Let me explain why this offering is so important. 

Before the end of January 2025, global population will cross 8.2 billion souls. And the number of those souls who will pass into eternity without hearing the gospel, or without believing the gospel they’ve heard, will be at an all-time high. Since lostness is growing, our mission force must grow as well. The gospel is the solution to every person’s greatest problem, but someone must proclaim it. 

Thankfully, the number of Southern Baptist international missionaries is growing again, which is a huge turnaround from where we’ve been. Between 2008-18, because of waning financial support for IMB missionaries, the SBC overseas missionary force was reduced by more than 2,000 people, and by 2019 we saw only 300 new applicants in our sending pipeline. 

But today we can rejoice that God has replenished and grown our missionary sending pipeline. Pastors are calling out the called and churches are sending missionaries through the IMB again. Currently, more than 1,450 Southern Baptists are in the application process to be IMB missionaries among the lost.

Thankfully, the past three years of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering have been our largest in history. Every penny of that offering funds missionaries and their mission work overseas. Those offerings have allowed us to sustain the work and presence of our more than 3,600 missionaries and their 3,000-plus children. With new applications topping 1,450 and expected soon to grow north of 1,500, the number of Southern Baptist missionaries serving overseas is finally growing again. The greater the lostness, the greater the need for the gospel, and we rejoice that the Great Commission work of Southern Baptists is resurging.

Now is the time to sacrificially support those we cooperatively send.

I’ve often referenced a conversation I had with a Mississippi Baptist pastor when I first came to serve with the IMB six years ago. His words to me, passionately and positively spoken, were: “Mr. President, everything IMB needs—more missionaries and more money—is in our churches. But you’re going to have to ask for it.” Taking his challenge to heart, I’ve been asking. And Southern Baptists are responding. The candidate pipeline has increased nearly fivefold in the last few years while giving has also increased. 

But a growing missionary force will require even greater generosity on the part of Southern Baptists. I’m certain that can happen. Let me tell you why. Southern Baptists are some of the most generous people on the planet and each year we give generously to the things we value, giving over $600 million through our cooperative missions offerings. 

Southern Baptists also give more than $2 billion to overseas work outside of the denomination. 

I regularly reassure our missionaries that Southern Baptists are not broke and we have not lost our heart for the nations. What the IMB lost were the relational connections that are vital for Southern Baptists to give their support. Those relationships are what the IMB has been working to rebuild. We’ve assigned every Southern Baptist church to one of their IMB missionaries who stays in contact with them and helps each church understand how God is using their generosity around the world. We are finding new and creative ways to engage churches in praying for the lost among the nations, innovative pathways for more Southern Baptists to serve overseas through their IMB, and better ways to care for our missionaries. 

So let me repeat my ask of you, because the importance of this offering is greater than ever before. I am asking your church to give 10% more to the IMB this year than you gave last year. If every church raises their giving by just 10%, we can support both the missionaries already on the field and those who are in the application process. 

Our Southern Baptist missionaries serving through the IMB have the most important job in the universe—to share the gift of eternal life with those who otherwise would not get the chance to hear and respond. With a multiplying number of lost people around the world and the growing number of Southern Baptists willing to answer God’s call to take the gospel to the nations, this year’s Lottie offering is the most important in our history.This Christmas season, I have a question for each Southern Baptist church:  Will we give generously so we can send and support those whom God is calling from our churches?

The openhanded giving through both the Annie and Lottie offerings demonstrates Southern Baptists’ enduring commitment to North American and international missions, SBC missions leaders said.

“This extraordinary milestone reminds us of just how much Southern Baptists love their missionaries and how committed they are to seeing people in North America and around the world reached for Christ,” said Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board. “It also displays a willingness to look beyond their own needs and give generously and sacrificially to ministry that will reap an eternal harvest.”

International Mission Board President Paul Chitwood emphasized that the generosity of givers to the annual offerings shows an enduring commitment to the Great Commission.

“Together, Southern Baptists are taking on the world’s greatest problem — lostness — by sending and supporting missionaries to proclaim the gospel,” Chitwood said. “I praise God for these record-breaking offerings — proof that Southern Baptists are more committed than ever to pursuing the lost to the very ends of the earth.”

Each year, the national goals for both the Lottie and Annie offerings are set in partnership with Woman’s Missionary Union, which created the offerings in 1888 and 1895, respectively. WMU has long championed the necessity of each offering for Southern Baptist missions endeavors.

Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director/treasurer of national WMU, recently returned from Europe, where she was privileged to join IMB personnel in celebrating the 100th anniversary of a church planted a century ago because of sacrificial gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

“Our heartbeat is missions,” Wisdom-Martin said. “How grateful I am that Southern Baptists of our generation are just as committed to the Great Commission as those who went before us. A hundred years from now, others will be able to celebrate lives transformed for the sake of the gospel because of our collective investment today.”

She also noted that it has been WMU’s sacred privilege to keep faith with Southern Baptists in passionately promoting the offerings.

“With great joy, we join the denominational family in celebrating another historic milestone,” she said. “We know God will take every gift and multiply it for His glory. The proclamation of the gospel hinges at the points of our prayers and faithful stewardship. Thank you, Southern Baptists.”

