It is not just getting on an airplane and flying overseas. There is also a lot of mission work to be done in the US. There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes that we as Christians are not involved with and do not know, see or understand. I do know a little something of this behind the scenes work from watching, helping, and spending time in Winona, MS with Louis and Bonnie Rushmore, Jerry and Paula Bates and Betty Choate at the World Evangelism work in Winona, MS. They take a lot of orders and pack and ship books and tracts all over the world. They do the bill paying and a lot of office work.
The men have to continue to study as they prepare for preaching on Sunday and Wednesday appointments, on lectures, group meetings in different areas of the US to build up the work and win souls to Christ and His church. There are also many articles written and proofed by at least 5 different people. These articles are for Gospel Gazette Online, The Voice of Truth International, Global Harvest, Gospel tracts, books, newsletters, personalized and thank you cards for all contributions for personal and work use and whatever else they need.
The ladies are also busy with writing articles for different Ladies’ Christian magazines, Gospel Gazette Online, The Voice of Truth International, books and many other routine office duties. They are also busy writing and planning for ladies’ classes here and overseas, for ladies’ retreats, ladies’ days and wherever else they are needed. Sometimes, they also teach at local congregations where they attend on Wednesday evenings.
There are groups who come in and help with work such as stuffing envelopes with newsletters or financial statements. The Rushmores, Bates and Betty Choate send out over 1,800 of these letters every two months. They also sort and divide tracts into groups of 25 each; the tracts come in bundles of 100, and each box has 2,400 tracts in it, and there are over 100 different tracts.
The warehouse space is stacked with many rows of books and tracts that are sent out all over the world. They come in on trucks and have to be unloaded and sorted into perspective places where they belong. They also have to be sorted and repacked for shipments for overseas and stateside into different boxes because they go to different preachers in different areas.
When these missionary Christians are not in the office, they take laptop computers with them and work on the go. When traveling, they get phone calls for books, articles and many other items. When and if they take a few days for themselves (a vacation), they still are on call. These fine Christians have the Lord and His church first and foremost in their lives. We as Christians in one local congregation should and need to take lessons from our missionaries. Teach, teach and teach!
