The Baptist World Alliance General Council on July 9 approved 17 new BWA member bodies and partners—including five affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas or are closely connected with Texas Baptists.

Convención Bautista Hispana de Texas, with 42,520 members in 1,063 churches, was among the new conventions and unions approved as BWA member bodies.

Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, with 1,665 students, and No More Violence/No Más Violencia in Arlington, which had 765 students in 2023, were among the educational institutions approved as new BWA member partners.

One aid organization, Texans on Missions, and one financial institution, HighGround Advisors—both affiliated with the BGCT—were approved as new BWA member partners.

The BWA Executive Council elected Jerry Carlisle, president of the Texas Baptist Missions Foundation, to serve as the first chair of the Trustee Committee.

BWA created the Trustee Committee when the BWA General Council adopted a restructured constitution and bylaws during its 2024 annual meeting in Lagos, Nigeria.

BWA General Secretary Elijah Brown, in his remarks, announced a memorandum of understanding between Baylor University and BWA will be signed at the 23rd Baptist World Congress “to establish for the first time ever a BWA program and center of study focused on the Baptist World Alliance.”

Other new BWA members

Four other Baptist conventions and unions were approved as new BWA members:

• Baptist Evangelical Union in Angola, with 214,250 members in 260 churches.
• Baptist Union of Tamil Nadu in India, with 2,000 members in 50 churches.
• Kachin Baptist Churches USA, with 2,700 members in 21 churches.
• Seira Community Church in Rwanda, with 5,200 members in 11 churches.

Four new members are the first BWA partner members in their respective countries:

• Association of Baptist Churches in Senegal, with 760 members in eight churches.
• Baptist Union of Samoa and International Ministries, with 300 members in five churches.
• Mongolian Baptist Convention, with 500 members in 14 churches.
• Union of the Baptist Christians in the Republic of North Macedonia, with 200 members in four churches.

Two other educational institutions were approved for BWA membership:

• Campbellsville University in Campbellsville, Ky., with more than 20,000 students, whose former provost Donna Hedgepath is the current president of Wayland Baptist University.
• The International Baptist Theological Study Centre, founded in 1949 in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, and now headquartered in The Netherlands, with 51 current students.

One news organization, The Alabama Baptist, Inc., became “the first BWA member partner focused primarily on media.”

Baptist Mission Australia also was approved as a new BWA member partner.

New leaders elected

Tomás Mackey of Argentina concludes his five years as BWA president at the 23rd Baptist World Congress.

Karl Johnson of Jamaica, current BWA vice president, was elected to succeed Mackey as chair. The title of president was changed to chair in the new BWA constitution and bylaws to reflect the pastoral nature of the role.

Lynn Green of the United Kingdom was elected vice chair, succeeding Johnson as vice president.

The new BWA constitution also created a Leadership Council that includes 12 at-large members. Igor Bandura of Ukraine, Bela Szilagyi of Hungary and David Washburn of the United States were elected as at-large council members.

BWA growth reported

Brown reported more than 3,400 registrants from 130 countries for the 23rd Baptist World Congress.

BWA has grown 32 percent worldwide over the last 10 years, Brown said, “and now includes 53 million baptized believers in 134 countries.”

Brown reported growth in the BWA Global Mission Network with the addition of the Asia Pacific Baptist Mission; New Zealand Baptist Missionary Society; Fiji Baptist Convention Mission; the Africa Baptist Mission Board; and Baptist Evangelism, Church Planting and Missions Network of the Baptist Union of South Africa, bringing the global network to more than 7,000 missionaries.

Additionally, a first-ever collaborative mission initiative will launch during the 23rd Baptist World Congress thanks to a $1 million donation.

Noting the 30th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, Brown expressed gratitude to Bashaka Faustin, present in the room, for his efforts to keep many people alive during the massacre.

“President Bashaka, we want to publicly say ‘thank you,’ because your courageous protection kept more than a hundred people alive,” Brown said.

“He sheltered more than a hundred people in his Baptist church in downtown Kigali and kept them alive, selling what he had to keep those who were doing the harm out.”

FORT WORTH (BP)—Southwestern Seminary President David S. Dockery announced June 27 the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges extended sanctions against Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary first implemented in 2023.

Dockery noted the regional accrediting body acknowledged “significant recent accomplishments in addressing noncompliance” and that institutional evidence “makes it reasonable for the Board to assume it will remedy all deficiencies within a 12-month period.”

In an eight-page letter to the Southwestern community, Dockery noted the institution’s “long-term pattern of challenges, financial and otherwise” and pledged to continue to work with the agency to address its concerns.

He also pledged to Southwestern’s “constituents and publics” that the institution “will work faithfully and responsibly concerning expectations from accreditors.”

Dockery commended the work of the board of trustees, faculty, staff, students and others “who have worked so hard, sacrificed, served, prayed, given, supported, counseled and encouraged” the administration for the past 33 months.

“The decision from SACSCOC, which cannot be appealed, does not in any way take away from the remarkable strides that have been made by the entire Southwestern community since the fall of 2022,” he said, adding it is “vital to recognize” all academic programs “remain fully accredited.”

Dockery said the association’s “decision must not be seen as a setback but only as further motivation to continue the institutional resolve and good progress that has been made to this point.”

Continued optimism

In a separate statement, Bob Brown, chairman of the seminary’s board of trustees, said while he is disappointed in the decision, he is “extremely optimistic about Southwestern’s future.”

“With our enrollment continuing to rise and our financial position measurably stronger, there are sound reasons to be positive about the future of SWBTS,” said Brown, executive director of Lakeway Christian Schools in White Pine, Tenn.

“However, my optimism is primarily driven by the work of the Holy Spirit on Seminary Hill with hope and unity sweeping the campus in tangibly observable ways every day.”

Expressing appreciation for Dockery and the rest of the seminary leadership, Brown also pledged the “full cooperation” of the board of trustees with the regional accrediting agency “to take the actions necessary to bring the seminary in full compliance with its accreditation standards and policies.”

In its disclosure statement posted on the organization’s website on June 27, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges reported the seminary’s accreditation has been continued for “Good Cause” and placed on “Probation” for 12 months following its review, citing Core Requirement 13.1 (Financial resources) and Standard 13.3 (Financial responsibility).

These two standards have been at the core of the concerns from the agency since the conclusion of the 2021-22 fiscal year when the institution completed the year with an operational deficit of $8,911,823 and a decrease in net assets of $15,317,497.

