GPBC Blog

By Wayne Williams--

2020, The Year of the Interrupted Life. This is the year that people all over the world will be telling the next generations about, about how our lives became unpredictable and about how adapting to new circumstances and new information became an almost daily necessity. The COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the lives of individuals, families, businesses, and churches; even more so the fires and smoke of the last couple of weeks.

But it was the pandemic that interrupted our plans for the Global Partners Emphasis. We’ve typically dedicated three Sundays in the Spring, usually in April, right after Easter, to draw your attention to the service and sacrifice of the 16 individuals, families, and agencies that represent us around the world. But by mid-March, it was clear we wouldn’t be able to do that. 

Our Global Partners team decided to postpone the GP Emphasis rather than cancel it altogether. The Elder team readily agreed that our Global Partners are an important component of the church’s purpose and commitment and should not be neglected by canceling the emphasis outright.

I hope you’ve heard by now that the new dates for the GP Emphasis are October 4 and 11. The GP team chose “Beyond 20/20 Vision” as the theme for this year’s emphasis. It was intended to convey our conviction that, as clearly as we might ‘see’ what the Lord wants us to do globally this year, we must align our vision with what he wants for the years to come. This theme has taken on even more relevance in view of the global interruption of ministry plans by the pandemic. 

We have two exciting speakers lined up. On October 4, Pastor Dr. David Witt, the founder and CEO of Spirit of Martyrdom, International (SOM), spiritofmartyrdom.com, will be preaching in both services. SOM exists to assist and equip Christian leaders in persecuted regions worldwide. SOM’s church planter training effort in India has been the recipient of our Advent Conspiracy gifts for the purchase of bicycles for graduates recently. And then, on October 11, our own Rees Bettinger, our former Global Partner to Tajikistan, is excited to challenge us to get on with reaching the world for Jesus. 

An important part of each year’s GP Emphasis is to ask you to pledge financial support for our Global Partners for the coming year. Because of the postponement of the emphasis, we are asking you to pledge an amount just for the first six months of 2021. Each household will receive in the mail in the next week a packet of GP Emphasis materials, including a pledge card for your convenience. You may also make a pledge on the Global Partners page of our church website at https://www.pdxchurch.org/serve/global-partnerships/. The GP team will use the total of these pledges to determine the GP budget for January through June 2021.

Thank you, Greater Portland Bible Church, for your generous support of our precious Global Partners over many years. Please be praying now for what our Lord would have you pledge. 

For the Global Partners team,

Pastor Wayne
Global Partners Director