SANTEE, Ca—At the first FIA training session in January, churches were encouraged to meet with city officials and ask two questions: “What are three things the church can pray about?” and “What is the one thing city leaders want to see accomplished?” Now, when a home is out of compliance with city codes, officials contact the church, first! Working with local businesses and service providers, Pathways Community Church in Santee, Ca., helps homeowners correct the issues, at no cost to them.

CHULA VISTA, Ca—When Hugo Campos, current Director of Hispanic Ministry for Vision San Diego, hired Ricardo Vazquez more than 20 years ago, he hired a church planter. He just didn’t know it yet.

BALTIMORE, MD—Hazelwood Baptist Church member Debbie Neidhardt was overwhelmed. In July, she lost her job. In August her husband had a stroke. His whole left side was paralyzed. Bruce Neidhardt was hospitalized. Early in October, Debbie received a call that her husband was finally coming home. He would be in a wheelchair and she needed to prepare the house. As a newly baptized believer, Neidhardt immediately began praying for God’s help.

SAN DIEGO, Ca—It’s a simple concept: See the city and serve its needs. That’s the goal in San Diego, and the focus of next year’s Faith in Action Xtreme emphasis. We know that the first step in meeting needs is actually knowing what they are...

BALTIMORE, MD—For many of our national partners, coming to serve in Baltimore in the summer required conquering many challenges, as well as making sacrifices. The Landrums and I spoke on the phone about their delicate situation with their son Luke. Luke was born with a heart defect, and has had several surgeries since his birth and was scheduled for another before their mission trip.  The Embrace Baltimore team and local churches began to pray for Luke.

BALTIMORE, Md—October 10 was a perfect fall evening to open the doors to a new art gallery in Baltimore. Entering the small café-style storefront, visitors could smell fresh paint and drink in the artsy feel of the older building. About 90 people, mostly in their 20’s and 30’s, attended the grand opening of a new meeting place for The Light Church, a re-launch, located on North Charles Street, smack dab in the middle of Baltimore’s arts and entertainment district.

SAN DIEGO, CA—As a church, Elevate was founded on the faith of 13 people who risked everything and moved across the country with one purpose: to lead people far from God to become passionate followers of Christ. They realize that the first step in seeing that vision become a reality is to serve people in the community with a radical love that only Jesus could give.

SAN DIEGO, CA—Judith had never been to a church or a Bible study. She’s culturally Jewish, but wasn’t a regular at a synagogue, either. When church planter, John Worcester knocked on her door to do a survey about the vintage Jesus (the original, authentic Jesus of history and the Bible), Judith expressed interest, but let him know she wasn’t going to be converted. After their conversation, John wasn’t expecting her to show up at Bible study at his home the next Sunday morning. But she did.

BALTIMORE, MD--A mission team's experience started out at a Baltimore Food Bank with “packing day.” After some instruction, they were divided into two groups where they packed goods into boxes, followed by weighing, taping and labeling. In three hours they managed to pack approximately 6,000 pounds of food which will feed 2,500 people. It’s amazing to know that in such a short amount of time, that their efforts will impact so many lives. "I pray that those individuals will know that there is more than physical nourishment in those boxes and that they also contain love and hope in a relationship with Christ."

BALTIMORE, MD—Before leaving Texas, Brandy Caffey thought she was making a huge sacrifice to come to Baltimore—leaving my family, friends, and my church family behind in order to go and serve God. Isn’t it great when God surprises you with something even better than you thought you would be getting in return for following and obeying His will?

BALTIMORE, MD—The citizens of the third most violent large city in the country are looking for a hero. According to US census and FBI reports, there are around 3,000 people living on the streets, and, on average, there is a murder every 29 hours. In recent years, church starters have risen to meet the challenge. Sixteen successful churches have been started in Baltimore city and county in the past 12 years. But, even though they could not have come at a better time, these new churches have already faced many trials and more than their share of opposition.

BALTIMORE, MD.—Tony Rivers, pastor of Grace Church in Wilson, NC said he is convinced that families going on mission trips is ideal. Noting the positive pressure on parents, he shared, “As Southern Baptists, we have raised a generation of people who are mission-minded; now we need to raise a generation of missionaries.”  He credits the WMU for creating the right missions opportunity.

SAN DIEGO, CA--What would happen if hundreds of churches engaged in community service projects across an entire county for an extended period of time? Simply stated, it’s an extended period time for volunteers to engage in service to the community, all with the intent of sharing the good news that Jesus cares…and so do we.
During this season of service, thousands of volunteers from hundreds of churches in San Diego and across the country will participate in key county-wide initiatives and individual church outreach projects.

BALTIMORE, MD—Middle school, high school and college students from all over the country converged on what has become a strategic focus city for the North American Mission Board this summer. Forgoing a week of laying on the beach, working and making money, or simply recuperating from a hard year of classes and homework, these students sacrificed a part of their long awaited summer vacation and joined with the Power Plant project to aid a city that has been waiting for help even longer.

MACEDONIA, OH—Following advice from the pastor at the church they were attending, The Chestnuts began to pray about starting a church in Nordonia Hills, directly between Akron and Cleveland. It’s a classic middle-class community with a wide representation of every generation. However, after surveying the community, the greatest felt need residents had was finding more time with their families. In response, before his transition from Cleveland Hope, Chestnut first hired Mark & Cathi Stegall to head up the new church’s Community Life efforts. Mark Stegall was charged with developing relationships with municipalities, the Chamber of Commerce, schools, etc.

SAN DIEGO, CA—Sight unseen, Matt and Alison decided to make the move to San Diego. They had been in touch with Matt Smith and knew about the need for leadership in the new church, so, in February 2008, they put their house up for sale. It sold in record-breaking-time - only four days! This was only the beginning of God’s continual work in Matt and Alison’s lives as they were obedient to His call.

SAN DIEGO, CA--“Ethnos.” When translated in Greek, the word means “nation.” To a growing congregation of 150 people, its meaning is also found in their church home, a San Diego church that has the same “nation” vision found in Revelation. Therefore, their desire and plan as a church is to create a multicultural spiritual community for all people.  From June 24-27, 70 children from all nations and languages stood together singing, dancing, learning, and playing, all in the name of Jesus.

BALTIMORE, MD—What if we decide everyone matters? This is the question that the Gallery Church is prompting the people of Baltimore to answer. The “What if?” campaign is simple and biblically-based. How much different would the city look if we acted like everyone in it mattered just as much as everyone else? More than 400 volunteers on 10 teams will travel from across the country to assist the church in their ministries, going out with random acts of kindness, servant evangelism, and face-to-face conversations with people. The church’s goal is to have 10,000 conversations over the course of the summer, and they hope that the “What if” campaign will spark many of these dialogues.

BALTIMORE, MD—At a lunch meeting, our waitress shared her desire to be apart of a church that was involved in the community.  Darnell had spoken earlier to us about how important it is for new churches to be involved in their communities. Now our waitress affirmed Darnell's words. When I told her a new church starting near her college campus would be involved in the community, she wanted to be part of it. Think about it. We have not even launched this church and it seems God has already brought us the first member. Maybe, just maybe, she will be like Lydia was to the church in Philippi.

SAN DIEGO, CA—As Military Ministry Leader for Vision San Diego, Eric Lewis is working with local churches to develop strategies for reaching out to one of the city’s largest populations. (San Diego County is home to 500,000 active duty military and dependants). "It’s really hard for military families to be involved in churches because they change locations about every five years. The problem is that when you go to a new church, you have to start over."