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SBTC missions mobilization associate’s drive to create missional communities is personal
Colin Rayburn has served as missions mobilization associate for the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention since June 2022. He helps churches assess, develop, and implement missions strategies in Texas, the U.S., and around the world. But for Rayburn, a former pastor and missionary who spent several years serving a church plant in France, the job is personal. He recently spoke with the Texan about how God used his experience on the mission field to fuel his passion to create long-lasting connections between SBTC churches and the missions partners often working in isolated cultures where Jesus’ name desperately needs to be heard.
How did your time serving on the mission field in France prepare you for what God has you doing now through the SBTC?
CR: It’s a blessing and a curse to be part of a culture [in America] where church life is so prevalent and where there are so many church options. Almost everybody has somewhere they consider their church home. But in France, and serving in a city where less than 1% of the population is Christian, that culture doesn’t exist. The idea of being part of a church community becomes much smaller and much more precious. Church relationships become more precious. When church partners would come visit our church in France, it was really meaningful. It was a celebration when they were in town. We would all go out to picnics and spend a lot of good time together. They were invested in us, they were for us, and it meant so much to us because there were so few Christian brothers and sisters throughout our area. I know what it feels like to live in a big, new city and have no community. We were surrounded by millions of people every day, and yet it was easy for us to feel isolated. So I think the way God prepared me in France for what I’m doing now through the SBTC is by showing me how meaningful it is to those missionaries to make those connections, and He has positioned me to facilitate those connections through our network of churches.
The SBTC’s Missional Ministries department has developed partnerships in Nevada, Puerto Rico, and Europe, among other places. What is the purpose of these partnerships?
CR: We exist to mobilize churches, as our mission focus says, to multiply disciple-making movements in Texas and around the world. But many of our churches don’t have natural relationships with missions partners on the other side of the world in places like Slovenia or Greece, or even on the other side of our own country or state, for that matter. But through these partnerships that have been curated by the SBTC, we’re able to connect our churches to missions opportunities for the purpose of developing long-term relationships that offer maximum gospel impact. For example, our partnerships in Europe are great opportunities because of the extreme diversity you find there. Every people group can be found on the continent of Europe. As we continue to learn more about the specific needs, desires, and abilities of our churches, we’ll be able to fine-tune these partnerships in ways that maximize every SBTC church’s ability to engage missionally.
How can M-Link—a tool I think many SBTC churches haven’t yet heard about—help with making those connections?
CR: M-Link is off to a good start and can be accessed through the SBTC’s website. It starts with us basically asking a church a series of simple questions. Where do you want to go? When do you want to go? What do you want to do? What unique skills do you have? What’s your budget? Or do you want to host a group? A lot of different questions like that. We use the responses to create a profile of churches that want to go and match them with churches that want to receive. We’ve already uploaded profiles for opportunities in Nevada and Puerto Rico, and we’ll soon be adding profiles connected to our Reach Europe initiative. But it starts with a church getting on our website and filling out a profile.
There are a lot of new opportunities here, but what gets you the most excited as the SBTC’s missions mobilization associate?
CR: As we consider how we want to mobilize, we have the mindset that mobilizing our churches just once is not the biggest win we can achieve. We want to mobilize our churches to develop disciple-making movements through ongoing relationships with other churches and missionaries. I think that’s what gets me most excited—developing long-term, sustained partnerships and providing opportunities for our churches to be deeply invested for long periods of time.
When I think back to our time on the mission field, the things that were most meaningful to us were the continual prayers of the people who came on mission to serve with us and their continual investment in our church. So as I have stepped into this role, my passion for missions is still there. My passion for mobilizing churches to the ends of the earth, for reaching unreached people groups—that’s still my passion. But the meaning comes in the retention rate. The meaning comes in the prolonged relationships and the continued investment.
