Point of View

Maguire Offering: a gift of grace from Florida Baptists

Aug 29, 2006
JOHN SULLIVAN
Executive Director-Treasurer, FBC

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If I tried to capture all of my emotions about all of the good the Maguire State Mission Offering does it would be like trying to put the ocean in a tea cup! It is simply one of the most exciting things we do in the Florida Baptist Convention. The offering enables us to accomplish things not provided for financially from other income. It is a gift of grace from you to the many recipients. Let me try to capture a few of my strongest emotions.

Emotion One . During September, a group of us will go to participate in the National Assembly of the CMBH (Confraternite Missionaire Baptiste d’Haiti) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Now that of itself is not unusual. Some of our staff normally goes for the National Assembly. But I am excited because on this trip I will preach at the graduation ceremony for the first 50 graduates of our theological education ministry in Haiti.

Working in partnership with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, we developed a certification degree for Haitian pastors four years ago. The pastors have been so excited about this avenue of learning. What a thrill it has been to see them pay the price for education. Some of them walked for two days to get to the classes. This educational process would not be possible without the Maguire State Mission Offering annual support of $120,000. In the future we will continue to expand this ministry.

Emotion two. My first “job” in the church was as a Royal Ambassador counselor. It remained my job in my first two pastorates. It was a great learning process for me, and I believe I helped some good boys to become better men. Our R.A. poster for years said: “A good man dies each time a boy goes wrong.” While in college it was my joy to serve as R.A. leader for the Arizona Baptist Convention. One of my tasks in that role was to plan and lead R.A. camps. At that time the Arizona Convention included Wyoming, Nevada, Utah and Arizona—from Canada to Mexico. We started many R.A. chapters during those years as well as conducted many camps.

Now through the Maguire State Mission Offering, I have an opportunity to support R.A. camps as well as G.A./Acteens camps that will forever mold the lives of boys and girls. The $185,000 allocated for developing believers also supports camps for Haitian, Hispanic, Korean and hearing-impaired youth which enables us to instill in them a devotion to Christ.

Emotion three. Partnership missions is such a vital part of who we are as Florida Baptists. My interest is in all partnerships. However, honesty demands that my greatest interest is in our partnership with West Virginia. Why? By nature—it’s my home state! By conviction—my brother was saved at 64 years of age in a Southern Baptist church in Summersville, W.V., during a revival I preached while serving as your executive-director treasurer. Without question it was one of the most wonderful experiences in my 50-plus years of preaching. We have since partnered with that congregation to begin a new church in Clay County, West Virginia, where there has been no Southern Baptist church. All of this is through partnership missions. An amount of $130,000 is allocated for partnership missions with West Virginia, Indiana and Nevada.

This is only a sampling of all that is done through your Maguire State Mission Offering gift. We provide new churches with interest-free loans, partner with Baptists in Cuba and Brazil, help support church-based health clinics and underwrite our disaster relief efforts. In fact, the offering helps us support 22 mission and ministry efforts—all of which have at the core purpose reaching boys, girls, men and women with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As you consider your role in reaching your state for Christ, I pray that you will be willing to go, give and pray for all God is doing here.

My tea cup is spilling over. I am amazed at God’s grace and help extended through the Maguire State Mission Offering!