Lots of people get excited for lots of different reasons each year at the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting.
The policy wonks among us love diving deep into the reports and the data and the polity and all that nuance. Others come to connect, excitedly gathering with people from other state conventions they only get to see once a year. Still others are driven by duty, understanding the role participation plays in cooperative work like ours.
All those things are truly important, but for me, I’m always most moved by the people few of us ever get to see. They’re the ones who appear as silhouettes behind screens at the International Mission Board commissioning service held in conjunction with the annual meeting. The service offers an opportunity for new missionaries to share the calling God has placed on their lives while simultaneously reminding Southern Baptists how to pray as His mission is being advanced around the world.
Some of those missionaries can be seen and share their stories in full view before the thousands of messengers and countless more watching online. They’re going to locations the IMB considers low risk. The identities of those going to high-risk countries are concealed; they give their testimonies from behind a backlit screen. You see, where they’re going, being identified as a follower of Jesus can close gospel doors or even end their lives.
And still they go, putting their lives on the line to make the name of Jesus known. They go hoping to see a mighty movement of God but knowing that droves of missionaries before them have worked for decades in hard-to-reach places with nary a convert made. They don’t go for results, because only God controls the results. They go powered by hearts of obedience and faithfulness.
One of the stories we published on Texan.Digital during June’s annual meeting in Dallas focused on another group of out-of-the-spotlight servants—the hundreds of volunteers who serve on the annual meeting encouragement team. This team, many of whom are members of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention churches, serve as ushers, pray with weary pastors in the prayer room, stuff thousands of registration bags, and much more.
These folks don’t do it for the glory, but to give glory. Though their calling is much different than that of the missionaries, they do what they do from hearts powered by obedience and faithfulness.
Our churches are filled with servants like this, who give of themselves deeply and sacrificially and with no expectation of return. They do their work in anonymity, and yet the things they do form the backbone of so many churches and ministries.
This year is the 100th anniversary of not only the Cooperative Program, but the Baptist Faith and Message—two mechanisms that form the basis of our work as Southern Baptists. As such, we’ve talked a lot about cooperation and the work we do together.
Here’s a reminder that much of that cooperative work is done behind the scenes by people you don’t know and who we couldn’t do without. If that’s you, thank you. Whether you’re essentially giving up your identity to tell others about Jesus in some distant place on the other side of the planet or grinding through your 32nd consecutive VBS, thank you. We are grateful for you, and we know the Lord is honored by your work.
This article first appeared at the SBC Texan.
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