Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to Missionize with the Missions Guys, a podcast of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention offering biblical and practical insight and strategies designed to equip and encourage missions leaders to carry on mission work. The goal is to fulfill the great commission from a church's local community to the ends of the earth. That is why we missionize. Now, here are your hosts, the Missions guys, Sam Roberts and and Clint Richey.
[00:00:31] Speaker B: Welcome to Mission Eyes. Thank you for joining us today. I'm Clint Richie here with my co host, Dr. Sam Roberts and Dr. Sam. It's that time of year, things are warming up and we have come out of Easter and our spring outreach strategy season that we've had. If you're listening and haven't heard of our 316 bracelets, we've given out about 20,000.
[00:00:55] Speaker C: Wow.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: This new evangelism tool and tons of churches use those to train their people to share the gospel preached on John 3:16, then use that tool to serve for serve locals. So been exciting to hear how the Lord has worked in our churches over the last month or so with this tool.
[00:01:14] Speaker C: Yeah. And that tool made its way to the Dominican Republic as well, Clint. That's right, where Steve led a group of, I think 19 Arkansas Baptist that did a pastor's conference and a wives conference and they did a training on the John 3:16 bracelets. As a matter of fact, I think on our, on our link that if individuals, if churches want to order those in Spanish, they're available in Spanish now as well. Is that correct?
[00:01:46] Speaker B: That's right. Yes, believe so. If not, then we need to get it updated. But they are available.
So if you don't know what we're talking about, you are behind the times. And so if you would check out absc.org 316 bracelet, you'll see that tool. There's some downloads that you can print off to give to folks to train with. But appreciate the work of our communications team and getting that designed and then Arkansas Baptist given to Dixie Jackson has enabled us to give out 20,000 of those and that number keeps going up.
[00:02:20] Speaker C: Yeah, I had the pleasure, Clint, during Easter season of serving as Smart Start Interim First Baptist Church Dardanelle. And we took that particular Sunday and shared those bracelets with everyone in attendance. Had 150 or so folks there.
The whole sermon was about John 3:16.
We did training along with that.
So I know that we had quite a few churches that followed that same format that used those bracelets, handed them out to everybody in attendance that morning, from some of our smaller membership churches to some of our larger membership churches. And so it became a great tool of discipleship in evangelism for the local church. And we encourage you. You can go to that link that Clint shared, you can order directly from that link and you get the exact same price that we get.
And the more you order, the larger the discount I think that is there. So we make that available. This is a tool that we designed as a team, brought in the communication team with us and decided it was time for us to do our own. And God has just blessed this and I know he's going to use it in some incredible ways, not only here in Arkansas, but in the Dominican Republic and several other places.
[00:04:01] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:04:02] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: It's exciting to see. So, hey, let's jump into our content today because it's a historic day on Mission Eyes.
[00:04:10] Speaker C: This is a big day. It is a huge day.
[00:04:12] Speaker B: So joining us today is Travis McCormick who serves as the Men and boys mission strategist on our missions team. It's historic because Travis has the distinction of being the first two time guest on Mission Eyes.
So Travis, we look back, we have had people, we've had, I mean, leaders from I and B.
[00:04:33] Speaker D: From them.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: I mean, we've had some great guests over the last year and a half and you are the first one that's been here twice. So congratulations on that.
[00:04:44] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:04:45] Speaker B: On if you go back, August 15, 2024, if you'll go back to that episode, if you didn't catch it, Travis and Debbie Moore joined us to talk about missions discipleship and some non traditional methods and events that we have here at the convention today. We want to delve further into that topic and talk about some upcoming events that fit into the category of non traditional missions discipleship.
[00:05:10] Speaker C: Yeah. Travis, when you were with us before, we talked about the traditional missions discipleship focusing on curriculum, which is still available today. Quite a few of our churches, we do have a good number of churches that are using that curriculum. I'm still a big believer in our missions discipleship curriculum that's provided through the WMU for Ras Gas Mission Friends. It's been repackaged. It's an incredible, incredible tool. It's called Mission Journey Kids.
