Missions
Join Us in Loving and Serving Those in Our Community and Around the World
Mission work is not for just anyone, it is for everyone! You have been specifically, strategically, and purposefully designed to make Jesus visible locally and around the world. Through participating in the world Christian movement, every believer can find a way to live with vital significance in God’s global purpose. Identify and eliminate anything getting in the way of your ability to share your own story of redemption with others. Being a missionary requires finding your own chapter within God’s larger story of love for all people and offering your life to others in a way that brings glory to God.
Our greatest resource as a church is not our finances, building, or programs. Our greatest resource is a gift from God; it is the love of Jesus Christ within the people of our congregation. Because God desires for all people to know, love, and serve only Him, our church exists to make Jesus visible to our community and throughout the world. We demonstrate this not only in the way we worship, grow and serve in his name, but also in the way we work to transform our city, merge the biblical with the social Gospel, show spontaneous compassion to others, devote ourselves to service, and equip families to bond together in Christ. We are no longer living for ourselves and our own selfish desires. We are Loving Christ, Loving One Another, and Loving the City, in order that He may receive all glory and honor.
If you’d like to get involved in Local or Global Missions here at FPC, please let us know!
Gifts and Talents Survey Local Missions Global MissionsStaff
Rev. A. Mitchell Moore
Associate Pastor for Young Adults and Missions
Mitchell brings a nearly 20-year career, having just served in Jakarta, Indonesia, with an Indonesian foundation that focuses on education and health care. His roles in Indonesia included spiritual oversight and development for the university system as Chaplain, Senior Executive Leadership, and Church planting.
Mitchell served as Assistant Pastor for Young Adults at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis, TN, for five years and has been involved throughout his career in church mission activity through domestic and international partnerships. You may remember Mitchell as our Director of Youth Ministry right here at First Pres, 13 years ago! He graduated with an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary in 2008.
Mitchell is passionate about advancing the Kingdom of Christ and is a gifted, expositional preacher who is urgent about mission, discipleship, and shepherding God’s people to flourish under the authority and power of God’s word.
He and his wife, Lisa, have four children: Lauren, Cora, Tucker, and Ben. The entire Moore family is excited to be re-connected with our FPC family!
Marianne Ryan
Administrative Assistant for Young Adult/Missions
Email: marianner@fpcsat.orgLocal Missions Opportunities
Global Missions Opportunities
Ongoing Mission Opportunities
October Preview
- Local Missions Service Opportunity on October 20: Haven for Hope Family Movie Night
- Update from Pars Theological Centre
Pray for Missions
Please hold the local and global missions of the church in your prayers.
Missions Prayer Guides
Mission Trip Updates: Dominican Republic Team
(June 3 – 10, 2023)
June 12, 2023: DR Trip Thank You!
Dear Friends,
What an amazing week we had in the Dominican Republic! We began the week with worship in Spanish at an International Baptist Church alongside our missions’ partner, Cristina Inchaustegui, and ended the week at the beach, reflecting and sharing with one another what the Lord had done. In between we experienced the presence of God through others – through the smiles and warm hospitality of the beautiful people of El Circadillo, through taking risks to use our faltering Spanish or engage in a spiritual conversation with someone we didn’t know, through seeing community leaders working together to finish a water project that was just beginning this time last year, and through laughing, dancing, and playing games with our new friends.
Was it all easy? No. It was hot and humid almost all the time (except when it rained). We shared a bathroom between 13 people. There was very little personal space and no room for solitude. But Jesus says when we lose our life we find it. Jesus says blessed are those who show mercy. Jesus says, as we read together on our last day in El Circadillo, “Whatever you did for one of the least of one of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40) So it was more than worth it! In fact, I would argue that our time together in El Circadillo, living in community, serving and worshiping together daily, extending ourselves – our time, energy, gifts, and resources, on behalf of others – I would say that this is real life. The things we so often spend our time and energy on are trivial, worthless. Our week in the DR was filled with joy, because we were walking daily in the light of Christ. This is what Jesus talked about when he said that He has come that we may have life and have it abundantly.
But it was not just about us. That is not why we went. When we arrived that first day, the people we had met last year seemed so surprised and pleased to see us again. It seemed to mean so much to them that not only did we come back, but also we brought more friends with us. I believe they felt loved, seen, and valuable, and that they experienced Jesus’ love for them through us. One day two of our teammates, Jake and Paige McKenzie, led a talk on marriage and relationships from a biblical perspective. When their session was over, people started asking questions about the Bible and about Jesus. Jake and Paige began to share with them, and it became apparent that most of them did not have a Bible at home. Jake and Paige then ran upstairs to where we were staying to get the Spanish Bibles that we had brought (donated by some of you!), to give to the people. They gladly received them, and stayed much longer, asking questions and hearing about who Jesus is and what He has done for us. The rest of us returned from our morning activities and most of our team joined in the conversation. It was so beautiful. You see, we were not there merely to help plaster and paint the new water tower, or play games with the kids. We were there because people need to know the love of Jesus for them, and the true life that can only be found in Him. What a joy and a privilege it was to get to share with them the only lasting resource we can offer them – the love of Christ.
