Tag Archives: Missions

by Anthony Baker | June 17, 2016 · 2:06 pm

There’s a Need! You Can Help

Getting Revived

Most of you are probably aware of calls for revival in our churches and our nation. God knows we need it. However, when have you last heard of a pastor needing revival?

Believe it or not, preachers and pastors need to be revived and recharged from time to time. Doing the same thing over and over, week after week, with all the regular issues that are never-ending, will wear a rut in the road of life. That is why I decided to accept an open door to preach in Zimbabwe – to get off the well-rutted path.

I need revival.

Back Story

A couple of months ago I impulsively, in a tongue-in-cheek way, posted a statement on my wall which read something like, “Now accepting speaking engagements around the world. Call now before my schedule is full.” Almost immediately Dr. Eddie Rushing, the Associational Missionary (Director of Missions) with the Northwest Georgia Baptist Association messaged me. He wrote, “Do you want to go to Zimbabwe?” “Are you serious,” was my response. He then asked, “Are you?”

zimbabwe map Good question. And yes, I was. I just really didn’t think I’d get a response…at least not that quickly.

I considered it a God thing.

The Current Story

Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe is a small city in the central, northwest area of the country. The local association of churches in that area have scheduled revival meetings in six different churches and want American pastors to come preach. I am one of those pastors! The meetings will be conducted simultaneously across the city in the evenings.

During the daytime, we will be going door-to-door and speaking with people in the streets. Unlike here in America, people there are very open to having people visit. However, I am not so naïve to believe there will be no opposition, so your prayers will be very welcome.

This is something I’ve been desperately in need of. I need to be refreshed and reignited…revived. Stepping out of one’s comfort zone, going to a totally different environment, and witnessing many things now alien to Christianity in this country. If nothing else, I will be able to preach longer without people getting upset 😉

The Need

Here’s the deal, and I’m going to lay it out for you as honestly as possible. I don’t have the money for this trip, so I need help.

I mean, seriously, committing to go on this trip could not have happened at a worse time, financially speaking. Among other things, this is the summer and I am not driving a school bus. That means a large portion of my income is gone for three (3) months. The summer months are very, very tight.

So, as you will see in the attached letter below – one that some of you may have received in the mail – the need is great, and there’s not a lot of time to spare. If you can help in any way, your gift to help fund this trip will be tax-deductible (if that matters to you) and will help make a huge difference in this preacher and the church I pastor.

We all need revival.

Below is a copy of the text from a support letter sent out by the Northwest Georgia and Lookout Valley Baptist Associations on my behalf.

Dear Friends,

I am writing to you on behalf of Anthony Baker. Anthony has signed up to go on a mission trip to Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe, August 8 – 19. This will be a life changing experience for him. Our association takes trips somewhere in the world every year. Many people have been saved as a result of these trips and all who have gone have come back fired up about supporting missions around the world.

This trip will cost somewhere around $2500. Anthony has some of his support but needs to raise a good part of it. Will you please consider sending a donation to help pay for the cost of this trip? If you are unable to help financially, we understand; but, we ask that you pray for him related to this. If you can help, please make you check payable to the Northwest Georgia Baptist Association and send it to us at the above address. Please mark your check designated for Anthony Baker’s mission trip. All contributions are tax deductible.

While there, Anthony will be speaking in churches and doing door-to-door and street evangelism. Our work will be among a people that are very open to the gospel and who desperately need someone to come and share the good news.

Thanks for your consideration of this and may God richly bless you.

In His Service,

Eddy Rushing

Associational Missionary

P S: The deadline for this need is July 15, 2016.

Contact Information

Northwest Georgia and Lookout Valley Baptist Associations

63 Pin Oak Drive, Rock Spring, Georgia 30739

Phone: 706-764-1941

Fax: 706-764-1959

Now, would you please pray for this need? Even if you can’t afford to help financially, would you at least pray? I want to see great things happen not only in Zimbabwe, but in my own spiritual life. You can help by praying for me.

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Filed under Christianity, Countries, ministry, places, Preaching

Tagged as Christianity, Church, Missions, preaching, Revival, zimbabwe

by Anthony Baker | March 9, 2016 · 5:51 pm

The IMB: How Did We Get Here?