Even one of our team members, Clint Steve Lassiter is a biblical content reader for national wmu. So we know that it's solid. I think Travis has probably done some of that and written as well for those curriculum pieces. And Debbie tells us that on an average we have a couple of churches a month now that are subscribing to Mission Journey. Kids.
So it's picking up some steam. If you have an interest in that traditional piece that we have of curriculum to use that in your children's ministries, just contact Travis, contact us here, contact Debbie. We'll get you in touch. We'll get you some sample copies of it.
Love to have more of our churches become involved in discipling children in missions. But today we're going to talk some about this shift in focus. Even though we're still, you know, the curriculum's still a big part of how we disciple children in missions.
We're going to talk about a shift that we've seen in focus to more of a relationship based mission discipleship.
So Travis, talk to us a little bit about that.
[00:07:12] Speaker D: I think first of all that there's been this move in large part because churches like people are limited in their resources and in the time that they have to get people together. But ultimately, I think the shift comes. It's a good shift. It's a natural shift because missions discipleship is all about disciple making. It's all about one person reaching another person. It's about teaching them, evangelizing them, helping them grow in their faith. And so we realize that not everybody has the time or the ability or even is expected to show up for a class. Not everybody can. But everybody must be about the business of making disciples. We've been commanded to do that. And so when we understand rather than fighting the fact that we can't get them here, curriculum is great, but if there's nobody to lead it and nobody to hear it, then it doesn't do as much good. We have the greatest curriculum in the world, in the Bible itself. And yet sometimes we don't have time. You know, if we don't have the people to teach it, then who can learn it? And so we're all about the business of helping people understand how to, and equipping them, how to use their relationships, build relationships to reach other people and teach them and lead them and help them grow in their faith. That doesn't have to happen a certain hour on a Sunday or Wednesday, but happens all day, every day, everywhere they are.
[00:08:21] Speaker B: And so along the lines of that we have, we're going to talk about some events that we have had and some that we have coming up. But I think the, the principles that will come out of these events are things that a church could apply to their context at any time in multiple ways. So let's, let's begin talking about that. Recently, first part of April, you held Connect. It's a Student missions weekend this year was in Walnut Ridge. We do two of those a year. The spring was in Walnut Ridge. We got one in the. That will be in.
[00:08:55] Speaker D: In Arkadelphia.
[00:08:56] Speaker B: In Arkadelphia. Sorry to put you on spot, but over 200 students and volunteers were in Walnut Ridge for Connect, serving throughout the area on a Saturday in practical ways. But tell us about the weekend, what happens at Connect?
[00:09:11] Speaker D: All right, so Connect, we've been doing these Connect student missions weekends for 16 years now. We just started our 16th year and each time we have close to 200. We've had a few more, a few less each time. But these students come and they gather together in different parts of our state and they come to be equipped to learn how to receive resources and training on how to be on mission every day of their lives. That's what it's about. And so they come in on Friday. We have a worship time together. They break off into their different ministry teams on Saturday. They learn how to share their faith. We give them a resource like the 316 bracelets this year and give them some things that they can use. And then they go out and they serve all day in ministry projects that have been provided by the local churches that have agreed to come alongside us and partner with us. And then they come back and. And after serving that day and we have a share time and we get to hear all of their stories and the things that happen. And then on Sunday they go and they worship with some of them go home and worship with their churches and tell them about what happened. And others stay there and worship together with the churches that provided the projects. And someone asked me the other day, how, how has this been? How do you sustain this? How has this not run its course? And we can talk about this some more. But again, I think the reason why Connect hasn't run its course because it's not about an event, it's not about just doing an activity. It's about offering opportunities for us to do what we ought to be doing, in many cases are, but should be doing anyway. Learning how to cooperate together in identifying ministry and mission projects and equipping each other, teaching each other and encouraging each other to be involved in disciple making every day.
[00:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I had a Facebook memory from a few years ago, over 10 years ago now, from when I was in Hampton. Connect was in Camden, I believe, and you sent a group over and helped us do a block party, you know, So I think 16 years has got to be one of the longest running ministries here at the convention.