“These standards expect the institution to have sound financial resources and a demonstrated, stable financial base to support the mission of the institution and to manage its financial resources and operate in a fiscally responsible manner,” the notice said.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges noted after two years of monitoring: “Instead of removing the institution’s accreditation, the SACSCOC Board of Trustees can act to extend the accreditation for Good Cause if (1) the institution has demonstrated significant recent accomplishments in addressing non-compliance, and (2) the institution has provided evidence which makes it reasonable for the Board to assume it will remedy all deficiencies within a 12-month period, and (3) the institution has provided assurance to the Board that it is not aware of any other reasons, other than those identified by the Board, why the institution cannot be continued for Good Cause.

“Probation for Good Cause is the most serious public sanction imposed by the SACSCOC Board of Trustees short of loss of accreditation.”

Dockery expressed gratitude for the commendations offered by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

While acknowledging Southwestern is not in compliance with the agency’s standards, Dockery noted the seminary’s financial position in the spring of 2025 “was measurably stronger” than it was in the spring of 2021 when its accreditation was reaffirmed.

Committed to continued improvements

“Southwestern has reached a place of financial stability, but we need to establish what SACSCOC refers to as ‘a pattern of financial stability.’ Our efforts are now focused on ongoing sustainability as well as additional improvement,” he said.

“We respect the SACSCOC process and promise to work with them regarding next steps,” Dockery said. He invited the seminary community “to join with me in asking the Lord for his ongoing help as we recommit ourselves to the good work that has been started.”

Dockery also said he welcomed the seminary’s regional accreditor for its April 2026 site visit to evaluate the institution’s progress. The seminary remains in good standing with its national accreditor, Association of Theological Schools.

Dockery’s letter cited many enrollment and financial metrics that demonstrate dramatic improvements in the financial picture of the seminary since the initial warning status was put in place by SACSCOC in 2023 and before.

Among the metrics cited by Dockery are:

• increases in enrollment headcount, annual credit hours taught, and fulltime equivalent enrollment;
• “positive” budget trends in the current budget year, which ends July 31, compared to the prior budget year, and a “positive change” of $8 million in the operational budget in the past two years;
• significant increases in tuition and operating revenues, decreases in operating expenses, and reduction in number of full-time employees;
• reduction in long-term debt and the complete elimination of short-term debt;
• decreased liabilities and increased assets; and
• change in cash position from a loss of nearly $5 million in 2022 to a gain of more than $9 million in 2024, and an increase in cash and cash equivalents from $1.7 million to more than $12 million.

“Overall, these numbers have resulted in a significant change in Southwestern’s overall financial picture,” he said, noting the seminary’s bankers “have applauded the commendable progress” of the institution since the fall of 2022.

“We pledge to the Southwestern constituents and publics that Southwestern will work faithfully and responsibly concerning expectations from accreditors,” Dockery said.

“I invite Southwesterners to join me with a new resolve for the sake of Southwesterners who have gone before us, for our shared love for our current students, and for our shared hopefulness regarding future students.

“Together, we will work to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness in all things, trusting in our providential God and acknowledging our full and complete dependence on him for his provision and protection for Southwestern in the days to come.”

Dockery’s letter to the Southwestern community is available here, as well as a Frequently Asked Questions document here.

NASHVILLE (RNS)—Mourners gathered June 26 in a small chapel at Immanuel Nashville church to say goodbye to Jennifer Lyell.

In the pews for the invite-only memorial service were former co-workers, activists and church leaders, all there to pay their respects to Lyell, a former Christian publishing executive whose career was derailed when she accused her former Southern Baptist mentor and seminary professor of sexual abuse. She died June 7 after a series of massive strokes at age 47.

“This is a friend’s service, a service put on by friends to celebrate a friend and to celebrate friendship,” said Keith Whitfield, pastor of Temple Church in North Carolina, who officiated.

The service also marks the end an era—one in which leaders of Southern Baptist Convention admitted they had mistreated survivors of abuse in the church in the past and pledged to make amends.

The SBC passed reforms meant to prevent abuse and to keep track of pastors guilty of abuse as a result. Those reforms now largely have stalled, undone by lawsuits, denominational politics and lack of funding. However, Lyell’s story played a role in sparking those reforms.

Reported alleged sexual abuse

In 2017, she told her fellow executives at Lifeway Christian Resources, the SBC’s publishing arm, that her mentor, a missionary and seminary professor named David Sills, had sexually abused her.

Sills was fired from his job at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for what the seminary’s president, Al Mohler, has referred to as abuse. Sills also lost his job as the leader of a missionary organization.

But few details of Sills’ misconduct were made public until a year later, after Lyell learned her former mentor, who once had been a father figure to her, had returned to the ministry.

She then told Baptist Press about the abuse. But her story was changed in editing to claim she had admitted to a “morally inappropriate relationship.”

The story led to a firestorm online, with Lyell being accused of being an adulteress and sinner who had led a good man astray.

At the time, Lyell was the highest-ranking woman at any of the SBC’s major entities—a publishing editor and publisher who’d worked on a dozen bestsellers and a faithful church member who had dreamt of being a missionary and taught the Bible to young children.

Felt abandoned by the SBC

However, Lyell lost her reputation, left her job and struggled to find a way forward. Though Baptist Press eventually apologized, and SBC leaders reached a settlement with Lyell, the damage was done. Lyell felt abandoned by the church she loved and the leaders she trusted, said her friend, Rachael Denhollander.

That especially was true after Sills, who has admitted misconduct but denied abuse, sued Lyell and SBC leaders after he was named in the denomination’s 2022 Guidepost report about how its leaders had responded to abuse.

Denhollander said, in the end, Lyell was seen as disposable.

“She was literally the poster child for the SBC,” Denhollander said. “It was not enough to make her valuable enough to truly fight for.”

During the memorial service, friends remembered both Lyell’s struggles and her remarkable life. Known for her brilliant mind and her knack for finding books that would speak to mass audiences, her supporters said she was also a kind and devoted friend who cared about teaching children to love books, especially the Bible.

Denhollander recalled Lyell had sent her daughters T-shirts that said “I read after bedtime.” When Denhollander texted Lyell a photo of her daughters up late reading, Lyell was more than pleased.

“Tell them keep going—Miss Jen says it’s great,” Lyell texted back.

Former rising star in Christian publishing

Former colleague Devin Maddox, now a vice president at Lifeway, recounted Lyell’s rise from little-known editor at Moody Publishers in Chicago to holding a vice president role at Lifeway.

“Quickly, word spread in the Christian book world about a young, clever, tenacious, new acquisitions editor that was changing the perception at Moody through aggressive acquisitions, insightful editorial and disciplined execution,” Maddox said.

When Lyell arrived at Lifeway, she exceeded all expectations, Maddox added. Despite her successes, she retained a missionary’s heart, he said, especially hoping to teach children about God’s love.

“Jennifer’s greatest ambition was for her children’s Sunday school class to believe that they could hang their lives on believing that if nothing else, the Bible can be trusted,” Maddox said.

