Mission Programs

First Baptist Church Missions Programs

Mission Programs

ANGEL TREE

Each year at Christmas church members and members of the community support the Johnson County Angel Tree Program. Families in need sign up for assistance with Christmas gifts for their children. The children's wish list is placed on an angel card and those cards are distributed through out Angel Tree locations in Johnson County. FBC Grandview is a host site for an Angel Tree. Presents are purchased, and brought back to the Angel Tree location for pickup before the holidays. This program is for new items specifically for the child that is chosen from the Angel Tree. If you are led to support a child through the Angel Tree program, please visit an Angel Tree host site and select your angel. You can choose a boy or girl, and you can also choose a child in a certain age range.

Please remember! It is very important to purchase and return the gifts to the Angel Tree before the deadline.

ANNIE ARMSTRONG

Each year we honor the life and work of Annie Walker Armstrong (1850-1938), when we give to the annual offering for North American missions named after her. As a tireless servant of God and a contagious advocate and supporter of mission efforts throughout the world, Annie Armstrong led women to unite in mission endeavors that ultimately led to the formation of Woman's Missionary Union, for which she served as the first corresponding secretary.

Annie believed in Christ with all her heart, but it was her hands that expressed that belief in tangible ways. She spent a great amount of time typing and handwriting letters in support of missions. Many of these letters were quite lengthy and all were filled with conviction that more could and should be done in our mission efforts. In 1893 alone, she wrote almost 18,000 letters! Annie also never hesitated to use her hands to reach out to hug a child or distribute food and clothing and the Word of God to those in need. Her hands held her own Bible as she studied to know how best to share God's love with others. And, most important, Annie was a woman of prayer, folding her hands in prayer to intercede for the missionaries and for those they were helping discover Christ.

Annie rallied churches to give more, pray more, and do more for reaching people for Christ. As we continue to unite to make her vision a reality in North America today, we can be confident that her legacy will also be ours

Big Spring Ranch for Children

Providing a home and schooling for abused, neglected and abandoned children is the 7000 acre Big Spring Ranch near Leakey, Texas. The children live in family settings in homes with house parents, maximum of 6 – 8 children per homestead. The state provides basic funds for their school expenses and $1.25 per meal per day and helps with their medical expenses. The Foundation raises money to pay for the other needs of the kids. Prior to this last October, grades 5 through 12 were provided. In October, to meet the needs of four siblings in need of a safe place to stay together, the administrator opened the school to all grades,
1 thru 12.

Because many of the kids did not have tennis shoes for their PE activities and the Ranch not being able to purchase them FBC became involved in this ministry. For the last six years the church has been providing a new pair of tennis shoes for each child at the beginning of the school year. The program has now been expanded to provide a new pair of tennis shoes at the beginning of the school year and to each new student who arrives after the start of school.

The varied reasons the children are at the Ranch will break your heart. The objective is to show these kids that they are loveable and worthy. While the Ranch disciplines, it is done with patience and kindness. No yelling, no hitting . . . none of the things they experienced in the past. But most importantly, God is in the curriculum. They learn about Jesus, what He did for them, and how He loves them.

Other ways to help the Ranch provide for the needs of the children are:

Donate any gently used clothing or household items to the Resale Shop. All funds from the Resale Shop are used to help the kids. New items for the General Store where the kids go to spend their “reward points”. Examples: deodorant

cologne, hairbrushes, combs, jewelry, journals, socks, etc. (things your kids might buy) musical instruments, prom dresses (used are fine), prom suits for a guy (used are fine), birthday presents.

CHRISTMAS BOXES

Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child brings joy and hope to children in desperate situations around the world through gift-filled shoe boxes and the Good News of God’s love. Since 1993, more than 61 million shoe boxes have been packed, shipped, and delivered across the globe. People of all ages can be involved in this simple, hands-on missions project while focusing on the true meaning of Christmas—Jesus Christ.

LOTTIE MOON

Lottie volunteered for missionary service in February, 1873, in response to a sermon on the text, "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest," and she was appointed to China, July 7, 1873, by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. In 1888 she wrote to the Baptist women of the South, pleading for reinforcements. The first Christmas offering in 1888 provided three additional missionaries. She spent 14 years in China before taking her first regular furlough. Toward the end of her days, she suffered with her Chinese people in the terrible famine. She gave all she had. In the time of deepest trials she wrote, "I hope no missionary will be as lonely as I have been." Literally starving, she grew steadily weaker. Before Christmas, 1912, Cynthia Miller, faithful nurse, started back to America with Lottie Moon; death came to the frail missionary, Christmas Eve, while the ship was at harbor in Kobe, Japan. The present Christmas offering for foreign missions, sponsored by the W.M.U., is named for Lottie Moon.

MARY HILL DAVIS

Since 1910, Texas Baptists have collected an offering for missions needs in Texas. In 1935, the Texas Offering was named for Mary Hill Davis, president of WMU of Texas and a tireless supporter of Texas missions. Her leadership in various positions spanned the years from 1898 until her death in 1934.
Born in Greenville, Georgia, Mary Hill came to Texas in 1870 as a small child. Her parents joined First Baptist Church of Dallas when it was only two years old and she later became a member. She married Dr. F.S. Davis when she was twenty and they had one son, Raymond.

Mission Programs

First Baptist Church Missions Programs