![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/2.19.TLC_.1year-110.jpg\")
\u201cGod\u2019s providence has brought us here to help people in this city who are far from God, who want to know God but don\u2019t know how to,\u201d said McKay. \u201cJody\u2019s is one story of many people we\u2019ve impacted.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKay and The Local Church represent one of the hundreds of churches Southern Baptists planted in 2022 that have already started seeing fruit just one year into their ministries.<\/p>\n
All told, Southern Baptists planted 745 churches in 2022, 106 of which were replants. There were also 46 campuses launched and 126 churches that newly affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, for a total of 917 new congregations added to the convention in 2022.<\/p>\n
The 745 \u201cClass of 2022\u201d church plants officially elevated the total number of churches Southern Baptists have planted since 2010 to more than 10,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are always excited to see an increase in churches planted year over year,\u201d said North American Mission Board (NAMB) president, Kevin Ezell. \u201cBut our focus remains on the quality of the churches planted, which is why we\u2019re more grateful that the four-year survivability rate remains strong. Our goal is to see churches planted that impact their communities for years and multiply to reach more communities where churches are needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
One church that has been focused on multiplication is Life Community Church in the Boston area. In 2022, they sent out missionary Noah Madden to launch their third congregation, this one focused on serving the community of Weymouth, Mass.<\/p>\n
One of the challenges facing their sector of Greater Boston, Madden said, is a sense of hopelessness and drug addiction. While Madden\u2019s church was serving in the community in 2020, a man named Eric began to help, and addiction played a part of his story.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough that process, Eric gave his life to Jesus and jumped in as part of our core team,\u201d said Madden. \u201cHe was a brand-new Christian who has taken on responsibility and leadership \u2014 gradually, of course. Now, he is leading our recovery ministry in Weymouth.\u201d<\/p>\n The successes of churches like The Local Church and Life Community Church are the fruit of Southern Baptist investment in starting new churches in cities and neighborhoods where gospel-proclaiming churches are sparse.<\/p>\n \u201cWe could not be more grateful for the way our churches have rallied around the mission of church planting in recent years,\u201d said Vance Pitman, president of Send Network, NAMB\u2019s church planting arm. \u201cAs we join in God\u2019s mission to reach the nations, churches are engaging communities with the gospel, making disciples and seeing churches planted as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the ways NAMB has expanded church planting efforts in recent years has been through the development of Send Network\u2019s more close-knit partnerships with Southern Baptist state conventions. The Florida Baptist Convention was one of the first to start incorporating Send Network\u2019s processes of training, coaching and care to enhance their church planting efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are excited about churches planting churches in Florida. The partnership with NAMB and the Florida Baptist Convention supporting churches as they plant has been amazing,\u201d said Tommy Green, executive director of Florida Baptists. \u201cWe are averaging 70-plus church plants a year in Florida. The Send Network Florida model has been helpful in the sustainability and survivability of the church plants, and church planting continues to be a priority for the Florida Baptist Convention.\u201d<\/p>\n NAMB\u2019s primary ministry focus has been on cities and regions outside of the South, focusing intentionally on areas where the Christian and Southern Baptist influence has been weakest. Since 2010, church plants have accounted for nearly a quarter, 23 percent, of the baptisms in non-South states.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are 34 million lost souls in California who are headed to an eternal punishment without God\u2019s saving grace,\u201d said Pete Ramirez, executive director of the California Southern Baptist Convention (CSBC). \u201cThis is the reason why church planting will continue to be a priority in California.\u201d<\/p>\n In September of 2022, California Baptists also entered into a greater partnership with Send Network.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a blessing to see how Southern Baptists have come alongside us through Send Network and the CSBC to provide a support system of coaching, training and financial backing, among other things,\u201d Ramirez said. \u201cIt is making a difference in producing sustainable, thriving church plants. Together we can celebrate these positive outcomes that are bringing people to saving faith.\u201d<\/p>\n For the mission to continue moving forward, churches of all sizes are needed, said Denver-area church planter McKay.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m from Alabama, and my heart and passion is to see churches in the South be passionately engaged in the West. Every church in the SBC \u2014 small, medium or large \u2014 has a part in church planting. Some of the largest givers to The Local Church are small, rural churches in Alabama,\u201d said McKay. \u201cI want to encourage every church to remember they have a part and a place in planting churches in the West. So, I want to see the South awaken to planting more churches all over this region \u2014 from Montana to New Mexico \u2014 and our church is a testimony of churches awaking to that opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ALPHARETTA, Ga. \u2013 Jody sat in a park in a Denver suburb, contemplating her life as …<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/07-03-2022_LCC_OutdoorWorship-21.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/CSBC-Meeting.jpg\")