About 15,000 volunteers are expected to participate in one of the several hundred mission teams through the Baptist State Convention. These teams, coordinated by N.C. Baptist Men, will build or rebuild houses, churches and orphanages; preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ; provide medical help; and give relief during times of disaster.

N.C. Baptists are participating in three partnerships in 2001 - southern Africa, Alaska and Honduras. In addition, mission trips are planned to Eastern North Carolina to continue rebuilding after flooding damage from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, to Morocco to build an orphanage and to Germany to build a church.

Some of the mission teams are filled but many vacancies are available. A listing of each mission trip with the team's purpose can be found on N.C. Baptist Men's Web site at www.ncmissions.org.

Here is a closer look at mission partnerships:

Southern Africa N.C. Baptists are entering the sixth and final year of a partnership with the countries of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland at the southern end of Africa. About 75 teams with about 400 people are expected to travel to southern Africa to work in a variety of missions, said Richard Brunson, director of N.C. Baptist Men.

Teams will have focuses that include construction, evangelism, discipleship and training, sports evangelism, Vacation Bible School, choirs, youth evangelism, youth ministry, evangelism to the deaf, Sunday School workshops and marriage enrichment seminars.

Alaska

About 1,000 N.C. Baptists are expected to travel to the coldest of the states for missions work. Some will be constructing church facilities; some providing leadership training; and some leading Vacation Bible Schools, said Mark Abernathy, who directs men's ministry and partnership missions for N.C. Baptist Men.

Many of the teams still have openings, Abernathy said.

Between 270-300 of the volunteer, short-term missionaries are expected to be teen-agers helping with a World Changers project coordinated by the North American Mission Board.

Honduras

Many N.C. Baptists know well the mission opportunities in the Central American country of Honduras

Since Oct. 31, 1998, about 1,800 N.C. Baptists have traveled to Honduras to help the country rebuild following Hurricane Mitch, which dumped a year's worth of rain in four days. Those volunteers have built more than 300 houses for families made homeless by the flood.

The partnership means the missions work in Honduras will broaden beyond construction and medical teams to include evangelism and church building.

Honduran Baptists have a goal of starting 500 new churches and baptizing 50,000 people in the next five years.

"They'll be asking us to help them accomplish that goal," Brunson said.

Between 400 and 500 N.C. Baptists are expected to participate this year, he said.

Eastern North Carolina

Almost 900 houses that were flooded by Hurricane Floyd in 1999 have been rebuilt by N.C. Baptists. About 400 more are still to be completed, Brunson said.

Some volunteers work a week at a time, some one day. N.C. Baptist Men has encouraged volunteers to arrive on Thursday, work Friday and Saturday and then return home.

Since the flooding, about 20,000 N.C. Baptists have volunteered - an average of about five per church.

Brunson expects the remaining work to take about a year to complete.

Other missions

Here are some of the other missions opportunities for N.C. Baptists: