Last Fall, I introduced the Hoosier Heartbeat for Missions, a packaged way of expressing our commitment to providing churches with opportunities to be active in missions in our state and globally. We need to fuel the IMB pipeline with more missionary candidates, and we need to actively reach people in our state and beyond with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Our State Missions Offering was rebranded to the Hoosier Heartbeat, so that each beat of the heart was assigned a percentage of gifts to help support those efforts. 

Since we started the Hoosier Heartbeat for Missions, SCBI churches have given $20,785 to it! Thank you for supporting these efforts!

An update on each beat of the heart:

Disaster Relief (DR)

You can read a December update on Disaster Relief in Indiana, but let me reiterate that we’ve put a renewed emphasis on DR. This included adding Butch Porter as our new DR director, Chris Conrades as DR Ministry Assistant, and funding it further by making DR part of our Hoosier Heartbeat for Missions. 

What’s exciting:  There are 209 active DR volunteers in Indiana, and about 150 of those have been trained or recertified in the last year! We’ve seen huge momentum in DR, and I’m grateful it is continuing.  

Indiana Children’s Services

We’re blessed to be partnering with Sunrise Children’s Services (from Kentucky). They have the legal experts and knowledge to get our vendor contract approved by the Indiana government. Our contract is unique because it embeds our beliefs, so it is not like the standard contract a licensed foster care/adoption agency would submit. There is legal precedence to do what we’re attempting, but it takes time to get this approved. Honestly, it is taking much longer than I was hoping, but we’re doing it well and we’re doing it with a knowledgeable partner. We keep waiting for now, but I’m hoping to write a successful update soon!

Missionary Pipeline Awareness & Equipping (with IMB Advocates)

Eight IMB alumni from Indiana are working with us as IMB Advocates. They are available to speak in your church or associational meetings. The IMB has been a great partner by equipping our advocates with the latest information and helping with expenses where applicable. Several of our advocates have spoken in churches. There’s no better person to motivate your people to the mission field than someone who has been there. 

International Pastor’s Training (with OnMission2)

Several pastors have gone to Ecuador to train other pastors through our partnership with OnMission2, and others are scheduled to go throughout the rest of this year. OnMission2 has expanded their partnership into Honduras, and your giving to the State Mission Offering will put us in a position to scholarship pastors to go there as well. I was part of a training OnMission2 held recently at Highland Lakes Camp & Conference Center where they had pastors teach a mock lesson and receive feedback on how to most effectively teach in Ecuador. When you give to the State Mission Offering, you’re affording pastors the opportunity to train pastors in Ecuador and then bring that renewed missions passion back to their church.

Strategic International Short-term Experiences

We’re making progress in this area. We’ve held multiple meetings with IMB personnel who will help us form a partnership with a strategic area in the world and design short-term trips for our churches. We want to take the administrative challenges away from churches to allow them send members on mission trips. Often, the Lord will use a short-term trip to grip the heart of a person and lead her to career mission work. We’re currently focusing on two different areas in the world to form partnerships and create short-term trips for our churches. I’m hoping we can share more very soon so your church can go!

We’re connecting for Kingdom advancement! Thanks for giving to the State Missions Offering, thereby serving other churches and your own.