The Annie Armstrong offering supports more than 3,000 Southern Baptist missionaries serving throughout North America. The Annie offering helps to fuel church planting efforts through NAMB’s Send Network. Since 2010, Southern Baptists have started more than 11,000 new churches.

The Lottie Moon offering supports nearly 3,600 international missionaries and their families around the world. Total receipts include gifts to specific projects, often referred to as Lottie Moon challenges or Lottie giving projects. More than 90% of IMB missionary teams work directly with at least one unreached people group. This means they are serving among people who are less than 2% evangelical. Many of these groups are considered unengaged, with little-to-no gospel access.

Missionaries serving with Send Relief, the collaborative compassion ministry through NAMB and IMB, also are funded through the two offerings.

Every dollar given to the Annie Armstrong and Lottie Moon offerings goes directly to missionaries and resources on the mission field. This is only possible because Southern Baptists give faithfully to the Cooperative Program, which covers additional, vital ministry and support expenses. As few organizations can claim that 100% of giving reaches the mission field, thanks to the Cooperative Program, Southern Baptists have the assurance their Annie and Lottie offerings will be used by missionaries to reach the lost. IMB leadership hopes a growing offering each year will help the total missionary count top 4,000 soon.

As spiritual needs in North America continue to grow, Southern Baptists have responded by giving record amounts to the Annie offering since 2017, except for the pandemic-impacted year of 2020. The increased giving has allowed NAMB to increase the quality of church planter assessment, coaching, training and care, resulting in a four-year survival rate that consistently hovers around 89 percent.

As churches begin their campaigns for the 2024-25 Lottie Moon offering, often observed in the Christmas season, they can find free downloadable resources at lottiemoon.com. The new goal has been set at $205 million, but as Southern Baptists surpassed that this year, IMB leadership asks givers to prayerfully consider what more they might give toward the advance of the gospel among the lost.

Chitwood reminded Southern Baptists of the vision of a great multitude which drives Southern Baptist missions: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” (Revelation 7:9-10).

“While we celebrate the record giving of Southern Baptists — who will not rest until we have seen all unreached and unengaged people groups have access to the gospel — we must remember our enemy also does not rest,” Chitwood said. “Lostness is growing every day. There are more people dying without the hope of the gospel than ever before. And this is why Southern Baptists, who are committed to the Great Commission, must strive to ensure the good news of the gospel is made available to all.”

The Annie Armstrong Easter Offering® and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® are registered trademarks of Woman’s Missionary Union.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for this opportunity to address the board. Thank you, Pastor Clint, Pillar Network, Kentucky Baptists, WMU, and other special guests for being with us this week.

What a privilege last evening to be able to celebrate the sending of dozens more missionaries and the record giving of Southern Baptists through the Lottie Moon Offering to support them — and to do so in the church where Lottie Moon herself professed faith and was baptized!

Who but God could have imagined when a young single lady stepped into the baptismal waters that she would also step onto a ship bound for Asia, take most of her life’s steps on the mission fields of China, and never step off the boat that was supposed to bring her home. Who but God could have imagined God’s plan to use her to inspire generations of missionaries to follow in her steps to take the gospel to the nations. And who but God could have imagined that one little girl from the hills of northwestern Virginia would inspire Southern Baptists to give more than $5½ billion to a foreign missions offering named in her honor? 

God does indeed choose “the foolish things of the world to confound the wise … the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.”

As we celebrate Lottie’s legacy, we do so during another record Lottie Offering year. With five days remaining in the fiscal year, and more donations in route, we look forward to hearing from Price Jett’s team in October about the official total that, combined with Cooperative Program gifts, will have met every ministry need of the IMB this year.

A good offering is not all we have to celebrate at the IMB. We can also celebrate that we just graduated our largest class of missionaries from Field Personnel Orientation in more than a decade. We celebrate that our missionary application pipeline is higher than it’s been in more than 15 years. We can celebrate that the IMB brand is strong again and we are connecting with more churches than ever before in our 180-year history. We celebrate that the average tenure of service for long-term missionaries is higher than it’s been in many years. And we celebrate that Southern Baptist volunteers serving alongside of our overseas teams this year topped 11,600, an increase of nearly 20% over last year.

We still have challenges. Inflation continues to present significant challenges here at home and around the world, and growing generosity is required to have a growing missionary force. Why is that so important? Because lostness is a growing problem. So we need even more missionary candidates in the application pipeline, and we need the Lottie Offering to grow at a quicker pace so we can send and fully support those missionaries. We press forward because so much is at stake, and God has shown His willingness to bless our efforts.

On a recent trip to Zambia with my wife, Michelle, we were able to host a unique group of partners. Michelle was accompanied by Lynette Ezell, wife of the North American Mission Board president; the wives of state convention executive directors from Michigan and Missouri; church planter wives from Michigan; and the wife a pastor and IMB trustee, Lisa George, from Arkansas. Wes George and a longtime IMB donor from Texas accompanied me on the trip. Daren and Shawna Davis, who lead IMB work in Sub-Saharan Africa, along with our IMB missionaries in Zambia, were our hosts. It was an incredible opportunity to strengthen partnerships, deepen relationships, and see the hearts of these key leaders drawn to the gospel work that Southern Baptists steward.

