In southwest Oregon, lies Roseburg where thousands come yearly to fly fish, mountain climb and hit the whitewater of the Umpqua river. With only 19 people per square mile, Roseburg offers a vast and sparce mission field. Mission Service Corps missionary Betty J. "BJ" Nuckolls has made this her mission field-a little later in life. Now 72 and widowed, BJ has "run out of excuses to give God" for why she can't serve him. Responsible for promoting missions awareness, she encourages participation and support for Southern Baptist mission projects and offerings in her church and association. BJ also works with the Jericho Projects in the Northwest Baptist Convention working to break down spiritual walls in her community through evangelism, acts of kindness and community service. Though she admits an earlier fear of witnessing, now she is grateful for her strengthened faith and desire to share the gospel. "After wasting so many years, my greatest joy is seeing how the Lord is changing my life…and the lives of others," she says.
With only 24 Southern Baptist churches scattered across 7,000 square miles, the task of reaching Yavapai County, Arizona, feels a bit like settling the wild west. Through the work of Arnie and Patsy Sorrells, these churches have grown more effective at helping change hearts in their communities. As director of evangelism and missions for the Yavapai Baptist Association, Arnie assists area churches with outreach, training, church planting and resources, and encourages the churches to multiply. Over the past several years five new church starts have cropped up and baptisms have reached record numbers. But, Arnie says, phenomenal population growth incites a need for many more churches. "Our Southern Baptist churches are visible and working toward reaching the lost. But counter influences in each community ranging from the 'wild cowboy' syndrome to the New Age create challenges," Arnie says.
Drive just north of Montreal to the town of St. Felix de Valois and you'll find nuns still ringing a convent bell and parishioners filing daily toward mass. This is where four years ago church planter missionary Francois Verschelden and his wife, Marie-Claude, started a church in a vacant Anglican building. By 2003 they had the beginnings of Living Rock Church. A year later Renaissance Church was born 15 minutes away in Rawdon. Now their work among these smaller communities north of Montreal expands into Joilette, a city of 50,000. The cultural stronghold of Catholicism has made people skeptical of anything non-Catholic, has turned some people off to church in general and yet has created a hunger for Scripture. "For so long priests would tell them 'don't read the Bible or you'll be fooled,'" says Francois. Now they approach Francois to learn more about the taboo book.
Most West Africans who come to New York City have not come to stay. They work long hours, six days a week, ducking in and out of the city's flurry only to eat, rest and send money home to their families. According to church planter missionary Chris Clayman, a West African's goal is returning home with dignity and with money. Their busyness, he says, and their belief in Islam have choked many evangelistic efforts. But through Chris and Nicole Clayman's relationships with some of the 150,000 West Africans the gospel has found footing. Chris spends time mingling among shops and African markets where he can meet people and develop relationships during their rare spare moments.
Atlantic Station, a new residential and business community in Atlanta, is in the heart of it all-commerce, the university areas of the city and the arts community. Eventually more than 10,000 people will live there and 30,000 people will work and play there. This is where MSC missionaries Kerry and Twyla Jackson want to reach artists with the gospel. "The arts community is sort of on the fringe. A majority of people don't understand artists and some are even scared of the arts community," Kerry says. "We're not. We are these people, and we want them to know the love of Christ." The Jacksons are helping form the core group of the Midtown Bridge church while also carrying on a ministry to the arts community by offering, in months to come, space for artists to meet each other, hang out and sell their work while learning more about art and about Christ.