Thank you all for partnering with us in this journey! We could not have done it without you! Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement, your financial support, and your donations of Bibles and art supplies. What a blessing all of this was to us and to the community of El Circadillo. Thank you! We love you and appreciate your generosity.
God Bless,
Carrie Everson
June 8, 2023: DR Update
Many Members
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many.” – 1 Corinthians 12:12
As I am sitting here, in a folding chair looking around, I see the body at work.
The hands of the body are peeling plantains for the next meal and firing up the stove. They are some of the women in the community that sacrificed their week to prepare meals for “outsiders”. Walking from their homes early in the morning, they stay with our group until the last dish is cleaned after dinner. Without these hands, we as a body would not be eating meals prepared with such love or have the time to share the gospel in this community. What a sacrifice!
The feet of the body are busy. Running around playing volleyball, at rest under a table playing dominos, and standing having one-on-one conversations. Feet are meant for moving, yet they are also called to stand still in community. What does it mean to stand still? This is a questions that is hard for me to answer for I am a mover. I often go, go, go for I fear what is left of me when I stop. Am I enough just as I am? Or do I need to bring a certain gift or work to the table to feel valuable? For me stillness means vulnerability for in that moment there is nothing that I can do to prove myself. Yet God does not call us to prove ourselves. He actually does the opposite. His power is made perfect in our own weakness. “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9-10
The ears quick to listen while the mouth is slow to speak. Sitting around in a circle and sharing wisdom. They keep the hands and feet in touch with each other. They hear so well. The eyes are seeing the ones in the community that stay on the edge. They draw them in and make them feel seen. Both the ears and eyes are sensory organs that observe their surroundings. They sense the tension between half-truths and the absolute truth found in scripture.
All members of the body have value. One member cannot play the role of the whole body. We are called into community. Community with God and community with each other. I often try to be self-sufficient and play the role of the body. However, I am just a member. If I am a foot, I cannot play the role of a hand or an ear. When I try, I find myself tired, alone, and discourage. As a body we should be sharing burdens and celebrations. “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” Is that true for you? Do you share your struggles and joys? Are you serving as a member of a body, or are you trying to be the whole body?
There is power in the body. There is power in Christ-centered community. How beautiful it will be in heaven when we are in perfect community with Christ!
Praise God!
Natalie Scheifele
June 6, 2023: DR Update
Greetings from the Dominican Republic!
We arrived safely on Saturday evening, and on Sunday morning enjoyed church and a lunch with Cristina Inchaguesti, one of our Missions Partners. On Sunday afternoon we arrived in El Circadillo and received a warm welcome, just like last year. Many people recognized us and were pleasantly surprised to see us again and to meet our new teammates. The first day, Monday, we did home visits, then a welcome ceremony in which there were speakers from the community as well as dance performances by the youth. We also did a VBS Session with the kids. This week we will be teaching from Joshua. We are so pleased to be here again and get to know both old and new friends. Thank you all for your prayers and support! Please enjoy this reflection from Ben Henderson, our Director of University Ministries, who is here this week along with two university students:
A Meditation on Inclusion
“Inclusion” and “exclusivity”: some of the most potent buzzwords of our time in the US.
Surely, it must be a simple matter; inclusivity is good, and exclusivity is bad, right? For some reason, people can’t seem to think clearly about these issues; a fruit of the confusion of our times where truth has been deemed subjective. Regardless of what culture does, however, the Church has a pretty sweet perk going for its members: our truths (Truth) don’t change! We don’t have to be confused. So, let’s clear the air, shall we?
Christianity is both inclusive as well as exclusive.
Our Church is exclusive in the sense that we don’t deem all “paths to Heaven” to be valid; only ours is viable. As our Lord Jesus said: “the only way to the Father is through me”. Jesus is a must, hence the importance of the Great Commission, and mission trips.
Our Church is inclusive in the sense that it is the only organization in the world, in history, whose union transcends anything and everything. Christ can be received, enjoyed, and glorified by anyone regardless of age, gender, culture, nationality, ethnicity, intelligence quotient, previous belief system, social class, etc. Assuming one has been informed, there is no valid barrier to entry other than hardness of heart and/or apathy!
This is one of the biggest things that has really stuck out to me here in the DR these past two days. I spoke with a lady today who was 78 years old, a different race, spoke no English, and had never left her village in the DR. Despite this, she espoused the same ancient wisdom and exuded the same supernatural joy that I, a fella from a different race, nationality, pedigree, culture, and age, have graciously received from Christ through the Holy Spirit. It was as though we were of one mind. Me and her have been grafted into the same vine, and are being nourished, pruned, empowered, and guided by the very same source.
Praise King Jesus.
-Ben