Other friends at the service spoke of Lyell’s love for her dog, Benson, the music of Christian singer Rich Mullins and the television show “The West Wing”—her favorite episode was called “Two Cathedrals.”

They also described her sense of humor, her generosity and her ability to see the good in others, despite the heartaches she experienced.

“She had every reason not to trust people, and yet she extended grace over and over and over again that believed the best of those that she encountered,” said Amy Whitfield, her friend and former co-worker. “I am a better person because she shared her whole self.”

At rest, but leaving behind brokenhearted friends

During a sermon, Russell Moore, editor of Christianity Today, read a New Testament passage from Luke’s Gospel about a woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe as he walked through a crowd—a passage he had read to Lyell as she lay dying in a hospital bed. Lyell had been found unconscious in her home after missing a doctor’s appointment and never recovered.

In that passage, the woman, who had been ill for years, sought to hide from Jesus.

That was not quite like Lyell, Moore said, who was not one to hide in a crowd and likely would have approached Jesus “and tried to sign him for a contract.”

Yet, she, too, knew what it was like to suffer for a long time and feel forgotten. But Jesus saw her, like he saw the woman in the parable. And Jesus has not forgotten Lyell, even in death, Moore said.

“So, we commit Jennifer to sleep for a little while, and we do so with hope,” he said. “Jesus knows where to find her.”

In giving her tribute, Amy Whitfield, who is married to Pastor Keith Whitfield, summed up the feelings of many of the mourners as she quoted from a Mullins song called “Elijah.”

The song about a biblical prophet who was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind was one of Lyell’s favorites. In the song, Mullins, who died in 1997 at 41, sang about wanting to go out the same way.

“It’ll be like a candlelight in Central Park,” he sang. “And it won’t break my heart to say goodbye.”

Whitfield, who was also at Lyell’s deathbed, said she believes her friend felt the same.

“I know that her whole self is at rest, and it did not break her heart to say goodbye,” she said. “But it sure has broken mine.”

NASHVILLE (BP)—The Tennessee Supreme Court will hear the appeal of the Southern Baptist Convention in a case connected to an inquiry by the SBC Credentials Committee.

Preston Garner, a longtime worship pastor and school music teacher, and his wife Kellie filed suit in 2023 against the SBC, Guidepost Solutions and others.

The Garners are alleging defamation/libel and slander, defamation by implication, invasion of privacy and loss of consortium.

The Garners claim the SBC defamed them in an inquiry made by the SBC Credentials Committee to a church in friendly cooperation with the SBC in the course of following up on a confidential report made to the SBC’s abuse hotline.

The SBC argued in court it was protected by the church autonomy doctrine, a First Amendment right that keeps courts from interfering in disputes with religious bodies that involve religious faith, doctrine or governance.

Two lower courts rejected the SBC’s argument. The SBC asked the Tennessee Supreme Court to step in, which it now has agreed to do.

“Churches have a sacred calling to protect their flocks. When a church leader in a position of trust is accused of serious misconduct, religious bodies must be free to take action without being dragged through intrusive, costly, and unnecessary litigation,” Daniel Blomberg, senior counsel for Becket, told Baptist Press in written comments.

“We’re confident the Tennessee Supreme Court will safeguard that freedom for Southern Baptists and all religious groups across Tennessee.”

The attorney representing Preston and Kellie Garner declined to comment to Baptist Press on June 23.

SBC hotline received report

The SBC’s abuse hotline, maintained by Guidepost Solutions, received a report in 2022 from a woman claiming Garner had sexually abused her 12 years prior when he was serving as interim pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, N.C. Guidepost relayed the information to the SBC Credentials Committee.

On Jan. 7, 2023, an SBC employee, on behalf of the Credentials Committee, sent a letter to Everett Hills Baptist Church in Maryville, Tenn., where Garner had been employed as worship pastor.

The letter informed the church the committee had “a concern regarding the relationship between Everett Hills Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, and the Southern Baptist Convention. Specifically, the concern is that the church may employ an individual with an alleged history of abuse.”

The letter inquired about Everett Hills’ hiring practices and about Garner’s current employment status there and asked the church to respond within 30 days.

At the time the letter was sent, Garner also was employed as a music teacher at The King’s Academy, a Christian school. He was set to take another position at First Baptist Church of Concord, Tenn.

He asserts the letter and subsequent fallout caused First Baptist to withdraw its offer of employment and caused The King’s Academy to suspend him and ultimately terminate his employment.

The Tennessee Supreme Court’s order gave permission to The Jewish Coalition for Religious Liberty, the Tennessee Catholic Conference, Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of the United States of America, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, Anglican Church in North America, and General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists to file amicus briefs.

The order said the case will be placed “on the docket for oral argument upon the completion of briefing.”

Six months after a deadly mudslide swept a Ugandan village off the map, Texans on Mission completed its response to the disaster after feeding the relocated residents, providing protein supplements for undernourished children and constructing a system for clean water access.

“We finished the water system at the end of May,” said Mitch Chapman, director of Texans on Mission Water Impact. The system brought water to 2,900 refugees at the Bunambutye Resettlement Camp processing center and will continue to serve others in the future.

Texans and Ugandans on Mission, Texans on Mission’s ministry in the African country, previously had wrapped up its feeding and child nourishment program.

They offered the food and nutritional services and water ministries at the request of the Ugandan government.

 “Funds from Texans on Mission supporters helped us respond quickly to the feeding and child nourishment needs, but the water project took longer,” Chapman said.

Three attempts failed to strike water at the processing center where the people lived, so the Ugandan government gave the ministry access to a well two kilometers away.

“Our Uganda project manager directed the process that involved local contractors, our own team and some volunteers,” Chapman said.

Volunteers built two 20,000-liter water towers, one at the well site and one where the people are living in giant, 100-person tents. They also installed a large solar power source at the well and a pipe to connect the towers.

Providing a long-term water solution

In his final project report to the Uganda Office of the Prime Minister, Chapman wrote: “Despite logistical, weather-related, and capacity challenges, significant milestones were achieved, including the design and construction of a functional water system, the effective distribution of food aid, and the mobilization and management of volunteer teams.”

The government uses the processing center as a temporary location for residents forced from their villages by catastrophic circumstances like the December mudslide. The new water system at the processing center will continue to meet the needs of future crises.

“Floods and fires are pretty common in the area,” Chapman said. “The processing center is a new, permanent facility to help victims—up to 4,000 people at one time.

“It will get empty, and it will get full again. That’s why it was important to get a long-term water solution.”

The Texans on Mission ministry started Bible studies at the processing center, as it does everywhere it works, and four are still active.

“This response was different for us, but it was important because the Uganda government has come to trust the quality, credibility and helpfulness that we bring to the people we serve,” Chapman said.

“And we are free to minister to their spiritual needs as we address their needs for clean water.”

