Jeff Bartell

People ask me if I am tired after a full week of our missions conference.  It was a full schedule, but truly I feel refreshed.  We got to spend time with some of our favorite people in the world (our family had 5 Albanians staying with us in our home – not to mention the other missionary guests and our FBC family), talk about my favorite subject in the world (world missions), hear great preaching every night and to top it off NE Ohio experienced some uncharacteristically nice weather!  I told my wife that we could’ve spent a few thousand dollars and not have a better time on vacation!

I am very proud of First Baptist Church for rallying and serving in so many ways:  providing meals, serving our children, contributing to the missionary wives and rising to the challenge of raising more than the $15,000 goal for our ministry partner in Egypt.

There is something very refreshing about working hard for the Lord and although there may be a physical exhaustion, there is a spiritual satisfaction that makes it all worthwhile.

Proverbs 19:23  The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

If we want to REACH the world, we have to STRETCH!  This is the theme of our upcoming missions conference at FBC, starting this Sunday, November 6^th and continuing through Wednesday, November 9^th.  In fact, reachmissions.net will be a new website for our global mission outreach of FBC.  It is being developed so keep checking back to see the progress.  The idea is that if we are going to participate in reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to be stretched in our faith.  We need to exercise it more to prepare it for more challenging tasks ahead.

If you spend much time serving or following global missions, you realize that it is one, big, happy family!  Over time, it seems like everybody knows somebody who knows just about everybody in the world of missionaries!  (Did that make sense?) This year we will have representatives from Albania, Mongolia and Peru as well as a couple that does children’s ministry worldwide.  All of our guests are good personal friends of mine.  Several of them have known each other prior to coming here.  It makes for a great family reunion and a brief glimpse of what heaven will be like one day.  I can’t wait for that – but until then, I will really enjoy these events!

For those of you in the New Philadelphia area, please plan to attend starting at 9:00am Sunday and 7:00pm Monday – Wednesday.  You won’t be disappointed!  If you are not in the New Philadelphia area, please pray with us that God is glorified and many people respond to the “stretching exercises” that God has planned for us!

At the end of the day, what could possibly be more important than to invest your life in something that will last for eternity?  Every year that clicks off is another year closer to the end – either the end of time or (at least) the end of our lives here on Earth.  This is our chance to “step it up a notch” and give our lives to something that matters.  I hope to see you here!

As we approach our annual missions conference, we are introducing the concept of giving financially to missions with a system called “Faith Promise.”  If you have been around Baptist churches very long, you probably are already familiar with this concept.  I talked about it in my last blog post, so I won’t reiterate that info here.

How is FAITH really a part of this?  Normally, people give to charities based on what they can afford or what they want to give.  That is great, but this is a bit different.  With Faith Promise, we don’t calculate what WE want to give – rather, we PRAY and ask God what HE wants us to give.  There is no audible voice.  It is not magic.  But if you spend any considerable time with God in prayer, you know how He can impress your heart with very specific information – answers to your prayers – things that He is directing you to do – IF ONLY you will have FAITH in Him!  Then, once you land on the amount that you believe God wants to give through you, you follow the steps that I laid out in my previous blog post.

It’s fun!  I hope you all do it.  Once you make the PROMISE to trust God by FAITH in participating in seeing all the peoples of the world get the chance to get saved, you will be forever changed – for the better!

It is a promise to give a financial gift to global outreach based on your faith in God.  It is a commitment of a certain amount that God puts on your heart, after spending time in prayer asking Him how much He would like to give through you.

It’s not magic.  You won’t just open your wallet and have money pour out of it.  It is faith in God to enable you to give more that you think you can give, all the while still meeting all of your personal needs.

My promise is to give the amount God lays on my heart.

My faith is exercised as I trust God to provide for me and allow me to give that amount.

 How exactly do I do that?

1)      Pray!  Don’t just pick some amount that you think you can afford.  Ask God to lead you to the amount He wants to give through you.

2)      Commit!  Stick with it, even if it doesn’t seem doable at first.

3)      Look!  Look for unexpected ways for God to provide this amount.  You will be amazed at the things that God will do to allow you to keep your promise.

• Maybe you will get an unexpected raise at work.
• Maybe you will receive money in an inheritance.
• Maybe you can earn extra money in a yard sale.
• Maybe you can choose to spend less on eating out or other entertainment so that the peoples of this world can get the gospel.

4)      Give!  Have faith in God.  Give as God enables you.

Remember, this is your offering to God for global missionary outreach.  It does not replace your normal tithes and offerings.  It is “above & beyond” your normal level of giving.  Our church’s missions committee can plan what we can do as a church to support missions around the world next year based on your faith promises.

Psalms 24:1  The earth is the LORD’S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

God is fully able to do whatever He needs to get done with or without us.  Participating in Faith-Promise giving for world evangelism is our opportunity for God to use us to get His work accomplished!  I definitely want God to use me and I’m sure you want that too.