[00:10:57] Speaker D: And there have been times that I've thought, why are we still doing this? Do we need to think of something else? And then each year we keep having different groups come, and we have about the same number. This year, we had a group travel all the way from Texas, five and a half hours away, to come here and be with us because they believed in the importance of getting their students involved in learning how to be on mission, not just here, but when they go back home and what that means in their lives.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Yeah, we talk about mission, discipleship. Of course, the first step in discipleship is salvation.
And so you had, I believe, 12 students that you know of on Friday night that made a profession of faith.
[00:11:31] Speaker D: Yeah. The beauty of, for me, of Connect is seeing these students on Friday night's all about preparation, getting ready for the weekend. And so they receive a. A message of salvation, a gospel presentation. You would assume a lot of people would mistakenly assume that all the students that come are Christ followers already, but we realize that several of them are not. But they come and they hear the gospel and they respond. And then on Saturday, they get a chance to go and share what happened to them on Friday night. It's fresh on their minds. There's been instances where kids have been saved on Friday night, and on Saturday, they go out and share and lead somebody to faith in Christ, sometimes even adults to faith in Christ. And so it's very, very encouraging to see these students come from death to life and then lead other people from death to life just the next day to use what they've learned.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: And talking about this isn't just. It's not an event. So tell us, how does this carry on from what students experience on that weekend to when they get home?
[00:12:23] Speaker D: Well, I challenge the students each year. They. Sometimes they get tired of me saying this, but I challenge them and say, what if God brought you here to reach your friends back home? And what is. We get asked? What does that mean? Well, even if you may not get lots of opportunities this weekend to share, you learn all these things. When you go home, the people that you know are going to ask you one question. It's going to be, what did you do this weekend? And as you share, you ought to ask them, all right. Do you really want to know? Because if you want to know, I'm about to tell you. But if you don't want to know, then let's not, you know, don't. If you're not ready, then let's do something else. But if you're ready, I'm going to tell you. And that gives you a chance to share the bracelet, that gives you a chance to share the gospel. I said, how cool would it be to know that God had put all this together so that you could go back and tell your friends and they could, they could hear the gospel and respond and be saved. And a lot of these students go back and they learn how they get excited about sharing their faith. They go in their community, they come up with the activities and opportunities in their own youth group. Had one this time where one of the staff members of the church was so just inspired by the students that shared their testimony and the things that happened that that night he shared with the music student. And that student received Christ came to faith in Christ that night just because of what had happened. So that's, that's the ultimate goal, to see these students take this and take it back home and use it where they live, not just this weekend where we are.
[00:13:33] Speaker C: Yeah. And that's one of those principles that Clint was talking about at the very beginning that is easily transferable in the local church. We did this with mission trips. You know, any mission trip that we did as a church, whether that was students, whether that was family, whether that was, you know, adults, whoever it may be, toward the end of our time in wherever we were, whether that was international or that was a state mission trip, whether that was with one of the NAMM church planters, whatever it may be, we would have a time of debriefing. And one of those statements I would always make, Travis, is, hey, be ready for this question because you're going to get this question from everybody. How was the trip? How was the trip? Please don't say, oh, it was good, and go on.
I want you to think now, what have you seen God do over these last few days that you could say, this is what happened and that's mission discipleship. That's incredible. Good stuff.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: Yeah. While we're on students, you host a camp in the summer called Engage. Tell us about that. What are the details about Engage camp?
