North America is awash with people who are lost at sea, grasping for spiritual life, says Bob Reccord, president of the North American Mission Board (NAMB). Theyve grabbed at pleasure. Theyve grabbed at possessions. Theyve grabbed at prestige. Theyve grabbed at empty spirituality. As Christians we have a Savior, and we must extend that lifeline to non-Christians.

Adult and student volunteers are needed to serve in a variety of ways. Here an adult volunteer is working on a house at a World Changers project in Montreal, Quebec. PHOTO BYKen Touchton

There are 5,154 Southern Baptist missionaries serving in the United States and Canada. With more than 200 million people who dont know Christ, each missionary would have to reach almost 40,000 people. Fortunately, they are not alone.

The mission to reconcile the world to Christ belongs to every believer, not just career missionaries who devote their lives to it, says Nate Adams, vice president of Mobilization and Media, NAMB. Indeed, without every Christian determining to do his or her part in evangelizing the world, the task will remain unfinished.

The need right here on our own continent is so great that every Christian must do his or her part to spread the gospel message, says David Clark, vice president of Broadcast Communications.

But research shows that most Christians arent sharing their faith on a regular basis. In an end-of-the-year report in December 2001, researcher George Barna noted that just four out of ten Baptists shared their faith once or more in the past year.

Many Christians who would be willing to die for their faith for some reason arent sharing it with someone else, adds Adams. We need to help Christians discover the ways God has shaped them for telling others about Him.

The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. God is calling ordinary people to the mission field. Although their numbers are small compared to total church membership, a growing number of Southern Baptists are embracing the challenge of a gospel message disseminated by everyone, including laypeople who recognize that the Great Commission applies to them as well as to pastors, evangelists and missionaries. They are mobilizing for a variety of missionary endeavors short-term, long-term, and most important, more Southern Baptists are developing a lifestyle that holds them accountable to being on mission all the time.

Mobilizing through media
With the goal of awakening all Christians to the role they can play in evangelism, NAMB has developed an array of resources and utilized a variety of media to communicate the message of mobilization.

On mission, NAMBs flagship magazine, is designed to give a practical, hands-on approach to becoming an on mission Christian. Readers find articles that help them better understand todays culture, creative ways to share their faith in their own community and throughout the continent, as well as stories about missionaries and other on mission Christians.

Go! is a new magazine for Christian teens using upbeat articles and a contemporary design to encourage students to impact their world for Christ.

E-ssentials, a bi-monthly video series, incorporates a short series of man-on-the-street interviews with longer segments focusing on a particular issue facing our society. E-ssentials can be used in a worship service or classroom setting to inform Christians about what others are doing to reach the world for Christ and motivate viewers to share their faith.

Monthly Bulletin Inserts, offered free to churches, inform and inspire toward mission activity.

These and other resources are available along with more than 250 other products that support mission education organizations. To request a catalog or place an order call 800-448-8032.

Students change their world
Known as the Mosaic Generation, todays students are searching for anything and everything to fill their lives. This generation was motivated to make a difference in the world before the September 11 terrorist attacks added an even greater sense of urgency to their need to contribute.

Volunteers repair a damaged roof in Phoenix, Arizona. Phoenix was a Strategic Focus City in 2000. Thousands of volunteers converged on the city to participate in construction projects, Backyard Bible Clubs, one-on-one evangelism and church planting. photo by Ken Touchton

NAMB sees students as an invaluable asset to Gods kingdom. One of the most successful strategies for mobilizing these young Christians is World Changers, a short-term mission experience for middle school, high school and college students.

World Changers puts students in hands-on missions experiences. Through construction and renovation work, participants help needy residents in low-income neighborhoods. World Changers Community Projects add another element of ministry through projects such as organizing food and clothing closets, childrens clubs, street witnessing, sports camps and much more. All the projects are geared toward serving others and sharing Christ.

From a simple beginning in 1990, World Changers has grown from 137 participants the first year to more than 20,000 last year. In 12 years, more than 100,000 students have sought to change the world, one home at a time. These students are not only refurbishing houses, they are reconstructing lives.