The voices on the Aug. 11, 2009, audio recording of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Great Commission Resurgence Task Force exhibit enthusiasm and excitement as well as intrigue and concern.

The people behind the voices seemed to embrace the motivational messages that resulted in seven major components intended to turn Southern Baptists back into evangelistic powerhouses.

In the end, only two of the items were completed fully, but the process to get to the initial proposal of seven was no less intense.

The discussions highlighted the latest difficulties in helping autonomous churches cooperate within autonomous associations and autonomous state conventions—and how the national entities and seminaries fit into the mix.

‘Unprecedented moment’

Twenty of the 23 members serving on the 2009–2010 Great Commission Resurgence Task Force were present that opening day—a day task force chair and then-Arkansas pastor Ronnie Floyd described as the start of “an unprecedented moment.”

“We’ve got to seize this moment,” he told the group. “This is a moment in our history that is powerful.”

Items in the collection

The audio files from the task force’s 10 months of work were sealed for 15 years, the agreed-upon time by the group.

Those files were unsealed and became available to the public at the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives beginning June 16, at 8 a.m.

The collection includes 57 compact disc recordings, one DVD recording, a few printed blog posts from the pray4gcr.com website (which is no longer functional) and the printed Great Commission Resurgence Task Force progress report from February 2010.

Leaders of the task force did not transfer any other paper documents or notebooks, even though, on the audio file, Floyd refers to a comprehensive manual and directory each member had received.

“No minutes, agendas, programs, notes, outlines or correspondence are included in the collection,” according to the collection summary document provided by the historical commission.

How it all started

According to the introductory remarks in the audio files, the resurgence concept related to the Great Commission started with Thom Rainer, then-president and CEO of Lifeway, a few years prior to Georgia pastor Johnny Hunt being elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

While Hunt ultimately ran with the idea, it was Danny Akin, president of Southeastern Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., who served as the conduit between Rainer and Hunt.

Akin had been chatting with Rainer in the fall of 2008 about concerns they both saw within the SBC—membership and baptisms were down, and the SBC entity leaders seemed to be living in some type of “dysfunctional” relationship.

“Thom Rainer coined the term Great Commission resurgence. He said that’s what we need,” Akin shared with the task force members during that initial meeting in 2009.

“I said it was a great way to phrase it. He said, ‘Then run with it.’”

According to The Alabama Baptist newspaper, South Carolina pastor Frank Page also used the phrase “Great Commission resurgence” in his outgoing presidential address to SBC messengers in June 2008 in Indianapolis. Page urged Baptists to “fall in love with Christ all over again.”

‘Axioms of the Great Commission’

Still, it was Akin who developed, along with consultation from others, a chapel message known as “Axioms of the Great Commission” that ultimately became the foundational—and often controversial—mantra for those championing the cause.

“Brother Johnny asked for ownership, to work with folks to adjust it a bit, to post it on the website and see what happens,” Akin shared with the task force members to bring them up to speed on how the resurgence idea had developed.

For and against

The proposal—written and delivered by Al Mohler, president of Southern Seminary in Louisville, Ky.—called for creating a task force “to cast a compelling vision for Southern Baptists for the foreseeable future,” Akin said, adding it received 95 percent affirmation at the 2009 annual meeting in Louisville.

Of course, how can anyone vote against the Great Commission? Chuck Kelley, president emeritus of New Orleans Seminary, later asked.

Kelley has been outspoken about his concerns about the task force report through the years and has called out the branding as unfair and a way to prevent pushback.

His latest blog post also mentions a comparison of SBC stats between 2025 and 2010, when the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force recommendations were adopted.

“The downward trend is unmistakable,” Kelley writes. “Compare those same stats with the statistics from 1990, and the differences are even more stark.”

But in August 2009, Great Commission Resurgence Task Force leaders believed they could turn the declines around with the work they were doing.

‘End game’

Akin shared with the task force members: “My prayer is that … we will have a greater passion for the Lordship of Christ, a greater understanding of the gospel, a greater desire to love our neighbor as ourself, and to reprioritize our entire lives—from my life all the way up to our national entities—to really get after the fulfilling of the Great Commission. That’s my passion, that’s my heart, that’s the end game for me.”

Hunt also spent time describing his vision during that initial task force meeting.

“We flat need God to do something. … I prayed. I earnestly, earnestly, earnestly prayed. And Southern Baptists [have a desire] for someone to speak into their lives. If you study the Old Testament, … you’ll come on those occasions where the people were asking the prophets, ‘Is there a word from the Lord?’ People in times of desperation just want to know, ‘Is God still saying anything?’”

Hunt added he believed Crossover 2010 would have 10,000-plus volunteers (fewer than 2,000 showed up) and the 2010 annual meeting would see more than 18,000 messengers registered (a little more than 11,000 registered).

‘Guiding coalition’

As Floyd guided the task force through its opening agenda in August 2009, he noted: “We’ve got to rally people to a better future. That’s what we’ve got to do. That’s getting what we are doing down to a nutshell. We are going to rally people to a better future.

“We believe there’s a better future than where we presently are headed, and we are going to rally them to that future,” he said. “We’ve got to create it first, then we’ve got to rally them, and we’ve got to create this guiding coalition all the way to Orlando.”

Rainer’s message

Rainer’s role during the initial task force meeting was to share data points and define the reality of where the SBC was at that moment.

Following about 45 minutes of sharing research about a variety of declines in SBC life, Rainer wrapped on a final thought:

“Ultimately, any revitalization of any true Christian group has happened at the local congregation up and not on a task force down,” he said.

“So, the best thing that I would hope for anything that would happen is that we would remove the barriers so the local church can do its work. Almost any emphasis we’ve had in the SBC, even if it had initial success, has not lasted.”

2010 results

During the 2010 SBC annual meeting in Orlando, the task force’s recommendations were approved by messengers with one amendment by Pastor John Waters of First Baptist Church in Statesboro, Ga.

The amendment added language that says Southern Baptists will “continue to honor and affirm the Cooperative Program as the most effective means of mobilizing our churches and extending our outreach. We affirm that designated giving to special causes is to be given as a supplement to the Cooperative Program and not as a substitute for Cooperative Program giving.”

Those speaking against the recommendations included then-SBC Executive Committee president Morris Chapman, who retired in September 2010.

