Congregation of 120 going for God here and abroad

ACADEMY—At First Baptist Church of Academy, it might be easy to believe that a small church in a small town in rural Texas can’t be involved in missions or have an impact on the world. But Pastor Brent Boatwright and his congregation of 120 isn’t letting its size or location interfere with the mission of spreading the gospel at home and abroad.
Growing up in a traditional Southern Baptist church, Boatwright recalled the lack of personal involvement in missions in his local church.  

“We had missionaries come in every year.  In all my 19 years growing up there, I never saw anyone leave, go do missions and then come back. It always seemed like you had to go to Africa and stay.”

As a result, Boatwright developed the belief that short-term missions could and should be done by every church—big or small.

“I always read articles about big churches doing missions,” Boatwright said. “Even though you don’t have a million dollar budget, you can still do missions. We can’t depend on missionaries to do it all.”

To help fill the gap, FBC Academy is doing ongoing mission projects with an unreached people group in Mali, West Africa, as well as ministering to Navajo Indians in New Mexico.

“Since 2004, we’ve sent at least one team each year to Mali, West Africa,” Boatwright said. In Mali, the church works with an IMB missionary from FBC Academy to evangelize the Samogho, an unreached people group.  

The Samogho people have no written language, so Boatwright and his team use storytelling to share the gospel. They’ve seen a few come to Christ and recently were able to extend their ministry into a neighboring Samogho village.

“He (the chief) is a new believer and he wants to see his village come to know Christ,” Boatwright said. The FBC Academy group was the first group of believers to ever spend a few days and nights in the village.

The work in Mali is challenging, Boatwright noted. The people practice animism and also have a Muslim influence. “It is hard for them to give up their sacrifices.” In addition, the villages are located in the bush and transporting teams there limits the mission teams to a maximum of six members.  

However, they continue to go. “We’ve got several who’ve been multiple times,” Boatwright said. “I’ve tried to encourage people to go multiple times to build relationships.”
Boatwright is excited about developing relationships with the Samogho men. The missionary is a woman so outreach to the men of the village is more challenging for her. “January is a good time to relate to the men,” Boatwright explained.  

In January, the villages are recovering from the rainy season and men are rebuilding their mud brick homes. Taking a group of men to the village in January opened doors to relate to the men as they worked together making bricks and rebuilding homes.

“Reaching the men is doable for our missionary, but it’s important for us as a team to go to encourage the men,” Boatwright said.  

In addition to its work in Mali, FBC Academy is also involved with ministry to the Navajo people in New Mexico. Working with North American Mission Board missionary Jim Turnbo, they have taken two mission trips to Nahodishgish Baptist Church, a new church start in the poorest community on the Navajo Reservation.  

In 2010, Boatwright took a group of 10 men and boys to work with Turnbo and his church. They built wood sheds and a wheelchair ramp and while they were there, the Lord gave them the desire to do more. “God burdened our hearts further to look toward other needs.”

That burden turned into a recent trip to the reservation to hold a diabetes foot care clinic and do roof repairs in the community.

“God did some awesome things.”

Boatwright said the church saw God’s provision in amazing ways as they prepared to work with the Navajo. Nurses from FBC Academy contacted pharmaceutical companies and these businesses donated medical supplies. When a local building supply company learned why the church wanted to buy tar paper for roofing, the company donated a pallet of roll roofing and a pallet of tar paper, enough to supply FBC Academy’s project and the next group coming to help at the reservation. “God really opened doors up.”

In addition to local businesses helping the church prepare for their Navajo ministry, the people of the church also stepped up. Boatwright divided the items needed by Sunday school class and each class collected their assigned items. For example, the third- and fourth-graders collected cotton balls and other classes collected bleach, alcohol, swabs, and other needed materials. “Every Sunday school class gave something,” Boatwright said.

Making missions a church-wide project has impacted FBC Academy in multiple ways.

From gathering missions supplies to sponsoring missions nights at the church in which scenes from the mission trips are recreated to help church members better understand life on the mission field, everyone has a stake in missions trips.

“I think to some extent it shows people that missions are doable,” said Boatwright, who added that these events help people who are contemplating a trip to Mali or New Mexico by showing them what it might be like.

In addition to raising awareness of the needs around the world, FBC Academy’s mission involvement has led to new ministries in the church as well.

“For sure, more people see the reality that they can do ministry,” Boatwright said. “We’ve seen new ministry opportunities come out of our mission trips. One lady came back from a mission trip and said, ‘I believe God is burdening my heart to do a jail ministry.’”

While she didn’t see herself as a teacher, within a few months she began working in a jail ministry. Now every Tuesday, six women from FBC Academy work at the Bell County jail, ministering to female inmates.

Another woman in the church discovered a new point of view on ministry after going on a mission trip. She came to Boatwright with a question, asking, “Why don’t we just adopt the youth of the community like we do the Samogho. Why not look at the youth as a mission field?

“People have discovered that God can use them in ministry,” Boatwright stated.  “God wants them hands-on in ministry. It doesn’t have to be Africa. It can be New Mexico or in the local community.”

As FBC Academy continues to reach out in Africa, in New Mexico and in their community, Boatwright challenges churches, especially small ones, to get involved in missions. “Time and time again, God has provided,” he said. “It’s a lie from the enemy to say a small church can’t go.”