Getting students outside church walls, out of their comfort zones and into an environment where they work with other students from throughout the country often initiates an inner change that helps them to realize the significance of making a contribution to the cause. Demonstrating Christs love, student volunteers are involved in projects such as repairing roofs and building porches for the less fortunate, feeding the hungry and sharing Christ with non-Christians.

Changing the world begins with changing the lives of participants during the mission trip. Each day volunteers experience what its like to be the hands, feet and voice of Christ in a hurting world. Students growing up in contemporary North America are often hungry for substance, and are finding that reaching out to the unloved, the unfortunate and the forgotten, has a way of satisfying the human soul.

This generation of students has been called out, and they are responding to Gods mission in His world, says John Bailey, manager of Student Volunteer Mobilization.

Another way students are being mobilized is through Student Mission Groups. Through this program NAMB links church groups with a missionary in the United States or Canada based on the ministry needs in the area and the resources of the youth group. Youth groups with strong drama teams or musical groups are a perfect fit for missionaries working in resort areas. Missionaries in pioneer areas need groups who are comfortable doing door-to-door survey work. Still other missionaries need groups who are able and willing to lead childrens ministries such as backyard Bible schools and Big-A clubs. Missionaries all over North America rely on Student Mission Groups to help with their ministries, especially during the summer months.

Two other programs that pair students with missionaries are Sojourners and Innovators. Sojourners are high school students who have completed their junior year and can serve four to ten weeks in the summer. Innovators are students who have completed their freshman year of college and support themselves with a secular job while working with a missionary for a summer. Sojourners and Innovators serve in a variety of ministries including childrens programs, campground services, beach reach, creative arts, personal evangelism and many more.

Olivia Quimette served last summer with missionary Steve Hughes at Yosemite National Park. When she wasnt hiking with campers or helping with worship services, Quimette was serving as a lifeguard for Yosemite National Park. Her passion for sharing Christ and her admiration of Gods handiwork in nature are what brought her to Yosemite.

Working one-on-one with missionaries is a special blessing to these students and a huge help to the local missionary. The Innovators who come to Yosemite are a major part of our ministry here, says Steve Hughes, director of Yosemite Christian Ministries.

They live and work with hundreds of young adults who come to Yosemite for a summer job. Their sole purpose is to be Jesus to those they meet and to be intentional about developing relationships with nonbelievers in order to share Christ with them.

Another option for college students includes summer and semester missions. This is for students who want to commit to four to 10 weeks of missionary service during the summer, fall or spring semesters. Student missionaries work either individually or with a team in the areas of church planting and evangelism.

Adult volunteer Mobilzation
Students are making great strides in reaching North America for Christ, but they cant do it alone. In order for Southern Baptists to help bridge the gap between non-Christians and God, it will take young and old alike. Adult volunteers are turning out in record numbers to experience missions firsthand. Opportunities abound for adults to share the love of Christ across North America.

More than 24,000 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers are ready to respond to any crisis situation. Trained by state conventions with specific skills like meal preparation or communications, disaster relief workers mobilize in the event of a crisis, which uniquely positions them to tell the story of Christ. As they meet people on what is often the worst day of their lives, Disaster Relief volunteers open the door to ministry that extends far beyond immediate help in the wake of a disasterit includes talking about Christ and their eternal salvation.

In 2001 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers responded to flooding in West Virginia, Louisiana and Texas. They also responded within hours of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by serving 628,000 hot meals for relief workers and those affected by the attacks.

There have been very few times in our nations history that an event impacted everyone the way 9/11 did, and Southern Baptists made a difference just by being there in the aftermath, says Mickey Caison, manager of Adult Volunteer Mobilization. The chaplains, feeding unit teams, childcare teams and the cleanup teams all presented physical help, love, words of encouragement and the gospel of Jesus. These actions gave hope to many recipients.

Disaster Relief volunteers from North Carolina served hot meals to search and rescue teams and military personnel at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., after 9/11. photo by Michael Keza

Disaster Relief units are on hand to provide meals, childcare and communications assistance at the moment disaster strikes. Also, a large bank of volunteers assures that Southern Baptists are there to help with long-term recovery when needed.

