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[ Silence ] [ Sound Effects ] >> Welcome aboard the home mission study, Flight 84. Today you will travel from coast to coast,

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seeing mission work all across the United States. Our mission trip will feature an in-flight media presentation entitled Panorama of Missions USA. Beginning with church starting in Vermont,

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your trip will cover volunteer resort missions in the Florida Keys, associational work in Huntsville, Alabama, black church relations in Louisville, Kentucky, mission strategy planning

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using computers in Houston, Texas, hospital chaplaincy in Oklahoma City, language missions and interfaith witness work in Utah, and work with refugees in Seattle, Washington.

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And now our in-flight feature, Panorama of Missions USA. [ Sound Effects ] Sunrise, the beginning of a new day, hustle and bustle, hurry here, hurry there. Things to buy, work to do, everything is constantly changing.

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Life is not the same as it was 20 or even 10 years ago. Many factors have changed our lives and the world in which we live. technology, urban growth, increased personal mobility, economic changes, ethnic and cultural changes.

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These and other factors have changed the way we look at our world. They have also impacted Southern Baptist mission work in our land.

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The good news of Jesus Christ has not changed, but ways and places where the gospel is shared are changing. Southern Baptists are no longer just Southern. From east to west, from north to south,

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Southern Baptist and their mission efforts reach every corner of our land and touch every walk of life. Every day brings a busy schedule

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for Home Missionary Merwin Borders in Vermont. As Director of Missions for the newly formed Green Mountain Baptist Association, he covers the state, helping start new missions in churches.

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Borders knows Vermont well. When he came in 1964, Vermont had only one Southern Baptist Church. Since then, Borders has started or helped to start 13 churches and missions. Vermonters, like most New Englanders, are somewhat reserved and cautious.

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So this means we have to approach church planning a bit differently. First of all, we've got to listen to them and ask them, what do they see the needs to be? Borders works with projects such as a new mission effort at the Killington ski area. Brent and Lisa Adams, US2 workers at Killington,

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are working to establish a new Southern Baptist mission in the resort area. The Killington mission effort is sponsored by nearby Woodstock Baptist Church, where David Waugh is pastor. Waugh and the Woodstock congregation are excited about being involved

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in starting new indigenous churches in Vermont. And though the churches are Southern Baptist, methods of reaching people are different. So Southern Baptists must be willing to adapt, to be flexible in our programs and

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approaches and planting churches in order to reach the Vermonter. One place where missions is quite different is in the Florida Keys. Sam and Betty Ann Schlegel are Mission Service Corps volunteers ministering in a unique program called Water Folk Ministries.

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Many people who reside in the Florida Keys live on or near the water. Living aboard a boat is a common practice in these southern Florida islands. Betty Ann and I became concerned a number of years ago for people who had interests like we had around the water in boats

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who were not being reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. To meet these ministry needs, the Schlegels have been living on board a sailboat. From this base, they carry out their ministry to Waterfolk. Basically, what I feel that we're doing in Waterfolk

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ministry is the same concept of church outreach and multifamily housing ministry in condominiums or apartments. We're just doing it in a marina setting. When I look out in the marinas, I

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think we could shut those people off. Those are the people for whom Christ died, as much as Christ died for me. - I really would say that's what lifestyle evangelism

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is all about, of being where people are, where they live, where they work, where they play, and showing them through your own life that there is something real here

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to this gospel of Jesus Christ, that it truly is good news. - Sam and Betty Anschlegel represent thousands of volunteer missionaries who serve across America.

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Volunteer service provides the opportunity for every Christian to be involved in missions. Huntsville, Alabama has experienced many changes. It has gone from a predominantly space

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and missile-oriented community to one of diverse industries. Madison Baptist Association also has changed. Hugh Chambliss, Director of Missions for the Association,

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tells how these changes have affected Baptist churches in Huntsville. They've had to adjust to a slower growth. Now it's not a matter of just people flocking in and joining.

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You have to go out and get them. The association seeks to support area churches through the work of missions and ministries committees. Plans for the coming year are being developed

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in meetings such as this one. One mission need is outreach to the international community in Huntsville. Scientific research facilities attract people

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from many foreign countries. Pastor Dong Lee preaches to this Korean congregation in their native language. This church is one of several language congregations

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in Huntsville. From language congregations to this Bible study for Nigerian students, ministry efforts of churches in Madison Association are growing.

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Lorraine Atkinson serves as director of ministries for the association. One ministry she coordinates is English as a second language classist.

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She believes that the association's approach to ministry should be expanded to reach people like this family of Laotian refugees. The strong influence of the space program

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has kept Huntsville on the leading edge of technology. Dr. William Lucas, director of the Marshall Space Flight Center, is one Southern Baptist who has been involved in these scientific advances.

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Southern Baptists have to be a part of what is going on in technology. And if we want to reach people at Southern Baptist, we have to talk the language that people today understand.

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Louisville, Kentucky is a cross-section of Old World influences and modern city life. It is a place where the North and the South come together. The community around West End Baptist Church

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reflects the blending of many cultures. The church has survived the traumas of a transitional community and is going forward under the leadership of Pastor Lincoln Bingham.

