Many churchgoers want to serve on the mission field but face constraints that prevent them from going overseas. To introduce church members to local opportunities to serve, Shiloh Baptist Church hosted a multi-day missions conference.

More than 150 people participated in the missions conference, which featured guest speakers Brian Nall, west region catalyst for the Florida Baptist Convention, and Clayton Cloer, president of Baptist University of Florida.

During the event, attendees had the opportunity to meet with representatives, talk with them and gather information. The church provided sign-up sheets for members to indicate interest in specific ministries and will form mission teams with training tailored to their chosen ministry.

Local ministry opportunities abound for all ages, including children and youth. The six local and regional organizations represented were Chipola Habitat for Humanity, Salty Farms Ministry, The Freedom Collective, Christian Veterinary Ministry, Send Relief and Florida Baptist Disaster Relief.

“We have challenged our people to have 1,000 gospel conversations this year and see 100 baptisms,” said Tim Brigham, senior pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church. The church previously hosted a six-week training session on how to have gospel conversations. “Now we have avenues to go and intentionally have those conversations in addition to our daily lives,” Brigham added.

Following believers baptism, those new to the faith are invited to attend a First Steps class that meets during the regular Sunday morning small-group time. After the three-week First Steps class, participants are encouraged to join another small group where they can form edifying friendships to help them grow in their faith.

“Our goal is to ultimately get new believers into a yearlong discipleship group (D-Group), where they will learn how to implement the heart postures of a disciple of Jesus,” said Brigham. “Then go and make disciples of others. Our prayer is that God will continue to send out workers for his harvest from Shiloh Baptist Church.”