Another exciting Youth For the Gospel event last weekend! We were with Jon Canavan and Kanon Bloom. Praise the Lord for a great turnout.

We would love to have you join us at one of our upcoming events. Click here to find out more details.

THIS Saturday, Sept. 28 will be our next Youth 4 the Gospel in Knowville, TN with Southside Baptist Church, Pastor Luke Wilkerson. If you are in the area, join us.

Here are the next several: 

• September 28 – Knoxville, TN
• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• November 9 – Dalton, GA

We were privileged to have Dr. Rudy Smith and Pastor John Mix visit and teach last Friday for missions class.

PS: A special thanks to Jonathan Anderson for moderating the class.

This section is for you to learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working alphabetically, and this weeks missionaries are Graham and Olivia Young, missionaries in Nigeria.

Graham 

Although I grew up in a great church, I was not saved as a child. The things of God became very stale and boring to me as an early teenager. I did not believe the Bible was God’s Word. This caused a long struggle in my heart. I was outwardly a Christian and did not indicate to anyone that I was not a believer. I had a hard time living with this hypocrisy, so I determined that I would read the whole Bible through to give it a chance.  During this read-through, I was convinced and accepted Christ as my Lord. Shortly after being saved, I surrendered to missions at my church’s mission conference. I started the Training Center after I graduated high school. Olivia and I met while I was in Bible college and were married in August 2020.

Olivia

Until I was 13, I believed that I was a Christian because everyone around me was. I believed that God and Jesus existed and never remembered a time when I hadn’t. I had heard of the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and believed it had happened. What I hadn’t understood was my sin or why it was important that Jesus died. In middle school, my family started attending Vision Baptist Church, where I was presented with the gospel clearly for the first time and challenged to think about my personal relationship with Christ. I heard things like, “You are not a Christian because your parents are,” and that before someone accepts Christ, they are enemies of God and condemned already. Never had I thought that I was separated from God or that I was his enemy. I thought I was born his friend. I realized that Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrifice for my sin and in my place — it was only by faith in Him that I could be saved. My own good works or my belief that I had always been a good person would not cut it. I believed on Him at camp one summer and felt The Lord moving me to become a missionary shortly after.

Mark Coffey, Field Director for Africa, visited Nate Wilkerson in Benin. Praise the Lord for what God is doing! Pictured is a Bible study. 

While Mark Coffey was visiting Benin, he took Clark Hall and Manjith (a young man from Grace Baptist in South Africa). Praise the Lord for these young men who want to serve the Lord! Please pray for them as they follow the Lord.

While visiting the missionaries in Asia, I was blessed to make several podcasts. I am super excited to share those with you soon! 

Click here to subscribe or look up Mission Post on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or RSS.com.

Brady Van Winkle visited campus to teach this week. Jonathan Anderson also did, though we did not get a picture. A giant thank you to both of them for investing in future missionaries!

Welcome back Abigail Cooke from her 6-month internship in Mexico!! Thank you to the Anderson family for hosting and helping her. 

The following is an exert from chapter 6 of the book Missionary Guidebook For Ladies by Mindy Bush

Life is crazy. Life in ministry is crazier. You will need to be intentional and make time with your kids count. 

Family should come before ministry, but family shouldn’t hinder ministry. Don’t use your kids as an excuse to not do ministry, but also don’t allow the busyness of ministry to strip away memories with your kids. Jump on the trampoline with them, teach them to ride a bike, roller skate, play hide-and-seek in the dark. If Dad wants to play soccer in the living room to spend time with his son, let him. Don’t just “let” him; encourage him. Get in on the fun.

You can still do ministry and spend quality time with your kids. Involve them in everything you do, if possible. They can go on visitation with you or help you make food or gifts for people. They can sit on your lap while you play the piano and practice for the church service. They can go with you when you do discipleship. If the other lady has children, it will be good for them to go and play with the other kids. Just because you have children doesn’t mean you can’t do ministry.

Invite them to sacrifice with you. Teach them to be generous. If the church has a special giving project, encourage them to get in on the fun! Let them have a little allowance so they can learn to give back!

How do you have quantity time with your kids? Have daily routines. Have a meal together once a day at least. In Argentina, our meal together was lunch, and then we had siesta time, as it was the culture there. We didn’t always take a siesta, but we used that free time to be together as family since you couldn’t do anything else in the country because everyone was napping. We would take a walk around our neighborhood and sing and talk. Jeff would take the kids around on his motorcycle. We would go to the park and let them skate.

