There’s still plenty of time to give!
Each November is Bellevue’s Love Offering, a tradition in which we give above our normal tithes and offerings toward a unique giving emphasis. This year’s Love Offering will be given For All Nations and Future Generations!
The first part of Love Offering 2024 will go toward Next Gen Ministry as we continue to invest in the next generation of our church. We will finish the work we started last year by renovating the Middle School Room and creating an assembly room for 4th & 5th Grade. We want every student who comes to Bellevue to know they have a place here!
The second part of this year’s Love Offering will fund local, national, and international missions. Bellevue Missions, the North American Mission Board, and the International Mission Board will each receive a portion of your giving so that lost souls everywhere will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Ultimately, when you give to Love Offering 2024, you invest in the next generation of believers who will go out into the world to share the Gospel and make disciples of all nations! Begin praying now about how you can give, and join us for Love Offering Sunday on November 10.
A Letter from Pastor Steve Gaines
Dear Church Family,
There is nothing better than seeing a person created in God’s image come alive to the Gospel and walk from darkness to light. Being part of real people’s stories has made our annual Love Offering one of my favorite Bellevue traditions. Over the last six years specifically, we’ve seen this church body give significant resources to reach people down the street and around the world, while also caring for our base of ministry here at 2000 Appling Road to equip future generations of this church for ministry.
As we celebrate God’s faithfulness, we recognize the need today is greater than ever to reach a lost and dying world for Jesus Christ. But we also know this—our God is able to supply all of those needs.
God calls us to love the city where we live—“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf” (Jeremiah 29:7).
The first part of this year’s Love Offering will go toward Next Gen Ministry as we finish funding the renovations in our 4th & 5th Grade and Middle School areas. We want every student who comes to Bellevue to know they have a place here.
God also calls us to love people around the world—“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19).
The second part of this year’s offering will fund local, national, and international missions so that lost souls everywhere will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
God is a giver. The Bible says in Romans 8:32 NLT: “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?” We’re never more like our Lord than when we give.
I invite you to pray about how God would have you participate in our 2024 Love Offering: For All Nations and Future Generations. Let us be found faithful, and let God give the increase.
3 John 2,
Bro. Steve
A Legacy of Giving
In 1934, Bellevue Pastor Robert G. Lee took up the first Love Offering to pay off the church’s debt. Even though our nation was amid the Great Depression, God provided above and beyond what was needed. The $30,000 goal was surpassed with a total of $36,000 given, and one of our church’s most special annual traditions was born.
In recent years God has continued to show His faithfulness to us. Through the generosity of faithful Bellevue members, God has provided our church with a total of $13,462,000 from the last six years’ Love Offerings.
Of that $13,462,000 total, $8,056,000 has been given in support of missions to share Jesus in Memphis and beyond. Thank you for your obedience to give!
Giving Totals for 2018–2023
2018 | Loving Memphis Like It Matters: $2,029,000
2019 | The Gift of Moments: $2,433,000
2020 | The Gift of Moments, Chapter 2: $1,899,000
2021 | From Memphis to the Ends of the Earth: $3,022,000
2022 | For Life: $1,994,000
2023 | For the Next Generation: $2,085,000
Love Offering Expenditures
$8,056,000 Missions
$5,406,000 Construction
Including Love Offerings, you have faithfully given $22,180,000 to Missions Ministry in the last six years.
Where funds have been given
Total Missions Support
1. $10,000,000 Bellevue Foundation
2. $8,057,000 Love Offerings
3. $3,443,000 World Missions Offering
4. $680,000 Legacy Thrift Center
$22,180,000 Total
Where the money has gone
Total Missions Spending
1. $9,898,000 International Ministry
2. $5,128,000 National Ministry
3. $4,133,000 Bellevue Loves Memphis
4. $1,559,000 Christian Mobile Dental Clinic
5. $617,000 Pro-Life Ministry
6. $462,000 Refugee Ministry
7. $383,000 Local Schools
$22,180,000 Total
Future Generations
Thank you to everyone who has given to Love Offering 2023: For the Next Generation! Every gift matters and is already being used to impact students in the next generation.
Now let’s finish what we started!
The first $800K raised for Love Offering 2024 will go to Bellevue’s Next Gen Ministry.
A dedicated area for 4th+5th Grade Ministry where our preteens can grow.
Upgrading technology and adding space so we can meet the needs of a growing Middle School Ministry.
Grace’s story
Grace grew up going to Bellevue and being part of Next Gen Ministry. There she grew in faith and learned what it means to love and serve others.
“I grew up here at Bellevue, so from a young age I was being equipped as a believer and learning to share the Gospel and doing missions here in the city of Memphis. I think it equipped me in ways that I didn’t even understand at a young age.”
Grace, former Next Gen student
All Nations
In addition to funding the last bit of our Next Gen building project, this year’s Love Offering will be given to support missions efforts in Memphis, the United States, and around the world!
Grace’s story continues
Last year God called Grace to serve on the mission field, and she is now serving long term in East Africa, fully supported by Bellevue and the International Mission Board (IMB).
“For the sake of the Gospel—this is why we’re here, to know God and to make Him known. So if that’s here in Memphis, that’s awesome, but He’s called me to go take that to the nations. And no matter the cost, He’s worth it.”
Grace, full-time missionary
World
Population: 8.1 billion
Lost people: 5.72 billion
North America
Population: 371 million
Lost people: 281 million
Shelby County
Population: 904,000
Lost people: 347,000
Bellevue regularly supports missions locally, nationally, and internationally, and this year’s Love Offering will do the same! If we meet our goal, at least two-thirds of what is given For All Nations and Future Generations will be given to Bellevue’s Mission Ministry, the North American Mission Board (NAMB), and the IMB.
Local Missions: Bellevue Missions
Missions Ministry runs Christian Mobile Dental Clinic and Bellevue Loves Memphis, and it partners with Legacy Thrift, ARISE2Read, and other ministries in the Memphis area. In 2023, Missions Ministry saw 354 people profess their faith in Jesus Christ!
National Missions: NAMB
NAMB partners with churches, associations, and state conventions to mobilize Southern Baptists to impact North America with the Gospel. Since 2010, NAMB has helped plant more than 11,000 churches.
International Missions: IMB
The IMB exists to address the world’s greatest problem—lostness—by sending missionaries to the nations to share the Good News of Jesus. It currently has a total of 3,561 personnel on the mission field.
$75,546
is the average cost to fund an IMB missionary for a year.
$80,000
would allow Bellevue to provide a gift to our national church planters that would go above and beyond our annual commitment.
$906,552
would fully fund Bellevue’s IMB missionaries for an entire year!
How To Give
There are many ways to give toward the 2024 Love Offering, including pledges, online donations, cash, checks, stocks, and more.
Give Online
Easy online giving allows for secure, flexible options.
Use the Bellevue App
Download Bellevue’s app from the app store on your Apple or Android device.
Cash or Check
If you prefer to give with a one-time cash or check gift, Love Offering envelopes are available at the giving kiosks in each lobby.
“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.”
John 6:37
Pray for Our Committee
Please join us in praying for these committee members as they prayerfully steward the Love Offering gifts.
2024 Love Offering Committee Chair
Donny Mayo
Committee Members
Chuck Christensen
Shane Cross
Crystal Fabacher
Julie Foreman
Scott Griffin
Michelle Ragan
John Sanders