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Reverend Bingham serves as a missionary under the Black Church Relations Department of the Home Mission Board, in addition to being pastor of West End. We definitely affirm the importance

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of knowing, worshiping, and obeying God. And that's intentional. We focus on the importance of worship. And then we try to reach out to the community

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in every possible way. We have prison ministries to encourage and bring hope to people that are incarcerated. - Members at West End Baptist are involved

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in other ministries as well. Volunteer George Buchanan helps deliver Meals on Wheels to senior citizens in the community. Christian lifestyle examples are especially important

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for young people in the community. Wilhelmina Jenkins is Minister of Youth and coordinates their program. through the youth program that we have here at West End,

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we can meet all areas of needs in the youth's life, wherein a civic organization might be able to shape one area of a child's life. Bible study and mission involvement

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are primary concerns for all ages in the church. Developing all phases of each Christian's life is the goal. Lincoln Bingham also serves as superintendent of missions for the General Association of Baptists

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in Kentucky. His work with black and white Baptists gives him opportunity to observe relationships between the groups. I think that there is a lot of commonality between black and white Baptists in the United States. I think really we have more things that unify us than that which should fragment

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us. I think we are all concerned about evangelizing the world for Christ. Baptist are utilizing modern technology to help further mission efforts. Several associations, such as the Denton Baptist Association in Denton, Texas, are involved in associational strategy planning.

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Computers are used to develop strategy plans for associational mission work. Chester Davidson is one of those who uses computers for planning. Davidson is a research and planning consultant for the Baytown Baptist Association in the Houston, Texas area.

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The computer becomes a tool and the output of that computer becomes a tool to use in planning the work. It is certainly not the end in itself, but the potential for the use of computer is unlimited in what it can help an association or a group of churches or a state convention to do.

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By combining modern technology with proven mission strategy, Baptist associations are more effectively sharing the gospel. Reaching people with the good news of Christ often means being there when someone needs help.

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Kim Monn knows what being there for someone in need is all about. She is a chaplain at St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City. I work on three floors here in the hospital and that involves about a hundred patients when it's full and it usually runs pretty close to full capacity.

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And initially I try to meet all the new patients that come in to let them know that pastoral care services are available. As chaplain, Kim Mon works closely with doctors and other hospital personnel to help patients overcome physical and spiritual problems.

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Mon feels strongly about her Christian ministry. We each have a calling and we each have gifts and that God calls us to use those gifts. We need to meet people when they grieve and when they hurt. We need to visit the sick.

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And that's one of the commands that Jesus gave us, to visit the sick and those in prison and those in need. We need to go to them where they are and walk with them through their troubles.

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- Southern Baptists are facing increased challenges as they attempt to minister to the exploding international population. One area where the challenge is visible

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is Salt Lake City, Utah. Here in the center of Mormonism is the University Baptist Church, a congregation with 10 different nationalities represented.

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Dr. C.E. Autry is pastor of this diverse, multi-ethnic church. Through an interpreter, Dr. Autry preaches to the Cambodian congregation.

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By using different schedules and flexible worship times, University Baptist has more than 600 people worshiping in this renovated house each Sunday. - One of our biggest challenges is the fact that

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We've got the people here that will hear the gospel, but we just don't have enough people to take the gospel to them. We could have several more Southern Baptist churches

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if we just had someone to do it. - University of Baptist reaches out to minister to the large Cambodian community in Salt Lake. Assistant Pastor Earl Geisler helps deliver furniture

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and bedding to several refugee families. Geisler also takes refugees to receive medical care at the county health center. By helping with their physical needs,

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Geisler has the opportunity to witness to Cambodians concerning their spiritual needs. In spite of the many barriers, Dr. Autry and University Baptist Church are reaching out to people

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of many different ethnic groups. Temples for the Latter-day Saints church, such as the one in Provo, symbolize the Mormon presence in Utah communities.

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Starting a Baptist church here presents many challenges, as church planter Neil Henry has discovered. Henry has started a Southern Baptist church in Payson, south of Provo.

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- Well, the challenge here is that people speak the same language as you do and they use the same words as you do, but it doesn't mean the same.

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The religious differences are very extreme and it's difficult to witness to a Mormon because of what Mormons are taught about other Christians. Henry feels that Southern Baptists need to study Baptist doctrines and the Bible so they will be prepared to share their faith.

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The last stop on our mission trip is Seattle, Washington. Seattle is a major port of entry on the west coast and has received large numbers of Indo-Chinese refugees who have since settled in the area. This refugee influx has provided many opportunities of ministry for Southern Baptists living in this area. One person who has become involved in refugee work is Diane Seber.

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Through her volunteer efforts, Baptist Relief Ministries for Refugees have grown steadily. Seber works with Laotian refugees, helping them to adjust to life in the United States. Now God has sent these people. He sent the foreign mission field to us. He has sent Laos and Vietnam to us.

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Now it's home missions. Now it's at our front door. Now we're going to really know. Seber has led the Riverton Heights Baptist Church to sponsor more than 200 refugees, including Val Lee. Lee speaks five languages, but had difficulty finding a job until Seber helped him to become

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a teacher's aide in the public schools. Seber feels strongly about Christian responsibility toward those who are in need. We're seeing people come in that are hungry, and we can either help them and feed them and then give them the gospel or else we can turn around and we can just say we don't want to.

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It's really a test of our faith and how much we're going to be doers of the word or just hearers. As our in-flight mission feature comes to a close, take a moment to think about the places you have visited. Are they different from where you live? There are people in your community who are hurting, who have physical and spiritual needs. Some are within the

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shadow of your church building. Remember, home missions begins at home. As you study the work of home missionaries in other parts of the country, keep in mind that you can be a missionary in your community. Your church missions committee, Woman's Missionary Union, and/or Brotherhood group can start a local

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mission action project right in your community. Contact your associational director of missions to discover how you and your church can become involved in missions. This concludes our mission trip across the United States, but this can be the beginning of a personal missions experience for you. Pray for missions,

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give to missions, and become involved in doing missions. [MUSIC PLAYING] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]