By Adam Thomas, Pastor of Wyatt Baptist Church in El Dorado, AR

I wish I could say that as a pastor I always expect God to do the impossible. But if I am honest I find myself constantly surprised by a God who does so much more than I ever expect him to do. Wyatt Baptist Church is an average-sized church tucked away in South Arkansas, an hour away from the nearest interstate. And yet over the last couple of decades, I’ve seen God privilege our church time and time again with a global reach for his kingdom. This all started and is sustained by our short-term mission efforts. I want to take a few moments to talk about how our church has embraced short-term missions, which has led to a long-term impact globally.  

First, we teach our people to go. Over the years we have provided our people with opportunities to learn about missions. We have had mission conferences that promote God’s heart for the nations. We try to work missionaries and our mission directors into our Sunday services frequently. In preparation for mission trips, we require team members to attend a missions boot camp where they learn how to travel as well as why they are going. We also take frequent opportunities to preach on missions. We have made Urgency in Global Gospel Missions one of the core values of our church, and it is important to help our people understand why we value it like we do.

Second, we plan for our people to go. Our church has a long history of financially supporting missions. We also have a long history of being a friend to missionaries. However, it was always easy for our people to feel a little distant from the missionary efforts we supported. But in 2005 something happened that would change that. In 2005 our church planned our first short-term mission trip to put our people’s boots on the ground in another culture in Nicaragua. Then in 2006, we added a trip to Ukraine, and then in 2007 we added interstate trips. This emphasis on short-term missions has continued until today. If your church lacks the resources to plan such trips you can contact BMA Global and promote their medical and VSM trips to your people. 

Third, we help our people to afford to go. We have established a scholarship called the Go! Scholarship which exists to help people afford to go. Travel can be expensive and we want to remove as many obstacles as possible for people to get on the mission field. Our goal every year for the Go! Scholarship is for anyone going on their first trip to have their plane ticket fully paid for. We know that if we can get someone on their first trip the chances are likely that it will awaken a missionary heart within them that will last a lifetime. Others who apply for the scholarship will usually have half of their trip paid for. This scholarship serves a twofold purpose. Those that go have help in getting there and those who don’t go have the opportunity to send someone. This allows more people to participate in our short-term mission efforts. 

Fourth, we encourage long-term mission endeavors. Early on in our short-term missionary endeavors, we had John David Smith speak at one of our boot camps. A phrase he shared was one that has governed our efforts in short-term missions. He told us to make sure that our short-term efforts had a long-term goal. We tend to go to the same places over and over again. Why? Because our goal isn’t to provide new and exciting places for our people to travel to, but rather to present to them long-term partnerships that have long-term impacts. Our financial and prayer support goes far beyond our week-long trips. When it comes to these partnerships our people step up to support time and time again.

After almost 20 years of short-term missions, I can say without a doubt that the places we go have had more of an impact on us than we have had on them. Something happens to your church when a majority of your church puts their boots on the ground to take the gospel to another culture. Missions has always been a part of our church, but over the last 20 years, it has become the heartbeat of our church. Our short-term mission trips have led to all kinds of mission ministries. We have had people on these trips go on the field long term. We have seen our church welcome internationals from the college down the road which led to their conversion. One man on one of our first trips came home and set out to learn Spanish so he could establish a Spanish ministry here in our church. Most recently we have had one member launch a ministry of missionary care. If you encourage your people to go and participate and see for themselves what God is doing globally, you will see God do through your church what you never thought possible.