NAMB Commissions 88 New Missionaries
The North American Mission Board saw the commissioning of 88 new missionaries and also the agency’s first dual commissioning during a missionary commissioning service on Nov. 7.
Over 800 attended an emotional missionary commissioning service held at the Mountain Park First Baptist Church in Atlanta on Sunday, Nov. 7. The ceremony, held by the North American Mission Board (NAMB), saw the commissioning of 88 new missionaries and also the agency’s first dual commissioning.
“How many missionaries do we have here today?” asked Edwin Lamb, director of the Men’s Ministry at the suburban Atlanta church, as he looked out over the crowd gathered.
As a few hands slowly began to rise, the Lamb quickly responded, “That’s right, raise those hands. We are all missionaries, today and every day.”
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Following Lamb’s opening for the service, missionaries introduced themselves and gave a brief summary of their ministry, subtly and repeatedly driving the point home—that God has called all believers to be on mission for Him wherever they live.
While the ceremony was emotional for the missionaries and their families, the event was especially meaningful for Samuel and Rebecca Caballero of Colorado who were being commissioned along with their son and daughter-in-law, Fernando and Donna Caballero. The dual commissioning was the first for NAMB, missionary mobilization team director Jane Bishop said.
While the older couple will serve in Denver in church planting among a variety of ethnic groups, the younger couple will be statewide missionaries for multiethnic church planting.
In an address to the crowd, NAMB President Robert E. (Bob) Reccord said that the world of 2004 is identical to the world when Christ walked the dusty streets of Israel. It’s a world caught up in its own pursuits and is in just as big of a need for a Savior, Reccord said.
But in comparing the two worlds, the NAMB President noted that with all of the decadence and self-absorption, in a matter of months the Christian church exploded from a handful of disciples to more than 50,000 believers.
“In Acts 11:19 we read about the church going to the uttermost parts of the world. I want you to know that those who went were those laypersons who were sitting in the pews, just like you are doing today,” he said.
Reccord then said the church encountered such phenomenal success because it was focused on its mission. “I want to remind you that the church does not exist for those who sit in the pews; it exits for those who do not yet sit in the pews. It exists to reach those who have not yet been reached with the Good News.”
The Southern Baptists’ newest missionaries will join more than 5,100 current NAMB missionaries who serve in every state, province and territory in the United States and Canada, supported by gifts through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering.
