When you’re moving overseas as a missionary, you can prepare and plan, but you can never know exactly what it’s going to be like. But State Missionary Scotty Goldman said he does know this — you need all the support you can get.

So when Nicole*, a young woman from rural Alabama, was preparing to go to South Asia as a missionary about a decade ago, Scotty wanted to connect her with more churches who could support her. Her home church, First Baptist Church Livingston, was a natural choice, but he also reached out to Siloam Baptist Church in Marion. They responded with a wholehearted yes.

From there, the partnership has grown, from prayer support to sending resources and teams. Recently Scotty led a team from both churches to help Nicole put on an appreciation banquet for the teachers at a local school. He said it was amazing “to actually see firsthand the inroads made in that people group.”

John Nicholson, Siloam’s pastor, said it’s been a “beautiful thing” for his church to have that relationship with Nicole and see the work God is doing there — so much so that they officially adopted her people group.

“The big thing has been having that personal connection,” he said. “She has become that clear point of contact for us.”

*name has been changed