Annual Ministry Report 2009

The North American Mission Board assists Southern Baptists in their task of fulfilling the Great Commission in the United States, Canada and their territories through a national strategy for sharing Christ, starting churches and sending missionaries, in cooperation with Acts 1:8 Partners.

In 2008, North American Mission Board missionaries continued with faithful dedication to sow down the gospel throughout the United States, Canada, and their territories. These men and women were joined on urban, rural, and in-between settings by more than 2,800 chaplains and 125,000 mission volunteers.

Grateful for the prayers and financial support which make the ministries possible, our missions personnel know that 2009 will be filled with unprecedented economic challenges and recognize that good stewardship in every aspect of life is of utmost importance to the kingdom work to which they are called. For stories that will inspire and inform you about the work of these missionaries and chaplains, visit the Video Gallery on www.namb.net.

We are especially thankful to all Southern Baptists who gave so generously in 2008 to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® for North American Missions. A total of $58 million (unaudited figure) was given to missions—100% of which goes to the mission field. These funds provide resources to share Christ, start churches, and send more missionaries. In addition, we are thankful for the continual financial support that churches give through the Cooperative Program. Our prayer is that God will continue to bless and that we’ll be wise stewards of those funds and the work He has called us to do.

Following are a few highlights of how God blessed those record gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and Cooperative Program.

Sharing Christ

• There are now 2,875 SBC-endorsed chaplains. These include: Military—1,134; Hospital—570; Professional—395; Corporate—191; Volunteer—778. For more information about chaplaincy, visit www.namb.net/chaplain.
• Crossover Indianapolis, held prior to the 2008 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, and coordinated by the North American Mission Board, resulted in 759 professions of faith. Approximately 500 volunteers braved a rain-soaked weekend and participated in the event.
• NAMB continues its involvement in the long-term rebuilding in New Orleans, La. Operation New Orleans Area Home Rebuild (NOAH) in the third year of ministry. During the three years of operation NOAH has used more than 1,444 volunteer teams composed of 24,205 volunteers to assist more than 1,505 homes and 26 churches in the recovery process. More than 760 presentations of the gospel resulted in 404 professions of faith and 34 other decisions. For information on volunteering in the effort, see www.namb.net/noah.
• Domestic Hunger Funds (funds benefiting the hungry in North America), totaling more than $1.2 million, were distributed by NAMB to state Southern Baptist Convention partners. In 2008, Southern Baptist hunger ministries fed more than 4 million meals to the hungry in North America. More than 2,000 hunger ministries reported over 32,000 professions of faith. There were more than 90,000 volunteers working in hunger ministries, and 14,500 new volunteers were trained in evangelism. Last year, missionaries and volunteers shared the gospel over 625,000 times because of the opportunities provided through hunger ministries.
• In 2008, 253 NAMB pregnancy centers served 145,433 clients, saved 4,726 babies, and saw 3,434 professions of faith. A NAMB-affiliated center is a pregnancy resource center that has either 1) started as new center by one of the Pregnancy Care state trainers in cooperation with a local SBC church, association or state convention, or 2) is an existing center that asked to affiliate with NAMB.
• In 2008, NAMB started publishing On Mission magazine in Spanish. En Mision is available by subscription and is free. Also point your audience to the availability to watch and download mission videos from www.namb.net.
•  NAMB produced a new TV show called On Mission Xtra to highlight missionaries and on mission Christians in the North American mission field. There are 12 episodes and the shows are available on FamilyNet TV. Check local listings for time and date and go to www.onmission.com for more information and previews.

Starting Churches

• Southern Baptists established more than 1,500 new congregations in 2008.
• Canadian leadership has set a prayer goal of establishing 1,000 healthy, reproducing churches by 2020. In addition, they have a goal to explore and pray in every community across Canada by December of 2010.
• All six Southern Baptist seminaries and the Canadian Southern Baptist Theological Seminary have Nehemiah Project professors in place. This partnership helps to mobilize new church planters. Through seven Nehemiah Project church planting centers on Southern Baptist seminary campuses, 778 students in 2008 were trained and placed as long term planters. More than 1,165 people have served as short-term interns preparing for church planting roles.

Sending Missionaries

• NAMB’s missionary count was 5,611 on December 31, 2008. Of this number, 3,739 are missionaries and their spouses operating under various levels of cooperative funding with state conventions and local associations, and another 1,872 are long-term Mission Service Corps missionaries.
• A total of 1,641 high school and college students answered God’s call to summer, sojourner, or semester missions. Semester missionaries made 13,880 gospel presentations resulting in 1,226 professions of faith and 820 rededications. 
• Trained Southern Baptist Disaster Relief volunteers from 42 state conventions spent 118,951 volunteer days and prepared 7,914,391 meals and repaired 12,474 homes/buildings. More than 5,800 new Disaster Relief volunteers were trained in 2008, which brings the total number of trained volunteers to more than 88,800. A total of 3,487 gospel presentations with 448 professions of faith and 61 other decisions were reported.
• World Changers summer mission opportunities saw more than 22,096 participants in 95 projects. PowerPlant, a mission opportunity that mobilizes students in church planting and missions, saw 1,889 participants in 20 projects. Together participants in these ministries made 14,757 presentations of the gospel resulting in 997 recorded professions of faith.
• In 2008, two Strategic Focus Cities emphases: Embrace Baltimore and Vision San Diego, continued to see great results. Embrace Baltimore held 163 evangelistic events and saw 1,267 professions of faith. More than 4,900 volunteers have been mobilized for evangelism from 21 states to help with Embrace Baltimore. Vision San Diego now has 25 church plants in various stages of preparation. More than 6,400 volunteers have served in San Diego.

North American Mission Board 2008 Budgeted Income/Expenses