2011 North American Mission Board Ministry Report

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) exists to work with churches, associations and state conventions in mobilizing Southern Baptists as a missional force to impact North American with the gospel of Jesus Christ through evangelism and church planting. Southern Baptist Convention Ministry Assignments to NAMB Appointment and Support of Missionaries Evangelism Establishment of New Congregations Christian Social Ministries Volunteer Missions Missions and Missions Education Communicating the Gospel Through Technology Strengthening Associations Disaster Relief

Sharing Christ

259 million people in the United States and Canada do not have a personal relationship with Christ. Where do you begin to impact such an overwhelming number with the gospel?

The North American Mission Board is a key partner with you in this task. As NAMB works with Baptist state conventions, associations, and churches, we are united in our desire to witness the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

The accomplishments below show some of the results of our efforts in 2010.

• Crossover Orlando, held prior to the 2010 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention and coordinated by NAMB, resulted in 1,505 professions of faith. Approximately 1,940 volunteers and 53 churches participated in the event.
• More than 5,800 evangelism resources were downloaded to support the annual Soul Winning Commitment Day.
• The strategy of sharing Christ through Intentional Community Evangelism in major cities resulted in 635 salvations.
• There are 3,504 SBC-endorsed chaplains serving in military, hospital, professional, corporate, public safety, and institutional settings. Chaplains have access to places many Southern Baptists cannot go, giving them a vital role in helping reach North America for Christ. In 2010, chaplains shared the gospel more than 62,000 times and recorded more than 10,000 professions of faith.
• As part of World Hunger Funds given by Southern Baptists, NAMB received $981,417 for domestic hunger. In North America, Southern Baptist hunger ministries fed 5.3 million meals and reported more than 33,000 professions of faith.
• Pregnancy resource ministries play a vital role in sharing Christ. There are 308 NAMB-affiliated pregnancy resource centers in the United States and Canada. Last year, center volunteers and staff shared the gospel as they ministered through more than 85,000 client visits, and 6,835 babies were saved from abortion as a result of ministry evangelism activities.
• The Evangelism Response Center (ERC) now relates to 40 state conventions and 34 SBC and non-SBC agencies. A total of 1,136 new Telephone Encouragers and 54 Regional Facilitators were trained during 2010. All certified Telephone Encouragers and Internet Encouragers are required to give 30 hours of service per year. The average conversion rate through ERC ministry is 8+ percent. In 2010, ERC received 16,245 calls, an average of 1,354 per month. There were 1,861 people who accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior through ERC and its partnership ministries. In addition to these decisions, ERC referred more than 1,400 people to covenant churches. The ERC phone number will be placed on all God’s Plan for Sharing related initiatives until 2020.

Starting Churches

Southern Baptists lead all denominations in starting new churches, more than 100 each month. Church plants must be healthy and ethnically diverse, with a Kingdom perspective, and evangelistic passion, and a multiplication mindset. In addition to the roughly 50,000 churches and church-type missions in the SBC today, research indicates that an additional 125,000 churches will be needed in the coming decade to touch just a fraction—10 percent—of the estimated 258 million people without Christ.

In partnership with state conventions, local associations, and churches, NAMB has seen the following results in church planting.

• Southern Baptists added 1,271 congregations in 2010.
• Since NAMB’s formation in 1997, Southern Baptists have started more than 20,000 churches. That’s an average of more than 1,500 new churches every year, with a large percentage being ethnic or African-American.

• The Nehemiah Project has created a church planting partnership between NAMB and all six Southern Baptist seminaries and the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary. Since 1998, Nehemiah professors have worked to train and mobilize church planters resulting in approximately 1,000 church planters, including 34 new planters in 2010 and approximately 1,324 church planter interns, including 24 new interns in 2010.

• Partnering with the Canadian National Baptist Convention, NAMB is helping to assist the convention in its goal to start 1,000 churches in Canada by 2020. There are currently 268 SBC churches and church plants in the country.

Sending Missionaries

The key to reaching North America for Christ is God renewing the evangelistic soul of our churches. NAMB is committed to providing the resources and opportunities that will mobilize Christians to take the gospel to all peoples of North America. Through appointment of missions personnel and creating opportunities for volunteers to invest their time and talents on the North American mission field, NAMB witnessed the following results in 2009.

