I am writing to you with great excitement and anticipation of what the Lord is going to do through First Baptist this summer. We will be taking kids to children’s camp and youth camp, and both camps appear to have the potential to be large camps. We also will be hosting Vacation Bible School, we are praying VBS continues to grow as it has the previous two summers. We also will be sending a team, July 3rd-7th, to serve just outside of Salt Lake City, in Vineyard and in Orem, Utah. I am looking forward to seeing what God is going to do this summer.
I have been praying for the last serval years that God would grant us an opportunity to send a team of missionaries. In the fall of 2019 it looked promising that in 2020 we would be able to send a team, but COVID happened. God has been faithful and granted us an opportunity this summer. The church planter we will be working with is from Tahlequah, and I first met him through the Baptist Collegiate Ministry at NSU. Stephan Suter has a passion for pushing back darkness and reaching lost people. God called him and his wife to the Salt Lake City area to plant churches through the North American Mission Board.
Research that I have done about the area of Salt Lake City is humbling. It’s hard for me to comprehend an unreached area in the United States, but the Salt Lake City area fits the description of an unreached people group. In the whole region surrounding Salt Lake City, 2.02% of people are professing evangelical Christians. Specifically, in the area of Orem, less than 0.5% of people profess faith in the Biblical Jesus. The Salt Lake region of the United States is growing rapidly. With the national parks in the area, opportunities to snow ski, and the attraction of the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints, the area has grown and is in desperate need of the gospel.
The Suters are working with Mosaic Church in Orem. The church is relatively well established and they are seeking to plant in another community, Vineyard. Vineyard is home to a large group of young adults with young children. They have had a difficult time building relationships with this segment of the population. While talking with the Suters about how we could partner with them, they mentioned a need for people to go into the city park and invite parents of the children to a camp that FBC Adair will be hosting this summer. To minister in the park we would need to take families on this trip. To the glory of God, 7 adults have committed to go and bring 5 children with them: Jason, Shandel, Kruze, and Khade Hubbard, Jean Proctor, Hunter Bringardner, Lyndsey Keener, Blake, Nikki, Creed, Ridge and Sutton Wallace. We will be serving in the park to invite families to FBC Adairs camp, to invite them to worship with Mosaic Church, to advertise ministry events that Mosaic Church is hosting this summer, to pray with families, and most importantly to share the gospel.
I would like to ask you to commit to pray for the team going. Pray that the Lord will advance His name through the work of our team. I also would like to ask you to support the team financially. In the 2024 budget the church approved money to support missionaries, the finance committee has agreed to use that to purchase our housing while we are there. The ladies of W.O.M. are working to secure the groceries for the team, our house has a kitchen so we will be cooking our own food while there. The plane tickets cost $468 a person, those going on the trip are paying for the tickets. The beauty of church missions is the ability for everyone to work together to make God known. Not everyone can go, but through church partnerships we can all work together to make an impact on the Kingdom of God. I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider giving to help offset the cost of the trip. The total cost of airline tickets is $5,616, the team has already paid 1/3 of the ticket price. They will be paying the second 1/3 this month. If you are able to give, it will be a great blessing for the team.
FBC has a rich history of supporting missions. We give a very high percentage of our undesignated offering to the Cooperative Program that supports both North American Missions and International Missions. You have given sacrificially to support teams like Freedom Clown Troop. You have also given to send people to China, Canada, Jordan, Peru, and Florida. Would you prayerfully consider giving to help offset the cost of traveling for our team? The beauty of the partnership of the local church is that we can do much more together than we can do alone. You can place your gift in the offering box, make sure to put it in an envelope marked “Utah Mission Trip,” you can mail it to the church, P.O. Box 52 Locust Grove, Ok 74352, or you can drop it off at the office.
Thank you for serving the Lord faithfully! It has been a great joy to serve with you and I cannot wait to see what God does this summer!
Blake Wallace
