World Mission Conference

This weekend our American Baptist Churches of Connecitcut hosted the World Mission Conference. The setting was Suffield, Connecticut. The historic Second Baptist Church on the green welcomed over three hundred guests from around New England to come and meet nine of our American Baptist Missionaries.

Our Missionaries shared their stories of God's surprises: stories of how God is working to bring light and love to many places around our world through the work that we support. Worship was inspiring with great music and testimonies of God at work. (Can you find Curt Brockway and me in the photo to the right?) There were also opportunities to learn more in-depth about the mission work being done around the world and about opportunities to support or to serve. Some participants even ate foods from around the world, getting an introduction, not only to the foods, but also to the cultural significance of sharing meals with others.

The missionaries included Duane Binkley and Karen Smith from Thailand, Hanna Massad from the Baptist Church in the strip, Katherine Niles from the Republic of Congo, Deliris Carrion Rosa from San Salvador, Jorge Damasceno from Great Britain, Madeline Flores-Lopez from the Dominican Republic, Steen James from Haiti and Doris & Ricardo Mayol from Mexico.

It was a great weekend and there were so many inspiring stories. Curt and I attended the session led by Hanna Massad as he told about a young man named Rommie. Rommie was a faithful member of his Baptist church. He had converted from Islam and he was targeted by a terrorist group because of this. He was abducted and killed when he would not renounce his Christian faith. This is the kind of danger that Hanna and his members face every day as they are caught up in the battle between the Muslims and the Jews in Israel. Yet their faith is strong and vibrant and they are rreaching out to their community with God's love. They minister to women and children, providing education and food and so much more. Hearing his testimony was very powerful as a reminder of what God can do if we open our hearts to him.

We also heard from Karen Smith who shared the work that is happening through the New Life Christian Center in Thailand. We saw a video testimony from a young woman who was freed from domestic slavery by the workers at the Center and given a new life. She is in school now and learning about the love of god. She now has a bright future.

Rev. Daniel Martino was the Bible study leader at the Saturday morning worship service. He shared a moving message that got the day off to a good start. The whole thing was a lot of fun and a great opportunity for all of us to get up close and personal with some real heroes of our faith.

Cal