• There are 5,096 men and women who serve as North American Mission Board missionaries. Of this number, 3,480 are missionaries and their spouses operating under various levels of cooperative funding with state conventions and local associations, and another 1,616 are long-term Mission Service Corps missionaries. More than 1,200 of our missionaries are of ethnic (non-Anglo) origin.
• Answering God’s call to summer, sojourner, and semester missions, 1,669 high school and college students made 13,203 gospel presentations resulting in 1,144 professions of faith and 899 rededications. Many of these students will become our next generation of missionaries and missions advocates.

• NAMB places a high value in developing calling, character and competency of emerging ministerial leadership. The KALEO Network, with 3,098 members, partners with state conventions to resource churches to invest in those called by God to be spiritual leaders.

• An total of 167,731 volunteers were engaged through the ministries of Baptist Builders, Campers on Mission, Disaster Relief, Families on Mission, Appalachian Regional Ministry, and The Bridge. These volunteers recorded 11,715 professions of faith. More than 155,000 Buckets of Hope were collected and distributed for Haiti Disaster Relief.
• There were 20,522 participants involved in World Changers in 2010. That represents a total of 1,053 churches. World Changers completed a total of 95 projects and recorded 530 professions of faith while collecting a mission offering of $140,385.80. PowerPlant  participants numbered 2,361, involving 109 churches. There was a total of 19 projects. They recorded a total of 109 professions of faith working with 112 church plants and collecting a mission offering of $18,566.55 to be disbursed to local church planting needs.
• Southern Baptist Disaster Relief engaged in disaster responses during 2010, including Haiti Earthquake Response. More than 32,556 volunteer days produced 272,963 meals; completed 2,201 jobs (clean-up following floods, fires, storms, and other types of disasters); made 72,272 ministry contacts; and recorded 2,642 professions of faith. More than 70,000 people are trained in Disaster Relief.

God’s Plan for Sharing – Fulfilling the Great Commission in North America by 2020. 

Sharing Christ. Starting Churches. Sending Missionaries. A major emphasis that brings all of NAMB’s priorities together is “God’s Plan for Sharing” (GPS). In 2008, NAMB introduced this evangelism initiative, challenging all Southern Baptists to involvement in “every believer sharing, every person hearing, by 2020.” With as many as three out of four people dying in North America without a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we believe Scripture has provided a simple for change.

Four “mileposts” of the initiative are:

• Praying for lost people
• Equipping believers to be trained witnesses
• Sowing the gospel in people’s lives, using their heart language
• Celebrating the Harvesting of souls, as people come to salvation and are baptized

All 42 state conventions have joined in partnership to focus on GPS efforts. In 2010: 

• 10,500 Churches participated in Across North America 
• 15 million gospel pieces (clear bag, “Find it Here” brochure, and invitation to local church) were distributed
• With the help of media, nearly 45 million Americans were touched with the gospel
• More than 50,000 hits on www.findithere.com  
• 6,827 people called the Evangelism Response Center Help Line (888-537-8720)

 Every other year, starting in 2010 and ending in 2020, there is an emphasis theme for GPS.  To learn more, visit www.gps2020.net.

Funding North American Missions 

North American Mission Board 2010 Revenue/Expenses 

Cooperative Program (36 percent of NAMB’s budgeted revenue) 

The Southern Baptist worldwide missions enterprise is funded in large part through the unique, efficient, and equitable Cooperative Program. A portion of the undesignated tithes and offerings of individuals received by SBC churches becomes Cooperative Program dollars. In 2008, these churches sent more than $541 million through the Cooperative Program to their state conventions to support work within the state and the Southern Baptist Convention. As determined by messengers to the annual session of each state convention, a percentage of these Cooperative Program receipts is sent to the SBC Executive Committee for distribution to SBC entities. In 2008, an average of 63 percent of total Cooperative Program receipts was used for state convention ministries, and roughly 37 percent was forwarded to the SBC for national and worldwide ministries.

Annie Armstrong Easter Offering (45 percent of NAMB’s budgeted revenue) 

In addition to Cooperative Program giving, an annual offering is received to benefit missions in North America. Named in honor of Annie Armstrong, a passionate advocate of missions who lived 1850-1938, the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® is the primary funding channel for Southern Baptist mission work in the United States, Canada, and their territories. A special offering which churches historically collect during the spring (though it can be collected at any time during the year), all funds (100%) go to the support of North American missionaries and their work, primarily as salaries and ministry resources. Each penny given represents the trust that Southern Baptists place in our missionary force, and our missionaries are excellent stewards of these funds. In 2010, receipts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering totaled more than $54.3 million. To learn more, visit www.anniearmstrong.com.