[00:14:57] Speaker D: Well, Engage this year is June 16th through the 20th at Perrin. And Engage is basically a week long version of Connect. Students come in on Monday. We just spend Monday preparing for the week. And we have a speaker and worship leader. Obviously we do a lot of the same things that you do at a regular camp, but then on Tuesday through Thursday in the mornings, we go out and serve in the community again. Projects that local churches and associations have provided us opportunity to build relationships and partnerships with churches and with the communities. And then that afternoon we do breakout sessions and we have several different people come in and lead those. And then we have worship that night and recreation and do those kind of things. But again, the focus is more on building on the things that they've already been learning. And it's on the mission and it's on their responsibility. And each year we kind of follow a six year plan for theme and we kind of look at the who, what, when, where, why and how of missions. And so this year our theme is who. And looking at it from a couple of different angles, who is my disciple? Who has God called me to share with? Who am I supposed to be working with? Who am I supposed to be reaching? But also from the standpoint of the who is you? You are the one that God has called to reach the people that he's placed in your life. You are the one that he's gifted and equipped to be able to do that. So how do you do that? What does that look like? Who are these people? How do I identify them? And how do I fulfill my role as the disciple maker in their lives? And so these students get to come and spend the week having a good time. It's not, you know, some board where they just come and listen, but they get again, they get to learn and then they get to go out and actively share that and use that. And it's not just busy work that they do, it's projects that have been provided with, engage or with connect. I tell the people that give us projects, we'll do anything that you ask us to do as long as you can tell us why. These students want to know that what they do matters. And when they know that what they do is going to matter, they will come and they will give all that they have to able to serve the Lord and be able to learn and grow together. And it'll make a difference in their life and in the life of the people around them. Not only this week, but in the time, in the days to come. So it's not just about what happens at camp, but it's about again, what happens when they go home.
[00:16:56] Speaker C: Awesome. And registration is currently, registration is currently up.
[00:17:01] Speaker D: It's $190 a person for adults and.
[00:17:04] Speaker C: Students for the whole thing. That includes housing, that includes T shirts, meals, Everything. Everything.
[00:17:09] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:17:09] Speaker C: Okay, now switching gears just a little bit.
One of the other areas of ministry that you provide some leadership in. Travis. Just recently, Barna Group made available their 2025 State of the Church report. One of those findings that they highlighted was that especially among Younger men.
There is this tendency over the last three years, I believe, where the worship attendance of younger men has outpaced the worship attendance of women.
That reverses a long standing trend of more women in the pews of the local church. Now that's encouraging to see men not just attending, but also serving and leading in the church.
You've been serving in this capacity for 15 years or so. Have you seen this change with men? Is there anything specific you can say led to this trend reversal?
[00:18:25] Speaker D: Since I came on board at the convention, my belief and what I've taught is that men's ministry is not men's ministry. It's man ministry. Again, it's one man reaching one man and it's equipping them. And so we could spend a long time, we could do a whole other couple of programs on this subject. But I think it basically comes down to a real simple answer, goes back to the relationship that we talked about at the beginning, that we're beginning to focus on the fact, understanding that men don't follow programs. Men follow other men. Men don't follow curriculums, they follow other men. The disciples didn't follow Jesus because he offered them this fantastic program or even because he said I love you. They followed him because of what he offered them as men, the chance to be real men. There's this shift in our culture. It seems like that men are one or two things. You're either taught that being a man is so bad that you shouldn't do anything that resembles being a man, or you should go the other extreme and you should just let yourself go and just know that you're a man and do everything that a man does. And both of those are wrong and both of those are bad. And sometimes those carry over, not even intentionally, but in some regards into the church. And so men are expected to just come and sit and listen and they're given these options. And now churches are, are beginning and I've understood that, but are really implementing things that allow men the opportunity to build relationships, to build fellowship with other men. Not relationships like, you know, yes, we, we learned that God loves us and what that means, but that's not what we come. We come for the sense of adventure and camaraderie and connection with guys that share our passions and share our interests and our hobbies. And we, we build mentorships and we get to learn from these guys and we see genuine Christian men and then we get opportunities to go out and do what you've taught us to do. So it's more than just coming and sitting and listening to someone tell us something or teach us something we actually get to go out and do. And I think churches are moving away even from events for men and moving away to just challenging men to be men and do what men do, but do it loving Jesus and telling other men about Jesus. And they see then the impact not just in a one time event where 100 guys show up, but they see how me pouring into one man has made a difference. And that man, his family and it just. Man, everything else just kind of falls into place. And so I love the church more because I love God more. I love Jesus more. I love Jesus more because this person, this man has taught me how to love Jesus more by being around them and learning what it means to love Jesus and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: Okay, so you have a men's event, a mission discipleship opportunity that's coming up on May 3rd that's called man Up. Tell us about Men Up.
