“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:26)

On Sunday, June 3, 2007, First Baptist Church of Jacksonville, Illinois, held its first commissioning service in 75 years for an American Baptist missionary.

Abby Sullivan, church music director for the past year, recently accepted a position as a teacher of English and choir at an American Baptist school outside of Bangkok, Thailand. She leaves on her journey this week.

Abby’s trek from Jacksonville to Thailand has been speedy and not without bumps in the road. In fact, were it not for the persistence of the personnel committee at First Baptist, she might not be going at all.

Abby, a native of Meredosia, Illinois, is a member of Meredosia First Baptist Church. Just prior to her senior year at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Abby answered a help-wanted ad for a music director at First Baptist Church. Abby was offered the job – and promptly turned it down. It seems that her home church in Meredosia wasn't quite ready to share Abby with the rest of the world. Well, thankfully, God (continued on p. 2) continued to work. After some time had passed, and still no one had been named to fill the position, the church again offered Abby the job of music director. She was assured that no matter how long she wanted to stay, the church would be happy to have her as part of the ministry team.

She accepted the position, and the congregation readily accepted Abby.

Abby paid extra attention during a Missions Conference presentation by the Missions Chairperson of the church, Lori Pahde, who also happens to be an English teacher. Abby told us that hearing another English teacher talk about the need for English teachers overseas started her thinking. So she went home, searched for the online application, and applied for a short-term mission trip.

A few weeks later, she was offered the two-year commitment that she embarked upon last week.

In her farewell letter to the congregation, Abby says “she believes she was ‘transplanted’ – like a doctor transplants a human organ - into the First Baptist family for a reason; that the Great Physician had the bigger picture in mind.” Now, by her faith in the Great Physician’s wisdom, she is “transplanted” again into the mission field in Thailand.

Who could have imagined that a young woman from a small town in Illinois would be called to teach English to Thai children? God, that’s who.

“Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Matthew 19:26)

Submitted by Kim Runyan, Secretary FBC Jacksonville

www.abc-grr.org is in the process of a re-design. Yes, this annual process is to give it a fresh face; but, there is more to it than a face-lift!

Before a web site is re-designed, the web team responsible for it - in this case, your GRR Staff - sets some goals. These goals are of 3 types:

Over the next few weeks, you will have the opportunity to discover how your GRR Staff has worked toward accomplishing these goals. Here is a list of what has changed.

Region is New Church Planting. One way of raising funds for church planting is the annual bike ride. This year, the bike ride is across the state of Missouri. The trip will be about 250 miles from Clinton, MO to St. Charles, MO, following the KATY Rail to Trail conversion route. The Great American Baptist Bike Ride is for anyone who enjoys biking and wants to support New Church Planting. One hundred percent of the money raised will go into planting new churches. For more information and the brochure check the region website: www.abcgrr.org. You may also contact Max Klinkenborg at the region office, phone:

(217) 726-7366 or e-mail Max@abc-grr.org or Jon Heikes, phone: (217-357-3817 or e-mail - JonHeikes@gmail.com.

Send your stories of mission and ministry. Please also send the names of new members (the fruit of this mission and ministry) to:

First Baptist Church, Newton, IL Welcomes: Bill Crozier, Ann Crozier, and Mitchell Tarr

Rolling Prairie Baptist Church, Rochester, IL Welcomes: Brittany Carter, Don Riedel, Bruce Swartz, Debbie White Anne Young-Cronister

Second Baptist Church, St. Louis, MO Welcomes: Rev. Dr. Lawrence Whitlock and Linnette Whitlock

Area I – Antioch, Reynolds correct church address should be: 1516 170th Avenue, Reynolds, IL 61279 Also, same church now has a fax line.

Area II – FBC Carrollton’s email address should be: fbccarrollton@hotmail.com

The Mainstream is a twice-monthly publication of the American Baptist Churches of the Great Rivers Region, 3940 Pintail Drive, Springfield IL 62711 Telephone: (217) 726-7366 Fax: (217) 726-7566 Email: grrabc@abc-grr.org Web: www.abc-grr.org