For many of us, Thanksgiving memories center on family and food. (The order, for many, may be reversed!) As a boy growing up in Colbert County, Ala., Thanksgiving was one of the special times of the year when our extended family got together and food was always involved. Those memories are now decades old, but I still remember the sights, smells and sounds of those gatherings. My family has changed through the years in that dad died in 2009 and we have added children and grandchildren over the past three-plus decades. I have much for which to be thankful!

• It has been an honor to serve Christ and Alabama Baptists for the past 24 years.        
• I serve as the chief financial officer for the State Board of Missions (SBOM) in addition to a host of other responsibilities.
• I see things on a daily basis that many Alabama Baptists never get to see.
• I see the passion of my fellow SBOM colleagues who serve tirelessly across Alabama to help churches and associations in efforts to fulfill the Great Commission. They/we are involved in leading more than 3,000 conferences and traveling more than 700,000 miles annually in helping churches and associations be more effective.
• I see the financial sacrifice of Alabama Baptists who give to support their church, association, state convention and SBC partners in attempting to reach and disciple people in Alabama and around the world.
• I see entities in Alabama Baptist life who are committed to carrying out their convention-assigned ministry objectives.
• I see a convention of churches called Alabama Baptists repeatedly be number one in support of mission efforts at home and abroad by faithfully giving through the Cooperative Program. We are again first among all state conventions in CP giving as reported by the SBC Executive Committee through their most recent annual report. We are not the biggest in terms of churches or members, but no one surpasses the passion of our people to reach from Alabama to the nations with the Gospel.
• I see that we have so much for which to be thankful during this Thanksgiving season.

Beyond what God has done for me in Christ, I am thankful for the Cooperative Program — the Southern Baptist way of reaching a lost world with the Gospel.

State Missionary Bobby DuBois may be reached at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 219, or (334) 613-2219, [email protected].