2010 Week of Prayer missionaries introduced at NAMB chapel

By Mickey Noah

Jim and Myrtle Ballard, missionaries from Blackfoot, Idaho, who specialize in ministry to cowboys and planting cowboy churches, speak during NAMB’s staff chapel services on Oct. 15. Photo by John Swain.

During recent chapel services, some 250 North American Mission Board staff members huddled around the recently announced 2010 Week of Prayer missionaries to pray for them.  Photo by John Swain.

Representing NAMB’s 5,600-missionary force across North America, the Week of Prayer missionaries for 2010 are:

-- Jim and Myrtle Ballard, Blackfoot, Idaho, who focus on planting cowboy churches for the Eastern Idaho Baptist Association;

-- Mike and Vicki McQuitty, Syracuse, N.Y., who are involved in collegiate evangelism at Syracuse University;

--Vivian and James McCaughan, Saint Charles, Mo., who specialize in multi-housing and community ministries, working with the WMU and the Missouri Baptist Convention;

-- Craig and Suzy Miles, Duluth, Ga., Mission Service Corps missionaries for NAMB, ministering to hikers on the Appalachian Trail;

-- Bill and Carol Lighty, Colorado Springs, Colo., involved in associational missions for the Pikes Peak Baptist Association;

-- Michael and Marla Allen, Chicago, Ill., where Michael pastors Uptown Baptist Church in north Chicago;

-- Luis and Lourdes Rodriguez, Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico, Hispanic church planting;

-- and Louis Spears, Mesa, Ariz., a church planter for the Valley Rim Baptist Association.

Only the Miles, who last week celebrated the birth of their second child, and McQuitty, who is traveling out of the country, were unable to attend in person.

In introducing the Week of Prayer missionaries, NAMB communications team leader Mike Ebert compared the annual Week of Prayer observance to an alarm clock that “goes off each year to remind our churches that they’re living in a mission field in North America.

“It reminds us that there are parts of the mission field and lostness in North America that a church alone will not be able to touch,” Ebert said. “That’s why we – all 45,000 SBC churches -- need to come together to reach people for Christ. We couldn’t do it without these missionaries and NAMB.”

Ebert said every year, NAMB chooses eight of the “best of the best” and “brightest of the brightest” – who are making a major difference for Christ where they live and minister – to serve as Week of Prayer missionaries. The 2010 Annie Armstrong Easter Offering/Week of Prayer for North American Missions is slated for March 7-14, 2010. The offering’s goal for 2010 will be $70 million.

“It’s hard to believe that a dirt-road country boy from southern Colorado would be standing here today in Atlanta thanking you for the opportunity to be a Week of Prayer missionary,” said Ballard. “The most exciting thing about it is that we’ll have more people praying for us than we’ve ever had before.”

Calling his selection an “honor,” Chicago’s Allen said, “it also means a lot of people will be praying for us and that’s important to us because of the spiritual warfare we face. Plus, it will be exciting to have people partnering with us, wanting to join us in the mission field of Chicago.”

Through a translator, Puerto Rico’s Luis Rodriguez said he was surprised to be selected.

“I feel quite emotional about it,” Rodriguez said. “I never felt the Lord had His eyes on me to bring me here. It will be a huge blessing back home when people find out what’s happening and how we’re being spotlighted. We’re going to have to prepare for a lot of things!”

Wanda Lee, executive director and treasurer of the Woman’s Missionary Union, based in Birmingham, Ala., also spoke at the NAMB meeting, giving some of the history behind the WMU, Annie Armstrong and the annual offering named for her in 1934.

“The Week of Prayer offering was born in a spirit of self-denial by Southern Baptist women,” Lee said. “For 121 years, we’ve partnered together in missions. Praying, giving and stewardship are intricately woven together.   Our goal is the same as in 1888 -- to stir up the missionary spirit among Southern Baptists, but the need is greater today than in 1888.”

Mickey Noah is a writer for the North American Mission Board.

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