Life-Saving Call
from the International Missions Board website...
Kiyoshi Sugioka entered the busy Tokyo train station with a single purpose in mind — to end his life. Dressed in a business suit and dress shirt, the 53-year-old looked like any of the hundreds of Japanese businessmen crowding the station.
But on that day in July 2009, Sugioka’s life was dramatically different from those surrounding him at the station. He had hit rock bottom. In one year, Sugioka had lost two jobs, his family, his home, his honor and even his identity. Sugioka was unemployed and homeless.
He stood at the edge of the platform, preparing to jump.
Then he remembered a phone number he had in his wallet. IMB missionary Josh Park had given him his cell phone number when he had met him two months before. Sugioka called Park from the station.
“When I saw him … he was in really bad shape,” Park said. “He look tired, weary and worn out.
“I just listened to him talk,” Park continued. “I remembered that he wasn’t interested in hearing the Gospel … then he said, ‘Tell me about God.’”
After Park shared the plan of salvation, Sugioka prayed to receive Christ. Following a few weeks of discipleship, Sugioka was baptized in Tokyo’s Tama River in August 2009.
“He introduced me to God and Christ,” Sugioka recalled. “It was a world I didn’t know. I felt like I was born again.”
Park didn’t learn until later that Sugioka had been on the brink of suicide when he called. Southern Baptists provide Park with the cell phone service that costs about $50 a month. Thank you for giving so Sugioka could make a life-saving call.
What is the average cost to support an individual missionary?
- $46,700 a year
- $3,890 a month
- $900 a week
- $128 a day
- $5.30 an hour
- $.09 a minute
Reported April 2011 by the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Support includes housing, salary, children’s education, medical expenses, retirement and more.
Why Don't We Do the Lottie Moon Offering & Annie Armstrong Offering Anymore?
For some of you, those two names are completely unfamiliar. (Quick Southern Baptist history lesson: Lottie was a missionary to China for almost 40 years back in the late 19th century & Annie Armstrong was a leader in missionary support from around the same time.) For others, those names remind you of yearly missions offerings at Christmas & Easter... times when we as a church made a special effort to highlight missionaries and their work in North America and around the world.
While we no longer do the missions emphasis weeks here at NewLife, we still take in money for North American & international missions each year... and I plan to teach & preach on missions at the start of each December. (I like the imagery of the shepherds telling everyone about the Christ Child as a great example for us in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.)
The offerings, however, are received year-round. In other words, when you give above & beyond your tithe & designate it to "missions", we divide that up & send it to California State Missions, the North American Mission Board & the International Mission Board.
Here's what we've found - we as a family give more to missions by giving some each month than we do by waiting for a one-time missions emphasis and dropping a $20 bill in the offering basket. So, each time we give our tithe, we also add some money for missions.
I know that many of you haven't taken advantage of this... but I want to encourage you to pray about doing just that over the next year. I believe we can invest in changing lives - and changing eternities - and that it's worth our attention year-round!
Quotes of the Week
Missions is not the 'ministry of choice' for a few hyperactive Christians in the church. Missions is the purpose of the church.
Unknown
The concern for world evangelization is not something tacked on to a man's personal Christianity, which he may take or leave as he chooses. It is rooted in the character of the God who has come to us in Christ Jesus. Thus, it can never be the province of a few enthusiasts, a sideline or a specialty of those who happen to have a bent that way. It is the distinctive mark of being a Christian.
James S. Stewart
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