PHOENIX – In a meeting with Southern Baptist leaders in Phoenix, International Mission Board (IMB) President Paul Chitwood and North American Mission Board (NAMB) President Kevin Ezell underscored their strengthened commitment to jointly meeting needs and changing lives through Send Relief.

The leaders also unveiled a new logo for Send Relief that incorporates the brand marks for the two Southern Baptist missions organizations.

“It’s incredible what God allows us to be a part of when we join in His mission,” Chitwood said. “And it’s only going to get batter as Southern Baptists work together on mission through Send Relief. We’re celebrating Send Relief’s success and our continued commitment to serving churches through this partnership by rolling out a new look for Send Relief.”

Launched by NAMB in 2016 as an evangelistic compassion ministry effort to help churches reach North America, Send Relief has helped to provide an on-ramp for churches who want to serve “the least of these” in communities across the continent.

Then, in 2020, IMB and NAMB joined forces to extend the reach of Send Relief, making it a truly international effort to reach the lost through compassion ministry initiatives that create opportunities for Gospel proclamation.

IMB personnel and ministry partners began conducting their compassion ministry efforts under the banner of Send Relief, which has helped to highlight and expand their global efforts to meet needs and see lives changed for the Gospel.

“So far, Send Relief has helped millions of people, has ongoing projects in more than 80 countries and has opened 1,680 regions to the Gospel,” Ezell said.

Send Relief has recognized five primary focus areas of ministry: strengthen communities, care for refugees, protect children and families, fight human trafficking and respond to crisis.

In North America, Send Relief has established 19 ministry centers that focus on one or more of these types of ministry. These centers regularly engage their community, meeting physical needs and sharing the Gospel, and local churches can participate in mission trips where they can both serve those in the area and learn from the center’s practitioners how to implement compassion ministry through their own churches.

“We are so grateful for how Southern Baptists are meeting needs and changing lives through Send Relief,” Ezell said.

Internationally, IMB’s long-term work through churches and believers worldwide has helped Send Relief respond quickly to global crises, from supporting refugees fleeing conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, to coming alongside survivors of earthquakes and major hurricanes.

Along with these crisis responses, Send Relief also works to combat longer-standing issues by fighting poverty, hunger and human trafficking around the world.

“It’s because of the faithful giving of more than 47,000 Southern Baptist churches we are seeing the Gospel go forth all around the word,” Chitwood said. “And we can’t wait to see what God does through you in the days ahead.”

IMB and NAMB remain committed to doing the work together. To learn more about Send Relief, visit SendRelief.org.

(EDITOR’S NOTE – Brandon Elrod writes for the North American Mission Board.)