What we experienced was a great reminder of the lasting impact of IMB work around the world. Our work in Zambia began in 1960. Seven years later, that work included the opening of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zambia. The first graduation was held in 1972 with 10 students receiving degrees. Over the decades, our missionary professors invested deeply in the lives of their students and mentored them as leaders. The administration of the seminary was gradually entrusted over the years to faithful Zambian Baptists. While we were there, we took the final and historic step of handing over ownership of the seminary to our Zambian brothers and sisters.

In a part of Africa where theology and the gospel itself are perverted by Neo-Pentecostalism and prosperity gospel teaching, the seminary stands as a lighthouse of truth preparing and equipping Zambian pastors and missionaries to preach and teach the word of God and carry out a faithful ministry. Words cannot communicate the gratitude of Zambian Baptists for the gospel impact that Southern Baptists, through their IMB, have made over the decades and continue to make today. Zambia is just one among 155 countries where Southern Baptists sent and supported missionaries this year. We celebrate what God is allowing us to be a part of in His work around the world.

Beating along for hours in a four-by-four into the African bush with our missionaries, joining them for river baptisms, sitting with them and their children in their makeshift homeschool classrooms, and hoping the electricity comes on long enough for a hot shower, was a good reminder of the dedication and sacrifice our missionaries make to obey God’s call upon their lives. And it was an opportunity for Michelle and me to renew our own commitment to God’s call upon our lives.

Six years ago, we felt God calling us to the IMB for a very specific reason. Here’s how I communicate that to our missionaries:  We feel called into service with the IMB to do everything we can do to ensure they have everything they need to do what God has called them to do. I spend about a third of my days traveling, mostly across the US speaking, to encourage Southern Baptists to support their missionaries. Along with our team of stateside staff and field leaders, we invest time in building and strengthening support structures and systems to make sure that houses and cars and plane tickets and visas and medical care and TCK educational resources and Member Care and a hundred other things are in place for our missionaries. We do these things because this our part of getting the gospel to the nations. Some are called to go. The rest of us are called to hold the ropes.

One of the areas we are striving to improve is in providing well-equipped, healthy leaders for our missionary teams. And we need to improve in this area. Our leadership pipeline was gutted by the downsizing that took place just before I became president. Leadership development has not had the attention it requires. And, in too many instances, the organization has been too patient with those who have poorly led. Our missionaries deserve better.

So what are we going to do about it? Let me state more clearly the commitment I made during yesterday’s board forum. We are working and will continue to work to develop and equip healthy field leadership for our missionary teams. And we will hold accountable those who fail to care well for their team members. I won’t take the time to recount the dozen examples I shared yesterday of how we are intentionally address this issue, but I did want to circle back to it and give assurance to our board, our missionaries, and to Southern Baptists that our goal is to care for and support our missionaries with excellence, and we will not be satisfied with anything that falls short of that goal. Michelle and I feel called to this role to do everything we can do to make sure our missionaries have everything they need, including good leaders, so they do what God has called them to do. And we are grateful for the partnership of our board members and of Southern Baptists in that effort as, together, we address lostness as the world’s greatest problem with the only solution — the gospel — following the biblical model of sending missionaries to proclaim that gospel. As Pastor Clint reminded us last night, “How else will they hear?”

“From the Great Commission to the Great Multitude, we unite in a Great Pursuit of those who have yet to hear the good news of the gospel,” Chitwood said, after brief greetings. “We work together to address lostness as the world’s greatest problem, to make disciples in every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages.”

Chitwood referenced positive Annual Church Profile (ACP) numbers indicating growth in baptisms, new church members and worship attendance, before inviting all churches represented to also celebrate what God is doing through Southern Baptists among the nations.

“At the same time the ACP numbers were being released by Lifeway, the IMB’s Annual Statistical Report (ASR) was being prepared for our IMB trustees,” Chitwood said. “The ASR represents reporting from every IMB overseas missionary team on what God is doing through their work and the work of their Baptist partners on the ground. The ASR affords IMB an incredible opportunity to communicate to every cooperating Southern Baptist church the global reach of your ministry.”

Chitwood encouraged messengers to recognize that “your Southern Baptist church and my Southern Baptist church did gospel work in 155 countries.” In addition, he reported, as verified by the ASR:

• More than 451,000 people heard a complete gospel presentation;
• 141,000 professed faith in Jesus Christ;
• 800,000 people heard the gospel online through video content watched to at least 95%;
• 116,992 new believers were baptized through the work of IMB missionaries.

The Annual Statistical Report is available for public download on IMB’s website at IMB.org/ASR.

“Whether it’s a rural church of 15 in Kansas that reported zero baptisms or a megachurch of 10,000 in Texas that reported several hundred baptisms, what a blessing for every Southern Baptist congregation to be able to rejoice in another 116,992 souls buried with Christ and raised to new life,” Chitwood said. “With an ACP in one hand and the ASR in the other, every church can celebrate in how God is using you.”

Continuing his focus on the cooperative work of Southern Baptists, Chitwood reported the following:

• More than 129,000 Bibles and another 157,000 Scripture portions were distributed;
• More than 400,000 people were impacted overseas by human needs projects;
• 60,000 people were trained in evangelism;
• 266 fully funded missionaries were appointed, including 83 who participated in the June 11 Sending Celebration.

