By Karen L. Willoughby, Managing Editor
Gallup FBC: Jay McCollum, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gallup, N.M., stands in front of the church building. The congregation gives 11.5 percent of undesignated receipts to missions through the Cooperative Program.GALLUP, N.M. (BP) – In the heart of the American West, where 68 percent of the population claims no religious preference and the Gospel is little known, one church is making a difference with a disciple-making ministry that also reaches around the world through the Cooperative Program.
“Let’s look at reality,” said Jay McCollum, pastor of First Baptist Church in Gallup, N.M., since 1994. “The world has come to North America. It’s going to take our cooperative efforts – because of the amount of money it will take – to reach the people of America.
“No one mega church can do this; it’s going to take multiple churches,” said McCollum, whose congregation gives 11.5 percent to support Southern Baptists mission work at the state level, across North America and around the world through the Cooperative Program. “The Cooperative Program has been the vehicle Southern Baptists have used to put the largest missionary force in the field in the history of Christianity .... Our cooperative efforts assist us not only in reaching people in our corner of the world but also to the vast people groups of the world.”