[00:20:53] Speaker D: Well, man up started during COVID with Brent Roberts out at Spring Lake. He was the camp director or the leader out there at that time. And he and I got together and said, we need to do something. Men are not able to get together. Men are not able to have what we're taught. The relationships are gone. And so we needed something where guys could get together in a kind of distance at the time. And it's just kind of morphed into what it's become now. And it's just a really simple opportunity for men to involve themselves in the disciple making process. There's nothing groundbreaking. Again, it's not about the curriculum. We have great speakers and all that, but it's not even about that. It's about men taking advantage of the simple opportunity. You pay 10 bucks and you show up and bring your lawn chair, that's the only thing, or your fishing pole if you want to. You can stay all day, you can come part of the day, you can leave when you want to, you can come late and you just come and immerse yourself in a culture where there's just men and boys and guys just doing the things that men love to do, sharing their passions, talking to other guys who, who have the same interests and hobbies and learning from them how they use those interests and passions and hobbies to talk to people about their relationship with Jesus. And I had a pastor a couple years ago say, I've been trying to have time with this guy and get to know him and just we've never been able to connect we invited him, brought him to man up, and we got to participate in these activities. We have, you know, archery tag and horseshoes and fishing and just all kinds of different things. And then we have stations set up where guys do, you know, little mini forge and do some metalworking and woodworking and Dutch oven cooking, just things like that, where they get to share and talk to each other about that. But this man brought. This pastor brought this man and said, I got to sit and visit with him for two hours and just talk to him and find out his heart and find out where he was and spiritually and what was happening. And that's what it's about, learning how to develop spiritual conversations. They come participate for three hours in activities. We have a good meal this year. We're going to do, I think, pulled pork and pork loin. We've done, you know, red beans and rice and jambalaya and that kind of stuff in the past. But just a good meal and then we have a good gospel message, a good time of worship this year. Clint Richie is going to be our speaker.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Should not have included that.
[00:22:52] Speaker D: I'm telling you that now. There's a reason to come. Right? But they get to come and just come in here and bring your lost friends and let them hear the gospel and have an opportunity on the way home to talk to them about what they've learned. And one of the things I've realized through the years is that even though we may not admit it, men need other men. We say we don't, but then we have opportunities like this. We get together and inevitably we always go, man, why don't we do that more often? And then we never do. And so that's what we just want to provide is a very simple opportunity. So just come. It's very easy. If you don't like the things that men are doing. You want, there's something else you want to do, let us know and we'll include it the next year. But just come and bring your friends, bring your grandsons, bring your kids, and just come and enjoy the day together and just have the opportunity to have spiritual conversations and talk to one another about Jesus.
[00:23:34] Speaker C: Yeah. One of the great benefits that I've seen from man up and pastors that are listening, those guys who are involved in men's ministry in your church.
If you are trying to get something started and you really have no idea how to do this, how to do men's ministry, discipleship among men, come to man up and you will see an incredible model for what you can Take back to the local church and do this is not just something that is only available that a state convention does. This is for the purpose, just like a one day Clint that we do. Yeah, It's a great opportunity for a lot of Arkansas Baptists to get together. But those churches, those associations can take that same model, go back home and do the same thing. And Men up provides that model that you could follow, could become part of your strategy, of your men's ministry and men's discipleship in your church.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: And I'll just say, if you're coming and you're listening to this, come up and tell me. I listen to mission eyes. And for every person that does, I'll take a minute off the sermon.
[00:24:46] Speaker C: Whoa.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Maybe. Probably not.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: But he's going to preach an hour and a half, so need a lot of you guys to come up.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: That's right. Yeah. Where we're at right now, we're starting at 90 minutes, so we'll see how long.
Hey, last thing. Two years ago, you resurrected an event called Family Missions Day at the Zoo. And this is coming up. We're doing this every other year now. Coming up again, May 17th at the Little Rock Zoo, which by the way, has a new baby gorilla that's been capturing everybody's attention.
And so, you know, all of us, we've taken kids, Dr. Sam's now taking grandkids to the zoo. It's fun just to go to the zoo.