Chitwood said the good reports should be tempered by the reality of growing lostness.

“Among a global population of 8.1 billion people, growing at a rate of 200,000 every single day, the number of people who die lost each day is also growing. This year, that average number reached 174,202 souls who will enter a Christless eternity each day and spend forever in hell. If we are not sufficiently motivated in the work of missions because of the joy of more going to heaven, might we be motivated by the sorrow of more going to hell,” he said.

“May we never forget,” Chitwood continued, “this mission we are on — this Great Pursuit of the lost — is the most important work in the universe. Wherever the lost can be found, we want to get the gospel to them. When you pray, when you give, when you send, and when you go, eternities are changed.”

Chitwood expressed IMB’s gratefulness for the generous financial gifts of nearly $97 million through the Cooperative Program and nearly $196 million through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® last year. The past two Lottie Moon offerings were the largest in IMB history, and Chitwood reported that giving for 2023-24 was trending ahead of the $205 million goal. Final receipts will not be calculated until the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.

IMB’s Church Connections initiative remains central to the entity’s efforts to have direct contact with churches, Chitwood reported. “Through IMB Church Connections, IMB missionaries have reached out to 93% of the churches in our convention.” He told churches that had not been directly connected with a missionary to stop by the IMB booth. Churches can also email info@imb.org to establish a personal connection with a missionary.

“We don’t want you to miss this opportunity to know how you are a part of God’s work among the nations,” Chitwood said.

At last year’s annual meeting, the IMB launched Project 3000 to find and explore the remaining 3,072 unengaged, unreached people groups. Chitwood challenged the crowd, “By 2026, we are asking Southern Baptists to send 300 of their young men and women to be missionary explorers. Their job is to research unengaged people groups, to find them, to try to share the gospel with them, and to bring back data, so that they may be fully engaged with church-planting strategies.”

To date, 19 explorers have been appointed and nearly 70 are in the application pipeline.

“In this Great Pursuit of the lost, we remain fully committed at the IMB in our mission to serve you, our fellow Southern Baptists, in carrying out the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations,” he said.

“One day, having obeyed the Great Commission and completed our work in the Great Pursuit, we will arrive with a Great Multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” Chitwood concluded.

“But not today. Today, many of those nations are still waiting to hear. We still have much to do, together.”

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is a registered trademark of Woman’s Missionary Union®.

IMB missionaries are sent and supported through the generous giving to the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Good morning and thank you for your ongoing commitment to your role as an IMB trustee. Together, we have committed ourselves to addressing lostness as the world’s greatest problem. To that end, we are striving for a growing missionary presence around the world. Thus, we rejoice over your approval this week of a wonderfully large group of new missionaries heading to Indianapolis next month for the Sending Celebration at the SBC Annual Meeting. 

We continue to work for growth in the missionary application pipeline and are grateful to see the number of applicants consistently above 1,300 over the past several months. Hoping to welcome more retirees to field service through the IMB, we are relaunching the Master’s Missionary pathway as a fully funded opportunity for those age 55 and up. As Todd Lafferty shared yesterday, with an average of 10,000 Boomers retiring every day in the U.S., we see great opportunity for many of those retirees to join an IMB overseas team as a Master’s Missionary. 

This pathway and others like it, by God’s grace and the generosity of Southern Baptists, means that fully funded missionaries continue to be our mainstay at the IMB. To provide for the support of a growing number of missionary candidates, we rejoice that our past two Lottie Offerings have been the largest in our history, and this year’s offering is on pace to potentially set another record. 

As we celebrate what God is doing among the nations through the IMB and our Baptist partners on the ground, we welcomed the much-anticipated release of the Annual Statistic Report at this board meeting. The ASR affords IMB an incredible opportunity to communicate to every cooperating Southern Baptist church the global reach of their ministry. 

IMB President Paul Chitwood emphasized the company’s commitment to transparency before Southern Baptists and IMB’s unwavering commitment to missionary presence among the lost. IMB Photo

Working through the IMB, your Southern Baptist church and my Southern Baptist church did gospel work in 155 countries this past year. More than 451,000 people heard a full gospel presentation through our IMB missionaries and their national partners on the ground, with 141,000 professing faith in Jesus. Another 800,000 souls heard the gospel online in video content that was viewed to at least 95% complete. As our churches celebrate a growing number of baptisms here in the U.S. reflected on the Annual Church Profile that was recently released, every church can add to its ACP baptisms total another 117,000 who were baptized overseas through the work of their IMB missionaries as reported in the ASR. 

Whether it’s a rural church of 15 in Kentucky that reported zero baptisms or a megachurch of 10,000 in Texas that reported 800 baptisms, what a blessing for each congregation to be able to rejoice in another 117,000 souls buried with Christ and raised to new life! With an ACP in one hand and the ASR in the other, every church can celebrate in how God is using them. 

Might that celebration be tempered only by the reality of growing lostness. Among a global population of 8.1 billion people, growing at a rate of 200,000 every single day, the number of people who die lost each day is also growing. This year, that average number reaches to 174,202 souls who will enter a Christless eternity each day and abide in hell forever. If we are not sufficiently motivated in the work of missions because of the joy of more going to heaven, might we be motivated by the sorrow of more going to hell.  

