Mission to the Holy Land Trenton Pastor Continues Small Church’s Crusade to Reach Out to the World
By Teri Maddox, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
Aug. 7–The Rev. Miles Bateman took a wrong turn on his way from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv last month and ended up in a Palestinian refuge camp.
About 200 yards past the gate, a man threw a head of lettuce at his car. Bateman assumed it was an anti-American gesture.
“I was driving a Budget rental car and wearing a Cardinals baseball cap,” he said. “Can you look any more American that that?”
Bateman, 43, is interim pastor at Grace Community Baptist Church in Trenton and a retired U.S. Air Force master sergeant. He traveled to Israel on a mission trip from June 27 to July 3.
Bateman and about a dozen other Christians from the United States and Great Britain visited Holy Sites, witnessed to Jews and Muslims on city streets and taught at a Bible school. They worked with an international group called Jews for Jesus.
About 70 high-school and college students attended the Bible school, which operated at the site of an old work farm, 25 miles south of Tel Aviv.
One of Bateman’s favorite experiences was taking students on a field trip to the city. They ate at a McDonald’s restaurant and watched a baseball game for the first time.
“Most of their families don’t own cars,” Bateman said. “They don’t have transportation. They were really impressed by the ice cream at McDonald’s, and how fast the food was brought to them. They had never seen fast food before.”
Students weren’t as impressed with The Israel Baseball League game, which pitted the Tel Aviv Pioneers against the Tel Aviv Lightning.
“The kids wanted to leave after the third inning because they were bored,” Bateman said. “They just weren’t used to (baseball). It was a new concept to them.”
Christians make up only 2.1 percent of Israel’s population. Daily life is dominated by Jewish and Muslim tradition and, in some areas, sectarian violence. Concrete walls and security checkpoints are common elements of the desert landscape.
“There are parts of Israel that look like the Ozarks,” Bateman said. “But there are other parts that look like a prison in Midland, Texas.”
Bateman considered the mission trip successful because 22 Muslims and Jews converted to Christianity, despite considerable social pressure.
“In Islam, if you convert to Christianity, typically your family will disown you, and some people receive death threats,” he said. “In Judaism, they’re a little more open to the concept that, ‘Yes, Jesus is the Messiah.’”
Missionary zeal
Trenton’s Grace Community Baptist Church is a small, historic church with about 150 members. It always has been a big supporter of missions.
German immigrant Augustus Steffens was one of the church’s founding members in 1882. He’s believed to be the first Christian missionary to the Republic of Cameroon in West Africa.
Today, the church sends two members on mission trips each year. Another 20 to 30 travel to Mexico to build houses for poor people. A wooden plaque over the lobby door reads, “You are entering your mission field.”
“It’s just outstanding for a church of this size to do as much missionary work as we do,” Bateman said.
Just before Bateman flew to Israel, church member Jason Combs, 17, of Trenton, headed north to Alaska for his first mission trip.
He and about 15 other U.S. missionaries helped with efforts to revitalize a Baptist church in Anchorage June 9-17.
“I was kind of scared when I first got to the church,”"It wasn’t in a very good neighborhood. Within a block, there was an adult video store, a pawn shop, a tobacco store and a really run-down trailer park.”
Combs distributed flyers for a vacation Bible school and sorted donations for a food bank. He also helped a church member clean up debris after a garage fire.
The trip was sponsored by an organization called Global Partnership Ministries. Combs learned about it through an Internet clearinghouse at www.shortermissions.com.
“I just thought it would be a good experience,” he said. “I want to become a pastor after I graduate.”
Like Bateman, Combs had an interesting experience after a wrong turn. He and other missionaries spotted a brown bear lumbering along a city street.
They also saw a moose during their one day of sightseeing. Combs was impressed by Alaska’s scenic beauty.
“You couldn’t look at the mountains and not see God,” he said. “They were just so beautiful.”
Contact reporter Teri Maddox at tmaddox@bnd.com or 345-7822, ext. 26.
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Copyright (c) 2007, Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.
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