Mississippi River Ministry surpasses 20,000 professions of faith

By staff - Apr 11, 2009 - 1

The Southern Baptist Mississippi River Ministry (MRM) has reached a new milestone. More than 20,000 people have come to know Christ as Savior since MRM began in 1992.

The river ministry project is a partnership between the area’s eight state conventions (Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi and Tennessee), the North American Mission Board and Woman’s Missionary Union.

In addition to the 20,000 salvations, more than 100,000 volunteers have served in this ministry since MRM’s 1992 launch.

The project began after the U.S. government-sponsored Delta Commission conducted a study of poverty along the lower Mississippi River. With data collected from the study, Southern Baptists began meeting together to find ways to meet some of the many needs.

“The Mississippi River Ministry calls attention to this great mission field along the lower Mississippi River, where mission volunteers have been serving since MRM began,” said Diana Lewis, Arkansas Baptist State Convention mission ministries team member, who coordinates Arkansas MRM efforts. “MRM ministries serve people who are spiritually and/or physically living in poverty. Southern Baptists are working together to provide ministries, evangelize, strengthen existing churches and start new churches in over 165 countries and parishes of the MRM region.”

Ministries in the eight-state Delta region are varied. There are more than 250 MRM projects. Among them are evangelistic outreach ministries; construction and maintenance projects; medical, dental, health and wellness clinics; vacation Bible schools, backyard Bible clubs and block parties; prayerwalking; children and youth activities; sports clinics; mentoring programs; nursing home ministries; Bible distribution; crisis pregnancy center ministries; Bible study ministries; recovery ministries; camp ministries; ministry to battered women and their children; Hispanic ministries; food and clothing ministries and jail ministries.

Lewis has seen God at work through the MRM volunteers.

Lewis told of one prayerwalking team that paused in front of a home. A car pulled in the driveway and a young woman got out. She asked if they were there because they knew her brother.

“They told her, ‘No, they didn’t know him,’” Lewis said. They then explained what they were doing.

The woman had just received word that her brother, who lived in the house, had died that morning.

“They prayed for her and asked if they could share her name with a Blytheville church,” Lewis said. “I think about how God ordered their steps that day, so they could be right there at the right moment for her.”

Another volunteer had prayed all week for God to give her an opportunity to share the plan of salvation with some senior adult. At a nursing home, she began visiting with an 89-year-old man.

“He shared that he didn’t believe there could be a God who could forgive him of all he had done wrong in his life,” Lewis recalled.

The volunteer assured the man there is a God who loved him and wanted to forgive him.

“That 89-year-old man in his wheelchair prayed to receive Christ,” Lewis said.

The 142-country MRM region has been referred to as the “third world along the Mississippi,” according to the MRM Web site, www.riverministry.com. The people in the region suffer from inadequate health care. The area has the highest infant mortality rate in the United States and the lowest ration of doctors and nurses per 1,000 population. Low family income reduces the availability of health care. In some counties, newborns stand less chance of survival than in Chile, Cuba or Malaysia, the Web site notes.

People in the region suffer from poor housing and homelessness. Many live in substandard or deteriorated housing. Generation after generation attempt to live without basic human needs.

People in the region suffer from lack of education, according to Lewis. Only about 50 percent of people 25 years of age and older have a high school diploma, and there is a high illiteracy rate.

Lewis said in addition to the 20,000 salvations and 100,000 volunteers involved, the ministry also has had an economic impact on people’s lives in the Delta, but that impact is difficult to measure.

One of the Arkansas projects is in the impoverished Dixsonville area. Lewis has been personally involved there for about 20 years.

“I can see economic changes there, but a lot of them are small things to celebrate,” Lewis admitted.

“Some things are improvements we won’t see in this world.

“These ministries are changing generations and changing a culture. Such changes are slow to come. We celebrate the small things. Some of the people we have helped may say their lives are better economically because of this ministry, but the Delta region is not better statistically than it was in 1992.”

Mission volunteers and mission teams from churches and associations can get involved by going to www.riverministry.com.

“Church volunteers should get involved with the Mississippi River Ministry for two reasons,” Lewis said. “It will change the lives of other people, and it will change them. When we work with people in poverty, we are reminded of how great the Father’s love is for all of us. And people’s hearts are touched through what we do, and their hearts are then more open to the good news of Jesus Christ.”

This article is reprinted from the March 26, 2009, issue of the Arkansas Baptist News, the newsjournal of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention.

Further Learning

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comments

1 On Apr 15th, 2009, at 7:17pm, Ed wrote:

Thanks for MRM article. Many ideas how to serve in any church area.

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