In a recent conversation with someone who works for the International Mission Board (IMB), the person said, “I want to know what you all are doing in Oklahoma. There are Oklahomans everywhere I turn serving with the IMB!” How grateful I am that God has called so many from among us to fulfill the Great Commission all over the globe! Every IMB commissioning service seems to have multiple Oklahomans being sent internationally to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The sun never sets on Oklahoma Baptists!

I want you to notice the two pictures in my article this month. In one picture, you see the hands of five more Oklahomans who are about to leave the International Learning Center at the IMB to go to the nations (with one from our Oklahoma Baptists’ team to see them off). We can’t show their faces because some are going to places where sharing the Gospel and living it out are illegal. This picture encapsulates the primary reason we exist as a convention of churches—to take the Gospel to every part of the world both by going and giving.

In the other picture, you see a logo that was used by groups in the nineteenth century such as the Old Baptist Union in England and the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. The logo pictures an ox standing in between an altar and a plow. The inscription reads, “Ready For Either.” We are called every day to consistent denying of ourselves and obedience to Christ as we follow Him in faith. This is the plow.

However, there are times when the Lord calls us to a higher level of sacrifice to glorify Him– suffering, hardships, or leaving everything to go to the mission field. This is the altar. I cannot explain why God calls some of us to the altar and others to the plow, but I know we must be ready for whichever one He calls. I am grateful for the Oklahomans that God has called to the altar of taking the Good News to some of the most spiritually dark places on earth.

Thank you, Oklahoma Baptists churches. If not for your faithful giving through the Cooperative Program, these servants could not go to the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus and a voice for the Gospel. In our annual meeting this November 10-11, we will focus on and celebrate the 100th anniversaries of both the Cooperative Program and the Baptist Faith and Message. Cooperating together through serving and giving to advance the Gospel is the heartbeat of who we are and why we exist. I am grateful to be part of that enterprise with you!

Serving Jesus with You,
Todd Fisher