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For Aimee Phillips of First Baptist Church in McAllen, Texas, church camp as a girl was more than entertainment. It was the start of her path to full-time missions.
“Through the testimonies of missionaries at church camp, I became burdened for those that don’t know Jesus, and it was there that I surrendered my life to share the gospel with the nations,” Aimee said.
She and her husband Mark were among 20 new full-time, fully funded missionaries appointed by International Mission Board trustees Feb. 28 and recognized during a Sending Celebration near Richmond, Va. Including the Phillipses, four of the 20 have Texas ties.
The Phillips will serve in sub-Saharan Africa among the peoples of Madagascar. Mark attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS).
“In Romans 15 it says, ‘those who have never heard will understand,” said Mark, also of FBC McAllen. “This same call to take the gospel to the nations was confirmed in my heart during a summer volunteering with the IMB in Uganda. Through multiple short-term mission trips and ISC terms, God has continued to reaffirm his call on our lives to share the gospel where Christ has never been named.”
Macie Craddock*, who attended an undergraduate school in Texas will serve among Central Asian peoples. Boorum & Tarum Joo* are headed to East Asia. Tarum attended SWBTS.
A desire to see ‘many different’ people worshiping
Omar Loza accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in his home country of Peru, and then he shared the gospel with his friends and family. A few years after reading that God wants believers to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, he visited an Andean town.
“I saw Aymara people worshiping God in their own language and culture,” he said. “God put in my heart a desire to see many different people groups worshiping him.”
Omar’s wife Tia said she also has known she wanted to make Christ known to others since she surrendered her own life to the Lord’s leadership. The Lozas of La Respuesta-Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky., plan to serve God in the Americas.
Who will go?
Luke and Lilly Price* attend a church in North Carolina that highlights a people group every Sunday that has no access to the gospel and no known believers.
“As one of the pastors, I would encourage our people to pray that God would send believers to take the gospel to these people groups,” Luke said. “One day I realized that I couldn’t keep praying that God would send other people to take the gospel. We needed to be willing to go.”
Lilly said they are excited to be going to a part of the world—South Asia—that is home to hundreds of unreached people groups. They are joining more than 3,500 other full-time workers sent by Southern Baptists, cooperating with the vision of a multitude from every language, people, tribe and nation knowing and worshiping our Lord Jesus Christ.
For more information about the IMB, visit imb.org.
With reporting by Julie McGowan
*Names changed.