Task force members

Along with Floyd, Akin, Mohler and Page, the other task force members were Hunt as an ex-officio member; Tom Biles, then-executive director of Tampa Bay Association in Florida; Pennsylvania pastor John Cope; David Dockery, then-president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn. (now president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth); John Drummond, layman from Panama City, Florida; Donna Gaines, pastor’s wife and popular women’s speaker from Cordova, Tenn.; North Carolina pastor Al Gilbert; Georgia pastor Larry Grays; North Carolina pastor (and future SBC president) J.D. Greear; Texas evangelist Ruben Hernandez; Harry Lewis, then-senior strategist with the North American Mission Board; Kathy Ferguson Litton, pastor’s wife, church staff member and popular conference leader, who has served in several states; Florida pastor Mike Orr; Jim Richards, then-executive director of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention; California pastor Roger Spradlin; Florida pastor Ted Traylor; Simon Tsoi, executive director of Chinese Baptist Fellowship of the U.S. and Canada; Bob White, then-executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board; and Florida pastor Ken Whitten.

To schedule an appointment to listen to the Great Commission Resurgence Task Force audio files and review the collection items, call 615-244-0344. The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Taffey Hall serves as director and archivist.

DALLAS—Baptist Women in Ministry, a national organization committed to advocating for the full affirmation of women in ministry in Baptist life, met soon after the close of business on the first day of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Under the shadow of another slate of attempts to restrict female ministers in the SBC, the group gathered at a Methodist church around the corner from the convention center housing the convention.

They heard a conversation between BWIM Executive Director Meredith Stone—who also serves as interim preaching pastor in a Baptist church in Texas—and Beth Allison Barr, history professor at Baylor University, pastor’s wife and best-selling author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood and Becoming the Pastor’s Wife.

Both Stone and Barr had attended the Pastors’ Wives and Women in Ministry Luncheon, held at the convention earlier in the day, and the SBC business sessions.

Barr noted while she’d been to local and state meetings of Baptists, it was her first time to attend an SBC annual meeting in person. However, she has researched the meetings and Southern Baptist history related to women in ministry extensively.

Giving her impression of the event as a historian, Barr said she found it “fascinating” to watch the messengers conduct the business of the meeting and to observe the banter.

As a pastor’s wife, she said she saw it as “somewhat hopeful,” pointing out that for some time she’s thought, if anyone might save the SBC or help it evolve into something else, “it’s going to be women and pastors’ wives.”

But she also noted, as someone who “believes God does not limit ministry calling by gender,” the meeting was “depressing.”

“It’s one thing to read the words of men standing up and … questioning what women can do in the church, and it’s another thing to hear them do it from a microphone on the floor and have the whole row behind you start clapping,” Barr said. “That is something else entirely.”

The women addressed a motion made from the floor of the SBC annual meeting calling for a task force to clarify what Southern Baptists believe women can do, “all the way down to ‘can they teach mixed Sunday school classes.’”

They noted the motion read like a lengthy list Wayne Grudem wrote in the late 1990s itemizing more than 80 things women can or cannot do in church.

Jared Long of Georgia made the motion, calling for a study committee to draft a potential standalone confessional statement for consideration at the 2026 annual meeting.

His motion is distinct from the Law Amendment—a failed constitutional amendment that would have barred from the SBC any church with a female pastor.

Long’s motion calls for a standalone document on women in Southern Baptist ministry that would “bring clarity to the role of women in ministry leadership within and beyond the local church.”

He called for the document to serve as a “theological and pastoral resource,” building on prior convention action and the 2000 Baptist Faith and Message.

Long requested the document to offer “clear, Scripture-based positive and negative affirmations, addressing but not limited to the biblical definition and responsibilities of a pastoral office; what distinguish[es] the [office] of a pastor from other ministry roles and the nature of a chaplain …; whether woman may teach mixed-gender classes, or preach under pastoral authority …”

He also called for the document to answer “whether women may serve as entity presidents, trustees, seminary professors, endorsed chaplains or denominational leaders.”

And, he said, the document also should address “the roles of women on the mission field—including the appropriateness of serving as single team leaders or in positions of spiritual authority and related questions concerning women’s leadership in formal ministry contexts.”

Barr observed, “It was shocking to hear somebody on the floor start reading that out loud—as if this was reasonable—and that was really shocking to me.”

In some ways, she said, her experience at the Pastors’ Wives’ Luncheon was similar to the luncheons and other Southern Baptist programs and events for women she researched for her book.

Historical background of the Ministers’ Wives luncheon

“It really started out [as] a conference for pastor’s wives that grew into the focus on the lunch and the tea and then grew into a program. And now that program is kind of separated into two parts, where they have the pastors’ wives and women in ministry conference and then they have the pastor’s wives’ lunch.”

She explained the programs were started in the 1940s and 1950s to encourage pastors’ wives in ministry, because ministerial wives at the convention were commenting on how difficult the job was—being thrown into a position—being expected to do things at the church with no understanding of the expectations and that they weren’t necessarily prepared for.

So, SBC women began the luncheons to have a place to encourage other women, “and that’s what I saw today at the Pastors’ Wives luncheon,” Barr said.

The luncheon program was about taking mental health seriously and encouraging pastors’ wives to take care of themselves—which was exactly what they needed to hear, Barr noted, “and I found that really encouraging.”

It reflects the same culture she saw in the archives, where the luncheon is a place to encourage women in a really challenging position.

Stone said she realized something being at the luncheon and conference.

“When you think about the Southern Baptist Convention a lot—what’s going on there—you forget sometimes about the faces and people,” she said.

Being there was a reminder of “how deeply women in the Southern Baptist Convention want to follow Jesus and want to be faithful,” and, Stone said, she wants them to find freedom.

Barr agreed with the observation that thinking about the Southern Baptist Convention can make it easy to “forget about the women who are honestly just wanting to serve God,” but live in a space where they “haven’t been taught they can do something beyond.”

The women sat with a “delightful” young woman who serves as the leader of the youth ministry at her church at the luncheon, and they said they had a great time with her.

SBC women are doing the best they can with what they have, Barr asserted, but she hopes to “expand their horizons about what is possible in the kingdom of God.”

A striking change

Stone observed the women who spoke at the conference spoke of the ministry work they were doing in reference to a husband or father.

“It was always in reference to a man,” where the women didn’t have agency or independence, she noted.

Stone asked Barr what she thought it might do to a woman to live that way, without autonomy, where they didn’t talk about what they were doing, but only what their husband was doing.

Barr said Stone pinpointed a “striking difference” between the historic women’s conferences and the one they attended. Those early luncheons were designed for women to share about and celebrate the independent ministry of women.

The founding women emphasized they weren’t concerned with “who your husbands were.” The luncheons were about the women.

For most of its history, the Willie Dawson Award—essentially the SBC pastor’s wife of the year award, she explained—was given for the ministry the recipient was doing, either in her church or at a state or national level.

The award itself had started out as the Mrs. J.M. Dawson Award but quickly was changed to the Willie Turner Dawson Award.

Even when the wife of a prominent convention minister in the 1990s complained about not having received the honor, the president of the luncheon’s response was: “I’m sorry she was offended, but what we do here is recognize women for what women do, not for what their husbands do.”

