Southern Baptist ‘Class of 2024’ church plants the result of multiplication

ATLANTA – After seeing a church advertised on social media, a recently divorced father happened into All Grace Church in Atlanta with his two daughters. All Grace wasn’t the church he’d seen on social media, but it turned out to be the one he needed.

“He was like, ‘I’m kinda starting over in life right now, and I’m just trying to get on the right path,” said Allen Hollie, lead planter of All Grace Church. “He just came into the church, and the message that day, he gave his life to Christ. From there, he got baptized about four weeks later.”

Hollie’s church is one of 767 churches Southern Baptists planted in 2024, a nearly 18 percent increase over the number of churches planted the previous year.

In total, Southern Baptists added 964 congregations, including 767 church plants, 138 established churches that decided to affiliate with the SBC, and 59 campuses. Of the new churches planted, 83 were replants.

Send Network, the church planting arm of the North American Mission Board (NAMB), has been encouraging more churches to engage in the work of church planting throughout North America.

“According to scripture, churches plant churches. Send Network comes alongside churches to help them raise up and send out church planters and church planting teams to engage cities with the gospel, make disciples, and plant new churches.” said Vance Pitman, president of Send Network. “The next generation of church planters and church planting teams are the faithful Jesus followers sitting in our congregations on Sunday mornings.”

First Baptist Church of Alpharetta, an Atlanta suburb, connected with Hollie, who had been serving as a professor at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He served in the church before being sent to plant a church inside the I-285 perimeter in Atlanta.

In the past, FBC Alpharetta had supported church plants, but this was their first time to become what’s known as a sending church for a new church plant.

“Steve Browning [pastor of FBC Alpharetta] ends his services by saying to everybody, ‘Let’s live sent,’” Hollie said. “I can honestly say that I have seen FBC Alpharetta live sent not only in their community and in Atlanta but in this nation and in this world. Their ability to be who they say they are, not just on paper but in practice, makes all the difference.”

D.C. church sends missionary to New York City

TJ Stoudt grew up in Atlanta and always had a desire to serve in a diverse city like where he grew up. As a student at Liberty University, Stoudt served in Washington D.C., for a couple of summers and eventually went on staff to serve in the student ministry of Waterfront Church, D.C., a church planted more than ten years ago by Zack Randles as part of NAMB’s Send Cities emphasis.

“Pretty early on, Zack planted some seeds about me planting a church, and I wanted nothing to do with it,” Stoudt said. “The more he asked, the more people asked, the more it started to make more sense.”

Waterfront’s commitment to multiplication led Stoudt and his wife to take the call seriously, and eventually, the Lord laid Harlem in New York City on their hearts, and Harlem Community Church launched in September of 2024. The church will conduct its first baptisms in May.

Send Network, Stoudt said, has generated a sense of brotherhood among the church planting missionaries and pastors in New York.

“When you’re in a city of this many people, there is no competition,” said Stoudt. “We are locking arms, and we are going to go together to share the gospel and reach the lost.”

Vegas church multiplies to impact lostness in their community

As a youth pastor at a large church in Tennessee, Jon LaBonte felt he had landed his dream job in a church he loved. Then, he received a phone call from a friend that altered that trajectory.

Steve Witt was moving to Las Vegas to plant a church in the city, and he wanted LaBonte to take the bold step to move and be part of the team. Eight years later, The Well Church in Vegas went from 7 people meeting in Witt’s home to more than 400.

The Well Church could have remained comfortable, but they decided to send LaBonte out to plant a new church to reach more people in Las Vegas.

“A lot of our DNA is from The Well, our sending church,” LaBonte said. “As an eight-year-old church, they’ve committed tens of thousands of dollars to our church that’s twenty minutes away, right down the street, and it’s because Steve Witt believes in reaching this city.”

So, Emmaus Church was born, and they are impacting 200 people in overall attendance throughout the week. They’ve seen 18 salvations and celebrated at least 14 baptisms so far.

“If we are going to be ready for the harvest that God is preparing,” LaBonte said, “we need to be planting more churches.”