Mission Trips (work in progress - last update 2000)
MISSION TRIPS
In 1979 or 1980 the church bought a church bus. The youth decided that they wanted to use it to take a trip to Orlando, Florida. They raised money by having yard sales, bake sales, candle sales, car washes and by many other ways. They visited Sea World, Disney World and Silver Springs. The next year they decided to do mission work on the trip and contacted the mission board for an assignment.
Since then, First Baptist Church, Norris has always jumped at
the chance to be summer missionaries for a week. The trips began
in 1981. There was no money in the church budget to buy supplies,
food, and Bible School literature. Mission trip leaders had little
history to depend on to help plan the trip. With the churches
help, the youth raised money by raking leaves, cutting fire wood,
and many other things. They planned as best they could and prayed
that God would provide the rest. God did provide. The first trip
was to the intercity of Washington, DC, a high crime rate area.
The mission team lead a Vacation Bible School at the National
Baptist Church of Washington, DC. Several US Presidents had
worshiped there and George Washington had laid the cornerstone of
this church with the same trowel he had used to lay the
cornerstone of the US Capitol Building.
Some mistakes were made on this first trip, but valuable experience was gained spiritually as well as physically. An important motto developed from this trip, which remains important today - "Be Flexible." God doesn't always plan the same way we do. Today, fund raising for the trips goes on year round and the entire church is involved by either contributing food, supplies, and money, or as a participating member of the mission team. Additionally, the church budget includes an allotment to help with travel expenses for the mission trip. The recent mission trips have had between 28 and 40 participants.
A historical summary of the mission trips are as follows:
| 1981 | Washington, DC | Vacation Bible School / intercity children/high crime
rate area. Several of our Presidents had worshiped in this church. |
| 1982 | Danville, KY | Vacation Bible School / Youth Revival. |
| 1983 | Cherokee, NC | Backyard Bible Clubs. |
| 1984 | Gatlinburg, TN | Resort/ Backyard Bible Clubs. |
| 1985 | Beckley, WV | Backyard Bible Clubs Broke ground for Church Building. |
| 1986 | Danville, KY | Vacation Bible School. |
| 1987 | Norris, SC | Backyard Bible Clubs: two trailer parks, Joint venture with Cateechee Baptist Church and Fort Hill Presbyterian Church. |
| 1988 | Orlando, FL | Fun trip. |
| 1989 | New Orleans, LA | Backyard Bible Clubs. |
| 1990 | Bland, VA | Backyard Bible Clubs. Construction on Church |
| 1990 | Pennsylvania | Backyard Bible Clubs. Construction on Church to add a wing for class room space with an apartment for the pastor's family on the 2nd floor. |
| 1992 | Arnoldsburg WV | Backyard Bible Club Construction on Church, sheetrock |
| 1993 | Homosassa, FL | Repairs on 2 churches and several homes which were damaged during Hurricane Andrew. |
| 1994 | Wilmington, NC | Vacation Bible School/intercity children Remodeled house which is being used for church meetings. |
| 1995 | Kearneysville, WV | Vacation Bible School at the church Construction on the church Drug infested area of Kearneysville. |
| 1996 | Salem, WV | Vacation Bible School at the church Construction on bathrooms, cleaned attic, painted, landscaping. |
| 1997 | Beckley, WV | Four Backyard Bible School each day. One backyard club daily for abused women and children. Construction crew laid foundation for addition to church (which the ground was broken during the 1985 Mission Trip) |
| 1998 | Williamsburg, KY | Backyard Bible School at housing project Clowning ministry at four nursing homes Construction on mobile home roof Cleaned another site for new construction of house Built"out-house" for the couple at second site |
| 1999 | Clarksburg, WV | Back yard bible club at local park Remodeling and construction at a down town mission so that they could house families and also conduct classroom training. |
| 2000 | Burgaw, NC and Kure Beach, NC |
Bible Clubs on Kure Beach Construction of Matthew 25 House |
| 2001 | Burgaw, NC and Surf Side Beach, NC |
Vacation Bible School at Surf City Baptist Church Evening Worship Services at a campground at Surf City Beach Remodeling of home (Vinyl siding) |
| 2002 | Lynch, Ky | Vacation Bible School Remodeling of home and plumbing |
In addition to a group mission trip, several of our members including the pastor have ventured into foreign missions for a week at a time. Some of the places that they have served are Mexico and Honduras.