First grouping of KCBI volunteers gathers at Mission Arlington to start the day of service

The Mission Arlington^® family is so honored to serve our community, and we have been doing so for 29 years, but we don’t do it alone.  So many people and groups of people walk alongside of us, lifting the burden and carrying the mission forward.  These past few weeks have been especially privileged to partner with various groups who help us accomplish our mission.

This past Saturday, for example, KCBI (90.9 FM radio) broadcast that their “summer of service” activities would be held at Mission Arlington^®.  The radio station invested its time, energy, and resources to pre-register people, and to organize the volunteers in a way that matched their giftedness with a specific project or task that they wanted to accomplish.  Mission Arlington^® simply received the volunteers and put them to work. Hundreds of volunteers came to help.

Many other partnerships form the foundations of our volunteer work here.  For example, through this summer, we have partnered with Student Life, Mission 58, Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru), and Texas Baptists‘ Campamento, all who have sent hundreds of students here for a day, or for several days to serve the community.  As the Fall semester starts, Dallas Baptist University will be sending 300 students to serve for a day, as a part of their welcome week, and UTA students are here constantly lending a hand. Go Now missions and the student ministry of the Mississippi Baptist Convention sent us beautiful student interns who spent the summer with us.

Add to this the number of local partnerships with churches, civic groups, businesses, schools, and so many others who walk this journey with us, and you will understand why we feel so blessed, supported, and protected. All of this is just the way that our Lord has put this together.  Many people walk working together to help a community get the help it needs, and to share together the great message of the gospel.

As the Mission Arlington family prays together each day, we always begin with Thanksgiving and grateful hearts for partners like you who give, pray, and help here each and every day. To God be the glory!

Students are already receiving school supplies from Mission Arlington. We are expecting to care for more than 9,000 students again this year.

We are grateful for the effort and the sacrifices being made all across our community to make sure that the students in Arlington ISD have what they need to begin the academic year.

Young student receives school supplies and a back pack from Mission Arlington.

Your generosity never ceases to amaze us, and we are grateful. Thank you for all that you do to help us help these young people.

School supplies are “flying out the door” now as they are being personally delivered across our community. For Mission Arlington^®, school supplies are more than a “hit and miss” proposition.  We value the opportunity we have to walk along-side students and their families all year long.

Pictured above and to the left are students who have already received their supplies from us for the coming school year.  We are so honored and humbled to share with them what has come from you. You give it, and we give it away. Truly, we are twice-blessed.  We hope these pictures assist you in seeing that there are real students – boys and girls – with good families – behind the numbers we report.  They are just in a moment of need, and because of you, we can help.

Your support would especially be appreciated in these days to help us have what we need for the 9,000+ students coming to our front door  We expect to give out more supplies than ever before, and it takes all of us working together to provide what our community needs. The following items are especially needed right now.

Thank you so much for helping us have the supplies we need to give to our community’s students.

A Church Sunday school group donates beans and rice in the summer, helping Mission Arlington get ready for Thanksgiving.

No, this article isn’t about accountants, but about beans – well, beans and rice.  If you have been around Mission Arlington^® very long, you know that Thanksgiving season here is very meaningful.  For the entire month of November each year, individuals, families, and groups of all kinds “lend a hand,” helping us get ready for Thanksgiving morning.

What you may not know is that for almost every big event we do at Mission Arlington^®
takes a full year of preparation.  That is true of our Christmas Store, our Easter egg hunt, and our Fall Festival, among other things.

To get ready for Thanksgiving, we collect and separate Thanksgiving food all year long:

Turkeys, Hams, Mix Canned Vegetables, Canned Sweet Potatoes, Canned fruit, Canned pie filling, Canned Cranberry Sauce, Box/Mashed Potatoes, Macaroni and Cheese, Beans/Rice, Tuna, Peanut Butter, Rolls, Pie Crust

These foods are donated through the year by the community.  This past week, a Sunday school department from a local church worked hard to put together Thanksgiving food.  They collected 34,000 pounds of beans and rice, and brought it to us.  We were so blessed and touched by their spirit, their energy, and their desire to make a difference for the Lord and for people in need.

We are ever grateful for individuals and groups who give of themselves, their money, and their prayers to provide support here.  Thanksgiving is still months away, but the spirit of Thanksgiving is alive and well at Mission Arlington^®.

We may not be counting beans at Mission Arlington, but we sure are counting our blessings.

To God be the glory.

Rolling, Rolling, Rolling!

That’s what we do five  days per week with the transportation services of Mission Arlington^®/Mission Metroplex^®.

