Mission's Conferece - Fisher's of Men

    

Mission's Conference was always a highlight of the year for me.

It was mostly because God was bringing me to the place where I am now.

He placed that burden for souls upon me and led me to serve here in South Africa.

I never imagined that I would be part of a Mission's Conference on my mission field.

Not that people across the world should not be burdened for souls, 

but because I guess I never really thought about it.

It was so exciting, as we decorated the church in anticipation for the week ahead.

In our church library, Pastor Jeff had a bunch of Bibles in other languages.  

We placed them among flags from countries around the world to remind us to pray for those taking the Gospel around the world.

Even the Junior Church room was decorate for the theme: Fishers of Men.

(To see how the fish are made click here.)

Our Mission's Conference was Wed- Sun August 21-25th.

We met each night for a shared meal together 

and then preaching from Ron Bragg (BIMI Africa director) via Skype.

Children showing their international costumes to Bro. Bragg

We heard some great & challenging messages about sharing the Gospel

 and being involved in world wide missions.

FRIDAY NIGHT : International Dinner

Friday night, each family decorated a table for our international dinner.

We had tables representing-

Mexico,

Greece,

and

China.

We all brought food from these countries - YUM!!!

(my favorite food was from Greece!)

Mexico table

Greek Table

China table (sorry, no pics with people sitting here)
To see how I made the China Lady click here.

Mission's conference was so much fun!

We had a great time of fellowship and were fed physically, 

but the best part is the spiritual food we received!

SATURDAY: To Every Creature Visitation

This was a special Saturday visitation

and we had another church join us to take the Gospel to Hillcrest.

(To read more about this visitaion day click here.)

In the afternoon, just as we finished the last street in Hillcrest,

the whole group sat down for a meal together.

You know, we are Baptists and that is what we do!

It was a blessing to serve the Lord together 

and then to have some time of fellowship together before the group left for home.

SUNDAY: Faith Promise Sunday & Junior Church Sings

As Sunday rolled around, we understood the great need for our faith promise giving.

Envelopes were passed out and prayed over all week.

We are thankful that our people learned this important principle of giving.

~~~

While I was on deputation, I found that many churches that I went to that did not have faith promise giving, were not able to support new missionaries and were themselves struggling to support the ones they already committed to.

Faith Promise Giving is a sign of a growing church.

A church that follows this principle will be a church with people who grow in their own personal faith in God, while becoming more and more burdened for the lost around them.

So many churches that do not follow this Biblical principle

 are slowly dying in faith and in attendance.

I am thankful to be working with missionaries who are teaching others 

that the Great Commission is a command for ALL of us!

~~~

Our Faith Promise Giving this year will cover all of the missionaries we currently support,

as well as, helping a little in some "one time" gifts to others that the Lord sends our way.

Below are videos of the Junior Church singing their Mission's songs

for the congregation on Sunday morning.

"Fishers of Men" in English & Zulu

"Tell me what a Missionary is" in English

Blindness

One of the messages last week at our Annual Missions Conference really broke my heart. It was a message called "Blindness". The missionary challenged us to open our eyes and see the world the way that God sees it. He went on to say that he was legally blind in one eye, but could still see things around him. The application of the message urged us to give ourselves a Spiritual Eye Test.

People all over the world need to hear about our Savior, Jesus Christ.

My burden, as you know, is for the people in Africa. Africa is called the "Dark Continent". The people there, as well as, all over the world need someone to show them how to be saved from thier sins. My burden becomes greater with each day that goes by until I can get to the mission field. Matthew 9:37, 38 encourages us to pray for more labourers. My prayer is that others would open thier eyes to see that need in Africa and all around the world.

Acts 26:18 "To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me."

My mission field in Durban, South Africa consists of the Valley of a Thousand Hills. As you look across the valleys and hills, you can see the homes of the people who need to hear about Christ.

In the Valley of a Thousand Hills is the village of Embo. Our church is at the top of the hill in Embo. It is a place for people to hear from God's Word. We teach them how to be saved and to grow in the Lord by obeying His Word and serving in the local church.

If you open your eyes you will see people everywhere who need to be saved. The ladies who sell things at the roadside have time to hear about what God has done for them.

Zulus schools have hundreds of children who have been so confused by cultural traditions. They are in need of hearing the truth from God's Word.

Durban, South Africa is known for the second largest Hindu Temple in the world. The largest group of Indians, outside of India, live in that city. Who will go to South Africa to work with those Indians?

The Zulus believe that they will go to Heaven if they pray to thier dead ancesters and the ancesters are not angry with them. Animism (believing unanimated things have souls), witch doctors, and charms are what they think they need to help them get into Heaven.

When I look around, I see many children who will soon be adults. Each one of those kids could become a Christian and raise thier children for the glory of God.

Some are hungry to know more about the Bible and salvation.

Others have received Christ as thier Savior.

And still there are more to tell.

A while ago, as I was driving through town,God opened my eyes again. I was sitting at a stop light and watched a very long line of cars go by me. God broke my heart for those people. I wondered, how many of them were saved? How many were hurting Christians who needed to be fed by His Word? Where are they going in such a hurry? Who will tell them? This was not the first time I sat in traffic with tears running down my cheeks for the lost souls who were all around me. God opened my blind eyes.