Barr noted this shift clearly shows “what complementarian theology does to the psyche of women.”

“When you have lived in a space where you are taught that your value and what you are called to do centers around men—that’s the definition of patriarchy, it centers men— … [and] to put her husband always above herself, it effects the way that women think of themselves,” Barr asserted.

The women discussed concerns they’d observed with SBC actions this year, as well as identifying theological inconsistencies and additional changes and historical fallacies damaging to women that the SBC has embraced over time.

Some of these are covered in Barr’s published books, and others will be in her next release.

DALLAS—Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting messengers approved a new business and financial plan for convention entities, rejecting an amendment that would have required a level of financial transparency comparable to IRS Form 990 disclosures.

Messengers approved a business and financial plan recommended by the SBC Executive Committee that emphasizes trustee governance of the convention’s institutions and agencies.

‘Transparency builds trust’

Rhett Burns, pastor of First Baptist Church in Traveler’s Rest, S.C., introduced a motion to amend the proposed plan.

Burns’ amendment would have required Form 990-level financial disclosures—including the salaries of top executives—to the SBC-at-large within six months of the end of each fiscal year.

However, his amendment would not have required entities to file Form 990 with the IRS. It also included an exemption allowing an entity to withhold information that would endanger the lives or safety of international missionaries.

In addition to executive compensation, disclosures would have included amounts paid to attorneys, top contractors and information about any conflicts of interest.

“Trust is the foundation of our cooperation, and transparency builds that trust,” said Burns, a former IMB missionary.

While audits provide internal accountability, they do not provide external transparency to messengers and churches, he noted.

Send the wrong signal about federal oversight

Jeff Iorg, CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, spoke against the amendment, saying the convention “fought an extensive legal battle to establish that we have First Amendment protections from such invasive reporting as is required by the 990.”

“We stand today and assure you we are not trying to hide behind this ruling, but we are instead defending that ruling and upholding that ruling and wanting to stand within it,” Iorg said.

“Voluntarily offering that kind of information sends a signal that we find ourselves in some way subject to the federal government oversight, which none of us want to have.”

Iorg also said the level of reporting the amendment would require would release information the messengers lack the power to change and “set up legal conflicts.”

However, Burns and other messengers who favored the amendment noted Woman’s Missionary Union—an SBC auxiliary organization—routinely files an IRS Form 990, as do Baptist universities and other nonprofit organizations.

“The standard for our work should not lag behind sister Baptist institutions and certainly not lag behind secular nonprofits,” Burns said.

Warning against unintended consequences

John Piwetz from Crossroads Baptist Church in Elizabethtown, Ky., warned against unintended consequences.

“Transparency sounds like a good thing, but I’m sure all of you can think of countless times when discretion was preferable to transparency—when sharing additional information actually caused more problems, rather than solving them,” Piwetz said.

He pointed to actions taken in 2021, when convention messengers called on the SBC Executive Committee to waive attorney-client privilege as part of a move toward transparency related to the SBC sexual abuse investigation.

That action led legal counsel to resign, invalidated SBC insurance policies and opened the convention up to “massive legal monetary liabilities,” he said.

“Did we end up getting more information from the Executive Committee? Yes. But did we unintentionally cost ourselves millions of dollars in the process? Yes, we did that, too,” he said.

‘If we can do it, so can the SBC’

One messenger who spoke in favor of the amendment said information about the salaries of top executives is not provided to all trustees of all entities but only to those who serve on a board’s finance committee.

However, another messenger opposed to the amendment said that was not the case at the agency where he serves as a trustee.

Other messengers called on SBC entities to provide the same level of financial transparency as churches that provide detailed financial information to their members and as other nonprofit organizations provide.

Josh Abbotoy from Midway Baptist Church in Cookeville, Tenn., identified himself as a “Harvard-trained lawyer” who operates a small nonprofit organization.

“We prepare a 990. If we can do it, so can the SBC,” he said.

In addition to approving the new business and financial plan, SBC messengers approved 10 other recommendations from the Executive Committee.

Those recommendations included a $190 million Cooperative Program budget for 2025-26. Messengers also authorized a $3 million special allocation for legal costs related to investigations into how the SBC handled sexual abuse claims.

DALLAS—Once again, a constitutional amendment barring any church with a female pastor from the Southern Baptist Convention failed to reach the required two-thirds threshold of approval at the SBC annual meeting.

Messengers voted 3,421 to 2,191—60.74 percent to 38.90 percent—in favor of a motion to “clarify” only churches with male pastors are considered in “friendly cooperation” with the SBC.

However, since amendments to the SBC constitution require two-thirds approval at two consecutive annual meetings, the measure failed.

Juan Sanchez, senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, made the motion to amend Article 3 of the convention’s constitution by adding as a qualification an SBC church: “Affirms, appoints or employs only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.”

The wording is identical to an amendment Mike Law, pastor of Arlington Baptist Church in Arlington, Va., introduced at the 2023 SBC annual meeting, where messengers granted it the required level of approval.

Last year, however, messengers voted 5,099 to 3,185—61.45 percent to 38.38 percent—in favor of the amendment, falling short of the required two-thirds affirmative vote.

‘Future guidelines for the Credentials Committee’

Speaking in favor of the motion, Sanchez said the constitutional amendment is needed to “provide future guidelines for the Credentials Committee” as they rule whether a church is eligible to be affiliated with the SBC.

The proposed amendment would bring the constitutional requirement consistent with the 2000 Baptist Faith & Message, he noted.

Sanchez insisted the purpose is not to place unnecessary restrictions on service by women in church but to “free them to minister in appropriate roles.” He noted his church has a female children’s ministry director, and both men and women serve as deacons.

However, the church’s website identifies the congregation as “elder-led” and “congregationally governed,” and all of the elders pictured on the site are men.

In response to concerns the amendment could prompt litigation, Sanchez said, “There always will be legal concerns.”

While it is wise to seek the counsel of lawyers, he said, Southern Baptists are governed by the Bible, not by attorneys.

However, Executive Committee CEO Jeff Iorg said while he shares the same views as Sanchez about the pastoral role being limited to men, he pointed to legal risks.

When doctrinal guidelines are included in the convention’s constitution, it moves from being a matter determined by pastors and theologians to one decided “by attorneys and insurance companies.”

While Iorg failed to persuade a majority of messengers, Sanchez failed to persuade the required two-thirds majority, and the amendment failed.

DALLAS—Messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention in Dallas voted to affirm all eight resolutions brought to the floor—with some debate—but with only one amendment, deemed friendly.

“Restoring Moral Clarity through God’s Design for Gender, Marriage and the Family” drew the greatest notice ahead of the annual meeting, raising concerns beyond the SBC.

