NAMB Administrators Celebrate Increase in Baptisms, Meet with Atlanta-Based Church Planters

By MIKE EBERT, North American Mission Board

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Gathering at the North American Mission Board offices in metro Atlanta on Monday and Tuesday, May 6-7, NAMB board members gained a better understanding of the city’s diversity and challenges that arise from it. reach him with the Gospel.

During their opening dinner, trustees learned about the partnerships that are driving church planting efforts in the city. W. Thomas Hammond, Jr., executive director of the George Baptist Mission Board, greeted the trustees, expressing gratitude for this partnership. Later, participants in a panel led by NAMB President Kevin Ezell echoed the need to work together.

“Send Network (the church planting arm of NAMB) doesn’t live primarily in Alpharetta,” said Ryan McCammack, Send Network’s Send City missionary for Atlanta. “It lives in our churches. Because the mission God has called us to is much bigger than any church. So it takes all of us.

Jimmy Baughcum, executive director of the Atlanta Metro Baptist Association, said cooperation allows each partner to bring their own strengths to the table.

“I’m grateful to know that there are some things I can be strategic about and some things I don’t need to be strategic about,” Baughcum said. “Send Network has been strategic about planter assessment, training, coaching and all that kind of stuff. In partnership, we can work hand in hand.

Another panel highlighted Send Network’s Global Vision project, which, in partnership with the International Mission Board, takes Send Network church planters overseas to see for themselves the need for Gospel and how their churches can play a role in meeting this need.

“We are reaching America to reach the nations,” Send Network President Vance Pitman said during the discussion. “The end goal is never simply to plant churches in North America. We plant churches with a heart for the nations because the heart of God is the people of the earth.

Another panel featured the work of Send Relief’s Atlanta Ministry Center. Administrators also met with a dozen local church planters and their spouses who also attended the dinner.

During their Tuesday afternoon full board session, NAMB trustees heard reports from numerous committees and voted on several items:

• NAMB Chief Financial Officer Carlos Ferrer reported that this year’s Annie Armstrong® Easter Offer revenues are higher than anticipated and NAMB’s year-to-date budget variance is currently favorable at 2 millions of dollars.
• Evangelism Committee Chairman Rick Frie, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Jenks, Oklahoma, said 13 state conventions reported a dramatic increase in baptisms in 2023. Trustees applauded after shared several of the specific increases in these states.
• Trustees unanimously approved a report to the Woman’s Missionary Union that details how Annie Armstrong’s 2023 Easter Offering® funds were used. One hundred percent of the offering is spent on the mission field during the calendar year.
• By three unanimous votes, the directors elected the officers who will serve on the board of directors for next year. Jonathan Jarboe, president and CEO of the Baptist Foundation of California and a member of Pathway Church in Redlands, California, will serve as chairman of the board; Jeff Young, executive pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, will serve as first vice president; and Josh Reavis, co-pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida, will serve as second vice president.
• Ezell and the trustees recognized five of them who are completing their service at NAMB after serving the term for which they were elected. Those recognized were George Falldine, a member of Second Baptist Church in Warner Robbins, Ga.; Grant Gaines, pastor of Belle Aire Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Mark Gilbert, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Roy Henry, pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan; and Eric Thomas, pastor of First Baptist Church, Norfolk, Virginia.

In his report to trustees, Ezell noted the official count of new Southern Baptist congregations added in 2023 and a strong 4-year church plant survival rate of 89.2%. Ezell concluded by emphasizing the need to keep NAMB’s work fully focused on the gospel.

“I want to encourage us to stay focused on the mission and the task at hand and understand that we are talking about something that people can truly unite around: the vision of the Gospel. It’s really about the gospel, about people coming to know Christ, and we’re going to celebrate that.

“There have been over 10,000 churches planted since 2010,” Ezell continued, “and in the next 10 years there will be 10,000 more.” Contributing to helping Southern Baptists plant over 20,000 churches that are going to plant churches is something we can rally around.