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NAMB trustees approve sweeping changes
Baptist Press
February 09, 2011
6 MIN READ TIME

NAMB trustees approve sweeping changes

NAMB trustees approve sweeping changes
Baptist Press
February 09, 2011

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — Trustees of the North American Mission

Board (NAMB) approved sweeping changes Wednesday, Feb. 9, altering the focus,

strategy, leadership and organizational structure of the Southern Baptist

entity. The changes come almost five months to the day after trustees voted

last Sept. 14 to approve Kevin Ezell as NAMB’s president.

The package of changes approved by trustees involves four primary areas: NAMB’s

national strategy; a regional approach to how NAMB will do its work; an

organizational restructuring that will align NAMB’s staff chart with its new

strategy; and four new vice presidents who will give leadership to key ministry

areas.

“This is a massive overhaul,” Ezell said. “We believe it’s going to be an

historic overhaul.”

Strategy shift: ‘Send North America’

NAMB’s national strategy — titled Send North America — will focus on mobilizing

missionaries and churches for evangelistic church planting. Once churches or

potential missionaries have connected with NAMB, after an assessment, NAMB will

provide any needed equipping and training before the missionary or church

enters the mission field.

Evangelism and leadership development will be integrated throughout the

process.

“Sending” churches that partner with NAMB will have a broad range of

participation options, up to and including starting a church themselves.

Smaller churches can participate in clusters with other churches. All will be

encouraged to send mission teams, volunteers and other resources to directly

help and partner with church planters on the mission field.

Both sending churches and new church plants will be expected to contribute to

Southern Baptists’ Cooperative Program and to minister in a manner consistent

with the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

“This entire strategy points everything we do toward assisting churches in

planting healthy Southern Baptist churches,” Ezell said. “Our desire is to

mobilize thousands of Southern Baptists to be engaged in church planting.”

He added, “Right now there are four percent involved, our initial goal is to

see 10 percent of churches involved in evangelistic church planting.”

Regional focus

The Send North America strategy will take on a regional focus. NAMB trustees approved

a new approach to the board’s work that will divide North America into five

regions: Northeast, South, Midwest, West and Canada. Each region will have its

own vice president who reports directly to Ezell and will work closely with

state Baptist convention leaders in that region.

Ezell said state leaders have been an integral part of shaping the new

direction for NAMB, and that he is thankful for the lengths state executives

have gone to work with him.

Photo by John Swain

North American Mission Board President Kevin Ezell lays out NAMB’s new national strategy — “Send North America” — during the Feb. 9 meeting of NAMB’s board of trustees in Alpharetta, Ga.

“We relate with 42 state association executives. It’s vital we work together —

not because we have to but because we want to. They have been incredible. They,

too, have a heart to reach North America and they all have a heart for reaching

the underserved areas,” he said.

Ezell noted that 80 percent of NAMB’s funding to states already goes to

unreached regions and when money starts shifting from Southern states to

unreached areas, that percentage will go even higher.

As NAMB funding to Southern states is reduced, Ezell said state leaders will be

able to direct that money to specific unreached regions of their choosing. NAMB

activity in the South will continue, Ezell said, noting, “We’d be very remiss

if we did not continue to invest in the South and plant churches in those

areas.”

Ezell indicated NAMB hopes to have new integrated strategic partnership

agreements signed with each state convention by the end of March.

NAMB will prioritize its efforts in 50 population centers throughout North

America. The initial 25 cities are New York, Washington/Baltimore, Boston,

Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the Northeast; in the South, Atlanta, Miami and

New Orleans; in the Midwest, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, St. Louis,

Cleveland and Indianapolis; in the West, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle,

Portland, San Diego, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Phoenix and Denver; and in

Canada, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.

New leadership, organizational structure

Trustees also approved four candidates for vice presidents Ezell presented for

a vote: Jeff Christopherson, vice president, Canada region; Steve Davis, vice

president, Midwest region; Larry Wynn, vice president, evangelism; and Aaron

Coe, vice president, mobilization.

Ezell said he would cover the Northeast and West regions until vice presidents

can be found. Richard Harris and Carlisle Driggers will be NAMB’s ambassadors

to the South region until a vice president can be named. Harris is a retired

NAMB vice president who served as NAMB’s interim president in the year leading

up to Ezell’s election. Driggers is the retired executive leader of the South

Carolina Baptist Convention.

Six work groups — all focused on the overarching goal of evangelistic church

planting — will exist at NAMB’s Alpharetta office: evangelism, mobilization,

equipping, ministry controls, communications and missions support.

Other NAMB ministries such as Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, mission

education and social ministries remain but will be more specifically focused on

supporting the evangelistic church planting process.

Ezell said there are “some very positive things already happening,” referring

to budget reallocations that will put millions more in funding on the field for

missionaries.

“To put $9 million more dollars to missions on the field in just six months,

that’s much faster than the SBC directed.”

Wrapping up the trustee meeting, Tim Dowdy, chairman of NAMB’s trustees and

pastor of Eagles Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Ga., said, “One of

the things I really sense from talking to you (trustees) is a lot of excitement

about our new direction. It is thrilling to be on the right road headed down

the right path — ready to impact America with the gospel. Our president has

done a fantastic job of getting us in the right direction.”

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