1,000th church enlists in IMB's Global Priority Network

by Manda Roten                                                                                   Vol. XV, No. 10, Nov/Dec. 2002

Blackshear Place Baptist Church of Flowery Branch, GA, is the 1,000th congregation to join the International Mission Board's Global Priority Network -- a growing community of churches that give priority to taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

GPNet was started four years ago to build a network of Southern Baptist churches that wish to take Acts 1:8 seriously by prioritizing and personalizing missions, said GPNet director Bill Morgan. Churches of all sizes commit to eight action plans that lead them into deeper involvement and commitment to reaching all the peoples of the earth.

Through special conferences, e-mails, phone calls and regular bulletins, GPNet churches learn about what God's doing in the world and find ways to strengthen their international missions involvement.

"We want to be on the cutting edge and make our missions trips more effective," said James Mills, who is serving as Blackshear Place's interim church administrator while the congregation searches for a pastor. "Southern Baptists have one of the best plans in the world. If we will cooperate, we can be the change agents."

Through partnerships with missionaries in Central and Eastern Europe, Blackshear Place members have seen God change lives as they have come face to face with people longing to hear the good news of God's love for the first time. "Jesus told us we should go and, once we went, we got hooked on his power and Holy Spirit," said Teri Pope, missions committee chair.

Serving in global missions has changed the way the church looks at its own community as well, Mills said. "It's easy to become a glorified country club while people are drowning," he said. "We are to go across the ocean; we also have to cross lawns."

While many churches have real hearts for missions, GPNet churches give the International Mission Board the opportunity to affirm and personalize service to them.

"We welcome the opportunity of building this kind of relationship with thousands more," Morgan said. He noted that many pastors and missions leaders say a sense of revival has come to their churches through renewed commitment and obedience to serious fulfillment of the Great Commission and hands-on involvement.

"Several have said that the action plans of the GPNet were exactly what they had been looking for to lead their churches to deeper involvement in and support of missions," Morgan said. [BP]

Note: If we really believe the Bible, we have no choice whether to participate in missions or not, for Jesus commands us, “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, ...” (Matthew 28:19). Yet, how few Southern Baptists, even how few SBC churches participate in missions in any way other than financially. Now clearly financial mission support is essential. But it is not sufficient. Jesus not only wants our tithe, he wants us.

As you think about the above article and read the list of Virginia Global Priority Network churches below, ask yourself shouldn’t your church, shouldn’t you also be participating? TCP

For more information on how a church can be a part of the GPNet, visit the IMB website at www.imb.org/core/MissionsPartner/gpn.htm. An information packet is available by e-mailing globalpriority@imb.org or by calling toll-free 1-877-462-4721.

Forty-seven Virginia churches currently participate in the Global Priority network:

Alexandria: Del Ray, Groveton

Appomattox: Liberty

Bedford: Mt. Olivet Southern

Chase City: Black Branch

Chesapeake: Bethel, Sonlight

Covington: Covington

Culpeper: Culpeper

Dale City: Dale City

Drakes Branch: Drakes Branch

Forest: Forest

Fredericksburg: Spotswood

Glen Allen: Staples Mill Road

Gwynn: Gwynns Island

Hampton: Ivy Memorial, Liberty

Hurt: Monte Vista

King George: Oakland

Midlothian: Swift Creek

Monroe: New Prospect

Newport News: Deer Park

Norfolk: First, Norview

Norton: Park Avenue

Palmyra: Effort

Pulaski: Covenant Baptist Fellowship, Memorial

Richmond: Bethany Place, Grove Avenue, Kingsland, Oak Grove

Roanoke: Cave Springs, First, New Century Community

Salem: West Salem

Stanleytown: Fort Trial

Stephens City: Faith

Suffolk: Nansemond River

Sutherlin: Laurel Grove

Troutville: Rainbow Forest

Virginia Beach: Brook, Coastal Community, Kempsville, Princess Anne Plaza

Waynesboro: Wayne Hills

Williamsburg: Smith Memorial