Several outlets reported the results of the vote yesterday, homing in on its call to end gay marriage by overturning Obergefell v. Hodges.

Yet SBC messengers saw little cause for discussion on the resolution, with only two messengers suggesting changes.

The wide-ranging resolution touched on issues ranging from same-sex marriage and “transgender ideology” to commercial surrogacy and defunding Planned Parenthood.

It states: “God created the world with order, meaning, and purpose, revealing through both Scripture and creation enduring truths about human life, marriage, sexuality, and the family.”

It also says: “Our culture is increasingly rejecting and distorting these truths by redefining marriage, pursuing willful childlessness which contributes to a declining fertility rate, ignoring and suppressing the biological differences between male and female, encouraging gender confusion, undermining parental rights, and denying the value and dignity of children.”

Citing concerns about not just girls but his own sons also potentially having to contend with transgender teammates in their locker rooms, Scot Myers of Texas offered an amendment to the resolution.

The original language said, “the normalization of transgender ideology—especially the participation of biological males in girls’ sports and the medical transition of minors—represents a rebellion against God’s design” and inflicts unjust harm on children.

Myers suggested wording be added to indicate biological girls in boys’ sports also is harmful.

This amendment was deemed friendly, and the resolution passed with the amended wording.

Messengers raised no additional concerns about any other pieces of the lengthy resolution.

Resolution on chemical abortion

A resolution “On Standing Against the Moral Evils and Medical Dangers of Chemical Abortion Pills” cites Scripture that teaches all human life is sacred and notes the SBC consistently has affirmed the sanctity of “preborn life” and opposed all forms of abortion.

Dean Scoular of Missouri sought to expand the language of the resolution to add a “resolved” to be more specific about which human lives should be protected.

He suggested adding wording that would call “for laws, including the United States Constitution” and state constitutions to protect all human life as sacred, including the elderly and humans with special needs.

The committee affirmed the spirit and letter of his amendment, but felt the resolution as written encompassed the concerns, and the amendment failed.

Drew Kingma of Texas sought to amend the resolution to make a stiffer statement on the moral evil of abortion by adding a call for individuals who’ve funded, engineered or willfully participated in any type of abortion to “confess and repent of the sin of murder,” and to put their faith in Jesus who will forgive all sinners, including murderers.

The committee acknowledged the spirit of his amendment was distinct from the wording of the resolution, yet they contended the content of the amendment already was reflected in the resolution as written and deemed the amendment unfriendly. The resolution passed without amendment.

A resolution “On the Harmful and Predatory Nature of Sports Betting,” garnered some debate. Matt McCraw of Florida offered an amendment to soften the language of the resolution to change the designation of gambling as “sin.”

David Crowther of Kansas, who presented the resolution, responded with the committees’ position. The amendment was deemed in conflict with the spirit of the resolution and therefore unfriendly, Crowther said.

Crowther advised McCraw and the messengers that Southern Baptists throughout their history “have been outspoken about the ‘sin’ of gambling,” and Southern Baptists never have made allowances for gambling for recreational purposes.

Despite the primer, a number of messengers agreed with McCaw that the sinfulness of gambling was debatable by voting in favor of amending the wording of the resolution. However, the amendment failed to gain enough support, and the resolution passed as written.

A resolution on banning pornography passed without discussion or dissent.

Resolution on religious freedom

A resolution about international religious freedom had an amendment proposed—to remove the word “undue” from the first RESOLVED and then add the words “or coercion.” The line in question would read: “… to practice their religious convictions without undue interference (or coercion) from civil power.”

The committee explained their position that removing the word “undue” might imply there never would be a situation where civil interference might be appropriate. Baptists never have held the position that religious freedom is an absolute right in all circumstances, the committee said.

The committee on resolutions stood by the wording they noted had been drawn from the Baptist Faith & Message 2000, deemed the amendment unfriendly, and it failed—but not before Casey Stark of Louisiana spoke in favor of the amendment.

“God has either given us” religious freedom and the ability to seek and know him, “or he has not,” he asserted. Baptists long have insisted individuals have a religious right to seek God without government influence or coercion, he said.

“On top of that,” Stark noted, “there’s a rising nationalism that would seek to have a Christian prince dictate Christian thought.

“We rely on the power of Jesus Christ alone to transform and save lives. We are not interested in government coercion or power of any kind,” Stark asserted.

After a little more discussion, the question was called and the resolution passed as originally proposed.

Resolutions on appreciating the city of Dallas, on commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Cooperative Program, and a resolution honoring the centennial anniversary of the Baptist Faith and Message and the 25th anniversary of its 2000 version, were presented individually and passed with little to no discussion.

Andrew Walker of Kentucky served as chair of the committee on resolutions. The committee brought eight resolutions to the floor in Dallas. Thirty-four additional resolutions were proposed to the committee but not brought out for consideration.

Authors of some resolutions not selected by the committee to be brought to the floor sought suspensions of the rules to bring out the declined resolutions. None of these bids was successful.

The full text of resolutions presented at the SBC annual meeting in Dallas can be found here.

DALLAS—Southern Baptists defeated a motion to do away with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, the Southern Baptist Convention’s moral concerns and public policy agency.

Messengers to the SBC annual meeting in Dallas voted 3,744 (56.89 percent) to 2,819 (42.84 percent) on June 11 to reject a motion introduced by Willy Rice of Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Fla., to abolish the ERLC.

Rice called his motion a “wake-up call” to the agency.

“Why bring a motion to abolish the ERLC? Because this is how we save it,” Rice told the SBC annual meeting on June 11.

SBC Bylaw 25 requires a majority vote at two consecutive annual meetings to abolish any convention entity.

“It gives that entity time to hear the concerns of our churches, pursue meaningful reform and return with a renewed mission,” he said.

Without citing specifics, Rice raised concern about “outside progressive advocacy groups” providing financial support to the ERLC.

“Facts are stubborn things, and the evidence is clear. And the trust is broken,” Rice said.

The Center for Baptist Leadership has asserted the Open Society Foundations—founded by George Soros—funded the National Evangelical Forum. The National Evangelical Forum, in turn, helped create the Evangelical Immigration Roundtable, of which the ERLC is a member.

The ERLC acknowledges it works with multiple coalitions, including the Evangelical Immigration Roundtable, but it has denied any financial links.

“The ERLC has never taken any funding from George Soros or Soros-related entities. In addition, the ERLC has never received any money from the EIT or given money to the EIT. There are no financial ties whatsoever between the ERLC and EIT,” the ERLC stated on its website.

Effort to defund Planned Parenthood emphasized

Richard Land, a former president of the ERLC, spoke in opposition to abolishing the agency. Land citing ERLC influence on public policy, such as the House-approved measure to “defund the evil and infamous organization known as Planned Parenthood.”

