Featured Stories

God’s Heart for the Nations

A former IMB missionary shares the Lord’s love of people all over the world

This is another in a series of features on Missouri Baptist ministries supported for a century through the Cooperative Program giving of MBC-affiliated churches.

By Mark Grossman

From Genesis to Revelation, a central theme of the Bible is God’s heart for the nations. We see this early in his encounters with Abram, telling the future father of Israel that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed.

Jesus’s Great Commission to his disciples was to go into all nations and make disciples, baptizing them in name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus commanded his followers to participate in this amazing mission of God.

Finally, in the book of Revelation, we have a picture of what “mission accomplished” looks like. People from every nation, language, and tribe joyfully worship the Lamb in heaven.

Another important biblical theme is unity among the children of God. In John 17, our Lord prayed that believers would be one, just as the Holy Trinity is one.

The Cooperative Program (CP) brings these two great biblical themes together. Southern Baptists are united for the purpose of joining God in his mission to reach the nations with the good news of Jesus.

I grew up at Parker Road Baptist Church in Florissant, Mo. It was a cooperating, mission-minded church.

I am number seven of seven kids. Half of my older siblings went on a mission trip to Haiti through Parker Road. All of them were changed and challenged by that trip. Two of them were called to lengthy careers with the International Mission Board, one to Chile and the other to Guatemala.

My youth pastor at Parker Road had spent two years as a journeyman in Mombasa, Kenya. I used to listen to his stories of missions in Africa with great admiration.

The Cooperative Program allowed me as a kid to have a front-row seat to observe what being on a mission with God looks like, and how CP provides the financial resources necessary for international mission work.

CP allowed me to follow in my youth pastor’s footsteps. Sometime later, I lived in the same duplex and slept in the same bed that he had called home.

As a young man, I was able to explore my call to missions as I was given the privilege to serve at Baptist High School in Mombasa, Kenya, through the journeyman program.

During those two years on the field, I fell in love with missions, teaching, evangelism, and Africans. My call to missions was confirmed. I couldn’t wait to be a career missionary.

I knew I needed more schooling, and I was praying for a future wife with a southern accent who was also called to missions. God is so good, and he used the Cooperative Program to help meet my heart’s desires.

My wife, MJ (Journeygirl), and I went to the international training center of the IMB, where we received outstanding preparation (provided by CP) to be career missionaries in Kenya.

When we went to language school (funded by CP) in Limuru, Kenya, our class was made up of four couples. Two of us served with the IMB, and two other couples with other missions organizations. We all felt a strong call to missions but did not have the same support and training.

One couple, upon completion of language school, ran out of money and was forced to sell all their belongings to get airfare back to the United States. We were all heartbroken for them.

The other couple from a different mission struggled with anger and frustration over the situation. They were beside themselves as to why this was happening to them.

MJ and I immediately recognized it as “culture shock” because of our time at an international learning center, a training hub for missionaries. While the training did not prevent us from going through culture shock, it allowed us to recognize it and understand that it was a normal part of assimilating into a new environment.

The training benefited us, and I hope it allowed us to encourage our friends. They went on to have a nice, long, fruitful career.

Another advantage of CP is that it allows Baptists to select, train, and send quality people into the mission fields.

MJ and I have a long list of mentors and role models who loved, helped, and nurtured us through many difficult days on the field. We are grateful to have lived our dream and spent 23 years of our lives joining God on mission to the nations.

We have learned that IMB missionaries have greater longevity on the field than those sent by other organizations. No doubt, this is due in great measure to the financial support of people from 47,000 Southern Baptist churches giving through CP. Praise God!

Let’s continue to lock arms together, joining God in his mission to bless the nations.

Mark Grossman is a former missionary with the International Mission Board. He currently serves as an adjunct professor at Missouri Baptist University.