Tom Lin, Harvard grad, leading InterVarsity staff and students in the Central United States, provides an overview of the upcoming Urbana09 (www.urbana.org, www.urbana09.org).  Upwards of 20,000 mostly students are anticipated Dec 27 - 31, 2009 at this great missions conference in St. Louis, MO.  Plenary sessions are conducted in the Edward Jones Dome where the St. Louis Rams play football.  Urbana09 includes plenary sessions for all, scores of breakout groups, nearly 300 ministry-related exhibitors available to help implement life choices for meaningful service, the development of many lifetime friendships and relationships …and much “vision casting” for many ways, modes, and lifestyles for completing the “Great Commission” of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). Tom reports in this radio interview: “I went to Harvard … and found Jesus!”  Sponsored by InterVarsity, he explains Urbana’s beginning and development. Tom’s website: (www.tomandnancylin.com) is subtitled Students & Faculty Transformed, Campuses Renewed, & World Changers Developed.  The site is creative and moving!  You should love it.

Linda Logsden of St. Louis, MO talks about Samaritan’s Purse Christmas shoebox gifts to needy children in 100 countries.  This heartwarming radio discussion provides the “how to’s” of it.  While this conversation addresses the efforts of one particular year, the shoebox plans are ongoing and have been for years.  The insights shared provide good motivation for an individual and/or church to become involved in the joy of bringing joy … and a witness for Jesus … to children in hardship around the world.  Franklin Graham is the International Director of www.samartianspurse.org.  Linda Logsden, retired from her career in the medical field, finds great personal joy in serving as the St. Louis/Eastern Missouri Area Coordinator for Operation Christmas Child/Samaritan’s Purse.  She reports that the goal in her region this particular year is for 45,000 Christmas shoeboxes to be collected and sent … everywhere!  Linda invites us to go to www.samaritanspurse.org and type in our postal zip code to discover the “where's and when's” of “drop off” locations near you.  She can be reached at 636 300-3190.

Linda Logsdon is an area leader for Operation Christmas Child which collects and distributes shoeboxes filled with gifts to poor children worldwide.  Described as the “world’s largest Christmas program,” OCC is a part of the ministry of Franklin Graham’s Samaritan’s Purse.  Shoebox collection deadlines occur each year, but efforts in filling the shoeboxes continue year-round in being ready for the next Christmas collection deadline.  At the Samaritan’s Purse website (www.samaritanspurse.org) you can enter a postal zip code to find the location of the nearest shoebox collection site. Hear Linda Logsdon provide a brief and inspirational overview of Operation Christmas Child, answering your questions about the shoeboxes that bring joy and the love of Jesus to 8,000,000 needy children around the world.

Pastor Jeff Lunn of the Park Baptist Church in North St. Louis, MO County highlights the life of a great nineteenth century missionary heroine, Lottie Moon. A southern aristocrat, she left her social status, homeland and family in sacrificially offering her life to share Christ’s love in China. Late in her live, during a time of famine, she gave away most of her food to her beloved Chinese, which eventually reduced her weight to 50 pounds.  She basically died of starvation in a Japanese harbor on Christmas Eve while returning on only her third journey home.  So in 1912, Lottie Moon spent the last part of Christmas Eve, Christmas day, and is now spending forever, in the presence of Jesus and all the residents of Heaven!  A great missionary offering is named in her honor – the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering -- which each and every year provides multiplied millions of dollars from thousands of churches.  It amounts to half the support for more than 5,000 foreign career missionaries serving with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.  Pastor Jeff tells of how his church, like many others, is giving major focus to this important means of advancing the Gospel of Jesus worldwide.  (Donations need not be restricted only to Christmastime.) Perhaps our Heavenly Father is bringing even more “Heaven” to Lottie Moon’s heart right now: the mission board through which she served estimates that 30,000 Chinese are now coming to faith in Christ – every day!

From www.imb.org and www.squidoo.com/lottiemoon: 

Who was Lottie Moon?

Lottie Moon - the namesake of the international missions offering - has become something of a legend to us. But in her time Lottie was anything but an untouchable hero. In fact, she was like today's missionaries. She was a hard-working, deep-loving Southern Baptist who labored tirelessly so her people group could know Jesus.Why was the offering named for this early China missionary? Throughout her career, Lottie Moon wrote numerous letters home, urging Southern Baptists to greater missions involvement and support. One of those letters triggered Southern Baptists' first Christmas offering for international missions - enough to send three new missionaries to China.

