International Mission Board trustees approved the appointment of 69 full-time, fully funded missionaries during their Sept. 25–26 meeting near Richmond, Virginia.
Fifty-seven of the missionaries participated in a Sending Celebration hosted by First Baptist Church Park Street, Charlottesville — the historic church where the famous Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon was baptized.
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Lottie Moon offering update
IMB President Paul Chitwood shared that, with a few giving days left in the 2023–24 giving year, the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering was already the largest in the IMB’s history, with receipts currently showing more than $204 million given to date.
This generous gift combined with Cooperative Program gifts will have met every ministry need of the IMB this year, Chitwood reported. The official total of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering will be reported in early October after the fiscal year closes September 30.
“We can also celebrate that we just graduated our largest class of missionaries from Field Personnel Orientation in more than a decade,” Chitwood said, referring to the training time for new missionaries.
He continued with more good news from the frontlines of missions.
“We celebrate that our missionary application pipeline is higher than it’s been in more than 15 years,” he noted. “We can celebrate that the IMB brand is strong again, and we are connecting with more churches than ever before in our 180-year history. We celebrate that the average tenure of service for long-term missionaries is higher than it’s been in many years. And we celebrate that Southern Baptist volunteers serving alongside our overseas teams this year topped 11,600, an increase of nearly 20% over last year.”
Inflation challenges
Expanding the total missionary force has been a focus of Chitwood’s presidency. He acknowledged that inflation hikes would require even more generosity to support a greater number of missionaries on the field.
Chitwood recounted a recent trip he and his wife, Michelle, made to Zambia with a group of Southern Baptist leaders and church planters. The trip included Lynette Ezell, wife of North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell.
Southern Baptist work began in Zambia in 1960. Today, IMB missionaries serve alongside Zambian Baptists who are leading their churches to reach the nations. Chitwood pointed out that Zambia is just one of 155 countries where Southern Baptists sent and supported missionaries this year.
“Beating along for hours in a 4-by-4 into the African bush with our missionaries, joining them for river baptisms, sitting with them and their children in their makeshift homeschool classrooms, and hoping the electricity comes on long enough for a hot shower, was a good reminder of the dedication and sacrifice our missionaries make to obey God’s call upon their lives. And it was an opportunity for Michelle and me to renew our own commitment to God’s call upon our lives,” he said.
Chitwood emphasized a concerted, renewed effort to provide well-equipped leadership for missionary teams.
“We are working — and will continue to work — to develop and equip healthy field leadership for our missionary teams,” he said, “and will hold accountable those who fail to care well for our missionary teams.”
New trustees and committee reports
New IMB trustees, who were elected at the SBC Annual Meeting in June, participated in orientation at IMB’s home office.
New trustees beginning their terms of service include: Steve D. Holdaway of Nebraska; Timothy J. Hill of Florida; Lyndy D. Stewart of Indiana; Nicholas R. (Nick) Clark of Kentucky; Joy G. Regan of Louisiana; Jangbae Jeon of New York; Scott C. Parkison of Tennessee; Ryan Thurston Brice of Virginia; and Wendell D. Horton of Virginia.
At Thursday’s plenary session, standing committees provided reports regarding administration, global engagement, human resources, LFTT (logistics, finance, technology, travel), marketing and communications, mobilization and training. The session included the approval of a total balanced budget for 2024-25 of $312,379,000.
The next IMB trustee meeting will be Feb. 5-6, 2025, in Charleston, South Carolina.
To read full IMB report, click here.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Leslie Peacock Caldwell and originally published by the International Mission Board.
