Editor’s Note: This article first appeared on the SCBaptist website here.
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Baptist Convention (SCBaptist) and the North American Mission Board (NAMB) announced the launch of SendSC, a unified initiative to strategically plant and support church planters in South Carolina.
According to the United States Census Bureau, South Carolina was the fastest growing state in the nation in both 2024 and 2025, seeing an increase of 1.5% in 2025 and nearly 80,000 new residents in the last year.
Meeting that growth with the Gospel requires both more churches and a stronger strategy to plant them. SendSC is the response from NAMB’s Send Network and SCBaptist to meet rapid growth and lostness with the Gospel.
“When it comes to planting Baptist churches in South Carolina, the need is great and so is the opportunity,” Dr. Tony Wolfe, SCBaptist Executive Director-Treasurer, said. “This new agreement with NAMB will open doors for church planting in South Carolina that we have not known before.”
Churches Planting Churches
Wolfe emphasized that SCBaptist’s approach to church planting relies on healthy, multiplying churches. “A strategy agreement is only that—an agreement,” he said. “Ultimately what we need is a focused, sacrificial commitment from cooperating churches to raise up and send out church planters and planting teams from their own congregations.”
“Conventions do not plant churches. Churches plant churches,” he said. “Through this agreement, our Convention has built a more robust strategy than we have ever owned to help cooperating Baptist churches plant healthy Baptist churches in our state.”
Dr. Kevin Ezell, President of NAMB, said, “As we help South Carolina churches plant new churches, the resources, training, and care we provide for church planters will continue to grow, resulting in church plants that are effective, evangelistic, and strong. We truly are better when we work together.”
Matched Funding Goes Further
Prior to the new agreement, SCBaptist received funds from NAMB that could be applied to church planting, but by working even more closely with NAMB to create SendSC, SCBaptist will receive matching grants, creating the opportunity to double their current investment in church planting covenant assistance.
“SCBaptists have increased our funded church plants in the past 5 years from less than 10 funded plants to 43 funded church plants, but we have reached a ceiling with our current model of funding,” Dr. Lee Clamp, SCBaptist Associate Executive Director-Treasurer, said.
Since 1900, South Carolina Baptists have given sacrificially to fund state mission efforts through the Janie Chapman Offering, promoted and stewarded by the South Carolina Woman’s Missionary Union. SCBaptist’s portion of funding will come from the Janie Chapman Offering and will be matched by NAMB funds. Continuing and building upon this legacy of generosity, SendSC will help fuel SCBaptist efforts to plant more healthy churches at a higher rate than ever before.
“The SendSC agreement will double our current church planting efforts with matching grants from NAMB, and our SendSC planters will receive the benefits of the resources and relationships of Send Network,” Clamp said.
Reaching Every Corner of South Carolina
Cliff Marshall, Team Leader for SCBaptist’s church planting team, will lead the efforts for SendSC. “One of the things I’m most excited about with the creation of SendSC is that we will have full access to all of the systems and tools that NAMB already has in place,” Marshall said.
“Send Network has years of experience in planter care and getting planters ready to plant through assessment and training. We’ve always provided great care to our planters, but this agreement allows us to take it to an even greater level.”
SCBaptist also joins a growing number of State Conventions that entered into similar agreements over the last five years, including North Carolina and Virginia.
“When the State Convention continues their level of investment, and then you combine that with matching grants from NAMB, you begin to see exponential potential,” Marshall explained.
SendSC also provides a national spotlight to the efforts taking place in the state. Marshall hopes that attention will draw future church planters to a state where the support system is strong and the mission field is as diverse as it is vast. “I’m very excited for us to work even more closely with Send Network to try to accomplish the mission of churches planting churches everywhere for everyone,” he said.
“When I think about what that looks like in South Carolina, we have all different ethnicities and socioeconomic statuses living here. We’ve got people in rural areas and larger cities,” Marshall said. “And we need to plant churches to reach every corner of our state.”
The SCBaptist Executive Board approved the new agreement during their meeting on Tuesday, April 28, in Columbia. More information on SendSC is scheduled to be released in May, and the agreement will begin officially on July 1.