By Matt Norman A year ago, I noticed two young college-aged people come and sit down at a special service that we were having at Mosaic. Mosaic is a ministry we started in partnership with the First Baptist Church of Sabadell. It is a gathering for people who are interested in exploring their questions about God, Jesus and … Continue reading
By Mary Van Rheenen Several refugees come to the Baptist church we attend in Arnhem, the Netherlands. We are not a large church, but we simultaneously translate the worship services into Persian, Ukrainian and English. Most of the baptisms in the past three years have been people from Iran or Afghanistan. One of them (let’s … Continue reading
By Suzie Dao was one of 15 children in her family. She tells early memories of being tied to the front porch with her toddler siblings while her parents went to work in the fields. They didn’t have daycare; that was just the way things were done. Her father was a local school principal and … Continue reading
By Carson Foushee Each country celebrates Christmas a little differently. Japan has inherited many traditions from the West, but there are also some that are uniquely Japanese. Like in America, shopping malls are full of beautiful Christmas trees as shoppers seek gifts for loved ones with familiar English seasonal songs playing in stores. Christmas lights, … Continue reading
By Kristen Thomason When Jon and Tanya Parks and their two daughters moved from Kenbridge, Virginia, to Košice, Slovakia, they were taking a 5,000-mile step of faith. “We thought we were being the faithful ones, leaving behind our home and families to serve across the ocean. But our one-time act was just the beginning of faithfulness, not the … Continue reading
By Scarlette Jasper Scarlette Jasper is a CBF field personnel serving in Southern Kentucky. She works with Together for Hope, CBF’s rural poverty initiative. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance … Continue reading
By Rick Burnette Rick and his wife Ellen are CBF field personnel in Florida. They founded Cultivate Abundance in Immokalee in 2017. “There are few places in America more beloved than the Blue Ridge, rising like an ancient Great Wall across a third of the breadth of the nation. It has the burnished beauty of … Continue reading
By Carson and Laura Foushee The Foushees are CBF field personnel serving in partnership with the Japan Baptist Convention in Kanazawa, Japan. “By faith Rahab and the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobident, because she had received the spies in peace,” Hebrews 11:31. Growing up, I (Laura) do not particularly remember learning … Continue reading
By Marv Knox A 2017 meeting in a Spanish city hall typifies Michelle and Matt Norman’s ministry in northeastern Spain. By that time, they had been Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel in the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia about four years. Their progressing proficiency in both the Catalan and Spanish languages had enabled them to develop … Continue reading
By Greg Smith “Work yourself out of a job. That’s one of your most important goals.” Cross-cultural mission presents challenges on several levels. Oftentimes it requires learning a new language, adjusting to new cultural norms, working with key partners across religious and social boundaries, adopting new patterns of living and many others. One of those … Continue reading