North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell emphasized the importance of the entity’s focus on the work of penetrating lostness in North America in his address to NAMB’s board of trustees. The board met May 14-15, 2013, in Alpharetta, Ga.

Mark Chripczuk was a successful computer programmer. But then God called him to start a church in his hometown of Philadelphia. In this video and related story, see how he now works harder than he ever has and is happier than he's ever been.

Church planters, spouses, planting team members, mentors and coaches gathered at First Baptist Church, Martha Lake, for a four-day, church planting boot camp in April. The focus of the “Journey: Basic Training for Church Planting” was for participants to develop strategies and pray together.

Two Southern Baptist leaders have issued a statement voicing concern about religious freedom within the U.S. military but also cautioning Christians to refrain from jumping to conclusions about recent incidents in the military that have been perceived by some as threats to religious liberty.

Taylor Field, founding pastor of Graffiti Church in Manhattan, recently began serving as a North American Mission Board national church planting catalyst and a member of NAMB’s LoveLoud Team with the vision of expanding effective Southern Baptist urban ministry throughout North America.

The North American Mission Board (NAMB) will highlight a variety of ways Southern Baptists can help penetrate lostness in North America at the Southern Baptist Convention in Houston.

Alvin Reid, professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, encourages Southern Baptists to participate in Crossover 2013 in Houston. Learn more at namb.net/crossover.

A NAMB church planter intern at a Boston-area church found himself, along with his wife, in the crossfire of a police shootout early Friday morning (April 19) with one of the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing.

The first year of a new pastorate can be full of challenges, as the new pastor finds his way around a community, builds new relationships and casts his vision to the church. For one new Kentucky Baptist pastor, a vision to penetrate lostness in North America and around the world through evangelistic church planting has made the job much easier.

Hundreds of Southern Baptists will arrive June 8 for Crossover Saturday the weekend leading up to the 2013 annual Southern Baptist Convention. As in previous years, participants will help host block parties and special outreach events designed as opportunities to share the gospel.

College junior Lilly Bolar chose to leave her regular spring break job posing children for Easter pictures in a mall photography studio to work with fellow students cleaning up Staten Island home severely affected by Hurricane Sandy.

New school years and Easter Sundays are often chosen as “birthdays” for church plants. The North American Mission Board (@NAMB_SBC) expects to see Southern Baptists celebrate many more such birthdays in the coming years—especially in under-reached and under-served areas.

For the Quiles, owners of a small home in Freeport, N.Y., Hurricane Sandy crippled their home and their hearts. But their tears switched from sadness to joy when military and civilian volunteers -- including Southern Baptist Disaster Relief -- arrived to help.

Mud, sweat and grime seemed to go hand in hand with the missions’ team from the Baptist Campus Ministry of the University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky. Donning respirators, rubber boots, protective suits and gloves, the team worked in Staten Island homes flooded by Hurricane Sandy’s storm surge. The students eagerly took on nasty jobs tearing out insulation, pulling up mold-infested floors and hauling mud from flooded basements sometimes filled with sewage debris.

With many Southern Baptist churches focusing on North American missions during the month of March, North American Mission Board staff made close to 8,000 personal contacts with Southern Baptists to express appreciation for continued partnership.

For the first time Southern Baptists are only a few Web clicks from seeing digital maps showing local SBC church planting plans for North America’s largest, most influential and least-churched cities.

Staten Island resident Dominick Camerade was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy. Five months after the storm ravaged the area, Camerade and others in the community continue repairing their lives.
 

A new home, new position, new ministry and new outlook came to Lorna Bius in the summer of 2012. But there was something oddly familiar about it all. Something in a childhood memory—forgotten for years—brought back the realization that Bius had seen this before.

Part four of a series—with video, story and photos—on missionaries featured during the 2013 North American Missions Emphasis. 

Randal Lyle knew almost nothing about church revitalization when he joined the staff of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth. His education would be by immersion when a nearby church—Meadowridge Community Baptist—came seeking help.