International Mission Board

My biggest Christmas gift this year goes to...

Lottie Moon I am probably only giving about 5 Christmas gifts this year, so Lottie doesn’t have a lot of competition. I am, however, giving Lottie the largest gift I ever have.  It’s no great amount but every little bit helps.

I decided to give this amount because of reading two articles from Baptist Press last week. One says economic troubles have caused damage to international mission work. This is perfectly illustrated with a look at the IMB website. ISC missions are currently not functioning. The other article says that CP giving is up over last year. How can those two things be compatible? Well, for starters, the economic situation was already bad last year (anyone remember the talk of the election), and has not really improved that much. Secondly, a major problem is the value of the dollar versus other currency. When Southern Baptists send a missionary to Azerbaijan the value of the Manat works in our favor. But when inflation rages out of control and the manat is worth 26% less it not only takes 26% more for that missionary, but it takes that much more from the IMB and the people paying their salary.  (The article said that happened in Venezuela, but I thought Azerbaijan was funnier.  Fortunately I'm not a reporter)

I believe that the IMB is the most worthy of causes, and I know that the heart of the great commission is the “all nations” part.  Therefore, I will be giving my largest gift to Lottie Moon this year.  We can call it my own personal Great Commission Resurgence.