Missionaries with Georgia ties featured at Ingleside’s Acts 1:8 Weekend Missions Conference

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“Imagine if your boss called you and said you had one day to pack a bag and head to the airport to fly to another country. Your family had to leave most of your belongings behind, and you couldn’t say goodbye to anyone. That’s what we have endured.” As this International Mission Board missionary shared a little about her last year of ministry in East Asia, tears welled up in her eyes. Her husband then spoke of God’s faithfulness in leading them in a new direction of training East Asian missionaries to go places where American missionaries are not able to go. They shared their story in multiple settings recently as they were guests at the Acts 1:8 Weekend Missions Conference at Ingleside Baptist Church in Macon.

Acts 1:8 Weekend has become a special tradition at Ingleside over the last decade. Every year during the first weekend of November, missionaries and church planters come from across the States and around the world to share about God’s kingdom work. “It’s all to help us get recalibrated and get in step with the mission that God has given us,” said Dr. Tim McCoy, pastor of Ingleside for over 32 years. “Every now and then we need the Lord to lift our head up, expand our vision, and help us see a little more broadly. It helps me see how God is at work all around the world, and how my little part of it connects to the big picture.”

This year, many of the guests at the church’s missions conference were Georgia natives, including Zack and Jennifer Dove of Norway, Chris and Katie Nalls of Mozambique, Eric and Ramona Reese of Brazil, and Doug and Dana Roberts, who are Affinity Associates for the Americas region of the IMB. Two North American Mission Board church planters sent out from Ingleside also came home to share how God has been moving in their midst: Patrick and Jennifer Grant, planting Woodstock Community Church in Portland, Oregon, and Josh and Sarah Cook, planting Dwell Church in Denver, Colorado. “We love Ingleside and look forward to Acts 1:8 every year! It was good to be back,” said Sarah Cook, who interned at Ingleside along with her husband Josh when they were college students at Mercer University.

Ingleside’s missions conference was comprised of four main events. On Friday evening, all of the guest missionaries – 16 this year – spoke for a few minutes each to introduce themselves and kick off the weekend at the Celebration Dinner. On Saturday morning, children and families were invited to participate in World Adventure, where they rotated through classrooms on the children’s hall. Each classroom was decorated to represent a different country, and missionaries shared with each travel group for a few minutes about what their host country is like. Children had opportunities to taste ethnic food, play games from that culture, or do some other hands-on activity as they learned about God’s love for the world. On Saturday evening, each missionary went to a host home for a Connection Dinner, where small groups of Inglesiders planned potluck meals, and the missionaries had time to share more deeply about their lives, their callings, and their ministries. On Sunday morning, missionaries spoke in all of the Sunday morning Bible study classes, and each of the four worship services were missions-themed. At the end of the services, worshippers had the chance to complete a survey about how they’d like to be involved in fulfilling the Great Commission in the future.

“Acts 1:8 means that God expects us to continue the mission to the end of the earth, and to the end of the age,” said Pastor Tim McCoy. This special weekend is just one way that Ingleside inspires and encourages members to go with the gospel. To watch Dr. McCoy’s two-part series, “An Acts 1:8 Vision,” just go to ingleside.org/live and click on the October 31 and November 7, 2021, messages.

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Lisa Call has served as Missions Minister at Ingleside Baptist Church since 2008.