Passing the Baton

Today we stand on the edge of another generation who must have the opportunity to set their hope anew on God. In Psalm 78, King David gives the church a mandate to reach the next generation, because every new generation is an unreached generation. If we fail to meet this obligation, then we’re doomed to repeat the fate of Judges 2:10, where following Joshua’s generation, there arose another generation who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
Every new generation is an unreached generation.
As Assemblies of God Leaders, we must strive daily to fulfill this responsibility. This mandate should compel us to pass our movement’s heart for missions onto the next generation. Last year was an extraordinary year for NextGen Missions. One of our OMN churches, Yoncalla Assembly of God, ranked #2 in the nation (Division A) for their BGMC giving of $12,979! Overall, our kids gave $130,241 to BGMC, with 52% of our OMN churches participating. Additionally, our youth saw tremendous growth in their STL giving, seeing a 42% increase over the previous year. They gave $93,338 to STL, with 34% of our OMN churches participating.
We have set some big NextGen Missions Goals for 2017:

STL Goal is $125,000 with 40% of our Churches Participating.
BGMC Goal is $150,000 with 60% of our Churches Participating.
Ultimate Goal is 100% church participation.

To help us attain these goals, we have two new Summer Missions Projects.
Summer STL Project - John and Carolyn Stewart, missionaries to South Africa. They have been serving in missions for more than 20 years. They are presently serving in South Africa, focusing on leadership development and Church Planting. A STL vehicle is vital for them to be effective in ministry. This vehicle will enable them to do more in the area of equipping pastors and church planting. You can download their Project Bio on our STL web page and view their Project Video on our YouTube Channel. #STLtheStewarts
Summer BGMC Project - Brad and Roberta Shimomura, newly appointed missionaries to Japan. They have been serving in kids ministry in Oregon and Washington for more than10 years. Their primary focus in Japan will be kids and family ministry. This summer, our kids will be helping to buy Bibles for Japan through BGMC. These will include Bibles for parents as well as Japanese comic book style Bibles to give to kids. $15 purchases one Bible. Let’s aim for 200 Japanese Bibles - $3,000! The easiest way for your kids to participate is to send in your summer BGMC offerings to the national office, using their Special Target Form. You can download this form on our BGMC webpage. #BGMCjapan
Be sure to check out our Resource Page for more tools to help you successfully pass the baton on to the next generation.
Finally, if you would like to schedule me to come and do a STL or BGMC service for your kids, youth or church, contact me directly in order to save a date on the calendar.