The 2015 Oklahoma State Missions Offering (SMO) has a goal of $1,135,000. This money will be distributed among 22 different vital ministries, including Oklahoma Disaster Relief, the Robert Haskins School of Leadership, Indian Falls Creek and ReConnect Sunday School.
The theme again in 2015 is “We,” because together, “We are Oklahoma Missions.” This has been the theme for the past two years. The inspiration behind the theme came from the fact that everybody takes part in Oklahoma missions.
Kelly King, BGCO women’s ministry specialist, directs SMO publicity and education. The message King hopes that this year’s theme expresses is that we can do more together.
“There is a feeling that everyone contributes when churches are a part of SMO,” King said. “They get to make a Kingdom impact that we couldn’t make any other way.”
The week of prayer will take place Aug. 31–Sept. 3. During this time, churches are encouraged to pray for their congregation to have a great awareness and commitment to missions, plan their SMO emphasis, set a goal to reach before the end of the year specifically designated to the Edna McMillan State Missions Offering, and promote the offering within the church. Each donation given will promote Kingdom growth for eternity.
BGCO Executive Director-Treasurer Anthony L. Jordan supports SMO giving and highlights one of the ministries funded.
“While many people give to help victims of specific disasters, such as the 2013 tornadoes, the State Missions Offering provides funding for many other expenses or even smaller disasters,” Jordan said. “For instance, when a recent tornado damaged the roof at Quapaw, First, the State Missions Offering provided immediate funding to help the church through a difficult storm.”
The goal to reach is $1,135,000. This number is the sum of allocation requests from each ministry.
“Different people, especially here at the BGCO, submit requests through our different teams of ministries that we couldn’t afford to do on our own,” King explained. “Some of that comes from specialists who want to be creative and do something different, some of it includes things that we have done for a long time and will continue doing, some of them are priorities like church planting. All those requests are taken into consideration, and only about half of them get approved by the executive team, which comes up with a final goal. We have met the goal the past two years.”
SMO truly is used for Kingdom purposes. All of the money that comes in with the Edna McMillan State Missions Offering designation is used for ministry opportunities.
“People tend to think that the money stays in Convention things, but really our desire is to get the money back into the churches and back into the work of the ministries,” King said. “There is a perception sometimes that ‘Oh, well, BGCO is just using that money,’ but that is not our goal. Even the goal of the OBU Professor of Missions Bruce Carlton is to train and equip future missionary leaders in his Cross-Cultural Ministries class. That money goes back into students and back into people.”
SMO is separate from CP giving. If you would like to be a part of the Kingdom impact SMO offers, you can give a designated fund through your local church.