Quantity time does NOT mean child-centered family where everything revolves around the child and what he/she wants to do. Children must learn that they don’t get to do everything they want to do. 

Sadly, there are some moms who just don’t want to be around their kids. Do you realize that they are God’s gift to you? What are you doing with God’s gift? A child left to himself brings his mother to shame. You will regret it later on down the road when your child doesn’t love Jesus or want to serve God. Do you find yourself looking for ways to “get rid” of your child, whether it is putting him in a day camp, day care, or anything to get him out of your hair? There’s nothing wrong with these things on occasion, but if you are a missionary wife, stay-at-home mom, there’s no excuse for it. Many years ago, it was common for missionaries to send their children off to boarding school so they could do ministry. One thing they didn’t realize is how much of an asset the children could have been for the ministry and how much their children missed out by not being with their parents. Families need to be together. In some countries that have a strong push for education, you might find yourself falling into the same trap that the kids must have the best education available. They could potentially be gone for ten hours a day, come home and still have schoolwork to do. Be careful to always re-evaluate your life and what is going on in your children’s lives.

What does the Bible say about how we should spend time with our children?

“And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.”  Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Thank you to the many who participated in the Y4tG last Saturday in Calhoun. Above are some of the pictures. I rejoice in what the Lord is doing through these events!

We would love to have you join us at one of our upcoming events. Click here to find out more details.

THIS Saturday, Sept. 21 will be our next Youth 4 the Gospel in NY City at Living Hope Baptist Church, Bronx, NY. If you are in the area, join us.

Here are the next several: 

• September 21 – NY City, NY
• September 28 – Knoxville, TN
• October 12 – Saint Cloud, FL
• November 9 – Dalton, GA

This section is so you can learn more about (or be reminded of) VBM missionaries serving around the world. We will be working in alphabetical order, and the next missionary is Noah & Tristan Wilkerson.

Noah:

I am very  grateful for a godly heritage. My parents made it a priority to keep me and my siblings in church from a very young age. I’m thankful for my parents, great Sunday school teachers and children’s church workers that took time to share the gospel with me many times. After a Sunday night message, I realized I was a sinner and was on my way to hell without Jesus Christ. My father showed me the Bible way to be saved that evening.

When I was 16 years old I surrendered my life to whatever the Lord had for me after a mission’s trip to Dalian, China to visit Mark Tolson. From that point on, I began to seek the Lord to find my place in world evangelism. Through various missions trips the Lord laid the continent of Africa on my heart. While on an internship under the Coffey family my wife Tristan and I surveyed the country of Mozambique just northeast of South Africa. We believed that is where the Lord was calling us to plant churches. After the birth of our daughter Alainey in October of 2022 we needed to re-evaluate where and to what the Lord was leading us. Due to the advanced medical care for Alainey, we had peace about moving to South Africa to serve with the team of missionaries there. We are enjoying learning much and serving here. We are currently continuing to pray about what God has for our future in Africa. It is a privilege to serve the King of Kings!

Tristan:

I grew up in a Christian home where my parents were very involved in different church ministries. My family was very faithful to any and all church events and I am thankful for the influence that a healthy church offered me throughout my childhood. After saving up some allowance, I was able to attend my first church camp. On the Wednesday night of camp, at 14 years old, I placed my faith in Jesus for my salvation.

At 19 years old, I began to really evaluate what my life looked like and how I was spending my time. It was then, that I started to take my relationship with the Lord more serious and I began investing more time in Bible reading, church ministries, and spending time with better influences. While on a trip to visit Eric and Rebekah Elrod in India, I surrendered my life to whatever God would have for me involving missions. Today, Noah, Logan, Alainey and I are thankful to be serving the Lord in South Africa. We are blessed the Lord has brought us this far. He is faithful. We look forward to welcoming baby #3 in October.

I rejoice with the missionary team in NYC for the two baptisms last week and for the three men who received certificates for completing discipleship. Amen!

Shawn Bateman preached chapel this week, and we’re grateful for it.

I am currently writing this from Asia, where I’ve been able to visit many the Asian team members. They’ve been kind enough to let me disrupt their schedules. I have been extremely encouraged to see and hear from each of them! I still have a couple of days here, so I will share more updates next week!

Justin, a Chinese man saved at team member’s church in NY City, visited over the weekend. 

Travis held another Missionary Finance Training class this week. I am very grateful for the many tools we are blessed to offer and serve our missionary team.

Emily Wilkerson teaching kids ministry in their yard. Amen!