One of the great anxieties when traveling the world is making connection with your next flight. When you have 10 flights in one trip, odds are you might miss one connection. While traveling to Kenya with my family, our first flight was late. If we had missed that first connection the rest of the trip would have been thrown off. When we arrived in Dallas we were picked up in a van and whisked off around the huge airliners to the steps of our next plane. As people entered through the jetway we walked up the stairs to the doorway. Then I remembered our luggage. As I entered the door I looked out and sighed with relief at the sight of our suitcases. The airline was there for us. They made sure we were directed in the right way and we had everything we needed.
That connection was successful, yet there have been many that weren’t. Planes with mechanical problems, weather, heavy traffic at an airport and other reasons can cause one to not make it to their destination on time or at all. In some ways that is how it is with people who have surrendered to serve the Lord in missions. Many have made it to the mission field because their connections were made successfully or perhaps with some delay. However, I know of others who never made the connections and were not sure what the next step was, what their opportunities were, who to ask, or possibly had no one to assist them in giving direction to their lives. As a result, they never made it to where God had called them.
My desire is for the Mission Office to be the connection point for those seeking God’s will about serving Him on the mission field. The word “connection” has the idea of bringing people together or joining together ideas, events and people — it is the state of being connected. The word “point” describes a place or direction, to be oriented, to determine the direction of traveling. So, I would like the Mission Office to be not only the most efficient clearinghouse for our churches and missionaries but also a point where people connect with ideas through events or find direction through following the steps applicable to their lives and situations.
One of the new initiatives of the Mission Office is to be a resource center for our church leaders, church members of all ages, and missionaries. Therefore, we want to create a website where people will Know and Go: know what God is doing around the world and then go join Him.
In this edition of the Global Partners we are going to reveal the beginning stages of this initiative called ConnectionPoint. The idea is that the Mission Office will be the ConnectionPoint between those who send and those who go, between those already on the field and those who want to assist them, between those who have surrendered to go and the opportunities that await them.
Through ConnectionPoint we want to build communication with those who surrender, helping them take the next step. We hope to see better communication between missionaries and pastors. Another goal is to inform church members every day about our missionaries, their needs and ministries. Also, we intend to make videos of missions and of our missionaries available for download. We want to be a resource about countries and people groups, making available links to places where this information is abundant. Eventually there will be resources for children, young people and adults with information about missions and the passion of God. Some of our missionaries are participating with us in this endeavor.
Connection is similar to the concept of support except connection refers to a relationship between people. The Mission Office wants to be the point where this connection happens. The next few pages will give a more detailed description of ConnectionPoint. A little disclaimer: this initiative is a work in progress and will take time to be fully implemented. Be patient with us and pray that God will use this to increase our force and efforts around the world for His glory.
Check out ConnectionPoint at www.bbfimissions.com or www.connectionpoint.net.