ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) – North American Mission Board (NAMB) president Kevin Ezell will host a series of information sessions for Texas Southern Baptist pastors whose churches are affiliated of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (BGCT). The sessions, which will take place in early 2025, are intended to answer questions and bring greater clarity to how NAMB can serve these churches.
The sessions, to be hosted by Southern Baptist churches affiliated with the BGCT, will take place in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, Houston, San Antonio and West Texas.
“I am grateful for what Texas Southern Baptist churches that are connected with the BGCT invest in missions through the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program,” Ezell said. “NAMB desires a continued partnership with these churches, and these gatherings will help us clearly communicate that and also to address questions pastors may have.”
Beginning in 2010, NAMB started shifting more resources to regions outside the South where church-to-population ratios are much higher and lostness much greater. In partnership with leaders of South state Baptist conventions, NAMB transitioned funding in the South to an annual $300,000 grant to be used for church planting. The change resulted in several million additional dollars being channeled to needs outside the South in the ensuing years.
“Nothing has changed in how we fund the BGCT,” Ezell said, “and nothing has changed in the way we can partner with Southern Baptist churches affiliated with the BGCT.”
As an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, NAMB’s doctrinal standard is the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 (BFM2K), and NAMB only provides financial support for church plants that affirm the same standard.
Responding to a question from pastor Dustin Slaton at this year’s SBC Annual Meeting, Ezell explained that NAMB can come alongside a BGCT-affiliated Southern Baptist church that wants to plant a church outside the state of Texas because those other state conventions affirm the BFM2K. While some BGCT-affiliated churches affirm the BFM2K, the BGCT itself explicitly affirms the 1963 version of the BF&M.
Many Texas Southern Baptist churches are dually aligned with the BGCT and the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC). Since the SBTC affirms the BFM2K, NAMB frequently partners in church planting with those churches.
Regardless of which version of BF&M a church affirms, when it gives to the Annie Armstrong Offering or Cooperative Program, NAMB uses those funds to help start new churches in regions throughout North America that are most in need of Gospel-focused churches.
“Since June I have had several conversations with pastors who lead Southern Baptist churches affiliated with BGCT. In August I met with pastors and BGCT leadership with the goal of working toward ways we can partner most effectively,” Ezell said. “The ministry work we do together at the Send Relief Ministry Center in Laredo is a great example of how we partner well.”
NAMB is currently working to finalize dates and locations for the Texas Baptist partnership information sessions and plans to share that information in the weeks ahead.