DENVER (BP) – Trustees with the North American Mission Board (NAMB) celebrated a new milestone in Annie Armstrong Easter Offering giving as they gathered for meetings in Denver on Oct. 2-3 and met several church planting missionaries who benefit directly from the offering.

“We have your back,” NAMB president Kevin Ezell told church planters who joined trustees for a celebration dinner Monday evening, Oct. 2. “And the reason we can say that with great confidence is that Southern Baptists are helping us fuel that through the Annie Offering and the Cooperative Program.”

Giving to the Annie Offering has seen a 29 percent increase since 2010 and has helped NAMB fuel a church planting resurgence as Southern Baptist churches planted more than 10,000 new congregations in that same timeframe.

Also at Monday’s dinner, Vance Pitman, president of NAMB’s Send Network church planting arm, hosted a panel discussion about the challenges and successes church planting efforts have seen in Denver.

“When I came in 2007, 90 percent of evangelical plants failed,” said Dave Howeth, NAMB’s city missionary in Denver. “But thank God for Send Network and the infrastructure it has created. Since 2015 in Colorado, we have planted 111 Send Network churches, and 101 have survived. That’s a 92 percent success rate.”

Another panel discussion, facilitated by Ezell, focused on GenSend, NAMB’s short-term mission program that pairs college students with church planters and Send Relief ministries in urban areas.

“One of the biggest value-adds GenSend students bring to our city is the life they inject into a church plant,” said Josh Cook who is planting Dwell Church and serves as a GenSend coach for Denver. “It’s hard planting. Especially in the city where the life and the culture is so antithetical to what we are trying to do. And to get students who are excited about the mission, who have signed up to be here and are amped up to help out is so encouraging. And to see them grow in their Kingdom-mindedness is just the most life-giving thing that we can do.”

Earlier in the day, trustees loaded buses and visited two Denver-area churches – The Heights Church located in downtown Denver and Storyline Church in Arvada – that remain vibrant and growing after being planted with NAMB’s help years earlier. Each church is also now engaged in church planting. (See related story about vision tour).

At their full board meeting Tuesday, Oct. 3, NAMB trustees received reports and approved several motions involving NAMB’s work.

• Matt Smith, NAMB’s chief financial officer, reported that NAMB finished its fiscal budget year at the end of September with revenue ahead of projections.
• Trustees approved a fiscal year 2024 operating budget of $137 million.
• Evangelism Committee chair Rick Frie, pastor of Jenks First Baptist church in Jenks, Okla., reported that the 10,000 copies of NAMB’s new Evangelism Kit for churches NAMB had in stock have been ordered with a reprint underway.
• Send Relief chair Brian Nall, a member of Olive Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla., told trustees that Send Relief staff, volunteers and partners have reported 132,060 salvations so far in 2023.
• NAMB’s Chaplain Commission, which approves new chaplains and provides oversight for NAMB’s chaplaincy work, reported nearly 40,000 Gospel presentations and 5,653 professions of faith in the first two quarters of 2023.

In his report to trustees, Ezell reiterated gratitude to Southern Baptists for their record-level giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and reminded new trustees that during their eight years of service, they will be a part of helping churches start the next 10,000 new churches.

“What difference can 10,000 churches make?” Ezell asked. “They expand the Gospel reach throughout North America. They baptize new believers. They are beacons of hope in their city or town.”

Since 2016, Ezell reported, 15 states outside the South and six Canadian provinces saw improvements in their church-to-population ratios. In 26 states and six Canadian provinces, church plants accounted for one third or more of all baptisms in 2022.

Of the more than 10,000 new churches started since 2010, Ezell shared specifics about two. Harbor Church in Hyannis, Mass., launched with 18 members in 2016 and now has 385. They baptized 89 new believers in 2022. Walk Church in Las Vegas launched in 2015 with 80 people attending and now averages 750 in worship and has already planted two new churches.

“I’m just thankful that God allows us to be a part of something that changes the lives of these people. It’s not about paper, it’s all about people,” Ezell reminded trustees. “God forgive us if we ever get our focus off people.”

Ezell closed his report by leading trustees in prayer for NAMB missionaries.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Mike Ebert serves as executive director of public relations with the North American Mission Board.)