miss waking up each morning and greeting my brothers and sisters in Christ and going to bed at night after a long day of serving together and sharing our time of family worship together as one big family.

Before the trip I was feeling anxious about the details….what was I thinking? How would our baby do? Would he sleep? Could I really pull this off with our family of nine? As we got into the trip it became obvious that we were truly going to function as a team…as a family…I relaxed and enjoyed the beauty of the unity of the Spirit in action.

Written by Michelle McCollum

Wichita – July 2009

I want to write a couple of blogs touching on some of the key impressions that God burned upon my heart.  Before I move to the specific ministries we worked with or the people we ministered to, I want to share about our team.  I’m always amazed at how perfect the team is for the particular mission that God has called us to be a part of.  Whether it’s going to the end of the earth or across our church parking lot, God assembles teams that meet the specific needs and challenges of the mission.  This was so true of our mission trip to Wichita, KS. 

As you read through the various blogs and look at the pictures, you’ll see that we worked among three very different ministries.  What you don’t see is all that takes place behind the scenes.  When Ryan and I first went to Wichita for a vision tour, we sensed God leading us to three specific ministries.  The first was a cowboy church that expressed a desire to put on an arena event in order to reach into the western culture of Haysville, KS (just south of Wichita) with the gospel.  We didn’t know anything about cowboy events but were eager to learn and willing to give it our best.  A few weeks before we were to leave, the pastor of the cowboy church called and said that his church was not ready for such an event but would like for our team to do some projects around their facilities.  So that’s what we did.  Our team had the skills needed to accomplish all of the projects given to us.  The church needed wood floor laminate put down.  I looked over and one of our team members was putting on his kneepads.  Two members of our team had experience in laying flooring and did a beautiful job in completing the project.  

A good number of our team including youth and children cleaned out a couple of junk rooms, painted them, and converted them into functional rooms.  Sure, there was quite a bit of paint on our younger team members, but the rooms looked fantastic and our paint crew had a great time with the project.  The church also had some cabinets in storage and our team hauled them to their “chuck wagon” room and installed them.  Another handful of our team disassembled some fencing that connected their two building and converted the space into a double swinging gate.  Others built two large shelving units and installed several thresholds.  We also cleaned up the inside of their church and had it ready for their next worship gathering.  We closed out the evening with a jamboree and had several groups, individuals, and a family from our team share in song. 

Our second ministry was going to be working with a pastor wanting to plant a new church on the west side of town.  Several days before we left, we received word that he decided not to move forward with the church start.  We were going to throw a block party for the ministry and do some surveying in the community.  We were connected with another ministry that is in its formative stage.  This ministry is targeting youth by converting an empty church building near the schools into a youth outreach and ministry center.  We set up our block party on the grounds of the future ministry and canvassed the area.  Again, I was blown away by the efficiency of our team.  Everyone had a job and worked as a well-tuned machine in setting it all up, running it, and then breaking it all back down.  I won’t go into detail here, but it was a large outreach that seemed almost effortless.  The next evening I asked for volunteers to do some canvassing.  I was a little nervous because the survey was really not a survey but rather a door-to-door evangelist push.  We had not prepared the team for this type of evangelism.  Again, I was amazed at the willingness of the team to participate and at the wonderful opportunities we had to verbally share the gospel. 

Our third ministry was working with a Hispanic church plant in south-central Wichita.  Again, when Ryan and I first visited this ministry, the pastor mentioned that a soccer camp would be the perfect outreach for the neighborhood children and youth.  Two of our team members had experience in coaching soccer and one is presently a coach in our Fayetteville school system.  They did an incredible job teaching skills and overseeing games while at the same time interjecting spiritual truths into the teaching.  Others on our team lead various parts of a backyard Bible club including Bible stories, puppets, drama, music, crafts, snacks, etc.  All I can say is our team was incredible! 

Then, there is all that takes place outside of the mission projects.  Our ladies overseeing the feeding of the multitude worked miracles in the kitchen.  Our worship times and missionary lessons were a rich blessing.  Everyone involved in cleanup and a host of other responsibilities poured themselves out with hearts of humility and servanthood.  I consider it a huge blessing to have had the opportunity to serve alongside every individual on this team.

Written by John Mueller

Wichita – July 2009

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – Galatians 6:9-10

This week in Wichita carried the special blessing of living out the gospel among our church family while serving those in various Kansas communities. It was such an encouragement to see the love of Christ displayed throughout the group as people volunteered to serve our team in a multitude of ways regardless of their health and energy levels. This Scripture was truly manifested in the lives of our team as we reaped the joy of serving the Lord together.

As I thought back on the week, though, I found myself wondering why we did find such joy in serving while on the trip. The tasks that were given to us were very similar to the tasks that we face at home – washing dishes, feeding babies, vacuuming floors, etc. In my own life, why am I so willing and eager to do those things on a mission trip while at home I find myself struggling to do just a simple task with a smile? Why do we see our Judea, Samaria or Ends of the Earth opportunities as being something greater than what we are given opportunity to do in our Jerusalem? Throughout the Scriptures, we see Jesus commanding His followers to return to their homes and to bless their own families because of the blessings that had been poured out upon them. May we now do the same thing in our own homes and among our church body.

Written by Rebekah Burns

Wichita – July 2009

Our entire trip was a blessing!  The church where we stayed blessed us with true Christian hospitality.  Not only did they let us invade their education wing and take over their kitchen, but they even invited us to get anything we needed for VBS from their supply closet!  Angela, Debbie, and Vickey worked constantly to provide wonderful meals for us, and all the children got along beautifully, even by the time tired and cranky might have been understandable.    The whole team worked together very well.

While the entire trip was a blessing, that doesn’t mean it was all easy.  We had some pretty tough kids at the VBS we held for the Hispanic church Monday through Wednesday.  Daniel and Jasmine, the pastor and his wife, have only recently moved to the area to begin this small church which currently has five families.  The need among the children who came is great.  Our numbers grew each day (60 by the end), likely because we were feeding snacks and sending lunch with the children each day.  Though some may have come for physical nourishment, we hope and pray that by God’s grace, they received the seeds of eternal, spiritual nourishment. 

It is heart-breaking to think of the circumstances in which many of these children live, in poverty and in the midst of gang violence.  A few of the older children seemed quite hardened already while others, like Luis, seemed to wage an almost visible war between their desire to hear hope and an obvious peer pressure to follow the older, more cynical children.  Luis would start out doing the motions to our music or listening to the puppet presentation and Bible story but then would glance behind or around him to see what the others were doing.  I could read the struggle on his face.  He wanted to participate; at least part of him wanted to hear.  Honestly, he tended to go with the tougher crowd, but the hope I saw was in his hesitation to follow them.  I am praying that God will fuel the desire for His hope and salvation beyond Luis’s ability to resist.   There were other children who knew the answers to the questions we asked and who eagerly participated.  Some just remained silent.  Only God knows which way any of them will turn in the end, but some of those faces are burned into my mental prayer list, and I hope God never allows them to fade.  I pray that one day we will all worship together, no hesitation, no looking around, eyes fixed only on Jesus.  Amen!

Written by Mitzi Bingaman