But this isn't just your traditional day at the zoo. What's different about this day?
[00:25:31] Speaker D: Well, we started this day at the zoo several years ago and again as an opportunity just to teach people how to build relationships and how to use those relationships and use everyday opportunities to help tell people about Jesus, learn about missions. And so you come, families come, individuals can come, churches can come, and all you pay is what it costs to get into the zoo that day. And it's actually a discounted rate to get in. You're giving to Dixie Jackson to cooperative program helps cover the rest of the cost. And you come in and you get to meet missionaries from all over the world, from locally, internationally and even from North America. You get to talk with them. We'll have a scavenger hunt that the participants can go on and they get checked off and they get to earn a badge. When they get done with this, there's people that will be around the zoo that represent unreached people groups from different parts of the world. And they find them and they learn about them. They learn how to prayer walk and how to pray for these unreached people groups, how to adopt unreached people groups. There'll be some activities for them to do, a craft for them to do, all designed to teach you about missions, to help children and adults and everybody just kind of begin or carry on their love for missions and understand what it's all about. That there's people serving all over the world so that we can know how to pray for them, but also so that we can be involved in missions. So it's not just learning about missions, but it's being involved in missions. And it's just a great opportunity, just a good day, just come, enjoy. You can leave when you want to. You don't have to stay all day, just come and enjoy. A day at the zoo. But also an opportunity to learn about missions and then the conversations that you can have on the way home. And you can take these booklets, there'll be a lot of resources in there, some things that will help you further conversations, take back to your church and just kind of foster that love for missions and being on mission every day.
[00:27:08] Speaker C: Awesome. So those who are listening, hey, you've heard at least three ways in the next few months for students, men and families to be involved in mission discipleship. Travis for those pastors who are listening, for a lay person that's listening, why should they advocate and encourage their church's participation in these particular events? Opportunities?
[00:27:40] Speaker D: Again, what we're asking for is not for you to advocate for these events, not for you to advocate for the state convention. We have no desire. It's not about whose name gets out there, who gets the credit. It's about us coming alongside the churches and helping them again, teach and equip your people to be on mission every day of their lives. And so these are some ready made, easy opportunities for you to plug into to advocate for the mission, for teaching your people that God has given you to shepherd and to teach and disciple, how to be disciple makers themselves. It doesn't cost a lot, doesn't take a lot of effort. It's just an opportunity to teach them how really cooperating together and partnering together in missions can accomplish a lot for the kingdom. And it gives you an opportunity to just come alongside them, enjoy the day, visit with them, but then it gives you a lot to talk to them about afterwards and lots of things you can carry on beyond that. And so we need advocates for the mission and for the ministry opportunities that are out there to teach people how to be on mission every day of their life. So we invite you and love for you to come and join us during these opportunities.
[00:28:39] Speaker C: Hey, any final word that you have?
[00:28:41] Speaker D: I would just simply say that missions discipleship, disciple making is hard sometimes and it's a long process. It doesn't just happen with an event. It's not a one time thing. It takes a long time. And none of us can effectively disciple all the people that need to be discipled. We need each other. Men need men, women need women. Fellow believers, we need each other. We need to learn from each other. We need to glean from each other. We need to be encouraged from each other. And so all of these opportunities are there. So take advantage of the opportunities to get plugged in. If we can come help you do something in your local community with missions discipleship, we can come help you again. It's not about us getting credit. It's about coming alongside you to help teach people and train people and equip people to give God the ultimate glory because he's the one that deserves the glory. So that's what we want to do. So look forward to being able to serve alongside you and be a part of this ministry and these ministries with you in the future.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Travis, thanks for joining us today and for again just being a part of this historic moment in the life of mission is so we will get a plaque for you. Don't be looking for anything extra on your check and we do appreciate the ministry that you participate lead in here at the convention. Thank you guys for listening. Look forward to being back with you in two weeks.
[00:30:01] Speaker A: Thanks for joining the Missions guys today. If you liked what you heard, rate and review us on your favorite podcasting platform.
To keep up with what is happening in Arkansas missions, visit absc.org missions.