Thankfully, Southern Baptists are becoming more motivated in their work through the IMB. And we see that clearly in their giving. Like reporting on gospel shares and baptisms through the ASR, reporting how the IMB stewards the generous gifts of Southern Baptist and the impact their gifts are making, is also an honor and a privilege. At the IMB, we undertake financial stewardship and reporting with a goal toward full transparency and the highest standards of accountability. 

What does that look like? First, in accordance with the SBC Business and Financial Plan, which stipulates that members of cooperating Southern Baptist churches should have “access to information from the records of Southern Baptist Convention entities regarding income, expenditures, debts, reserves, operating balances, and salary structures,” IMB’s unredacted, independent external audits, stating income, expenditures, debts, reserves, and operating balances, are available for public viewing by anyone at anytime in the SBC Book of Reports and on IMB.org. 

Second, IMB operates in compliance with the standards of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, ensuring that IMB adheres to the industry standards for Christian organizations, including standards regarding to executive compensation. 

Third, each year the Chair of IMB’s Board of Trustees submits a statement referenced in the SBC’s Book of Reports that confirms the compensation of IMB’s President is not excessive and in keeping with biblical stewardship and also that IMB’s expenses are reasonable and incurred to accomplish IMB’s mission statement and ministry assignment, with no impropriety. 

Fourth, in addition to the wealth of information already provided to the public, the IMB regularly shares that, independent of influence by the president or any other any IMB executive, salary structures for the president are set by IMB trustees, through a series of evaluations and recommendations, before being presented to the full board for approval. The IMB’s president and executive leadership team then set salary ranges for all other staff positions in consultation with IMB’s Human Resources team, which engages independent professionals to ensure that IMB’s salaries are within a reasonable range for similar positions with similar organizations in similar markets. 

In these and many, many other ways, the IMB conducts its financial business above reproach and in full view of trustees appointed to represent Southern Baptists and ensure the integrity of the operations of the IMB. 

As for last year’s SBC floor motion referencing IRS 990 reporting, which is not required for local Southern Baptist churches nor church entities like Baptist state conventions or SBC entities like the IMB, Southern Baptists should be made aware of why that is more than problematic. Most importantly, the IRS 990 requires public reporting of overseas entities, which would include entities we use for getting funds into secure locations. The form also requires disclosure of all of the geographical areas around the world where the organization is conducting activities and to identify the kinds of activities being conducted. That kind of public reporting could literally put the lives of our missionary families and their national partners at risk. Moreover, publicly disclosing donor information, as the 990 requires, would potentially compromise the confidentiality of church members and other donors. Thankfully, the 990 is not required, nor is it a reasonable expectation of the IMB. Financial transparency and accountability, however, are reasonably expected by Southern Baptists, and the IMB meets and exceeds those expectations. 

When trustee oversight is rightly exercised, as it is at the IMB, Southern Baptists can rest assured that the very highest standards of accountability are also being exercised, standards that far surpass anything I’ve ever seen in any local Southern Baptist church or any other state or national entity. 

Well, there’s so much more to say. But I’ll close by sharing something I haven’t been able to get off of my mind since March 14. That’s when one of my daughters and I were visiting with one of our IMB teams in the Americas working among an unreached people group that has been displaced to the city because of drug gang violence in their jungle homeland. Coming into the cities with no education, no money, and no jobs, these families are poor, desperate, often exploited, and hopeless. On top of all of that, an informal but easy to observe class system works against them. 

There was one particular moment from that trip that has not left my mind. We had stopped on the street to visit with some ladies from the people group sitting on the concrete sidewalk with their children all about them. The ladies were trying to sell small pieces of jewelry that they were making from wire and plastic beads. At the feet of one of the ladies was a little girl. I would guess her to be two, no more than three years old. As you can see, she was asleep face down on the concrete. No mat, no pillow, no shoes or socks. Just a little darkhaired girl in a dirty dress with her face pressed against the dirty, cold, hard sidewalk … asleep. 

Jesus once said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.” Then he asked, “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray?”

On the city streets sleep the little ones, without shoes for their feet. They are despised by the world but loved by the Father. And on the city streets walk the beautiful feet of those in search of the little one so lost that a dirty, cold, hard sidewalk is her only bed. How beautiful are the feet that bring Good News. 

Thank you for remaining focused and not letting go of the rope of support of those thousands upon thousands of beautiful feet, our missionary presence around the world. Mr. Chairman, that completes my report. 

Thank you for your ongoing service on the board as we work together to address lostness — the world’s greatest problem — with God’s solution, which is the gospel, by means of a missionary presence among those who have yet to hear the Good News. I bring you greetings from our state convention executive directors, with whom I was able to share this morning. All of IMB’s Cooperative Program dollars and the overwhelming majority of our Lottie gifts come from churches through their state conventions. As such, those state conventions are not only essential partners, they are among IMB’s strongest advocates. 