Lottie's death

Lottie died aboard a ship in the Japanese harbor of Köbe on Dec. 24, 1912. She was 72 years old. 

John Marshall, a sixth generation preacher of the Gospel, was honored as the featured preacher of the Annual Sermon of the Southern Baptist Convention.  As expected it focused on missions.  In encouraging all churches and followers of Jesus to be involved in short term missions, John says “Jesus said ‘Go.’  He didn’t say “Go and stay!”  John’s church  (www.secondbaptist.org in Springfield, MO) sends out about 1,000 of their people in missions each year, locally, nationally, and internationally.  The radio conversation takes a turn to some pain in his family, and of the grace of God that is proving adequate in all that they are facing.

Henry Maxey, my classmate during our days at Oklahoma Baptist University, has served in honoring the Lord through a career of ministry in music and praise.  But some of his most impacting service may well be happening right now.  With tens of thousands of churches around the world being small, those pastors are likely to be part-time and bi-vocational, and the church's music and praise leader, if any, may be someone enlisted out of the congregation with very limited time, training, and background to lead that part of the worship.  With a burning desire to provide practical resources to such worship leaders, Maxey established and maintains www.creativeworshipservices.com, which offers a wealth of helpful resources to meet those needs. 

You are invited to forward his web address to others, especially to busy music/praise and worship leaders everywhere.  At the time of this writing, Maxey's site is receiving an average of 500 - 600 "hits" a day ... both from the United States and different parts of the world. 

Staggering and Awesome!  Thus are some of the descriptions of Rock the River with Franklin Graham under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO, attended by 65,000 on August 2, 2009.  (Some in the National Park Service people - www.gatewayarch.com - estimated the crowd to be even larger.)  Amid the seven hours of concerts by popular Christian youth bands described at www.rocktherivertour.com, during the day Franklin Graham presented three clear messages of hope and salvation found in Jesus Christ.  With the enormous crowd size, not all spiritual decisions were recorded.  But of the recorded commitments Pastor Dr. Bruce McCoy -- overseeing the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association-trained counseling and follow-up -- summarized the results as follows:

65,000 attendances,

800 plus decisions,

530 salvations,

300 decibels,

100 spf sunscreen,

4 quarts of drinking water,

1 remarkable day!

The names and information of those making commitments to Christ are to be assigned to participating churches and followed up in typical BGEA fashion. 

Dr. Bruce McCoy in the pastor of the Canaan Baptist Church in St. Louis County and is the President of the Missouri Baptist Convention.

Jim and Tammy McGarry founded “More Than Carpentry Christian Ministries (MTC)” in 2006 and “will provide job training and mentoring to men and women in Wellston, MO, a small, struggling city just west of the St. Louis, MO city limits … MTC seeks to make an impact on the lives of men and women by developing relationships and serving their individual needs. A primary component will be a structured curriculum to teach the trade of cabinetmaking while the student earns a wage. Apprentice cabinetmakers will work with mentors to learn life skills, positive work habits and the value of applying biblical principles…” Jim and Tammy took a South American mission trip in recent years that intensified their burden for missions. They responded to God’s call to be missionaries in the inner-city of Greater St. Louis, MO. Jim is himself a carpenter and a cabinetmaker. See www.morethancarpentry.com.

Eric McGrew, a career pilot, found himself captured on his Delta airliner by a suicidal hijacker. What happened in that crisis is probably unique in all the history of flight.  Just after that very-near-death experience, the very impressed Delta Airlines executives asked Eric to tell every detail of the story, including the details of his witness to the hijacker.  The video of his report was provided to every Delta pilot…as well as Delta forwarding the video to the other airlines.  Thus thousands of pilots have learned from it and its impacting witness.  Eric McGrew summarized the event by phone on my radio show as part of promoting his upcoming St. Louis visit.  Soon thereafter he came and shared the story with nearly 900 at a St. Charles Businessmen’s Prayer Breakfast in St. Charles, MO … sponsored by St. Charles Ministry to Men (www.ministrytomen.net). You can now hear his gripping remarks “in his own words” as given at the breakfast. 

Part 1

Part 2