It’s not the only reason, but certainly one of the reasons I give as I do is because of the Board of Missions. This summer I was fortunate to go on three church mission trips. Twenty-three of us went to Camp Alkulana on May 20. Eleven went to Nickelsville, VA from June 26-July 1. Forty-five traveled to Farmington, Maine from August 2-13.
I was watching pretty closely, and it looked to 
me like all seventy-nine of the people on these three trips thought their trip was special and worthwhile. A lot of people were changed for the better. A lot of those people were our people.
For each trip, there were some who had been before and some who had not. Some had special skills and some did not. Some were young and some were not. All who went were willing and able to work in order to leave a little piece of the world better off than they found it.
These trips take a tremendous amount of time to plan and coordinate. We couldn’t do it without herculean efforts from our Board of Missions and from the church staff. We couldn’t do it without proper funding from the church budget. There is a lot of connective tissue that binds our mission outreach efforts to the rest of our church activities. A healthy missions program is a huge marker for a healthy church.
Back in January we sent a team to Panama. This week we have a team leaving for Ghana, West Africa. Next month, another team will travel to Bland, VA. And so it goes. It is wonderful that we can do so many trips, so well. I’ll be looking for my next chance to go. It gives me great satisfaction to know that my stewardship contributions continue to enrich many parts of the state, country, and world through our missions outreach.
Written by Bill Rusher
This series is designed to give RRCB members an opportunity to reflect upon their own generosity to God. In reading their stories, we pray that your own life of generosity is encouraged and challenged as well.