What a great opportunity for us to have our Sending Celebration last night for our 62 newest missionaries, and to do so here in the southwest as an encouragement to Arizona Baptists. And what an encouragement to every Southern Baptist to realize that, of those 62 new missionaries: two were IMB missionary kids; 43 have some form of previous service with the IMB; and 12 more had joined IMB missionaries on short-term trips. So 57 of the 62 aren’t new to the IMB, they are coming back to the IMB. I don’t know of any stronger way to affirm the health and integrity of this sending organization than by having a new class of missionaries with 92% being repeat customers. 

In other highlights of the week, we celebrated a missionary candidate pipeline that continues to grow, hitting a new decade high of 1,355, and welcomed Brian Trapnell as Vice President of Human Resources.

Most notable, however, we rejoiced over the launch of Africans on Mission. We heard from Daren Davis, who leads the Sub-Saharan Africa Affinity, on the launch of the Africans on Mission sending body, a partnership of 14 African Baptist entities that will now work together to send cross-cultural missionaries to all of Africa and from Africa to all nations. In the words of Dr. Mamitiana of Madagascar, the founding chairman of Africans on Mission, “Africa has always been on the receiving side of missionaries, but now it is time for us to send missionaries to the rest of the world.” 

Should we pause to reflect upon the significance of this moment in salvation history, we would recognize that, 175 years ago, the first Southern Baptists began preaching the gospel in Africa. And now, in terms of the numbers of Christians inhabiting the various continents on earth, Africa is today the epicenter of global Christianity. But Africans had not yet significantly taken up the baton of missionary sending to get the gospel to the lost around the world. Until now. Might God use and bless the efforts of Africans on Mission. 

IMB’s role in the formation of Africans on Mission could not be overstated, but that is only one example among many of how our investment in the globalization of the missionary task is inspiring sending among our Baptist brothers and sisters the world over. An important part of this investment is our objective to add 500 global missionary partners to IMB teams. Since the pandemic released its grip on the world, we have added 134 GMP’s to IMB overseas teams and have 136 more GMP candidates currently in the pipeline. 

In addition to stewarding the influence of Great Commission Baptists, we steward Southern Baptists, a stewardship we embrace with the utmost care, integrity, and professionalism. With regard to the integrity with which IMB manages the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Offering resources entrusted to us by Southern Baptists, we were able to hear a report from our CFO on the latest audit during the trustee forum. In addition to what was presented to board members in the trustee forum, IMB audited financials for 2023 have been reviewed by the LFTT Committee and the Audit Committee. We are happy to report that we’ve received an unmodified opinion by the auditors, which is the highest level of assurance available.  It is the gold standard of audit.

No property sales were used for operations. Reserves were funded at appropriate levels, including commitments to retiring missionaries being fully funded. And as always, 100% of the Lottie Moon Christmas offering proceeds were spent on the field. We’re thankful for the generosity of Southern Baptists and their faithful giving through the Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for international missions. Simply put, the IMB would not exist without them. We are also thankful for the IMB finance team, both abroad and in Richmond. We are blessed to work with many men and women of integrity who love the Lord and desire to see the gospel proclaimed to the ends of the earth. The auditor’s opinion confirms, yet again, what we already knew, and indeed we are grateful.  

Well into my 6^th year serving as president, I’m grateful for the Lord’s continued favor upon the work of the IMB. Our missionaries serve with courage, sacrifice, and dedication. They face disruptions and constant spiritual warfare with an unwavering commitment to remain focused on sharing the gospel wherever they are, for as long as they can be there, with as many as they can. 

Our stateside staff are working incredibly hard to give support to our missionaries, connect with churches, donors and denominational partners, serve missionary candidates, and keep the hearts and minds of Southern Baptists focused on working together to address lostness as the world’s greatest problem. We clearly observe a growing sense of unity across the organization and an organizational culture that is getting stronger and healthier. 

Yet, in every area of work there is opportunity and room for improvement. At the end of every day, there remains at least 1,000 more things that I could have personally done to serve the IMB. But I retire every evening confident of this — the work of the IMB is the Lord’s work. We give ourselves to it as a privilege and a calling but never under the illusion that the Revelation 7:9 vision we long to see fulfilled will in any way be accomplished in our power or according to our plans. 

But the vision will come to pass. Every nation, all tribes, peoples, and languages will someday be a part of that great multitude standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Might God find us faithful striving to do our part. But might God also find us full of faith that He will do what He has said in His word, with us or without us. As much as it depends on you and me, let it be with us, not without us. 

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.

What do you wake up thinking about? What about when it’s 3 a.m. and you can’t go back to sleep, what keeps you awake?

I almost always think first about work. For me it’s the work of the International Mission Board. Thoughts about that work are accompanied by the reality of the 173,451 people who die separated from God every day. Headed to a hopeless eternity. Each is bound by the world’s greatest problem: lostness.

I think about the solution to lostness: the gospel of Jesus Christ. This life-giving news is one of the first Bible lessons you and I ever learned: that God so loved the world, He gave His Son, that whosoever believes shall not perish but have everlasting life. It’s news that never gets old, and news that the nations are waiting to hear.

I think about your more than 3,500 international missionaries who have answered God’s call to the nations. For 178 years, the IMB has been Southern Baptists’ mechanism for getting the gospel to those who’ve never heard it. The presence of these missionaries cultivates gospel access, gospel belief and church planting and multiplication.

