By Carlos Ferrer
Executive Vice President, NAMB

Carlos Ferrer

I escaped communist Cuba in 1962 as an 11-year-old boy hiding at the bottom of a cargo ship with my family. We had nothing but each other when we arrived in the United States. Through the love and hospitality of Southern Baptist strangers, my family received assistance that not only helped us in our journey toward citizenship, but helped us in our faith journey as well.

That experience has forever colored how I view today’s immigrants. Years later, when my wife Cindy and I were attending First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Ga., we met Ron and Cathy Frost. They asked us help launch a Spanish-language Sunday School class. Together we visited trailer parks and houses making friends with the Hispanic people throughout the county. After several months a few regulars began attending. As we shared Christ we also helped them find jobs, learn English, and establish citizenship. [Read more…]

By Mark Miller
Sunday School Specialist, TBC

Mark Miller

How will you lead your groups to become outwardly focused? Would you like to see your groups engage in actions to see lost people saved and unreached people reached? Do you need a plan to encourage group members to invite the lost and unchurched to their group and group activities? What is your strategy to prepare group members to share Jesus with lost friends? Consider participating in the Connect>1 Evangelism Campaign!

What is the Connect>1 Evangelism Campaign? The goal is to equip and engage every church member in personal evangelism through the church’s small groups or Sunday School. [Read more…]

Editor’s note: Due to safety concerns about the Muslim who accepted Christ and his family, the name of the author has been withheld.

An Arabic-speaking Christian friend brought a new believer to meet me. The man, who I’ll call Alvey, was a former Muslim who wanted to be baptized. My friend thought it would be a good idea to make sure Alvey understood what it meant to become a follower of Jesus.

I listened to Alvey’s story and my interest was piqued when he talked about the shortcomings of the Koran. “I was raised a Muslim and came to the U.S. a long time ago. Because I drove a truck for a living, I listened to tapes of Islamic teaching. The more I listened, the more I questioned. There were so many holes in the teaching.” [Read more…]

By Bradford Smith
Missions Pastor, The Way, Clarksville

Bradford Smith

Until recently, I’d never heard a sermon on adoption. A great multitude languishes right in our very midst, devoid of hope, desperate in affliction, and ignorant of the life-changing message of Jesus Christ. Who will be the one to deliver the words of life to the orphan, even by proxy? This is a great gospel issue.

Here is the logic. Pastors desire to reach the lost with the gospel. Many (most) of the lost are unchurched and statistically unlikely to repent as an adult. Yet, every year, we “graduate” thousands of unchurched children into adulthood via the foster system, swelling the ranks of those least likely to repent. [Read more…]