International Ministry Opportunity

Kurnia Foe with Global Student Friendship at ODU shared this opportunity with us today:

I want to invite you to come to this coming Saturday event with our partner at the Beach, Virginia Beach Community Chapel (VBCC) which is the key player summer outreach for Internationals J-1 visa workers who are mostly undergraduate students from around the world who take their time off to work and learn English and American culture in the US.

We have almost 20 nations represented by ODU Internationals who are going to present their couintries at "Nations village" at 5:00 PM at Virginia Beach Community Chapel. If you could come one hour early which I encourage to do so in order that you could hear a talk by Dr. George Murray, former TEAM President (TEAM is a mission agency), former missionary to Italy, and now is the chancellor of Columbia International University.

Following "nations village" presentation, we will have dinner meal, cultural performance, and final talk by Dr. Murray to both Internationals and American friends.

If you could come, please write an email a.s.a.p. to my friend, Jere from VBCC at jerecleveland@vbcc.us

We are looking forward to partner with you if you sense God's call to do global summer outreach together.

Thanks and blessing,

Kurnia

ps: Video from last year summer global outreach: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ok_Q2Zx5qDI

Living the Mission: World Missions Offering

A church member shared her experiences Loving God, Loving Others, and Living the Mission:

I have promised myself that I will go on an international mission trip in the next few years because I feel this is what God wants. While waiting in the church lobby, I read a World Missions Offering (WMO) flyer and realized this was an opportunity to have a world impact starting locally.

My husband and I are trying to instill in our children a desire to help others. Their grandmother presented them with money and a challenge—spend half on themselves and half doing something for others less fortunate. They were overjoyed to buy toys for Operation Christmas Child. Seeing their excitement, I took WMO boxes to their daycare and asked if we could do a fundraiser. We set up a week-long penny war between the pre-K and Kindergarten classes. I thought I would be collecting and counting just a few dollars each day, but by the end, the children had raised $500! I asked them if they knew where the money was going and they knew exactly where and what it could do for others! I am fortunate that our daycare provider not only allowed this fundraiser but educated the children and sent out a link to First Baptist Church of Norfolk and the WMO.

Living the Mission: Shepherd's Class on Mission

After being challenged in Leadership Training, the Shepherd’s Class went into action. We met with the principal of Rena B. Wright Primary School in South Norfolk, a school where 320 K-2 students receive free breakfast/lunch and 70 staff work diligently to assure the children’s needs are met. Our class took on the mission. The ladies in the class delivered packages of homemade cookies for the staff in November, along with a note that thanked them for their service and said that we hope to encourage and bless them to demonstrate that God loves them and so does First Baptist Norfolk.
We asked for a family for Christmas and the school gave us a grandmother and her three grandchildren. In December we provided clothing and toys for each child. The grandmother was overcome with joy when she received food, gifts, and a gift card and said, “Thank you Jesus.” We all cried and we knew for sure that it is more blessed to give than receive. Monthly projects are planned to supply needs for this school, which will lead up Big Serve, when we plan to serve hotdogs on the grounds. What an opportunity to let these families know God loves them and so do we at First Baptist Norfolk!
If you want to help, contact Wayne Parrish at 410-9516.

Living the Mission: Police Chaplains

Three of our members serve faithfully as Chaplains with the Virginia Beach Police Department. These men perform a variety of duties in their roles as police chaplains. In riding with the officers, they support them with everything from traffic direction while the officers work an accident scene to crowd control – frequently the mere presence of a chaplain is enough to deescalate errant behaviors of unruly groups. They also provide counseling with the officers, hospital visits, and, of course, death notifications. The police culture is a very tight-knit group of real public servants who, every day, put their lives on the line to protect our rights and freedoms here at home, and they love the calm, steady presence of their chaplains.
Last month, all three of First Baptist’s police chaplains were involved in the Cops and Kids program for underprivileged children, which gives youngsters an opportunity to share in Christmas in a way that would otherwise be impossible for them. One young man in the program bought himself one small gift, and then spent the rest of his shopping allowance on gifts for others. What a great day!

Disaster Relief Training Opportunities

If you are interested in participating in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief (SBDR) Training, please take advantage of the opportunities offered below. Advance training and credentialing are required to participate in SBDR. The one day, 8:00am to 5:00 pm training workshop will be held on Saturdays in February and March. The cost for first time training is $30.00 and $20.00 for recertification. Register at:
http://www.sbcv.org/disaster_relief.

The dates and locations for training are:

February 11-Poquoson Baptist Church, Poquoson
March 10-Colonial Heights Baptist Church, Colonial Heights
March 24-Spotswood Baptist Church, Fredericksburg
March 31-Great Neck Baptist Church, Virginia Beach

Living the Mission: Students on Mission

The 9:30am Ninth grade Bible Study participated in Operation Christmas Child for their November mission project. One Sunday after church, twenty-three ninth graders gathered with bags of toys, hygiene items, candy and school supplies they had brought. The items filled sixteen shoeboxes! The students also enclosed a picture of their Bible Study class and a handwritten note wishing the recipient a Merry Christmas and letting them know that Jesus loves them. The boxes were given to Samaritan’s Purse and ultimately shipped to children in poor and/or unreached countries throughout the world. In January, Samaritan’s Purse notified the class that part of the shoeboxes were distributed to children in the Balkans!

For their December project, the class worked at Norfolk’s Union Mission. One Saturday, nineteen ninth graders ‘shopped’ in the warehouse for an array of nonperishable food items and packaged those items in large boxes for needy families in Hampton Roads to pick up the following week. The Mission’s goal for the class was to fill 100 boxes during the two hour time-frame they were scheduled to work, but the students completed 176 boxes. The volunteer supervisor from the mission said no group had ever put together that many boxes in two hours! Great job living the mission ninth grade students!

Salvation Army Mobile Canteen Ministry

The Salvation Army provides the vehicle, the food/drink and even locations in the Norfolk area that they know have hungry individuals (if you didn't have a location in mind yourself). They ask that volunteer groups adopt one day out the week for this ministry.

Please check out the flyer below and contact the Local Missions Office at 466.5181 or sluttrull@firstnorfolk.org if you are interested in participating.

Mobile Canteen Ministry Training Calendar