Our missionary speaker said that we could not see as God wants us to see until we have two things in order.
1) We must have the proper view of God. Is.6:1-10, I Peter 1:15, Mt.6:24
a) God is Holy!
b) He wants us to desire to serve Him.
2) We must have the proper view of the world. Jn.4:31
a) Weep for the world. Lk.19:41
b) Pray for the world. Mt.9:36-38
c) Go out into the world. Mk.16:15

Help me, O Lord, to see the people around me as You see them. May they one day be able to reflect what the below verse says, because one of us opened our eyes and went out to tell the dark world of the Light.
2Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

A Missions Conference Tradition

It has been my tradition for a few years to have a sleepover for teen girls on the Thursday night of Missions Conference. Of course the amount of girls is limited since I drive a pick-up truck. This year I asked another single lady to come. Rachel and her mom helped me to bring the girls home for the sleepover. The first 7 girls I invited were the ones who got to come (sorry to those of you who couldn't come because of lack of space, we will have to plan on doing something together soon).
After settling in, we usually have a campfire and snacks. This year it had rained all day, so this was our campfire.

We roasted hot dogs & marshmallows over the stove tops. It proved to be quite an experience, especially when the cheese inside a hot dog would make the flames spark and grow higher. The girls all brought delicious home-made desserts (Moms, you did a great job with teaching your daughters to bake! Yummy!!!). We also had coffee, hot cocoa, and hot cider to help us stay up to play games.

Game time was so much fun! You really get to know alot about people by playing games. We played: Bop-It, Maffia, 4-on-the-Couch, Apples to Apples, Pit, Dutch Blitz, and of course Silly-Slidding-Sock Races.

As you can see, socks are not just beautiful footwear, but also make great attire for a very competative sport (which took place around 3am).

The Bible instructs the older ladies to teach younger ladies about godliness (Titus 2). My desire is to be a blessing to those young ladies by providing a time where they can get together and enjoy eachother's company, talk about what the Lord is teaching them during Missions Conference, and maybe the Lord could use me to encourage them on in spiritual things.

The Bible also tells us that when you invest time in others by trying to be a blessing and encouragement in thier lives, you will also be blessed and encouraged. I thank the Lord for the great teen girls we have at our church. My prayer is that God will use each of them in a wonderful way!

Mt.Zion Baptist Church Missions Conference 2011

My home church has the best Annual Missions Conference! I was excited to be able to attend this year. Our theme for 2011 was "Send the Light!" It was exciting to see how the Lord used each message that was preached to bring forth the truth of our need to send the Light.
John 1:9 "That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."
John 3:19 "And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."
John 3:20 "For every one that doeth evil hateth the Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
John 8:12 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the Light of the world: he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life."
John 9:5 "As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."

The children's and adult chior sang of our need to pray, give to, and go to the mission field. God certainly used His Word through through the preaching and songs to work in each of our lives and to stir our hearts for souls.
John 12:35 "Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the Light with you. Walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
John 12:36 "While ye have light, believe in the Light, that ye may be the children of Light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide Himself from them."
John 12:46 "I am come a Light into the world, that whosoever believeth on Me should not abide in darkness."

I Will Go!

Last week our chior was practicing a song called "I Will Go". It brought me back to the time when I was fasting and praying about going to the mission field. My dad and I had set aside over 6 months to pray and seek godly counsel about it. Those months went by at a good pace and God clearly revealed His will through His Word, my pastor, my father, and the need in the Kilmer's ministry in South Africa.

Little did I know all of the things that would come about since I said those three powerful words - "I WILL GO"! As the chior continued to sing, I also thought,wow, it sounds so easy. You just say "I will go".

"I will go" sounds like I can just go right now. Oh how we desire that would be true. Lately, I have been heavily burdened to be on that mission field where God has led me to be. Praise the Lord for 55% of my support. The other 45% seems so huge to me when I want to "GO".
Going is not always in the getting there, it is in the journey. When I was a teenager my dad said, "Lets go take a 2-day drive along the shore" We made some great memories during that trip. Most of those memories are not from seeing the shore, but from our journey to and from the shore. The Lord has truly been my Provider, Deliverer, and Friend during this "going" stage as a missionary.
One of the ladies that I teach with in 4&5 yr. olds pointed at a map on our wall and asked the kids, "How does Miss Gina get to South Africa?" Of course, they pointed from the USA to Africa. She said "No! First, Miss Gina goes to VA, RI, MD, AL, WY,....and then she goes to South Africa". They just looked at her like she was crazy. Why not just go to South Africa? God has a bigger plan for us when we say, "I will go".
That commitment means I will go where You lead me and share the burden that you have given me for the Zulu people. I have learned so much from my "goings" this past year and a half. Yes, I can't wait to get to South Africa, but I wonder where my "goings" will take me next on my journey to the mission field.
This week is our Annual Missions Conference at Mt. Zion Baptist Church (7pm Wed-Fri). My prayer is that others will anwer the Lord by saying, "I WILL GO".