Saturday

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Luke 2:13-14 (NIV)

Faye Faller, former secretary of FBC, Hammond and a relative of mine, is hospitalized with heart rhythm problems. Please be in prayer for her.

Continue to pray for the Price family. I’ll post an update later.

Pray for all the school children who are beginning a two week holiday. Pray that they know in their hearts the reason they have this holiday. Pray for safety and security as well as a sense of being loved for each of them.

Pray for those who will be alone during the holidays. Do your part in helping them in any way you can.

Missions: It takes
a lot of faith
By Jerry Rankin

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, with a goal of $170 million in gifts through Southern Baptist churches, will support the ministry of more than 5,300 missionaries worldwide appointed by the International Mission Board.

RICHMOND, Va. (BP)–Missionaries who raise their own support are often called “faith” missionaries in contrast with those sent out by denominational entities such as the International Mission Board, which provides support and benefits.

However, the IMB does not generate income to support the more than 5,500 missionaries overseas receiving financial support. We are totally dependent on the gifts of Southern Baptists.

It takes faith to believe God will provide $170 million through a once-a-year missions offering named after a 19th-century missionary. It takes faith to trust Southern Baptists to have a mission heart and allocate a percentage of their church gifts to the Cooperative Program.

Last year the IMB sent out 841 new missionaries — none were delayed in leaving for their field of assignment because they couldn’t raise funds. They followed God’s will, confident God would provide for their needs through our churches.

Earlier this year I had the privilege of meeting three young missionaries on our Xtreme Team in the jungles of Peru’s Amazon Basin. After a flight to a city in the northwestern part of the country, we flew in a chartered plane to a remote landing strip near the border with Brazil. Following a five-hour ride in a motorized canoe, we reached a Yaminahua village where the Xtreme team members had been living for a couple months.

Missionaries like these who have been sent out by the IMB are able to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth because of the faithful giving of Southern Baptists. Your support through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering enables these young men to live among this indigenous people group, where there is now a thriving church.

It is a joy to represent the entity that serves the churches of our denomination by channeling support to those sharing the Gospel among the nations.

Never forget, it is a challenging world to which God is calling us to go and tell the Gospel. We cannot wait while multitudes enter eternity without Christ. I pray that we as Southern Baptists will be found faithful and obedient in our giving and will challenge the next generation to be faithful in fulfilling our missions task.

(Jerry Rankin is president of the International Mission Board. Gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering to support Southern Baptists’ global outreach can be made at http://www.imb.org/offering.)

KneEmail
“At the name of Jesus every knee should bow…” (Philippians 2:10).
Mike Benson, Editor

ON FEBRUARY 26, 1829, A Jewish boy named Loeb Strauss was born in a cottage in the Bavarian village of Buttenheim…

As a young man, Loeb changed his name to Levi and wound up in California where he opened a textile company in San Francisco. One day a gold miner walked into Levi’s shop and assailed the young merchant. “Look at these,” said the miner, pointing to the pants. “I bought ’em six months ago, and now they’re full of holes!”

When Levi asked why, the miner explained, “We work on our knees most of the time.”

What you need is some really strong material,” replied Levi. “We have some canvas. It’s used to make tents. If we make your trousers out of canvas, I’m sure they won’t get holes.”

A tailor was called, and presently the miner had a set of trousers — and the rest is history. Soon minors across the West were wearing Levi Strauss’s jeans. (Stephen Van Dulken)

Christians should have the same problem that plagued that miner — pants with worn-out knees — for we ought to do most of our kingdom work on our knees.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 3:14).

Have a great day!
Anna Lee