The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 4:10, "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it." As we have been involved this past year in ministry to proclaim Jesus Christ, we have prayed, we have given and we have been amazed at what God has done.

     Our church has sought renewal, growth, and impact as an instrument of the Holy Spirit. But as we reflect on the surprises of God in our lives this past year, it is not only what the Lord has done for us, but through us, which surprises us so greatly. God wants us to partner with Him to proclaim good news throughout the whole earth. And God does this as we support those who have been sent, or who have called and asked for us to come over and help.

     Paul encountered many surprises after God called him to go to Macedonia. He was jailed, he was shipwrecked; he was attacked. In all, he never grew dismayed because God always surprised him with support. And he used the church at Philippi to do so.

     Now is our opportunity to pray about God's global mission and now is our chance to give abundantly to God's global mission. Along with thousands of other churches, we partner to support ministries and missionaries through International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches, USA. God continually surprises us in the 28 countries where missionaries serve and the 71 countries where ministries partner with us through our support.

     This year the Missions Committee's challenge is for Grace Baptist Church to give $3 per month, per member (a total of $36 per member) to the World Mission Offering. I encourage you to pray about God’s leading in your giving as you consider your support to the WMO. Your gift is an opportunity to show our ABC Missionaries that they are in our thoughts and prayers.

     Along with participating in the WMO, I would encourage you to be part of a second opportunity to be surprised by God. This year we will be trying an experiment with our all church planning meeting scheduled for Saturday, November 4. In preparation for our meeting, there will be a 24 hour prayer vigil during which time the church will be open for our congregation to come and pray. (Look for a sign up sheet in the next couple of weeks.) I would encourage each participant to prayerfully consider putting our learning about spiritual discipline in action by fasting during that 24 hour period as we intentionally seek God’s leading for our church in 2007.

     The planning meeting will commence at 8:30am on the 4th. This meeting will have two purposes only: first, we will view a great video that will give us tools to help us brainstorm about God’s ministry at Grace; second, we will actually brainstorm around the five ministries involved in our purpose statement. We will not be doing the task of calendaring during this time of creative thinking. Understanding this change in emphasis in our annual planning meeting, I would encourage your participation in this seminal event.