The following was written and posted today (March 9) by Dr. Randy Davis, Executive Director of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. It was so heartbreaking that I not only had to share it here, but I will be sharing it in our prayer meeting tonight.

It was a dark day two weeks ago when International Mission Board President David Platt stepped to the microphone to inform Southern Baptists that 983 missionaries and 149 IMB staffers were stepping…

Source: The IMB: How Did We Get Here?

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Filed under baptist, Church, current events, ministry, Witnessing

Tagged as Baptists, giving, International Mission Board, Missionary, Missions

by Anthony Baker | September 7, 2009 · 4:51 pm

The Doctrine of Separation Examined

There are so many destructive teachings that are simply corruptions of actual truth. One of those is the doctrine of separation. Practiced within the more independent and fundamental sects of Christianity, this doctrine is mainly derived from 2 Corinthians 6:17, ” Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you…” The idea is that if one group does not agree with another in all areas, then association is considered sinful, or at least liberal.

I personally believe that this has been taken way too far within the body of Christ.

A few Sundays ago I was at a church where a missionary was speaking. I really enjoyed hearing what he had to say. What disappointed me was what was on his prayer card. Listed on the back, in his statement of beliefs, was the “doctrine of separation.” However, during the message that he preached, he spoke of how it was good to be able to talk to a Charistmatic believer in Mongolia. He spoke of how it was good, in a land that so few missionaries frequented, to find anyone to talk to that was a Christian. But when it came to working together, that was a different story.

Years ago, in 1992, I was given the opportunity to travel to Romania for a month. Long story short, in order to do some first-time evangelical work in a small village, two other young guys and myself were priviledged to hire a young interpreter to help us. Actually, he was helping a Pentecostal church group rebuilding grain silos during the day. Because he was free in the evening, he helped us. He even helped us make friends with the Pentecostal group. We didn’t have services together, but we did get to have friendly contact. Ultimately, because of this unplanned cooperation (the Church of God folk paid the interpreter for us) around 80 souls came to accept Christ as their Saviour in one week.

When I got back to the U.S., thoughts crossed my mind about how Baptist missionaries could develope ways to work together with other Christian missionaries in third-world countries, especially where the work was great. Pooling local resources and manpower for mutual benefit seemed something totally logical to me; but not to BIMI, the mission agency with which I had traveled. Unlike Southern Baptist missionaries, independent Baptist missionaries have to raise their own funds to reach the field and to stay there. To me it seemed that being able to work with other Christians to accomplish like goals was a no-brainer, but not according to the doctrine of separation which BIMI held true to, as do most independent Baptists with which I have been aquainted.

The belief that Christians cannot work together, worship together, or evangelize together to reach a common desired goal is crazy. There are areas that make Baptists (of which I am) different from other denominations, and rightfully so. These differences, however, are more often than not of little eternal significance. Baptists believe in baptism by submersion, for instance, while Presbyterians normally do not. Is that worth saying that when it comes to winning the lost for Christ that we must remain separate in all things? Even if a friend of mine is a five-point Calvinist, does that mean that I can’t walk down a street with him as we both preach salvation through Jesus alone? I like what article XIV of the 2000 edition of theBaptist Faith and Message has to say on the subject:

“Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extention of Christ’s Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.”

When it comes to the legalists and the Pharisaical crowd that promotes separation to the extent of mutual exclusion, finger pointing and self-glorification (i.e., “I am right with God and you are not, because you don’t believe the same as me.”), maybe isolation isn’t that bad. More people than not, I truly believe, think that working together for the greater good of the Kingdom is biblical. Only a small minority of so-called “fundamentalists” within the Christian faith feel otherwise. However, the problem is not so much that we believe that working together is good as long as there is no compromise, it’s getting us to actually DO it. Let the “separatists” stay separate if they wish, but let the rest of us unite where possible to form a true Nation of Christians, the body of Christ.

Say what you will about the “herd mentality,” but it is the loners that the lions and wolves look for first. There truly is strength in unity.