Each day, babies are taken to child care,  and children and young people are transported to school. Those in the shelters are taken to social service, and medical appointments and many other rides are given to those in the community who are in need.

Since there is no public transportation in Arlington, individuals and families without cars find it very difficult to get the places they need to go.

We receive calls daily from people in the community needing to go to medical appointments, job interviews, and social service appointments. The calls come from those desperate to get to places to help meet critical needs in their lives. What a blessing to be able to say “yes” we can provide that ride.

Suddenly the stress in their voice disappears when they realize there is help for them.

For 25 years, Mission Arlington^® has helped transport adults and children in need who have no other options.  In 2014 we provided 41,877 trips to almost 900 people.

We collaborate with the Arlington Independent School District, local homeless and women’s shelters, hospitals, senior citizen apartments and any other place that refers to us.  What a blessing to see someone get a job, receive medical care, go to school, or become self-sufficient because rides were provided.

God has given us a way to make a real difference.   Thank you for the support you give to make this possible.

Students enjoy water games in the hot, Texas sun. They are obviously having a great time.

Mission Arlington^® finished its second youth camp yesterday.  182 students and a total of 220 people altogether attended this free camp provided for students throughout our community.  Bible study leaders start early on Saturday morning, picking up vans from the mission.  They drive across the city, picking up students and bringing them to Mission Arlington^®‘s offices downtown. The student register, receive a colored wrist band, and load on to buses.  Precisely at 9:30 the buses head toward camp.

Once the students and Mission Arlington^® volunteers arrive at camp, they form into groups based on the color of their wrist band, create a team cheer, and then worship the Lord together.  For the bulk of the day, these incredible young people swim, climb rope ladders, play slap dodge ball, enjoy water games, slide down zip lines, and walk across obstacle courses in the sky.  Included in the day is a great lunch provided by the Mission Arlington^® team.

Slap dodge ball is a fun, competitive, high energy game for youth in an outdoor setting at camp.

In the devotional section of the day, the students heard solid biblical teaching about faith, and what it means to be a believer in Christ, and they heard it in a way that was specifically designed for youth.  After the teaching time, the students got into small groups and talked about what they had heard with their Bible study leader.  At the end of the day, Bible study leaders took the students back home.  It was an extraordinary day.

Over two weeks and two youth camps, the Mission has taken 319 students to camp. Still ahead for our youth is a “back to school” event later this summer.  Many of them, of course, will be receiving school supplies from us in the next few weeks, and in mid-August, in partnership with our health clinics, to sponsor both a vision and dental day just for youth.  Young people are an important part of the work at Mission Arlington^®. We are grateful for this incredible privilege.

A special word of thanks, as always, goes to Camp Thurman for their support in hosting this camp for us and providing volunteer help.  We are blessed to have such a great partner.

We also want to say a word of thanks to each of you who pray for us, give to us, or who lend a helping hand here on occasion. We are so grateful for you and your generous, faithful support.  We hope you can see how the gifts you provide to us are being used to make a difference in our community.  These camps are provided free of charge to each student. We can do this, because you provide the resources.

Finally, and most importantly, all glory to God!

Mission Arlington® turns twenty nine (29) today. We are in our 30th year.

On August 1st, 1986, Tillie Burgin answered God’s call  to reach her city for Christ. Hired by First Baptist Church Arlington as the church’s Minister of Missions, Tillie responded to an emergency call within hours of her first day on the job.  A single mom living in an apartment community on Arlington’s north side was living in the Texas heat without electricity.

The electric bill was paid, and that community became the site of the first Bible study started by Mission Arlington^®. Seventeen (17) people, dressed in blue-jeans and tennis shoes, attended the very first study. Today Mission Arlington supports and sponsors Bible studies in 349 locations across our community. People come “just as they are” to discover the Lord. Thousands of people attend each week. Mission Arlington^® loves and values “taking church to the people.”  (Read more about our history here, or here.)

Tillie Burgin, former Missionary, school teacher, and personnel director for the Arlington ISD, has been at the helm of Mission Arlington (under God) for 29 years.

As people spread out across the community to share their faith, many in the community couldn’t hear, because there was a certain level of hurt and heartache all around which blocked the message. Tillie knew that they couldn’t turn from human need, or just hope that people got some help.  They needed to do something now.   “One life at a time,” the mission began responding to human need with real and practical help. Today, approximately six hundred people each day, six days a week, come through our front doors. These are ordinary, working people who have had a health crisis, a job loss, or the unexpected breakup of a relationship which tumbles them into our front door.

