In 2021, the staff of First Baptist Church West Albuquerque began to pray about what God would have the church do about a mission strategy. Refusing to take a “shotgun” approach to missions or throw a dart at a map, the team at FBCWA sought to develop a long-term partnership with missionaries.
Church staff received an email from International Mission Board missionaries seeking to connect with churches stateside. The email conversation led the church to take steps toward mission engagement and, ultimately, the idea of an international mission trip.
“We were just praying the day before about missions, and the next day I got an email from Lance and Carrie,” Stephen Baum, senior pastor of FBCWA shared with the Baptist New Mexican.
Lance and Carrie Borden are IMB missionaries in Vienna, Austria. Originally from Amarillo, they reached out to churches in their local area in the United States. As the relationship between the Bordens and FBCWA continued to grow via Zoom calls and emails, church members stepped up to pray for how the church should engage in missions.
Three church members approached Baum and asked to meet weekly to pray about missions. The group offered their Tuesday evening meetings to the church and has met nearly every week since August 2022.
“We were talking about different ideas and ways to engage people. We talked about ways to get missions opportunities in front of the church,” Baum said. Members that attended the prayer gathering mentioned previous experiences with mission weeks or Sundays. “I liked the idea of putting actual faces to our prayers. But what if we do more than just meet them [missionaries]? What if we invite them to teach us something?”
As FBCWA began to plan its “micro-conference” that focused on local and international mission engagement, they began to invite leaders to join them and help teach ideas.
Jay Liebold, director of the University of New Mexico Challenge (UNM Challenge); Justin Pearson, pastor of Restore Church, Albuquerque; and the directors of Casa de Mariposa were all invited to lead breakout groups.
The church searched for a fourth person/couple to lead a group, and they learned the Bordens would be in town the weekend of the event. After sharing information about the mission engagement Sunday event with the Bordens, Baum stated the couple was excited about the idea.
‘Like-mindedness between us leaders’
“Our relationship with them [the Bordens] has continued to blossom. It has been good in a lot of ways. I think pastor Danny and myself have developed a real friendship with them. Their philosophy of ministry is very similar to mine; there is like-mindedness between us as leaders,” Baum said.
On March 5, the church hosted its mission engagement Sunday.
Lance preached the Sunday service, and as the service concluded, church members were free to join the breakout groups they were interested in. The Bordens shared what doing ministry is like in a post-Christian society and how New Mexico Baptists can continue to share the gospel despite the United States pushing toward a post-Christian society.
Two-way connection
Early in the Bordens’ relationship with FBCWA, Lance mentioned wanting a two-way connection with church; a partnership where FBCWA would send members to Vienna and the missionaries would send members of their church back to Albuquerque.
“Most of the time when you talk about missions partnerships in the U.S. it is sending missionaries to other parts of the world, not so much both ways,” Baum shared. After spending time with the Bordens when they were stateside and as they interacted in person with FBCWA, Baum said he knew he had to find a way to make the partnership work.
“There is just so much commonality here, and the Lord seems to be giving us a lot of favor with each other. I thought to myself that I had to find a way to visit them on the ground where they are,” Baum said. Days before heading back to Vienna from their trip stateside, Lance sent Baum an email mentioning the possibility of a trip to visit them in Austria.
Through a partnership with the IMB’s Go Experience program, FBCWA is now planning a trip to Frankfurt, Germany, where the team will learn evangelism and discipleship strategies at an international level and get the chance to put boots on the ground for what they have been praying.
‘Linking arms’
The trip is planned for September 22–30. The staff of FBCWA hopes they will be able to visit the Bordens in Vienna during their trip to share what they will have learned in Frankfurt to assist the Bordens in their ministry.
“We want to develop partnerships that are more than just ‘this is where we go every year.’ We want to develop actual friendships, relationships that are mutually supportive. I mean really linking arms with those we work with,” Baum said.
“None of this would have happened if it weren’t for three faithful church members who asked to pray about missions.”
Ways to pray
FBCWA asks Baptists to pray that the team would boldly step into this opportunity. They also ask for prayer for fruit of the partnership and that God would give them the wisdom to know how to be a resource to churches wanting to do similar things. They ask for prayer that God would provide for those wanting to go on the trip and that the team may go without concern about the financial aspects of the trip.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Isaiah Unland and originally published by the Baptist New Mexican.
