2019 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

RICHMOND, Va. (BP) -- It was a simple concept -- write one thing that happened because Southern Baptists give to international missions. Missionaries in various regions of Africa, Asia and Europe wrote on chalkboards, spoke via video or audio or posted to #becauseyougive on Twitter to record their "thank you" for support they receive from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions.

Do we vote our convictions with our pocketbooks? Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee President Frank Page exhorts us to teach our children what matters most by giving our biggest gifts to support God's eternal vision expressed in Acts 1:8.

SALINAS, Calif. (BP) -- Francis Murphy understood something important: Most people like tomatoes, in some form. They like them on hamburgers, in salads and with tacos. Whole, sliced or chunked, people want tomatoes, and Francis learned how to provide them year-round.

The way we live our lives on this side of eternity has a great impact on the other side, Kevin Ezell writes, noting that everyone has a part in the Great Commission -- "old or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, blue collar, white collar or no collar."

Illinois pastor Doug Munton recounts what he learned visiting his daughter, son-in-law and their children in Madagascar. "Career missionaries need our prayers and love," Munton writes. "And, a package of goodies from home doesn't hurt."

Observers asked a missionary couple, "Why are you different?" after seeing their faith amid a crisis, WMU executive director Wanda Lee recounts. "I wonder if those watching us see the same thing," she writes.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (BP) -- When Carlos Llambes was about 7 or 8 years old, he heard a sound he had never heard coming from a church before -- laughter. Churches had always seemed so formal and structured to the Cuban boy. Plus, times in the Caribbean island 90 miles south of Miami were somber and uncertain in the late 1960s in the years after the Cuban missile crisis. So when Carlos walked by Primera Iglesia Bautista (First Baptist Church) in his hometown of San Cristobal, Cuba, on a Wednesday night and heard laughter, the curious youngster peeked inside the doors. Members of the congregation were singing a joyful song and smiling.

With world crises occurring daily and the severity of lostness ever increasing, "we have no other choice as Southern Baptists than to do all we can to take the Gospel to every person in the world," SBC President Ronnie Floyd writes in underscoring the importance of praying for and giving to the Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- With many in the U.S. expected to give more money to charities this Christmas season, financial experts are advising a biblically based, focused and well-educated approach to charitable giving. Christians should be careful to give their gifts to charities that have proven to be responsible stewards of God's resources, said Williams Townes, Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee vice president for convention finance.

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (BP) -- Lily was scared for her life but didn't know why. It should have been a happy time, after the 25-year-old had been invited by her best friend to be inducted into a position of honor in their religion. The ritual -- which some of the religion's leaders charged as much as $10,000 to conduct -- was being offered to her "free" because she was told she was someone the spirits favored.