NILES, Ohio—Seventeen young people and leaders from First Baptist Church traveled to the Chicago area to help a missionary couple in their ministry. Derek and Aimee Phillips are missionaries with Baptist Church Planters. Derek is associate church planter at Great Commission Baptist Church, Schaumburg, Ill. His role is to assist the church in becoming established and help it move toward starting other churches in the surrounding area.
David Burman Jr., pastor of First Baptist Church, says, “We were able to see their ministry and serve through reaching out in simple and genuine ways to create connections with the people in their community.”
At Great Commission Baptist Church, the First Baptist team helped teach an English as a Second Language class that the church regularly offers; cleaned, repaired, and painted portions of the church; washed cars; and cleaned up a park, where they would host an outreach the next day that would include free food and games for kids.
- See Bible People and Me: Life of Christ, a resource for helping students of English as a second language learn about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ while they are learning English. Published by Regular Baptist Press.
Burman says, “Those connections have provided and will hopefully continue to provide opportunities for GCBC to translate showing Christ’s love into sharing the gospel.”
At the conclusion of their trip, the team drove to Ankeny, Iowa, to visit Faith Baptist Bible College and Seminary.
“Our teens have come home demanding to find ways to creatively reach out here in our home community,” Burman says. “The car wash is already planned, and our teens are eyeballing parks to adopt! It is another example of one of the results of doing ministry. When we minister for the Lord, He develops burden and passion to live out and proclaim the gospel more and more.”
- Read the Baptist Bulletin article “A Holistic Approach to ESL as an Outreach Tool” by Scott Greening, pastor of Great Commission Baptist Church, and “ESL Classes Make Difference in Church’s Outreach.”