Through the years, the ministry has grown. Today, the Mission offers medical and dental services, basketball, baseball, and wrestling leagues for children and youth, free summer camps,transportation to and from school or job interviews, a free Christmas store, and so much more.  In 2014, for example, the Mission recorded more than 355,000 ministry touches just in one year. From one church sponsor in the beginning, support has grown to include many churches from all across our community.  We are grateful.

Our heart, on this special day, desires as much as anything, to express our gratitude as clearly and deeply as we know how – to each of you – for the way you pray, give, and serve here.  We couldn’t do it without you.   Mission Arlington^® has a reputation for being generous, because you were generous first.  When you give, we are able to give it away.  We wish you could see what we see on a day-by-day basis – when people receive what they most need, because of you.  We especially want to thank you for your prayers.

Having said this, our deepest and most consistent prayer is that our Lord will be pleased with the offerings of our hands and hearts in this place and throughout the community.  Mission Arlington^®

is more a movement than a strategy, more a spirit than a structure, more like a family than an organization. It’s not about religion, and it is as much about God as it is about people. God has done something amazing here, and He has done it in His own time and in His own way.

Mission Arlington^® belongs to God. This isn’t our story, but His. He had plans in place for this Ministry and for all who work here long before it happened. He started this mission, sustains us moment by moment, and He holds our future in His hands.

We are grateful to each and every one who has walked this journey with us.  Together, we will serve Him into the future, one day at a time.  Praise His Name!

Happy Birthday, Mission Arlington^®!

Mckayla, Carrie Lynn, and Robin, 3 out of our 37 Summer Missionaries, having fun at Mission Arlington

Summer Missionaries are easy to love, and easy to receive at Mission Arlington®. They come spiritually prepared, a little scared, but full of faith and eager to give their lives in God’s service here. They arrive in late May, and though some stay for shorter periods of time, many of them stay through the entire summer, leaving in early August. Many are heading home now. By the end of this Summer, 37 students from five states and multiple Texas cities will have worked with us this Summer.

Paige, from Alabama, loving a young child in Jesus’ name.

These energetic young people work hard, arrive early, stay late and give themselves fully to the Lord’s work, seven days a week. They are full of life and energy. They love the Lord, and they want to make a difference with their lives. Those of us who are here year-round work side by side with them, encouraged by their hard work, sacrifices, and faith. We laugh, cry, pray, and “do life together” for a few months.

These young lives come to mean much to us professionally, because they are such great help in both extending and deepening the ministry here.  They fill in the gaps and provide much needed support to Bible study leaders who often don’t have the help they need. On the other hand, and perhaps just as important, these admirable young people also come to mean a great deal to us personally.  We love working side-by-side with them, of course, but we also grow to love who they are. These “summer missionaries” truly become a part of our family.

So, while it is so easy to see them coming our way, it sure isn’t easy to watch them go home.  As we move closer to August, many of them are ending their tour with us, and headed back home. That’s as it should be. They have school to finish, and families to hug, and work to be done back home. We hug them, and smile through the tears as they walk out our doors.  They’ve become a part of our family, and for us, it won’t be the same. What’s beautiful is knowing that they often feel the same way.

Some of these students call “Mission Arlington® their second home, or “other family,” and that feels good. Many of them will be back at different times to check in, or to help again for a little while.  Some, as many have done in the past, will hear God’s call, and come back to serve here with us full time. But most will go on to live talented, faithful, and effective Christian lives where ever God sends them.  They are equipped and ready.

We will continue to pray for them as they go and look for their return. We will listen for news of their effective service wherever they go, and forever consider ourselves blessed, because they were here.

To God be the glory!

Working with children at Mission Arlington’s East side Revival this June. Mission Arlington writes the curriculum for this experience. This same curriculum is being downloaded 2,500 times a day, and is being used all over the world. God’s love extends from Arlington to the ends of the earth.

Around Christmas last year, Mission Arlington® launched a re-vamped website. Our old site was dear to us, but the technology behind it hadn’t kept up.  After six months of use, we are truly pleased with this new site as a medium to get you helpful information about our work.  Here are some facts about usage that may interest you:

In the last thirty (30) days, 19,825 users have accessed the website for a total of 29,050 sessions.  Thirty-two (32) percent of these users are downloading our curriculum, written in Spanish and English. This Bible study material is written primarily in two languages, and is still being downloaded about 2,500 times every day, from all across the world.

