Real mementos can't be put on a shelf.

This past weekend I had the privilege of leading our church's mission team to Bluefield, WV to put on a one day VBS event at Meet Us At The Cross Church. As always the trip made an impact on me, our team, the church we served, and the kids we ministered to at VBS. Since 2008 I've had the privilege of leading 98 different people on short-term mission trips to Canada, Pennsylvania, Vermont (twice), Wyoming, Honduras, and West Virginia. Each and every time I led a mission team, God used it to impact the lives of those on the mission trip in some way. I started a tradition on my first mission trip that has stuck with me since. When I return home from a mission trip I bring home a memento from the trip and put it on a shelf in my office. I keep them as a reminder of the trip and as a reminder to me of how God used me and how God worked through that trip. I have the M&M Minis container full of Canadian quarters that a disabled man in Canada gave us to encourage us to do more missions. I have a DVD of a NC Baptist Men's interview for Mandate from our trip to Pennsylvania. I have a Vermont wood cutting guide and a picture one of my sons colored in Mission Kids for our two trips to Vermont. I have a picture given to me by our mission team in Wyoming. I have a rock sifted out of river sand used to help build a house in Honduras, as well as the bracelet I wore when sharing the gospel there. This time I added the salvation bracelet we had the kids make in crafts at VBS in West Virginia. Those are all nice things to look at and keep but the real mementos can't be put on a shelf.

If you were to ask me what impacted me the most from each of those mission trips, I could tell you. I could tell you of an instance on each trip where God moved powerfully and impacted me, my team or the people we served. I could tell you how God accomplished God-sized tasks to clear huge areas of land in Canada and Wyoming with teams of 26 and 28 so that more ministry could be done. I can tell you how God taught me what it meant to truly serve others in Pennsylvania and Vermont. I can tell you how I saw God immediately answer a desperate prayer and part clouds like He parted the Red Sea so our team could get a church painted in Vermont. I can tell you how I saw Honduran Christians who literally had nothing sacrifice what they did have to say 'Thank You' to our team. I could tell you about a quiet little girl in West Virginia that God used to teach me more lessons about my faith than I ever learned in seminary. Those are the types of things that God does in and through your life when you allow Him to use you. It doesn't take a trip half-way across the country or half-way around the world for God to impact you through missions. All it takes is your willingness to be used by Him. If you are a willing vessel, then God will use you. My encouragement to you today is that if your church is not currently active in doing some form of local, state, national, or international missions, then speak with your pastor about mobilizing your congregation. If your church is active and you've been sitting on the sidelines, then start getting active. Find ways that God can use your gifts and abilities to minister through the missions of your church. And finally, if you want to be involved in a church that has many opportunities to get involved in missions, join us at North Catawba Baptist Church (www.northcatawbabaptist.com). We have plenty of ways to get involved in missions and we'd love for you to be a part of what God is doing through our church. The key thing is to find a way to serve God through missions and then do it. So how will you get involved?


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