GIC Conference 2026
An invitation that began twenty years ago has continued to be such a blessing in our ministry each and every year. The Global Impact Celebration (GIC) weekend put on by McGregor Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Florida serves a two-fold purpose.
First, the weekend is used by the church leadership to get their local body of believers up off the couch and out serving in the community and around the world. The church brings the representatives of the ministries and missionaries they financially support in for the weekend so those missionaries have the chance to share what their ministry is about, how God is using them, and how people can get involved. The other purpose of the weekend is to bless those missionaries the church supports. For us, this is an encouraging weekend as people pour into our staff through their time and connections and as we get the opportunity to share about what God is doing through WM! We get the chance to offer ways they can be involved in camp, and they help to meet practical needs of the ministry and the families of the ministry!
All the ministries represented set up a booth that tells about their ministry so the church people can walk through at their own leisure through the weekend and see what interests them. There are different events and meals throughout the weekend that allows the church family to come and meet and mingle with the missionaries to get to know them more. A Life Group “sponsors” each ministry for the weekend by having them in to their class time on Sunday morning to share and hear ways they can be praying or getting involved. The class also has the chance to bless the ministry with whatever provisions the ministry is needing and the class is able to provide.
this image taken from McGregor Baptist Church’s website
The church as a whole also provides for what they call the Blessing Mart — it’s like grocery shopping for free! Tables are set up and the missionaries walk through filling their boxes with what their families or the ministry might have need of: Canned goods, pantry items, personal and paper products, books, clothes, office supplies, etc. Then finally, they open up their clothing closet to allow the missionaries to get thrifted clothes for free, whatever the families might need.
The weekend is always a whirlwind and exhausting, but an absolute blessing to be a part of. Connecting with people, sharing about the ministry, and just being surrounded by people who are spending their lives for Jesus is always such a spirit-lifter. From the encouragement to keep going, the feeling of not being alone in the hard things, the missional refreshment, to the physical provisions — all this and more serves to keep our ministry and our people going as we keep on Proclaiming Christ to teens through camp!
THANK YOU TO ALL WHO WERE A PART OF THE WEEKEND WITH US AND TO THOSE WHO GOD USES TO SPUR US ON REGULARLY! THANK YOU FOR SHARING IN THE MISSION OF WM AND GIVING YOUR TIME TO BE WITH US!
And thank you to those who took and shared these pictures with us: unknown person, Debbie, Marty