“It would be particularly tragic” to do away with the ERLC at this pivotal time, he insisted.

“We have more opportunity right now to influence public policy in our nation’s capital than we have had in my lifetime,” Land said.

The president and a majority in the House and Senate are “sympathetic to what we as Southern Baptists are trying to do to turn back the barbarians at the gate in our culture,” he asserted.

Earlier in the day, current ERLC President Brent Leatherwood in his report to the SBC also mentioned defunding of Planned Parenthood as evidence of how some of Southern Baptists’ public priorities are advancing at the national level.

After Leatherwood presented his report, ERLC trustee Jon Whitehead asked what assurance Southern Baptists have that the agency will promote only those policies that reflect the will of churches.

Leatherwood said the ERLC uses a “decision-making matrix” in determining public policy priorities. Each potential issue is judged in terms of whether it is rooted in Scripture, reflective of the Baptist Faith & Message, and responsive to the will of SBC messengers, as reflected in adopted resolutions, he said.

DALLAS—Southern Baptists celebrated 58 newly appointed International Mission Board missionaries during the opening session of the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Throughout the sending ceremony, missionaries took the stage to talk about their calling and thank those who are supporting their Great Commission task.

“It’s so good to be with you today as we gather, together, to do many important things,” IMB President Paul Chitwood said. “But perhaps none so important as this—to send 58 new IMB missionaries to pursue lostness around the world.”

Missionaries, he said, are sent and supported, first and foremost, by their local churches, “but make no mistake—they are also sent by us, here in Dallas, Texas.”

Chitwood continued, “This is a moment where we have the privilege to celebrate their going, commission them to join God in his mission, and commit to support them in every way.”

How Southern Baptists’ support matters

To illustrate the importance of Southern Baptist support of missionaries, Chitwood cited three recent examples. The first was a young missionary mother whose cancer treatments in Houston begin this week. Her medical needs are covered by giving through the Cooperative Program and Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

Just four days before the commissioning, a missionary family wrote with thankfulness for training that protected them when 12 men with machetes entered and robbed their home. The missionaries remained calm and felt the presence of the Holy Spirit, they said.

Southern Baptists provided that vital security and safety training for the missionaries and their five children, Chitwood noted.

Earlier this year, a volunteer group was jailed in a restricted access country and detained for two days. Through God’s protection, the group was released and arrived home safely, Chitwood reported.

Because of Southern Baptist support, the IMB has resources for a highly trained incident response team ready to move on behalf of missionaries and volunteers at a moment’s notice.

“Southern Baptists, we’re not just sending missionaries but preparing them to endure the difficulties they face on the field,” Chitwood said.

The new appointees are joining more than 3,500 IMB missionaries and their families currently serving in 155 countries.

Those missionaries heading to regions hostile to the gospel or missionary presence appeared behind a screen for the public event to protect their identities. Four couples spoke in their first languages of Italian and Korean, while English translations ran on the screens. Missionaries expressed gratitude for the prayers and generosity of Southern Baptists.

Former Journeymen among appointees

Among the 58 missionaries participating in the Sending Celebration, 11 were former Journeymen. The IMB recently recognized the 60th anniversary of the program, which has become a strategic pipeline for career missionary service.

The program was created for young Southern Baptists between the ages of 21 and 29 to serve two-year missionary terms. More than 6,500 young adults have served in the Journeyman program in the past six decades.

Lauren Ulmer, Zack and Courtney Newsome and Bridget Davis were among the missionaries in Dallas who served as Journeymen before making long-term commitments to service overseas.

Ulmer knew she was called to missions after she went on a volunteer trip to Costa Rica with Southside Baptist Church in Live Oak, Fla., which is her sending church. She wasn’t sure where she would go until a semester position with IMB in Quebec opened for her the winter of 2019.

The Florida native didn’t have any winter clothing, but Southside Baptists came through for her.

“They rallied around me, gave me a winter coat and helped me raise funds for all the winter things that I would need,” Ulmer said.

“Two months later in January 2019, I’m showing up to Quebec, in the midst of the coldest months, ready to do university ministry and hospitality ministry.”

After her short-term service, Ulmer returned to Quebec as a Journeyman, serving from 2019-21. She said these were challenging years, but she relied on the Lord, her ministry team in Quebec and the consistent support from Southside. In those hard days, Ulmer appreciated the emails and letters she received from Southside.

“Someone would send the verse I needed to read or a prayer voice message I needed to hear,” she said. “My church inspired me and reminded me I wasn’t serving alone.”

Means much to have a church’s support

Zack and Courtney Newsome served as a Journeymen couple before answering the call to long-term service. They served as Journeymen from 2017-19, and through the two-year term, they realized they were called to be full-time missionaries.

“As Journeymen, we were able to see a church planted and see this church grow and reach Muslims,” Zack said. They look forward to serving with the IMB in Panama.

The Newsomes met while attending Murray State University and were influenced by Hardin Baptist Church in Hardin, Ky.

“It was in this church, under the leadership of my college pastor, Chris Lawrence, that I bore the most fruit,” Zack said.

The Newsomes are also grateful for their sending church, NorthWoods Church in Evansville, Ind., where Zack served as student pastor.

“NorthWoods gave us that encouragement of, ‘Hey, we’ll support you,’” Courtney said. “Serving internationally, it means so much to have the support of a church, knowing they love us.”

Bridget Davis said the two years of her Journeyman experience went by faster than she thought it would go. “It sounds like a long time, but it’s not,” she said.

She served in Sub-Saharan Africa with IMB missionary Kathy Shafto who had a big influence on her life. “Kathy taught me about seeing opportunities to speak the truth of God’s word into the people’s lives and how to be strong and gentle at the same time.”

Bridget and her husband Jude will be serving in Germany with a missionary team with whom they already have made connections. Through their sending church, First Baptist Church of Rogers, Ark., the Davises took a short-term mission trip to Germany to serve with current IMB missionaries with whom First Baptist Church in Rogers has a partnership.

“We are going there because we got to see what it was like as a family to live there and serve there,” Bridget said. “I’m really thankful for the opportunities that our sending church has given us. They have been so supportive and have helped us work through our calling to missions.”

Jude said he also appreciates the support of First Baptist in Rogers, as well as the church he attended when he was in college, College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview.

He said College Heights “gave me a great foundation, encouraged my pursuit of doing mission work, which was the beginning of when I realized God was calling me. This church helped me realize that missions isn’t just something you do; it’s who you are.”

Chitwood closed the celebration by urging continued commitment to send more missionaries to the nations. During a time of responsive reading, attendees voiced their commitment.

“We pray for you, that God would open doors to share the mystery of the gospel with those who have never heard,” said the nearly 10,000 church messengers in attendance. The sending celebration ended with a time of prayer, during which Chitwood invited messengers to gather around missionaries.