One particular fact stood out to us as we looked at the numbers. According to Google Analytics, people from eighty-one different language groups accessed the site within the past month.  One feature which came with the upgrade of this website was the ability automatically to translate the site into 7 different languages besides English (French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Serbian, and Vietnamese).  We believe that the ability to translate the site has helped the message of God’s love to proliferate in important ways all across the globe.  We are so humbled and honored that something which happens here can lend support to God’s work at home and abroad.

Grammy-award winning Gospel singer Sandy Patty had a hit song a few years back called “Love in many languages.”  The chorus proclaimed that:

Love in any language, straight from the heart
Pulls us all together, never apart
And once we learn to speak it, all the world will hear
Love in any language, fluently spoken here

It feels good to know that the language of love spoken at Mission Arlington® is being translated and spread throughout the world. We know that one day  “every nation, tribe, people and language” will stand before His throne (Rev 7:22). We are humbled and grateful to do our part.

Thank you for the way you pray for, give to, and support our work.  Your investment is making a difference to the ends of the earth. To God be the glory.

Mission Arlington®’s director, Tillie Burgin, compares helping people to fixing their car tires. The four tires are spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual needs. If one tire is low, the car won’t go.

For this reason, in addition to the Bible Studies, food, clothing, counseling and other resources Mission Arlington® provides, this summer, they also partnered with AISD to host “Toddler Time,” a reading program for preschool children.

Mission Arlington® provided a space and publicized the event. Two AISD employees came each Saturday for 6 weeks with songs, books, crafts and snacks. Each week, the children learned a different color and shape, and the parents saw good examples of how to read with their children. They heard tips on how to keep reading alive in their homes and how early reading leads to future success.

“Toddler Time” is also offered at AISD elementary schools during the year with great success. However, being able to host the program in the apartments where the people live did have advantages. Some families attended who lacked transportation to their local school. One rainy Saturday, when normally no one would have wanted to leave the house, the parents didn’t mind walking across the courtyard to read and make a craft with their children.

Countless studies have shown children who attend programs like “Toddler Time” have a significant head start. Mission Arlington® is thrilled to be able to partner with AISD to make this asset more accessible to the families in the community.

Students who received school supplies and back packs from Mission Arlington in 2014.

By Jim Burgin, staff writer

When you are invited to an event of some kind, do you ever inquire about the appropriate attire for that event? Should men wear a suit and tie? Should ladies wear a dress? Is it “business casual”?  Have you ever been to an event where you weren’t dressed the same way as the rest of the people there? How did it feel? There are some people, of course,  who don’t seem affected by social etiquette, but I suspect that most of us have been embarrassed in some small way or another through our life time, and that we remember how it felt.

When I was in seminary many years ago, the professor invited students to a meal and fellowship at his house for the final class of the semester.  I asked his secretary about the dress code for the evening, and she said it was “casual.”  My wife and I went to the professor’s house dressed in jeans and tennis shoes. When we arrived, every other student, along with the professor and his wife, were dressed in suits & ties, and dresses. Although no one seemed to mind, and we were among friends, I still remember how it felt to be so out of place, to be different from everyone else.

The heart of Mission Arlington®’s school supply season is precisely that: so that young and youthful students in our community won’t find themselves embarrassed on the first day of school, because for whatever reason, their parents couldn’t afford to purchase the school supplies that every other student will have.  If your children are grown, and you haven’t had to buy school supplies in a while, you may not realize how expensive they have become.  The bulk of the families who come through our front doors every day have had a health crisis of some kind, loss of employment, or an unexpected break in an important relationship.  Though these experiences are difficult all around, it is especially hard for the children.

The generosity of this community amazes us every year, because you have always kept these children and youth close to your heart, and you give sacrificially, so that on that first day of school, these young people can walk through the school doors with dignity and pride.  We see the tears in parent’s eyes, and we get to feel the hugs from these students when they get those supplies.  We want you who give to experience this returned warmth and love as well – by knowing what your gifts mean.

Mission Arlington® is in a critical moment of the school supply season. The truth is that more parents are signing up their students every day than we currently have supplies to give. We expect again this year that we will provide supplies to more than 10,000 students.  Your support is requested to help us have enough school supplies, so that we don’t miss one young person in need.

To discover which supplies are needed, click here.  To print a list that you can take with you to the store, click here. Please drop off the supplies at the Mission Arlington offices when you can.  We are in the process of organizing the school supplies now, preparing them for distribution early next month.  If you want to give towards school supplies, you can do so online, by choosing the school supply category.  Or, you can send/bring by a check to us, putting “school supplies” in the memo.

Thank you for all you do to help our children and youth have what they need to start school.  We are so grateful to partner with you.