I think about how Southern Baptists have ensured that the constant flow of missionaries to the nations never goes unsupported due to your persistent commitments. Missionaries are undergirded first and foremost through your faithful prayer; and, for nearly 100 years, through your Cooperative Program gifts, and even before that, through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®.

Day and night, those thoughts renew my resolve to ensure that the IMB is vision driven, church centric, organizationally strong and mission focused on reaching the lost. With all Southern Baptists, I remain committed that IMB follows the Holy Spirit to the least-reached people groups on the planet.

At the same time, I must confess, there are nights that I feel a bit like Nehemiah surveying the broken walls of Jerusalem as he walked in the night, especially when I think about the current trends we’re facing in the SBC. One of those troubling trends is Cooperative Program giving. More than 50 percent of the Cooperative Program gifts forwarded by your state convention come to the IMB. Those CP gifts make up about 30 percent of IMB’s already lean budget. Factoring in inflation, current CP giving aligns with CP giving from the 1980s.

Today, 8.1 billion people live on Earth. In the 1980s, the population was about half that figure. In the simplest of terms, Southern Baptists are giving equivalent funds today as we did in the ’80s to reach nearly double – literally billions more – the number of people with the gospel.

At the same time, we hear of churches withholding their CP giving because of a concern they have with a specific recipient entity, ministry or individual. We hear of churches escrowing or even reducing their normal CP contributions out of frustration or disagreement.

But I think about those who are on the other side of this equation:

I think about Jaime and Myrna Pagán, who serve as IMB missionaries in México City. The Pagáns have invested their lives among the millions who live there, steeped in cultural Catholicism and animism, so they can share about a personal, saving relationship with Christ. They pray for U.S. churches to send more short-term and long-term laborers to join them at work.

I think about Shanti, a Himalayan woman who followed the Hindu religion. Her small people group of 6,000 was found through a partnership between IMB missionaries Mike and Beth McKenzie and national believers named Lalita and Sandeep. From them, Shanti heard the gospel and accepted Christ. About six months after she was baptized, Shanti’s body succumbed to cancer. As far as we know, she was the first of her people group to die in Christ.

I think about Ézéchiel, a lanky teenager in Togo who, though Deaf, could sense that a group of Americans he saw in his community, and the local pastors they were working with, were Christians. He wrote for them the words “my family” in French, the official language of Togo, then motioned for them to follow. When the visitors caught up and stopped outside a house, Ézéchiel pointed at his cross pendant and nudged IMB Journeyman Brooke Tipton toward the door. He wanted them to share the gospel with his family members, who each accepted Christ that day.

All these lives — and countless more over the past 99 years — have been directly impacted for eternity through faithful Cooperative Program giving.

A final thought. Brothers and sisters, let us not grow weary in this work of pushing back darkness. Let us not abandon this blessed partnership to undergird that work with our faithful Cooperative Program giving. Let us not forget that one bright, new day we will be among a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. And some of them will be there because God used Southern Baptists and our commitment to work together to get the gospel to those who had never heard.

Connection of Southern Baptists to 3,500 missionaries and their 2,700 kids was central to the report. Chitwood expressed his desire for more churches to have a personal relationship with a missionary on the field and to consider the IMB as their own.

Through Church Connections efforts, Chitwood reported, missionaries and churches are building deeper partnerships and giving the work overseas “a name and a face.” Church Connections is a commitment of IMB missionaries to initiate a relationship with all Southern Baptist churches. Churches who do not yet know the missionary assigned to their church were encouraged to stop by the IMB exhibit booth during the event or email info@imb.org. 

Chitwood shared the impact Southern Baptists had through IMB workers in 2022, made possible through record Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® giving and $100 million in Cooperative Program receipts.  

Missions work by IMB missionaries included:  

• Gospel work in 122 countries; 
• 21,000 new churches planted; 
• Gospel shared with 728,000 people; 
• 178,000 came to faith in Jesus Christ; 
• 102,000 people were baptized. 

These statistics are shared in IMB’s 2022 Annual Statistical Report, which is available to the public. 

Chitwood thanked God for the 79 newly appointed missionaries participating in the Sending Celebration directly following IMB’s report. He also acknowledged 1,200 missionary candidates currently in the application process before emphasizing his desire to see even more workers on the mission field needed because of the daily growth of those dying without Christ.  

“Your IMB missionaries are addressing the world’s greatest problem with the only solution, God’s solution – the gospel. But they need your prayers, your support, your continued generosity, and more workers in the harvest,” he said. 

“This can only happen if we work together to raise up more missionaries and champion the Lottie Moon offering and the Cooperative Program,” Chitwood continued. 

“Southern Baptists,” Chitwood said, addressing the crowd, “there are countless other overseas organizations and groups your church can support and partner with. We thank God for them and their impact. But there is only one that belongs to you.”  

Chitwood stressed that the IMB is the only organization that ascribes to the Baptist Faith and Message, answers to trustees approved by Southern Baptist churches, audits financial statements under SBC oversight, reports to the SBC Executive Committee and messengers at the annual meeting, and sends missionaries rooted in Baptist theology and ecclesiology.  

