Jimmy Bledsoe has served as an International Mission Board missionary for 13 years, but his latest assignment has taken him to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He explained to Kentucky Baptist Convention Mission Board members Tuesday (Dec. 10) how his work there is to develop a pipeline to reach the nations with the gospel.
As an IMB liaison at Southern Seminary and a member of Walnut Street Baptist Church, he said his role involves dispelling “a lot of myths about the IMB and to introduce young Southern Baptists to ‘who we are.’”
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Bledsoe, who has pastored churches in Missouri, Indiana and Illinois, said it is “amazing that you have to explain the Cooperative Program and why we give.”
Bledsoe added that “reaching the nations (with the gospel) together is what we are about,” he said. “We are grateful for local churches who send out missionaries to the nations.”
“I am thankful for Kentucky Baptists and their giving to the Cooperative Program that keeps missionaries like Jimmy Bledsoe on the mission field,” said Todd Gray, KBC executive director.
Calling to Uganda
Recalling an experience he had in 1993 as a college student in Missouri, Bledsoe said he was on a short-term mission project when he was on the shores of Lake Victoria and he “felt a prick of the heart” about mission work in Uganda. “I heard the voice of the Lord in my heart, calling me to be a part of what He is doing among the nations.”
Bledsoe said “the calling was there — and Africa gets in your blood.” He spent 13 years in Africa, with his focal area being on theological training.
“There are healthy African churches sending out missionaries to the nation. We are trying to deploy new missionaries. The career long-term pathway is the least traversed today. More want to go and give two or three years and then try something else.”
Bledsoe said the important question to ask is “where is the most strategic place you can be for Jesus? That is an important question to answer,” he said, noting his hope to return to mission work in Kenya.
Bledsoe emphasized the importance of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering — where 100% of all gifts go directly to missionaries. He said the global realities are that there are more than 8 billion people on the planet, and 174,202 people die every day without a saving relationship with Christ. He added that in sub-Saharan Africa, there are 56 people groups that have “absolutely no gospel presence among them — there’s not a viable church in those people groups. There is a lot of lostness sin that part of the world, and the solution to man’s greatest need is the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Going to a new place
He said the missionary task involves people being sent out by local churches, going into a new place, a new people group, where one may need to learn a new language and eat new foods.
“We do it for the sake that God be glorified and people hear the gospel.” He said the dynamic involves evangelism, followed by discipleship, then church formation, leadership development and then an exit toward a partnership. Bledsoe mentioned his excitement about the KBC’s partnership with Kenya, which involves a vision tour next October.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Chip Hutcheson and originally published by Kentucky Today.
