Living the Mission: International Missions Update

Before the summer has officially begun in Hampton Roads, the members of First Baptist Church Norfolk have been living the mission around the world. Our teams have taken the good news of Jesus Christ to East Asia, the Philippines, Peru, Ukraine, and Uruguay. They have used sports, music, medical experience, Vacation Bible School, preaching, and teaching to make a great impact in these countries and regions. Please continue to pray for those teams who are preparing to serve and the financial needs that exist as we support the work of our members around the world. Real time updates may be seen on www.bigserveglobal.org and giving may be done through designated offerings to the World Mission Offering. May God continue to bless our church as we live the mission!

Let's Do Lunch: Norfolk Schools Edition

The members of First Baptist Church Norfolk partnered with the Norfolk School System and Keesha Rodgers to hold a special time for young students who are expecting babies or have already begun the journey of parenthood. Contact our misssions ministry for more information on how to get involved with this special ministry.

Living the Mission: Cookout for International Students at Old Dominion University

On Friday night, May 20th, members from First Baptist Norfolk hosted a cookout for international students studying at Old Dominion University. The event was held in the backyard of a house in close proximity to the school and was part of our church’s effort to partner with Global Student Friendship to reach out to the 1500+ international students at ODU. This cookout was a perfect opportunity to enjoy food, games, and fellowship with international students who are here studying this summer.

Students from about a dozen countries were present, including some who had been in the United States for only one week. It was our joy to welcome these students and to spend time getting to know them. New friendships were formed and conversations about spiritual beliefs took place. It is our hope that these relationships will continue and that God would use us for His glory as we reach out to these students with the good news of Jesus Christ.

This cookout was a kickoff to what we hope will be a continued partnership with international students. If you are interested in becoming involved in this outreach, please, contact the missions office at 466.5181 or sluttrull@firstnorfolk.org.

Medical Missions Opportunity

We are delighted to announce that we will be planning another Urgent Care Clinic at the Union Mission. The proposed date is July 9th. The format will be much like the last clinic we held at Union Mission. We will have an intake area where folks will get to know the residents and make connections, the patients will be triaged and seen by
providers as their needs are called for, they will be discharged through
nursing/education and then one final and most important evangelism contact
will be made. The facilities are outstanding and the staff at Union Mission go out of their way to make this a tremendous success.

This gives you a general idea of both the flow and manpower needed for such an event. We see between 50-100 residents and many hands make light and effective work! Two of our main medical core folks will not be available for this event, so we can use additional help (both skilled in the medical field and non-skilled to help with other tasks). If you are able to help, please contact Colleen at cdnrn@juno.com. Thanks and may God bless each one of you.

World Changers

If you are able to either help feed or help coordinate teams of people to feed World Changers in Chesapeake (June 20-25) or Norfolk (June 27-July 2), please contact the missions office at 466.5181 or sluttrull@firstnorfolk.org. Thanks!

Mission VBS

Dear Friends,

I just wanted to give you all the ‘latest & greatest’ news regarding this year’s Mission VBS! Plans and decisions have been tedious and nerve-wrenchingly slow this year, but we now have a definite and amazing plan for moving beyond our walls to partner and minister with an often neglected group of children and staff! We will be providing a significantly modified VBS in the afternoons (3:00—5:15 p.m.) to the children at St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children, which is located just a few blocks from the church, off of Kempsville Road, across from Sentara Leigh hospital. There are in excess of 200 staff persons and 78 children at St. Mary’s and during our VBS week we will have the opportunity to positively interact, encourage, and share the love of Jesus with both residents and staff. This is a group of people who are frequently overlooked by the general population and they are both amazed and VERY excited that we want to come and minister to them.

Wednesday morning a team of us went and met with several of their staff persons and toured their facility. It and ‘they’ are amazing!!! I can assure you that to spend even a small amount of time with these people will deeply touch your heart!! These children are profoundly impacted by their disabilities and are residents at St. Mary’s because their family cannot (or will not) provide their care. Many of the children do not have verbal communication and most are in wheel chairs. Ministering to these precious people will take significant creativity and modifications on our part, but I KNOW the blessings will be great for all of us!!

Just a few very important facts about any one who wishes to participate with us, in any way whatsoever:

·EVERY person must have ( or have had) a TB test within the past year and be able to
provide the medical results;

·Their head nurse has graciously agreed to administer TB tests to all of us, free of
charge:

Ø TB tests are administered at St. Mary’s only on Tuesdays;

Ø Test times are 7:00—7:30 a.m. and 1:00—1:30 p.m.;

Ø Take test on a Tuesday and return that same week Thursday to have test’read;’

Ø We need to let them know in advance, when we are coming for testing.

·Every person must have a valid photo I.D., which will be run through a background
system by the on-site sheriff, before entering the actual resident areas;
·Daily persons will be asked to complete a simple health screening sheet, asking
questions, such as: have you experienced fever, coughing, etc. in the past 24 hours,
etc.
·ALL participants will be asked to attend a special training regarding confidentiality;
policies, etc.

Although these requirements may seem very strict, again, these children have profound disabilities; many of them have multiple tubes, machines, etc. that help support their life and it is of paramount importance to guard them from infections, etc., as these could become potentially fatal.

I am asking that YOU pray……about YOUR involvement in Mission VBS……pray for the children and staff to whom we will be ministering……pray for the team of our staff and VBS leaders who will serve these precious children during VBS. God has a mighty plan in store for us and I am excited to see what He and He alone will do through us!! To God be the glory!!!

Thanks for your prayers and support and I am hopeful that many of you will choose to serve with us during this very special experience!

For the children,

Beth Simpkins

Living the Mission: The Chesapeake Place

Since March of this year, we have spent one Saturday a month from 1-2:30 with the elderly folks at The Chesapeake Place. First, we visit the Alzheimer’s unit, where six to ten residents typically join us. We open with prayer and then one of our church members plays the keyboard. It is heart-warming to see these folks light up, sway, sing, and clap as they hear familiar tunes. They enjoy it so much that we often repeat the same verse a few times. At 1:45, we pray with them and say our good-byes before packing up the keyboard and walking over to the Assisted Living unit. We usually have about twenty-five to forty of these residents join us. We pass out hymnals to them and then the singing begins! Before long, it’s time to leave; and we close our time with them in prayer. We go there to bless the residents of The Chesapeake Place, but we end up being blessed too!

We would love to have more volunteers join us in this ministry. If you’d like additional information, please contact the missions office at 466.5181.