Campers On mission (COM) provides opportunities for Christians who love camping and love the Lord to combine the two and minister in a unique and special way. These on mission Christians share the love of Christ everywhere they gofrom the NASCAR racetrack to the county fair to the rest stops in between. Youll find them doing backyard Bible studies, leading campground worship services, distributing Bibles at truck stops and clowning around at parades.

There are many more opportunities for adult volunteers to be involved in the task of taking Christ to North America. Visit www.volunteers.namb.net for more information about volunteer opportunities.

Raising up on mission Christians
Where will tomorrows on mission Christians come from? NAMB is seeking to increase the reserves of on mission volunteers by raising up children to be on missionon mission kids become on mission adults. Through Royal Ambassadors (RAs) and Challengers, boys in grades one through 12 learn about Southern Baptist mission efforts and how they can be involved in cooperative missions. RAs also involves boys in the spiritual process of developing an on mission lifestyle using mission games, Bible verse memory and mission action projects. They also learn about missionaries who are serving God all over the world. RA activities allow these boys to take part in missions, creating a base for future mission endeavors.

Challengers is an on mission accountability group for teenage guys. Their purpose is to challenge non-Christians to follow Jesus and challenge other Christians to share their faith. In this particular time of life when young men are being pulled in different directions by their peers, Challengers seeks to encourage accountability in small focused groups.

Mission-educated Christians, in general, prove to be more effective at sharing their faith because theyve learned how to apply mission skills in their personal lives. If mission values are instilled at an early age and children experience firsthand the power of God working through them, those experiences make lasting impressions, often planting the seeds for growth into full-time mission service. Kids, who might have grown up classifying missions as an optional church activity, learn the vital role they play as individuals and their personal responsibility for sharing Christ.

Baptist Men on mission is for those aged 18 and older who want to be better prepared for impacting their world for Christ. They become a group of lay missionaries helping the church to live out its mission in its community and around the world, says Sean Taylor, strategist for adult mission education at NAMB.

One of the main emphases of Baptist Men On mission is to encourage men to develop mentoring relationships with young men and boys in on mission lifestyles. Boys today need strong positive influences on their lives and, most important, someone who models a Christian lifestyle.

Baptist Men On mission also can enable your church to identify and develop strategies for sharing the gospel with unreached people and extending its outreach to the world. Baptist Men On mission challenges churches to commission a lay- missionary force to build relationships and make an impact on their community. When men become on mission, they commit to learn and apply skills that make them more effective in reaching their families, their neighborhoods, their workplaces and their world, adds Taylor.

A will and a way to go
While an estimated 280,000 Southern Baptists already spend three days to a week yearly involved in mission projects away from home, an upcoming campaign featuring a million-man goal promises to spike mobilization. The campaign strives to involve one million evangelical volunteers in short-term mission projects somewhere away from their homes in 2003, says Jim Burton, director of NAMBs volunteer mobilization team. But how will Southern Baptists meet that goal when volunteers are scattered all across North America? Right now the prospects of meeting that goal seem especially promising because mobilizing for missions has never been easier.

NAMB has implemented a new information delivery system to assist volunteers in matching up with mission projects all across the United States and Canada. Updated every 30 days, the Web-based Volunteer Mobilization Information System (VMIS) facilitates short-term volunteerism in the SBC by putting descriptions of all projects on-line. Project originators, state conventions and associations looking for volunteers can describe their needs, and volunteers looking to serve can zero in on projects that interest them.

We know that mobilizing Christians is essential in reaching our world for Christ, adds Burton. And we have to make volunteering as accessible as possible. The VMIS will allow a Raleigh youth group with an interest in international missions to be paired up with a missionary in Seattle who needs people to come for a week in the summer and do backyard Bible clubs in the citys international community. Volunteers who are skilled in construction will find listings of churches that need help with building a new facility.

There are a variety of ways that Christians can be involved in spreading the gospel across North America. It is NAMBs priority to equip and enable Christians to discover all the ways they can answer Gods call to make His name known among all people.

We want to introduce as many people as possible to the spiritual transformation process that changes regular Christians into on mission Christians, says Nate Adams, of NAMBs Mobilization and Media group. As more people discover the personal mission God has given them, the task of reaching North America for Christ starts to seem a little more possible.