“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
Jessup Baptist Church ministers in Cambodia and Costa Rica
Jessup Baptist Church (JBC) is engaged in international missions. They have ongoing partnerships with a school in Cambodia and with missionaries in Costa Rica. Bill Jones, the pastor of JBC, returned from his third trip to Cambodia earlier this month.
Pastor Bill Jones teaching at New Hope School
The church’s involvement in the country started six years ago, when Jones’ daughter Avrielle went on a mission trip to Cambodia with the Baptist Student Ministry at Towson State University. She returned enthused about her experience and shared her excitement with her parents. Three years later, Bill, and his wife, Dee, joined Avrielle on a return trip to Cambodia and then shared their experience with JBC members.
Now, the church financially supports “New Hope,” a seven-year-old Cambodian school. Church members provide funds for school projects, playground equipment, computers, teacher’s desks, filing cabinets, and teachers’ salaries. Bill returns each year to help and brings toiletries that JBC members collect.
This year, the church’s two missions intersected. Vernon Hernandez, a missionary from Costa Rica, was visiting JBC when Bill invited others to join him on the Cambodia trip. Surprisingly, Hernandez accepted the challenge.
The two used Bible stories to teach English to at least 70 children from the school. “We focused on the theme that ‘God is love’ and we did a craft and tied it into the teaching,” Bill said. The Cambodian students are excited to learn English from those who speak it as their native language, he explained.
Students enjoy the attention as well as the teaching. “They don’t have a lot of adult interaction, even in their homes,” Bill said. The children are more engaged in activities that support the household than family-oriented pursuits.
The men also led a pastors’ conference. Over 60 pastors from in and around the province attended to learn about the “Three Circles” evangelism strategy.
JBC has been active in Costa Rica since 2013, sending 11 teams with up to 16 members each. Teams assist missionaries with the missionary base and do evangelism outreach. Other churches often join them to help.
In August, the church sent a team to their second international mission outreach in Costa Rica. Team members helped strengthen the missionary base — shipping containers turned into small living quarters. These containers were old and leaking and the JBC team added a new roof. They also helped with a security system and transplanted shrubbery to help with erosion problems. Team members did evangelistic outreach, ministering at orphanages and nursing homes and sharing the love of Jesus.
In addition to meeting brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world, Bill said the local church is always strengthened when engaged in missions. He said, “Go and Grow! It’s amazing how much the body grows together when you’re out serving.”
Handmade Gifts for Operation Christmas Child
Members of First Baptist Church of Waldorf in Waldorf, Maryland, work throughout the year to fill Operation Christmas Child (OCC) shoeboxes. The”Busy Bees” group makes stuffed animals. Others make fishing kits for boys and sewing kits for girls.
Members of First Baptist Church of Waldorf make play-doh to fill Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.
Members get together monthly to sew or do crafts. In early October, they made gallons of play-doh, kneading, shaping, and coloring it before putting the mixture into separate containers.
Each November, the church fills at least 1100 OCC shoeboxes.
MMBA welcomes new bookkeeper/administrative assistant
Jim McCaffrey recently joined the Mid-Maryland Baptist Association’s (MMBA) staff as a Bookkeeper/Administrative Assistant.
(l-R) Madison, Emily, Alyssa, Kaylynn, Sarah, Kristin, and Jim McCaffrey
McCaffrey is bi-vocational and has served as pastor of Gunpowder Baptist Church in Freeland, Maryland, since February 2017. He is active in the MMBA as an instructor at Judson Education Center and in the MMBA’s Manchester Pastors’ Roundtable.
He was a bookkeeper before answering a call to pastoral ministry. In his previous church positions, he served in various administrative roles, including website development and maintenance, IT, social media management, membership tracking, accounts payable, general ledger, and payroll administration.
McCaffrey and his wife Sarah have five daughters and are currently foster-parenting three other children. He enjoys playing his guitar and drums as well as spending time with his family.
Baptist Convention of Maryland/Delaware history flashback