“So, here’s my ask of you: Keep cheering for the home team, which is the IMB!” Chitwood encouraged, as he stressed the personal connection of Southern Baptists to IMB missionaries. “Let us not forget our collective promise to hold the ropes” for missionaries bringing the hope of the gospel to the lost.

“For 178 years, you have obeyed the Great Commission by sending missionaries overseas through your International Mission Board. But we need more,” Chitwood said. 

He confirmed the growing need for missionaries with the statistics that in 1979, with a world population of 4.3 billion, IMB had more than 3,000 missionaries. Today, with a world population of 8 billion, IMB has only 3,500 missionaries. From 2008-2018, 2,000 IMB missionaries returned to the U.S. and were never replaced because of the lack of financial support. 

Chitwood recounted a story of a pastor who spoke to him, shortly after he became IMB president in November 2018. “Mr. President, everything the IMB needs – more missionaries and more money – is in our churches, but you’re going to have to ask for it,” the pastor told Chitwood. 

Speaking to the annual meeting messengers, Chitwood said, “Southern Baptists, I’m asking for it.”  

He continued, “I believe in what we do together. My prayer is that God would open the floodgates and send us 400 new missionaries this year and money to support them. We all believe in the Revelation 7:9 vision of the great multitude. And despite the challenges we face as a convention … we must remain unified in addressing the world’s greatest problem. We can do this.” 

Chitwood closed his address with an excerpt from an annual meeting report from 1866. That year, the IMB had $1.78 in the accounts and a committee was appointed to consider the future of Southern Baptist missions work overseas.  

Chitwood read from the committee’s report: “Go forward. Tis His to open a passage through the deep waters; tis ours to move onward. We can discern but one command, we realize but one trust; we are burdened with but one duty, we feel but one desire in this work – Go forward. Through God we will obey.” 

Chitwood concluded his report and took questions from the floor.

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® is a registered trademark of Woman’s Missionary Union. 

Like most Baptist churches of the day, First Baptist Church of Murray, Kentucky, regularly hosted missionaries and denominational workers raising financial support. Growing frustrated with so many requesting to speak on Sundays, Pastor Harvey Boyce Taylor tried something new. He placed a box at the back of the sanctuary and told the congregation they could put extra offerings in the box and that would be their missions fund, divided up for specific, stipulated causes. The members were soon giving more to mission work through Pastor Taylor’s Box Plan than they had been giving for the individual appeals during Sunday gatherings.

Seeing the success, Taylor began a campaign to get other churches across the state to adopt the model. The model became so popular that, on Nov. 16, 1915, messengers to the annual meeting of the Kentucky Baptist Convention approved it, calling it the “unified budget plan,” as their way to fund their cooperative mission work. Interestingly, that meeting took place at First Baptist Church of Jellico, Tennessee, just across Kentucky’s state line. Of special interest to me is that First Jellico is my home church where I was baptized, ordained and married.

Ten years later, in 1925, Kentucky’s unified budget plan was renamed the Cooperative Program and adopted by the messengers of the Southern Baptist Convention. Giving through the CP has exceeded $20 billion to date. A commitment to work together can make a history-altering kingdom impact!

Over time, the Cooperative Program has become essential for the work of the International Mission Board. Virtually every penny of the support for our IMB stateside team members is provided by the CP. But we don’t even use half of IMB’s CP dollars in the U.S., as 60% of those dollars go to support your overseas missionaries and their work. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for the nearly $100 million CP dollars that will come to the IMB this year!

Though the CP is an incredible tool for kingdom impact, it’s been weakening. Through the first half of the fiscal year, IMB’s CP dollars were down $4 million in comparison to last year. Denominational conflicts, diminishing trust and generational disconnect are weakening the CP. But I’m convinced one of the greatest threats to the CP over recent years has been the fact that many of those who have eaten from the CP table have failed to champion it — and some even find it appropriate to be a part of local church that gives little to nothing to the CP, even though the CP is paying for every penny of that person’s livelihood. That lack of gratitude has caused great harm to the most incredible ministry funding model the Kingdom has ever known.

Out of their devotion to God and their desire to be a part of God’s work, the New Testament Macedonian churches, though poor, gave an incredibly generous offering to provide for the needs of others. I often think of those churches when I’m praying for the Southern Baptist churches that support the International Mission Board through their generosity.

In 2 Corinthians 8, the apostle Paul is sharing about the Macedonian churches and boasting on them for their generosity. He writes, “We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints — and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us” (2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

Thank God for the generosity of the Macedonian churches! For the same reason, I’m thankful for Southern Baptist churches today. Thank you, Southern Baptists, for the grace of God that has been given among you, for your abundance of joy that has overflowed in a wealth of generosity. And thank you for giving yourselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God.

I don’t know what the long-term future holds for the CP, but I do see its ongoing impact — and I’m grateful. I certainly don’t want to take it for granted. To the contrary, I want to do everything I can to see the CP strengthened. Here’s what I am certain of: If or when it’s gone, we won’t get it back. So, let’s not allow our denominational frustrations to cause us to walk away from working together. Instead, let’s look for solutions to the problems that plague us. As history teaches us, those solutions can often result in unexpected, exponential kingdom advance.