October 24, 2024
HIAWASSEE, Ga. - In the Fall of 2021, when churches were reeling from the long season of Covid, Wade Lott, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Hiawassee, was looking for God’s direction. He attended the Missions Tour for the Northeast Region of Georgia and was challenged by the testimony of Georgia Baptist Convention President Kevin Williams and the opportunities presented by the Georgia Baptist Mission Board. He then went to the annual gathering of the Georgia Baptist Convention that was held in Jonesboro. Wade said he walked into the sanctuary decorated with the flags of countries around the world and heard the report of the Missions Team and the message delivered by GBMB Executive Director W. Thomas Hammond Jr. and others and came away with the vision he believed God would have him share with the church he pastors.
He challenged the congregation to see 50% of its average worship attendance involved in a mission project in the year 2022 and further challenged it by investigating a long-term partnership with a church in Peru and setting a goal of having a mission team from Macedonia travel and serve on every continent by the year 2026. In February 2022, due to COVID-caused decline, Macedonia averaged about 140 in worship, so the goal became 70 church attenders engaged in some kind of missional activity.
Wade immediately introduced an engagement of the four fields that can be seen in the biblical mandate of Acts 1:8 by dividing their opportunity for engagement and service into partnerships that were called local, regional, national, and international. Macedonia had an existing relationship with Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, now a Send Relief Center, many opportunities for local as well as regional partnerships, and a history of mission support. After meeting and sharing his vision with Keith Ivey, the GBMB Northern Regions Missions Consultant, Wade committed to join Keith and another pastor for a partnership trip to Lima, Peru, in the latter part of March 2022. There, Wade was introduced to Pastor Elger and the congregation of Iglesia Evangélica Bautista Jesús El Camino (Jesus The Way Evangelical Baptist Church), the pastor and church that would be a multi-year international partnership for Macedonia.
Their Acts 1:8 Partnerships now look something like this: Locally they are involved in service-based ministries through community organizations, local ministries, and the school system, as well as strategically reaching out with the Gospel and compassion projects to several local multi-housing communities. Regionally, they relate to a Crisis Pregnancy Center that serves multiple counties and serve with benevolence ministries in Toccoa (Hope Center) and Blue Ridge (Morganton Mountaintown Association). Nationally they are sending several teams a year to serve with Baptist Friendship House in New Orleans, La. Internationally, they are serving with their partnering congregation in Lima, Peru, but they are identifying existing partners for mission projects to achieve their goal of sending teams to every continent by 2026.
Macedonia has a history of mission engagement. They have sent teams to serve, and they have always been generous in their gifts and earnest in their prayers. But like most congregations, those trips were project-based and not connected to a long-term relationship or integrated into the long-term vision that those churches and organizations had for their local communities. And the vision for trips has changed. Instead of one big group a year, Wade has led his church to pursue more frequent trips with smaller groups. To be clear, project-based trips can have great impact, but a renewed focus on partnerships helps leave behind a stronger church in the places a team may go. And, as Wade shares, smaller, more frequent teams can help more specifically with the needs/visions of partnering churches, require fewer days off from work, give team members opportunities to get their feet wet in missions, and make travel more manageable. For instance, the trip to Baptist Friendship House this fall is only four days - a day of travel, two days of service in concurrence with their Fall Festival, and the trip back. The group size of 12 is manageable, and half of those are going for the first time.
And the church has responded! To date, special offerings to their mission fund have been extraordinary, all while exceeding their budget goal and giving generously to the SBC Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong, and Lottie Moon. By mid-August, they have seen 54 out of their goal of 70 church attenders engage in some missional activity. They have seen children involved in compassion projects to minister to the school and community, youth and adults involved in benevolence projects with regional partners, all ages on mission in New Orleans, and a team soon to embark on their first partnership trip to work in Lima. They have made contacts with potential partners for future mission projects in Europe, Asia, and Africa and are currently looking for someone to contact in Australia.
Macedonia is a regular SBC church with regular resources. But they have done something extraordinary. They have dared to take God seriously and obey his call to be His witnesses unto the uttermost.
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Keith Ivey is the Missions Consultant for the Northern Regions of Georgia. To learn more about opportunities for mission partnerships in Peru, email Keith at kivey@gabaptist.org.
